Creative Flagstaff is happy to announce that Arizona Pitch Night winner Michelle Meyer has installed her winner piece, Retro Maven, in downtown Flagstaff! You can find Retro Maven at 2 S Beaver St #100 in front of Thrift for Goodness Sake. A huge thank you to Sunshine Rescue Mission for hosting Retro Maven in front of their Thrift for Goodness Sake store.

ArtWins Arizona and Creative Flagstaff teamed up to host Pitch Night Arizona—a one-night event where Arizona artists competed for a $15,000 grant to create an ambitious outdoor installation in the heart of downtown Grand Rapids, MI, during the eleventh ArtPrize event this fall. Now that ArtPrize 2021 has concluded, the winning outdoor installation by Phoenix-based artist Michelle Meyer is on temporary display for the Flagstaff community to enjoy.

ArtPrize is one of the world’s largest art competitions. It is also the most attended public art event in the world, routinely attracting over 500,000 visitors.

With the public’s support, Creative Flagstaff is collaborating with ArtWins Arizona to bring an event inspired by ArtPrize to Flagstaff in 2023.

Michelle Meyer

Artist Statement

Retro Maven is a free standing sculpture created to play off of its environment. Each material choice creates a range of experience opportunities for viewers. Beginning with the hair: the Moire Effect is employed, which creates an optical illusion of movement while walking around the piece. The rectangle area that designates the eyes is outfitted with a mirrored surface that gives the piece the ability to reflect its surroundings, each moment creating a new view for the observer as well as the sculpture. The skin treatment utilizes the science of retro-reflection, commonly found in street signs. The goal of this piece is to inspire curiosity and to prompt people to take in their surroundings.

I am also the Creator of Snoodmen, and Founder of Snood City. Snoodmen is a gesture-based creature that uses only body language and movement as communication. They have a lollipop head and an upside-down triangle face and are dedicated to instigating shenanigans and freedom of expression. Snood City, with Snoodmen as its mascot, functions as an arts collective, production house, neon shop, and entrepreneurial incubator. The motto of Snoodmen and the residents of Snood City is, Stay Unconventional. It is a platform for interactivity and growth where we honor the life force within us all.

Big inspiration for me comes through identifying natural phenomenas and displaying them in a way that generates unique experiences for each viewer: Life observing Art, Art observing Life.

Creative Flagstaff and the Viola Awards Event Committee invite the community to  attend a roundtable meeting on Wednesday, October 20, 2021 from 5:30 to 7:30 pm at the Coconino Center for the Arts.

The meeting will brainstorm how to continue to evolve the Viola Awards, which will begin accepting nominations in late November for the 14^th annual event. The strategic plan unveiled at this year’s event, in June, further prioritizes equity within Creative Flagstaff’s programs, to celebrate creativity in all its forms, and to continue to build recognition within and beyond Flagstaff. It is through these lenses and more that we hope to have a lively discussion about how the Viola Awards will serve our community for another 10+ years.

This year’s event had one of the most diverse group of finalists since Viola Award’s founding. In response to community feedback, we want to understand how, together, we can continue to build nomination and outreach and ultimately select winners that reflect our diverse creative community.

We are seeking discussion around the following questions: How can we increase our reach for nominations? Are the current award categories reflective of Flagstaff’s creative community? And how can we ensure that the process from nomination to winner is as inclusive and transparent as possible?  Ultimately, the Viola Awards serve to celebrate excellence in Flagstaff’s creative art, science, and cultural communities. This meeting will seek to ensure that the Viola Awards continue to reflect our vibrant and strong creative community.

We invite invested community members to attend this meeting. Past panelists, winners, finalists, nominators, ceremony attendees, or anyone else that has an interest in the future of Viola Awards to attend.

While we welcome everyone to attend this meeting, please note that an RSVP is requested and can be done below. Additionally, in accordance with the Coconino Center for the Arts Covid policy, attendees must present either their vaccination card OR a negative covid test from within 72 hours of the event, and photo identification upon their arrival. To see the Coconino Center for the Arts’ full Covid policy click here.

If you are unable to attend this community meeting, but would like to share your thoughts, ideas, or questions, please email Sarah at sdowning@creativeflagstaff.org. If you are unable to attend due to concerns about COVID, please let us know, an online option is being explored.

