Obama encourages learning through art

Michelle Obama visited Dallas for the AT&T Performing Arts Center’s inaugural Young Women’s Leadership Conference. Photo by Nate Rehlander

Former First Lady Michelle Obama stopped by the Margot and Bill Winspear Opera House to welcome students and help kick off the first annual Young Women’s Leadership Conference: Leadership Lessons Learned through the Arts. The program, produced by the nonprofit AT&T Performing Arts Center, included 150 young women from nine North Texas high schools and organizations who participated free of charge. Obama spoke briefly to the full group. She also spent time with a small group of students during one of the conference’s breakout sessions, moderated by business executive Matrice Ellis-Kirk. The girls had all received a signed copy of Mrs. Obama’s new memoir “Becoming.” Obama previously visited the Winspear in March for “A Conversation with Former First Lady Michelle Obama” as part of #hearhere, the Center’s popular speaker series. — Drew Eubank