Our Story

The creation of the Goldmark Cultural Center was a happy accident that grew from the insight and dedication of a few artists and a landlord willing to help. 

Origins

By 2017, the site that was to become the Goldmark Cultural Center had fallen into disrepair.  The Trustee of the property, Chin-Chin Yeh, and Joseph Yeh, her assistant, took over the property in the summer of 2017 and commenced clean-up efforts.  As they cleaned, the City of Dallas took notice and Dallas Police Department took great care to help out whenever they could. 

During clean-up efforts, a City of Dallas official asked whether the owners would be interested in renting to artists. The owners were more than amenable to converting the property to studio and gallery space for artists. With help from many individuals, including Dallas City Councilmember Jaynie Schultz, the future Goldmark Cultural Center team was able to obtain the correct zoning for artist studios. 

Founding and Growth

In the late summer of 2017, Du Chau, a prominent Dallas artist and professor at Brookhaven College. contacted Chin-Chin Yeh to ask if the owners would be interested in hosting an art exhibition on the property, to which she agreed.  With that one phone call, the Goldmark Cultural Center began its existence. 

On November 18, 2017, Du Chau and 18 other Dallas artists opened exhibitions in 19 of the future art studios.   Soon after that, Du Chau began exploring different ideas for the Goldmark Cultural Center, including international residencies and sponsored gallery space for MFA students.  Within a few months, Du had brought in the first 9 artists to rent art studios and, in doing so, establish the Goldmark artist community. At the same time, Du also began organizing and hosting art exhibitions in the Goldmark Cultural Center’s newly established John H. Milde Gallery. 

In May 2018, Du invited Marty Ray to exhibit in the J.H. Milde Gallery.  Marty Ray quickly became enthused about the potential of the Goldmark Cultural Center and Du's vision for what it could become.  Marty began so many fun and charitable projects at the Goldmark Cultural Center, often through a weekly gathering of Goldmark artists originally called “Thursday Table”, which now boasts dozens of members and has evolved into Community Art Days, a well-established part of the Goldmark artist culture.  So as Du became the vision of the Goldmark Cultural Center, Marty became its spirit.

Our Journey Forward

In early 2021, Chin-Chin Yeh had to step down from her role due to illness during the pandemic, and Joseph Yeh officially became the Executive Director of the Goldmark Cultural Center. 

Together with Joseph Yeh and many of the 170+ Goldmark artists, Du and Marty have established and cultivated a truly unique artist community for artists and art enthusiasts alike in the heart of North Dallas. 

Our efforts to provide affordable studios, exhibition opportunities, art events, and collaborative projects were recognized by the North Texas Business Council for the Arts with a 2023 Obelisk Award for Arts Partnerships.

It is our earnest hope that the Goldmark art community will find the Cultural Center useful for many years to come.