The 14^th Annual Viola Awards are set for spring 2022. For more information and history of the Viola Awards, please click here.

Please RSVP using the following form.

We are very excited to announce that Kate Jo & Julie Comnick have joined the Creative Flagstaff team! Kate Jo has come on as our Operations & Grants Manager, and Julie Comnick has joined as our Exhibitions & Special Projects Manager.

Kate is a photographer and sound artist who has exhibited in Australia, China, Germany, Spain, and throughout the UK, as well as in New York and Montana. Her work has been featured in multiple publications including Next Level Magazine, Royal Photographic Society: Contemporary Photography, and The Scottish Society for the History of Photography. She earned her BFA Honors in Fine Art Photography from the Glasgow School of Art in Scotland and teaches photography, digital post-production, and professional practice. Kate was the co-artistic director and photographer for Ultimate Navigation Manual by Lyle Brotherton, published in 2011 by HarperCollins and she co-founded/co-hosted the Beautifully Equipped podcast. The podcast featured interviews with women leaders, entrepreneurs, and creatives who shared stories of collaboration, resilience, and leadership. She moved to Flagstaff in 2020.

Julie joins Creative Flagstaff with extensive leadership experience in the arts and higher education. With a passion for interdisciplinary collaboration, she is enthusiastic about galvanizing the arts, science and cultural sectors of Flagstaff through dynamic exhibitions and projects at Coconino Center for the Arts. Julie’s prior involvement with CCA includes her role as curator for the Arts & Science collaboration Parched: The Art of Water in the Southwest, and the solo exhibition of her own Arrangement for a Silent Orchestra. Both projects were awarded Creative Flagstaff’s Viola Award for Excellence in the Visual Arts. A practicing artist, Julie’s exhibition record includes national solo shows and international group exhibitions. Julie received an MFA in Painting from Montana State University and a BA from The Evergreen State College.

We are so excited for Julie & Kate to join our team. You can read more about Creative Flagstaff’s staff here.

On Saturday, August 21, 2021, the Coconino Center for the Arts hosted an opening reception for three new exhibitions. The Main Gallery at CCA is shared between The Forest by Will Ambrose and NUDE Exhibition featuring SD Nelson & Michael Hagelberg. The Jewel Gallery is hosting Watershed by Bryan David Griffith. 

All three exhibitions will be on view at the Coconino Center for the Arts through November 13, 2021. The Gallery is open Wednesday – Saturday from 11 am to 5 pm. Masks are required inside the Coconino Center for the Arts.

For more information on these exhibitions and the artists, please visit ccaflagstaff.org.

On Thursday, August 12, 2021, representatives from our Art & Science General Operating Support grantees gathered for a celebration and presentation at the Coconino Center for the Arts. The grantees were joined by City Coucilmembers Becky Daggett, Miranda Sweet, and Regina Salas as well as Mayor Paul Deasy who gave a few remarks during the celebration.

$305,000 was awarded to 31 Flagstaff non-profits for general operating support through the Art & Science Grant program supported by the City of Flagstaff’s BBB tax. For more information on this year’s grantees click here.

After Mayor Paul Deasy gave a few words to our grantees, Creative Flagstaff’s Executive Director Jonathan Stone followed up with a presentation highlighting all of the 31 Flagstaff non-profits included in this year’s awards. Additionally, Stone gave a quick presentation on a few exciting programs Creative Flagstaff has underway, including the Digital Resource & Education Center and the proposed 2023 Arts & Ideas Festival.

After the presentations, the grantees, elected officials, and Creative Flagstaff staff gathered outside to enjoy refreshments and conversations.

Thank you to everyone who was able to attend this celebration. If you were not able to attend, you can view the evening’s presentation below.

We are wishing the best for the Creative Flagstaff’s former Viola Awards intern Megan Hicks, who is starting her post-grad adventure by moving to Portland, Oregon! Megan graduated from Northern Arizona University in May 2021 with a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration with a minor in Arts & Cultural Administration.

Megan Hicks began her Program & Events internship with Creative Flagstaff during the spring of 2020, assisting with events at CCA and the 12th Annual Viola Awards. Unfortunately, due to the Covid-19 pandemic and subsequent closures and cancellations, Megan had to hit pause on her internship.

