|  Dallas Wind Symphony's office cat gets high-style home
Group holds design contest to build her a new space
11:31 AM CDT on Thursday, August 30, 2007
By NANCY MYERS/ Special Contributor to The Dallas Morning News
Miss Widget, The Dallas Wind Symphony's office cat, snuggles into a house designed as part of a renovation at the DWS offices.
Cats and music are a natural combination. (Think about it – ever heard of Dogs, the Broadway musical?) And an animal behaviorist at the Veterinary University of Vienna who studied cats and music has even said they prefer male-voice choirs, double bass and oboe. So it's no surprise that there would be an official mascot and office cat at the Dallas Wind Symphony. She is the lovely Miss Widget.
The industrious black shorthair, who describes herself as "svelte, ebony-hued, with a sleek coat, of American ancestry," according to DWS founder and executive director Kim Campbell, resides full time in the DWS headquarters in the Fair Park Bandshell.
Miss Widget has spent the past few months overseeing a design overhaul of the historic space. It's a collaborative effort between design students from the Art Institute of Dallas, the American Society of Interior Designers Dallas Design Community and the DWS.
The symphony, recognized as the nation's only professional concert band, was chosen by ASID as the focus of its community project this year, which consists of an office makeover.
Built in 1939, the DWS's backstage bandshell quarters are a bit primitive. So the goal was to spruce things up with new carpeting, furniture, ceiling fans, window treatments and paint provided by ASID industry partners.
"When we had our first meeting at the Dallas Wind Symphony office, it became clear that Miss Widget was in charge of things there. As an animal lover, it was important to me that we made sure to include her in our design," says R. Scott Frelick, ASID Dallas Design Community chairman, who assembled the committee of designers and industry partners.
Knowing Miss Widget's discriminating taste, the design team got the idea of also creating a special house just for the cat. The concept captured the interest of the Art Institute. Thus, the Best Little Cat House in Texas competition was born. "I called a friend who teaches furniture design, Michael Brady, at the Institute, and got him on board," says Mr. Frelick. Miss Widget became the client for his class. Eight groups of interior design students participated as part of their final exam. The houses were unveiled at a spring concert at the Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center and have been rotated throughout the DWS's temporary digs during the renovation.
Though Miss Widget has sampled and approved of all the houses, one in particular appeals to her. It features a tall post with a perch at the top, and it's decoupaged with sheet music of the first piece the DWS played together: Gustav Holst's First Suite in E-Flat.
Miss Widget, now 10 years old, was first spotted wandering the greens of the Dallas Country Club. Mr. Campbell came to her rescue. Now she not only has a home but she'll also live out the rest of her nine lives in the house of her dreams.
Nancy Myers is a Dallas freelancer.
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