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What is the Moody Center for the Arts?
The Moody Center for the Arts at Rice University opened in 2017 and was quickly praised as “…one of the most positive additions of the last decade,” to the Houston art world. The Moody is an experimental platform for creating and presenting vital artworks across disciplines, and for encouraging discussions at the intersection of the arts, humanities, and sciences. Through offering accessible and dynamic programming as well as flexible making, teaching, and performance spaces, the Moody serves as a bridge between the university community and the public at large.
The Moody is run by a dedicated team that includes executive staff, curators, and support personnel. On-site, the Moody staff develops and provides technical and promotional support for exhibitions, public programming, Makerspace workshops, student collaborations, Rice faculty courses, conference needs, and facility rentals. Off-site, the team leads campus collaborations including temporary public art interventions and the Rice Public Art collection.
How much is admission?
The exhibition spaces are open to the public and free of charge Tuesday through Saturday from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm, and closed Sunday, Monday, and holidays. Most events and programs at the Moody are open to the public and free to attend. For information about ticket pricing or registration requirements for specific events, if applicable, please see the Events page.
How do I get to the Moody? Is there parking?
The Moody Center for the Arts is located on the campus of Rice University, and is best reached by using Campus Entrance 8 at the intersection of University Boulevard and Stockton Street. As you enter campus, the building is on the right.
There is a dedicated parking lot adjacent to the building. Payment for the Moody Lot is by credit card only. Campus maps are available at www.rice.edu/maps. More transportation resources, including bus stops, can be found here.
Does the Moody have a cafe?
Yes, the Moody has a café managed by Rice alumna-owned Lemond Kitchen. You can review their hours of operation and explore their current menu here.
In addition, visitors are invited to use the adjacent laptop bar overlooking the Central Gallery (with free wi-fi) or the public patio during open hours.
Is there a gift shop? / Where can I buy Moody-branded items?
Although the Moody does not have a gift shop, merchandise is available for sale at the reception desk and online. Current offerings include the exhibition catalog for Artists and the Rothko Chapel and the Rice Gallery retrospective, One Thing Well.
What's the Moody's photo policy?
Still photography for personal use, including the use of smartphones, is permitted throughout the building except where otherwise posted.
The use of flash photography and selfie sticks is prohibited.
Photography for commercial use is not permitted without the express written permission of the Moody Center for the Arts.
Journalists may contact the Moody’s press office for official publicity images of the building and programs: erin.rolfs@rice.edu
What is Rice Gallery's relationship to the Moody?
The Rice Gallery served as a unique and engaging space on the university’s campus from 1994 to 2017. Rice Gallery’s founding director, Kimberly Davenport, worked as chief curator of the Moody Center for the Arts until her retirement. The Moody continues the Rice Gallery’s impressive tradition of presenting site-specific installations by periodically inviting living artists to create work within the walls of the architecturally distinctive galleries designed by Michael Maltzan. Building on this legacy, the Moody's space is also designed to host musical, dance, and theater performances, technical workshops, classrooms, and multi-media experiences that are specifically created to engage our on and off-campus communities.
How does the new Moody Center align with the University's mission?
The Moody is a public extension of Rice’s educational focus and long history of supporting interdisciplinary collaboration between the arts, sciences, and humanities. The Moody’s mission underscores the university’s commitment to creativity as a key part of its educational rubric, and community engagements as a pillar of its service to Houston. In establishing the Moody, Rice both reflects and supports the way students are learning and artists are working today—collaboratively and across disciplines.
The 2017 opening of the Moody inaugurated a new arts district on Rice’s campus that both anchored various departments and created a public gateway. The building— housing performance, exhibition, and learning spaces—conceptually and geographically connects the nearby Shepherd School of Music, Brockman Hall for Opera, and James Turrell’s Twilight Epiphany Skyspace at the Suzanne Deal Booth Centennial Pavilion. The Moody also directly neighbors the future site of the Susan and Fayez Sarofim Hall, home to Rice University’s Department of Visual and Dramatic Arts.
What is the Moody's relationship to the James Turrell Twilight Epiphany Skyspace
The Moody Center for the Arts oversees Rice University’s public art collection, including the James Turrell Twilight Epiphany Skyspace at the Suzanne Deal Both Centennial Pavilion.
Twilight Epiphany, a Skyspace by American artist James Turrell—known for his groundbreaking explorations of perception, light, color, and space—is a site-specific public artwork commissioned by Rice University and located at the Suzanne Deal Booth Centennial Pavilion on campus. Rice’s Skyspace is the first of the artist’s such projects to be engineered for acoustics, both for live performances and electronic music. On select days after sunset, it serves as a laboratory for music school students from Rice’s nearby Shepherd School of Music, one of the most prominent music schools in the country that serves as a training ground for more than 300 emerging professional musicians, as well as guest artists.
The Moody Center for the Arts oversees the docent and maintenance programs for the work, and periodically activates the work through partnership-based performances, in keeping with the artist’s wishes.
As a free-standing artwork, the Skyspace is not available to rent for external events.
How does the Moody fit into the cultural landscape of Houston?
Houston is fortunate to have a rich and diverse landscape of arts organizations, both large and small, from the Museum of Fine Arts, the Houston Grand Opera, and the Houston Ballet, to the Menil Collection, the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, Project Row Houses, and Asia Society. The Moody plays a critical role in this art ecosystem by fostering dialogue between disparate disciplines through the arts. Supported by the intellectual resources of a major research university, the Moody is uniquely positioned to spark conversation and collaboration in order to encourage new perspectives among students, artists, faculty, and the Houston community.
How will the Moody's artist-in-residence program be structured? Is it by invitation-only or can artists apply?
The Moody’s Leslie and Brad Bucher Artist-in-Residence Program is by invitation only and is selected by the Moody’s curatorial team. There are two residencies per year, one in the fall and one in the spring, for periods of 6-10 weeks. You can learn more about past Residents here.
Does the Moody have a permanent collection?
No, the Moody is a non-collecting art institution.
Does the Moody accept unsolicited art submissions?
No, the Moody does not accept unsolicited submissions for exhibition consideration. We are unable to return submitted materials.