Short Takes

Museums & Attractions

• DeGrazia Gallery in the Sun, in Tucson, Ariz., is honoring its native son Ettore “Ted” DeGrazia with DeGrazia: 100 Years, 100 Works, a yearlong exhibit that showcases both classic and never-seen works. Before his death in 1982, DeGrazia created more than 15,000 works, achieving international acclaim for his paintings of native cultures of the Sonoran desert surrounding Tucson. In 1952 he designed and built DeGrazia Gallery in the Sun. For more information, call 520.299.9191 or visit www.degrazia.org.

• San Francisco-based Joie de Vivre is launching its new Joy of Meetings initiative, available at nearly 40 California hotels that cater to events and meetings ranging in size from 26 to 1,000 attendees. Among the program options is one inspired by the book The Giving Tree. A meeting planner can choose to have a small tree at the meeting. As goals are created, attendees can write each one out and place it among the tree branches. The program options also include the choice of two breaks. The morning break is 15 minutes and offers the Joy of Scrapbooking, during which team members are given markers and paper and asked to answer one question: What brings you joy? After the meeting, responses are placed in a scrapbook and sent to the meeting leader. The afternoon break offers a variety of options, ranging from a self-guided 15-minute yoga session to a gelato experience cart. For more information, call 415.835.0300 or visit www.jdvhotels.com/joyofmeetings.

• The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company is offering groups a new team-building program named VolunTeamin, combining team building with volunteer activities. Examples include a recent Bike Build for Charity, during which a group of meeting planners and Ritz-Carlton employees competed in building children’s bikes that were presented to Olive Crest (www.olivecrest.org), an organization that is dedicated to preventing child abuse, as well as treating and educating at-risk children. For more information, call 301.547.4700 or visit www.ritzcarlton.com.