ar t s her o
TUCSON|SEASON 201 920
Congratulations to all of the Arts Hero Nominees!
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FROM THE PUBLISHER Congratulations to the 2019-2020 Tucson Arts Heroes! Now in its fourth year, the Arts Hero program was launched to bring recognition to those individuals who make the arts and culture world of Tucson what it is…a culturally vibrant community. We applaud these eight red caped heroes! The Arts Hero program, sponsored by Bon Voyage Travel, accepts nominations from arts groups, organizations and individuals who know of someone who makes a difference. As you read about the eight individuals who were selected this season, you will notice they are quite diverse in their interests, passions and backgrounds. They all have one thing in common; they are passionate about what they do. Nominations are now being accepted for the 2020-2021 Tucson Arts Heroes. Go to onmediaaz.com/arts-hero to nominate. Congratulations to the Arts Heroes of past, present and future; they are making a difference!
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Linda “Mac” Perlich Publisher and CEO
NORM
PHOTO BY DAMION ALEXANDER
TESTA
Teacher impacts students and audience Norm Testa powers through 12-hour workdays advancing stagecraft with an intense dedication to create unique experiences during theater performances and classes at Catalina Foothills High School. “To me, theater affects audiences,” Testa says. “It is supposed to be an emotional story-telling kind of thing. It takes all of the elements to really change people. I have this crazed, manic passion for it.”
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TEACHER WITH A LEGACY As a technical theater teacher for 22 years, Testa says he has taught more than 5,000 students to do the things necessary for successful performances, including lighting, sound and imagery. He estimates a quarter of his former students currently are using technical theater skills in their careers. For Testa, good theater leaves audience members feeling that the performance has lasted only 25 minutes when the experience was really a rewarding two hours long. “That’s why I do theater,” Testa says. DOING AND TEACHING To do theater while teaching technical theater typically means workdays that start at 7:30 a.m. before school begins and end at 7:30 p.m. after stage production and rehearsals. He also manages the busy rental schedule of the CFHS performance facilities and directs
the annual Arizona Thespians Tech Challenge, where 50 four-member high school teams compete in timed events in skills such as hanging lights, cable rolling, costume quick change, and props change over. Teaching is a form of performance, another opportunity to affect an audience, Testa says. He believes his career and technical education program teaches students important life skills, such as learning to solve problems on the fly, to improvise. In January, Testa received the Legendary Teacher Award from Pima County JTED. During the surprise presentation in one of his classes, students spoke of rewarding experiences in his technical theater program. One said Testa’s classes motivate her to go to school. “That’s why I teach,” Testa says.
Do you know an Arts Hero? Someone who works tirelessly to strengthen, improve and enhance the arts in our community? Nominate him or her at onmediaaz.com
NORM
PHOTO BY DAMION ALEXANDER
TESTA
Teacher impacts students and audience Norm Testa powers through 12-hour workdays advancing stagecraft with an intense dedication to create unique experiences during theater performances and classes at Catalina Foothills High School. “To me, theater affects audiences,” Testa says. “It is supposed to be an emotional story-telling kind of thing. It takes all of the elements to really change people. I have this crazed, manic passion for it.”
arts hero sponsored by
Your local full service agency providing travel services for over 40 years
TEACHER WITH A LEGACY As a technical theater teacher for 22 years, Testa says he has taught more than 5,000 students to do the things necessary for successful performances, including lighting, sound and imagery. He estimates a quarter of his former students currently are using technical theater skills in their careers. For Testa, good theater leaves audience members feeling that the performance has lasted only 25 minutes when the experience was really a rewarding two hours long. “That’s why I do theater,” Testa says. DOING AND TEACHING To do theater while teaching technical theater typically means workdays that start at 7:30 a.m. before school begins and end at 7:30 p.m. after stage production and rehearsals. He also manages the busy rental schedule of the CFHS performance facilities and directs
the annual Arizona Thespians Tech Challenge, where 50 four-member high school teams compete in timed events in skills such as hanging lights, cable rolling, costume quick change, and props change over. Teaching is a form of performance, another opportunity to affect an audience, Testa says. He believes his career and technical education program teaches students important life skills, such as learning to solve problems on the fly, to improvise. In January, Testa received the Legendary Teacher Award from Pima County JTED. During the surprise presentation in one of his classes, students spoke of rewarding experiences in his technical theater program. One said Testa’s classes motivate her to go to school. “That’s why I teach,” Testa says.
Do you know an Arts Hero? Someone who works tirelessly to strengthen, improve and enhance the arts in our community? Nominate him or her at onmediaaz.com
LISA
MISHLER A study in contrasts
Lisa Mishler’s most celebrated work is a study in contrasts. Joy and sorrow. Love and hate. Beauty and horror. Past and present.
