Desert X Education Media Alert

Media Alert

Desert X Education establishes itself as a vital resource for arts education with launch of the Desert X Art Club, at 14 after school clubs in Desert Sands Unified School District
Program launches with visit to studio of Palm Desert-based, Desert X artist, Phillip K. Smith III
Students participate in a field trip to Desert X 2023, photo by Connor Keeran, courtesy Desert X.

WHO: Desert X, the recurring site-specific, international art exhibition, and its Desert X Education platform, which has impacted over 10,000 k-12 students across all three Coachella Valley school districts since 2017, today announced the launch of programming for the Desert Sands Unified School District, establishing itself as a vital resource for arts education in the community.

WHAT: Offered for the first time outside of the Desert X biennial exhibition, the new program called “Desert X Art Club” will run across 14 after school clubs in DSUSD during the 2023-2024 academic year.
Students will learn about the world-renowned artists who have participated in Desert X since 2017 and engage weekly in hands-on studio art and video projects inspired by the installations of Desert X. All work produced in the Desert X Art club will be showcased and celebrated in a public exhibition in May of 2024.
On Wednesday October 4, from 2:30 to 5:30 pm, Desert X Education will welcome DSUSD Middle School students on a field trip to meet Desert X 2017 artist Phillip K. Smith, III. Students will visit the artist’s Palm Desert studio, learn about his expansive creative practice, and engage in a creative workshop. Students will have a unique opportunity to interview the artist on camera, and create an original documentary. The students and teachers participating are members of Desert X’s expanded learning education program with DSUSD entitled “The Desert X Art Club.”

WHEN: Wednesday, October 4, 2:30 - 5:00 pm

WHERE: PKS Studio, 34-330 Gateway Dr. Unit 100, Palm Desert, CA

Support for Desert X Education

Desert X education programs are made possible with the support of Jordan Schnitzer and the Harold & Arlene Schnitzer CARE Foundation, Desert Sands Unified School District, California Arts Council, National Endowment for the Arts, Western Wind Foundation, H.N. and Frances C. Berger Foundation, Christine & James Scott, The Sheffer/Scheffler Advised Fund at The Inland Empire Community Foundation, Blick Art Supplies, Palm Springs Art Museum, and Sunnylands Center & Gardens, as well as teachers and friends in education and community partners.

Acknowledgement of Native Land

We acknowledge the Cahuilla People as the original stewards of the land on which Desert X takes place. We are grateful to have the opportunity to work with the indigenous people in this place. We pay our respect to the Cahuilla People, past, present and emerging, who have been here since time immemorial.

Desert X is produced by The Desert Biennial, a 501(c)3 charitable organization, conceived to produce recurring international contemporary art exhibitions that activate desert locations through site-specific installations by acclaimed international artists. Its guiding principles include presenting public exhibitions of art that are open free to the public and respond meaningfully to the conditions of desert locations, the environment, indigenous communities, and promote cultural exchange. Desert X is committed to education and public programming with a robust series of initiatives that expand the breadth and depth of the organization’s engagement with the surrounding community. The exhibitions provide a platform for artists from around the world to address ecological, cultural, spiritual and other existential themes. From its inception in 2017, Desert X has presented four exhibitions in the Coachella Valley. In 2020, the organization began to engage with exhibitions outside the United States and helped establish Desert X AlUla in the desert of Saudi Arabia. The exhibitions to date have explored new configurations of site- responsive work by more than 80 artists from North America, South America, South Asia, Europe, the Middle East and Africa creating a new paradigm for the presentation and experience of art and welcoming an audience of over 1.7 million. Desert X is free and open to all and is funded by its board of directors and an international group of individual donors, foundations, and sponsors.

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Communications and Media Relations Lyn Winter, Inc.
+1 (213) 446-0788

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For more information, please contact Max Finneran.