Then, in the fall of 2020, Megan became Creative Flagstaff’s Viola Awards intern. This internship spanned both the fall and spring semesters providing the opportunity for Megan to be part of the entire Viola Awards process, from soliciting nominations, assembling panels, and reaching out to finalists. All of this in addition to traditional event planning including venue selection, ticket sales, catering, and more. Megan played a huge part in the success of the silent auction and managed our robust group of volunteers on the day of the event.

We know Megan has great things in store and though we will miss her we are wishing her the best of luck!

We have several open internship positions, including the Viola Awards Internship. Learn more & join our team at creativeflagstaff.org/about/employment-internships/

Huge thank you to all the volunteers who attended our Volunteer Day on Saturday, July 24th at the Coconino Center for the Arts(CCA). Seven volunteers joined Creative Flagstaff staff to freshen up CCA. Together we were able to clear out and organize our outdoor storage and garage. Additionally, we were able to begin the process of clearing some of our interior space in preparation for construction of the Digital Resource & Education Center, scheduled to begin this fall. 

This effort could not have been accomplished without the amazing help of our volunteers Kate Jo, Vaughn Judge, Josh Stone, Bill Hobbs, Annette Kaye, Paula Gressman, and Elizabeth Harding. 

Interested in becoming a volunteer? You can do so here: creativeflagstaff.org/support/volunteer/

Every so often we will be introducing you to the team behind Creative Flagstaff. We’re kicking this series off with our Board President, Ron Borkan!

Originally from New Jersey, I moved to Arizona in 1982, first for work with the National Park Service, then for graduate school in Tucson.  There, I met my future wife and started work for SWCA, an environmental consulting firm where I would spend my next 27 years.  We first moved to Flagstaff in 1990, and then after a short stint in Phoenix, relocated to Portland, Oregon.  Following retirement in 2012, we decided to relocate back to Flagstaff, where we now reside.  We have three adult offspring, one of which is married with our first grandchild.  When not volunteering for various local organizations (I am on three other Boards in town: FALA, Friends of Flagstaff’s Future, and the Martin-Springer Institute at NAU), we spend our time hiking and enjoying our two dogs, travelling the US and Canada in our Sprinter Van and visiting our kids scattered around the country, and attending theatre, opera and musicals here and elsewhere.

My passion for theatre started at an early age, including plays, musicals, and most of all opera.  When we moved back to Flagstaff, I got involved with the Flagstaff Shakespeare Festival.  I was super excited that Flagstaff had a Shakespeare Festival, as my wife and I had been regular attendees at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland.  While Flagstaff perhaps wouldn’t want something quite so large as that, the potential was here for something much greater, and I wanted to help make that happen, as the benefits to the community are enormous.  Through my work with FlagShakes I became familiar with Flagstaff Arts Council, now Creative Flagstaff, and shortly thereafter joined the Board, and am now honored to be its President.

Creative Flagstaff’s strategic plan, Discover Creativity, Discover Opportunity, envisions an exciting future for the organization, but more importantly for Flagstaff’s cultural sector.  Personally, I am most excited about two things, the Arts and Ideas Festival proposed for 2023 and our collaborative fundraising and investment initiatives.  Both will help Flagstaff become a greater Arts community, something that I see as necessary and important for the evolution of Flagstaff from being a place where visitors stop on their way to the Grand Canyon or other natural wonders that are nearby on the Colorado Plateau, to a place that has a thriving and regionally renowned cultural sector.  Having a dedicated fundraising effort for all the Arts organizations is something that I believe is desperately needed to achieve this goal, as so many of our local organizations need help with fundraising.

And, to those of you who are interested in becoming more involved in Flagstaff’s cultural sector as volunteer leaders and board members, many organizations need help implementing their missions.  I encourage you to get involved with organizations with missions that match your passions.  If you don’t know a Board member personally, just get online and it is pretty easy to find out who is on a Board and to contact them. I expect that most, if not all, current Board members would welcome your interest!

Creative Flagstaff is happy to announce that applications for the Innovation & Capacity Project Grant program for 2022 will open on Monday, August 2, 2021. Applications can be accessed by visiting the application portal. Innovation & Capacity Grants provide flexible funds to support a specific project designed to introduce a new program or experience, prove a concept, or build operational capacity in the art, science, and cultural sectors in greater Flagstaff.

