Mesa Arts Center will launch its 2023-24 season with a free all-ages event. This season’s festival theme is We Create the Future featuring live music, tasty food, interactive activities and more on Friday, Sept. 8, 6-10 p.m. Don’t miss this extraordinary celebration of arts and creativity.
Festival highlights include live music by DJ Just-In Case, One Way Sky, Happy Universe, Calumet and DJ Soul Deluxe. Discover “Conversation Station” by Erin Sotak and Gregory Sale’s collaboration with ArtistsWhoVote, a dynamic projection and sign-spinning installation. Engage with live digital video mixing by Kevin Hackett and unleash your creativity with puppet-making guided by Dain Quentin Gore.
Be inspired by live painting demos from Angelo Cortez, Richelle Key, Anitra Molina, and Shauntai Thomas, a collaboration with Cahokia Artspace. Witness the power of dance in “Understanding Otherness” by Grey Box Collective and experience Therosia Reynolds’ captivating spoken word and visual art.
Connect with nature — meet critters from the Phoenix Zoo and make engagement items for their night houses and create live reptile drawings with the Phoenix Herpetological Society. Stroll through our Art Studios as they come to life with live demonstrations and make your own customized buttons with Eli McGlothern. Explore and learn about vendors representing Mesa’s cultural, art and social services organizations.
Melissa Martinez’s mesmerizing “In The Clouds” installation returns and indulge in literary delights from the short story dispenser by Mesa Public Library. Bring the whole family to enjoy the glow zone with light-up cubes, add your own color to the i.d.e.a Museum’s glow-in-the-dark tape mural and relax in the Chill Out Zone with videos featuring the upcoming Mesa Arts Center performances.
Mesa Arts Center is located at One East Main Street in downtown Mesa. There is no charge to attend the Season Kickoff Festival. For details visit mesaartscenter.com.
The presenting sponsor of the 2023 Season Kickoff Festival: We Create the Future is AT&T FIBER, with additional support from AARP, SRP, Crescent Crown Distributing, Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport and Bob’s Red Mill.
About Mesa Arts Center
Mesa Arts Center, owned and operated by the City of Mesa, is a unique, architecturally stunning facility located in the heart of downtown Mesa. Arizona’s largest arts center is home to four theaters, five art galleries and 14 art studios. Guests, patrons and students come to Mesa Arts Center to enjoy the finest live entertainment and performances, world-class visual art exhibitions and outstanding arts education classes. Mesa Arts Center’s mission is to inspire people through engaging arts experiences that are diverse, accessible and relevant. For more information, visit mesaartscenter.com.
