DAYTON, OH.- The Dayton Art Institute kicked off its centennial year celebrations and unveiled a new museum logo at its Annual Meeting on Thursday, February 28.

The museum also shared highlights and financial results for Fiscal Year 2018 and awarded its annual Pamela P. Houk Award for Excellence in Art Education at the meeting.

“On February 28, 1919, the fledgling Dayton Art Association was incorporated as the Dayton Museum of Arts, beginning the 100-year-history of the Dayton Art Institute that we will celebrate throughout 2019,” said Dayton Art Institute Director and CEO Michael R. Roediger. “Last year was another great year of progress here at the museum as we continued to prepare for our centennial.”

Roediger shared highlights of the museum’s planned centennial celebrations, which will include more than “100 Happenings for 100 Years” and two community open house events. More details will be shared throughout the year on the DAI’s website and social media.

“Great things are planned to celebrate the Centennial–more than 100 happenings, with a birthday celebration on April 7 and a family community day on October 6,” Roediger said. “Both events are free and open to the public thanks to generous grants from The Miriam Rosenthal Foundation, The Frank Tait Foundation, and The Iddings Foundation. We hope you will join us for all the special activities.”

In conjunction with the launch of the centennial celebration, External Affairs Director Alexis Larsen unveiled an all-new logo for the DAI. It represents the first complete rebranding of the museum since the mid-1990s.

“Our brand needed to be updated to reflect who we are and where we are going,” Larsen said. “The rebranding process began in 2017. Armed with research, phone interviews, feedback, and site visits with museums that had recently gone through major rebrands, I set out to design a new logo to lead the museum into the next century. This logo highlights the new design aesthetic of the museum–a clear, crisp design that puts the focus on the art.”

The museum also reported financial results for 2018: a balanced budget, with $4.4 million in revenue, against $4.3 million in expenses. Total museum attendance for 2018 was 104,855, with 22,595 people visiting special exhibitions and education programs reaching 40,905 people, including 29,443 people who visited The Lange Family Experiencenter.

Full highlights of 2018 can be found in the DAI’s Community Report, which is available for download at www.daytonartinstitute.org/communityreport.

The 2019 Houk Award was presented to Tracy Longley-Cook at the meeting. Each year, the DAI selects an outstanding and inspirational educator to receive the Houk Award, with selections made through a nomination and panel process. A photographer with numerous exhibition and award credits, a curator, a published scholar, a teacher and mentor, Longley-Cook is an Associate Professor of Photography at Wright State University, where she has served since 2008. In teaching photography, she serves as a dedicated teacher who has a positive influence on her students. She is described by her peers as, “going beyond just teaching in the classroom. She instills in her students an appreciation for art, community and how they relate to each other as artists.”

For more information about the Dayton Art Institute and its centennial celebrations, please visit www.daytonartinstitute.org or call 937-223-4ART (4278). Tickets for most Dayton Art Institute events, exhibitions and programs may also be purchased online at www.etix.com. Connect with the Dayton Art Institute on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and Pinterest for additional information, behind-the-scenes photos and videos, and exclusive offers.