Joshua King, Shane Pennington, Veletta forsyth Lill

Founders AURORA

“Our mission is to provide arts access to millions of people,” states Joshua King.

Shortly after he met Shane Pennington, they discovered a mutual appreciation for the digital and video art being created elsewhere. They quickly recognized a need to do this locally. “We reached out to artists we knew and asked them to try new media and almost all of them agreed,” says Pennington. From these beginnings, AURORA dawned.

Its inaugural program took place at Heritage Village in 2010. Veletta Forsyth Lill, then executive director of the Dallas Arts District, was among the invited guests. “Veletta came in and asked some big questions and made it real,” King acknowledges. With her expertise and cooperation, AURORA made its Dallas Arts District debut the following year.

Now with seven additional staff members, their vision has since grown into a multifaceted program, with collaboration and accessibility still at its core. For Pennington, the constant rotation of curators and artists has the added benefit of widening networks for the creative community. For King, making AURORA a signature event unique to Dallas also fulfills their early goals. Notably, their programs are largely free and open to the public. AURORA is currently looking forward to the return of the Biennial, a program in which local, national, and internationally recognized creatives transform City Hall and the Kay Bailey Hutchinson Convention Center into a celebration of architecture, art, and technology.

With Art Quest, artists are commissioned to create work that is hidden around town as part of a scavenger hunt. Its goal, as it returns this summer, is to bring art and people into often-overlooked neighborhoods.

The founders delight in their audiences’ enthusiasm. As arts advocate Lill states, “From the moment we flipped the first switch to today, we could have only dreamed of the joy and interest AURORA would generate. Those who attend AURORA walk away with the sense that they have experienced something special and unique.”

–Nancy Cohen Israel

Thaddeus D. Matula

As a college sophomore, Thaddeus D. Matula’s science-fiction film

The Dreamer proved his star power when it aired nationally on PBS and left festival audiences awestruck worldwide. Pony Excess, a Peabody Award-winning ESPN 30 for 30 documentary detailing the only NCAA-mandated “death penalty” sanction applied to a college football team (the SMU Mustangs) in 1987, cemented his career. He went on to make additional football documentaries including the Emmy-winning Brian and The Boz , about the outspoken star linebacker Brian Bosworth and his controversial years with his University of Oklahoma coach Barry Switzer.

Here though, we turn our lens away from sports to emphasize Matula’s Dallas International Film Festival premiere, Into the Spotlight, which won the Grand Jury Prize for Best Texas Feature along with the Audience Award for Best Documentary. Written, produced, and directed by Matula, Into the Spotlight presents a triumphant look at young adults with disabilities preparing for a musical, from casting to showtime.

Following a search spurred by the Highland Park United Methodist

Amid the pandemic, the film begins following the loss of cast member Christi Hockel-Davenport’s husband, Austin. Through her perspective and that of other castmates throughout the production of In Our Hearts, we experience their unique challenges (theater teacher Mark Guerra is tragically killed when a driver veers into his lane) and victories—Daniel Wade, a young adult with autism, finally gets to play the drums before an audience; Sally Smith, who dreams of playing a villain, falls in love onstage with Jason Carter, who performs as the charismatic and fancyfooted Johnny Domino; Andrea Parton, a transgender woman, blooms through theater and now teaches tap dance; and Jacob Kunko wants to be part of “something to help make a difference in the world.” As for Matula, he is “a fan of the human condition.”

He is next slated to direct the modern noir thriller Fair Park , a story of corruption, greed, and murder in his hometown Dallas. –Terri Provencal P