The funding period for the Innovation & Capacity Project Grants will be from January 1^st – December 31^st, 2022. Applications will be open from August 2^nd to August 31^st, 2022. Applications must attend a mandatory information session on August 2^nd or August 13^th at 5:30 pm.

“We’ve seen some really great project ideas over the years,” says Jonathan Stone Executive Director. “Last year, we were fortunate to fund two project programs, our regular cycle which is this opportunity and a special opportunity for collaborative projects. The committee anticipates applications that continue to explore the sector’s ongoing pivot towards digital, recovery from the pandemic, and innovative projects that showcase our creative community’s talents.”

Creative Flagstaff is contracted by the City of Flagstaff to be the Art, Science, and Culture Agency and to administer Art & Science fund grant programs. Each year, through the City budgeting process, a portion of the voter-dedicated Art & Science BBB funds are allocated to grant programs. This year, $360,000 was allocated. $305,000 of the $360,000 was awarded to 31 organizations through the General Operating Support grant program. Last year, 7 organizations received a total of $28,000 in funds. An estimated $48,000 is available for this grant opportunity.

For more information about the Innovation & Capacity Grant program and how to apply visit: creativeflagstaff.org/resources/grant-opportunities/grant-opportunity-2022-project/

Creative Flagstaff is happy to announce the 31 Flagstaff non-profits selected for the General Operating Support grant program this year. General Operating Support Grants provide unrestricted support for nonprofits and other nonprofit sponsored entities whose primary missions are to serve the arts, cultural equity, preservation, or awareness, or present science programming to the public.

Creative Flagstaff is contracted by the City of Flagstaff to be the Art, Science, and Culture Agency and to administer Art & Science fund grant programs. Each year, through the City budgeting process, a portion of the voter-dedicated Art & Science BBB funds are allocated to grant programs. This year, $360,000 was allocated. With this announcement, $305,000 of the $360,000 is awarded. The remainder will be used for the Project grant cycle opening in August and any other special allocations proposed by the Grantmaking Committee. 

“Unrestricted support for Flagstaff’s cultural sector is critical, especially as the sector begins to introduce more programming as it emerges from the pandemic,” stated Jamey Hasapis, Grantmaking Committee Chair. “Our review panel carefully weighed the pandemic’s impact on nonprofit operations over the past year. We are tremendously inspired by the resiliency of our community and look forward to robust community programming as it becomes safer to do so.” 

 

Fiscal Year 2022 General Operating Support Awards

Alpine Community Theater – $4,000

Arizona Historical Society – $22,000

Ballet Folklórico de Colores – $4,500

Canyon Movement Company – $12,000

Elden Pueblo Project – $3,500

Flagstaff Community Band – $4,000

Flagstaff Festival of Science – $11,000

Flagstaff Foundry – $1,000

Flagstaff Friends of Traditional Music – $18,000

Flagstaff Master Chorale – $8,500

Flagstaff Musical Theatre – $3,000

Flagstaff Shakespeare Festival – $11,500

Flagstaff Symphony Orchestra – $25,000

Hozhoni Foundation – $5,000

Human Nature Dance Theatre – $4,000

Interference Series – $1,000

Flagstaff Dark Skies Coalition – $5,000

Lowell Observatory – $25,000

Museum of Northern Arizona – $22,000

Museum of Contemporary Art Flagstaff (MOCAF) – $4,000*

Northern Arizona Book Festival – $3,000

Northern Arizona Celtic Heritage Society – $5,000

Northern Arizona Pride Association – $8,000

Orchestra Northern Arizona – $6,500

The Arboretum at Flagstaff – $18,000

Threaded Together – $20,000*

Theatrikos Theatre Company – $21,000

Tolsun Publishing, Inc. – $3,000*

Tynkertopia – $8,500

USA Dance – $1,000

Willow Bend Environmental Education Center – $17,000

*Indicates new General Operating Support grant recipient.

Awards are distributed quarterly from July 2021 to June 2022.

To learn more about Creative Flagstaff’s grantmaking programs, visit: https://creativeflagstaff.org/resources/grant-opportunities/