Celebrate Delaware’s 250th with DelArt
As Delaware marks the nation’s 250th anniversary, the Delaware Art Museum stands as the state’s leading arts organization, uniquely positioned to tell Delaware’s story through art—past, present, and future. Through a six-month series of exhibitions and programs, including statewide initiatives, the Museum is the only cultural institution centering artists as historians, storytellers, and visionaries during the Semiquincentennial.
From Living Indigenous, developed in partnership with the Nanticoke Indian Museum, to Citizen Artist and The People’s Gallery, which invite hundreds of Delawareans to participate directly, DelArt is not only reflecting on history but actively shaping how this moment will be remembered. By engaging Indigenous artists, working artists, photographers, educators, and community members across the state, the Museum ensures Delaware’s 250th is documented through lived experience and creative expression.
In marking this milestone, The Delaware Art Museum is building a living artistic record—one that honors Delaware’s histories while empowering future generations to understand, reinterpret, and tell Delaware’s story through an artistic lens.
Exhibitions
Living Indigenous
Feb 28, 2026 – Aug 23, 2026
Living Indigenous celebrates the creative contributions of Indigenous artists living in and connected to Delaware, developed in partnership with the Nanticoke Indian Museum.
Citizen Artist
Apr 11, 2026 – Jul 19, 2026
Coinciding with the Semiquincentennial in 2026, Citizen Artist will meet a moment of national reflection with a celebration of artist workers in America.
The People’s Gallery
August 7, 2026 – September 6, 2026
The People’s Gallery amplifies Delaware 250 by inviting up to 600 Delaware residents or DelArt Members to submit one work of art for exhibition in the Museum.
Programming
Citizen Photographer
This statewide initiative invites Delaware residents to consider and capture what it means to be a Delawarean at the nation’s 250th anniversary. A juried selection of submissions will be featured in DelArt’s Citizen Artist exhibition.
Citizen Artist Summit Weekend
July 9-12, 2026
Join fellow artists, educators, and art history enthusiasts for a weekend-long series of workshops and lectures that expand your knowledge of federal arts funding, engage with community members across disciplines, and consider how the legacies of the past can inspire the future. The weekend kicks-off on July 9 with our Sculpture Garden Happy Hour.
Top: Wilmington Parade (detail), 1976. Norma Diskau born 1942. Gelatin silver print, image: 6 5/8 × 10 inches, sheet: 10 7/8 × 14 inches. Delaware Art Museum, Gift of the artist, 2015. © Norma Diskau Calabro.