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Mishler, an accomplished painter and a teacher at The Drawing School in Tucson, did the world a favor in producing books in 2015 and 2016 that pay tribute to her parents, who were holocaust survivors and heroes. The books, the results of a seven-year project that was very much a personal journey, are in holocaust museums in Washington, D.C., and Jerusalem. THE PAST The first book, L’Chayim - To Life, features Mishler’s paintings that express her father’s story about the holocaust as well as reflections from Rabbi Stephanie Aaron. In the second book, Zalman Ber, Mishler writes a complete story about her parents that required a deep dive into painful truth. That’s another contrast worth noting. For Mishler, painting is typically a joyful experience. That’s why she loves it; that’s why she loves to teach it. “The feeling I have when I start painting: You’re in a rhythm; you’re in the now, you’re in the present,” Mishler says. “Once you get there, that’s the feeling you want to continue to have. It doesn’t
go away. It’s a joyous thing and to be able to help facilitate that is very gratifying.” In the art classes she teaches, Mishler tells students to empty their minds and paint from the gut. That is the exact opposite approach she took to her book project. It was all about the transference of what was so heavy on her mind. THE PRESENT Mishler has hopes for a movie or docudrama based on the books, but there’s no rush. The work is timeless. That’s good. Her parents’ ordeal is as fresh as today’s headlines. That’s bad. “Unfortunately, their story is happening right now, all over the world,” Mishler says. “It’s so politically relevant. There is so much hatred coming out. I don’t know what more of a wake-up call we need.”
Do you know an Arts Hero? Someone who works tirelessly to strengthen, improve and enhance the arts in our community? Nominate him or her at onmediaaz.com
LISA
MISHLER A study in contrasts
Lisa Mishler’s most celebrated work is a study in contrasts. Joy and sorrow. Love and hate. Beauty and horror. Past and present.
arts hero sponsored by
Your local full service agency providing travel services for over 40 years
Mishler, an accomplished painter and a teacher at The Drawing School in Tucson, did the world a favor in producing books in 2015 and 2016 that pay tribute to her parents, who were holocaust survivors and heroes. The books, the results of a seven-year project that was very much a personal journey, are in holocaust museums in Washington, D.C., and Jerusalem. THE PAST The first book, L’Chayim - To Life, features Mishler’s paintings that express her father’s story about the holocaust as well as reflections from Rabbi Stephanie Aaron. In the second book, Zalman Ber, Mishler writes a complete story about her parents that required a deep dive into painful truth. That’s another contrast worth noting. For Mishler, painting is typically a joyful experience. That’s why she loves it; that’s why she loves to teach it. “The feeling I have when I start painting: You’re in a rhythm; you’re in the now, you’re in the present,” Mishler says. “Once you get there, that’s the feeling you want to continue to have. It doesn’t
go away. It’s a joyous thing and to be able to help facilitate that is very gratifying.” In the art classes she teaches, Mishler tells students to empty their minds and paint from the gut. That is the exact opposite approach she took to her book project. It was all about the transference of what was so heavy on her mind. THE PRESENT Mishler has hopes for a movie or docudrama based on the books, but there’s no rush. The work is timeless. That’s good. Her parents’ ordeal is as fresh as today’s headlines. That’s bad. “Unfortunately, their story is happening right now, all over the world,” Mishler says. “It’s so politically relevant. There is so much hatred coming out. I don’t know what more of a wake-up call we need.”
Do you know an Arts Hero? Someone who works tirelessly to strengthen, improve and enhance the arts in our community? Nominate him or her at onmediaaz.com
JOSH
SCHACHTER Amplifying voices through visual storytelling
Josh Schachter hears voices – real, authentic voices that speak to the essence of people and place. Everyone, he believes, should hear voices, especially those of young people. In his learned opinion, that’s how you build a connected community and grow seeds of change. For 20 years in Tucson, Schachter has amplified voices through visual storytelling.
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Your local full service agency providing travel services for over 40 years
“Stories help us build bridges, reconnect us to our own humanity and create a sense of empathy that is deeply needed, especially now,” Schachter says. “I’ve seen the power and fantastic strength of storytelling with my own eyes.” DOCUMENTING VOICES As a boy, Schachter learned he could tell stories through a camera. He later intertwined his passion for photography with his training in ecosystem management by documenting the relationship between people and place from the Ecuadorian Amazon to Madagascar. After completing graduate school at Yale, he was hired by the Sonoran Institute. He put his ear to the ground almost immediately. In 2001, Schachter started a photography program at the nonprofit VOICES, which hired youth to document Tucson’s stories. In 2006, he co-founded Finding Voice, a program at Catalina High School that used
digital storytelling and other art forms to support the literacy development of refugee and immigrant students. The students used their skills to reveal and address critical community issues with local partners. CONNECTING VOICES Schachter’s life work prepared him for his current position: founder and director of CommunityShare, a nonprofit that connects K-12 educators and students with community partners. Schachter calls it “a human library of human books.” CommunityShare’s online platform and offline network has connected nearly 10,000 students to practicable learning experiences. “It’s important that community members reconnect with the education system,” Schachter says. “By engaging with students and teachers, community members not only can bring real-world relevance to classrooms, but also can help young people imagine a future for themselves they perhaps never knew was possible.” We hear you.
Do you know an Arts Hero? Someone who works tirelessly to strengthen, improve and enhance the arts in our community? Nominate him or her at onmediaaz.com
JOSH
SCHACHTER Amplifying voices through visual storytelling
Josh Schachter hears voices – real, authentic voices that speak to the essence of people and place. Everyone, he believes, should hear voices, especially those of young people. In his learned opinion, that’s how you build a connected community and grow seeds of change. For 20 years in Tucson, Schachter has amplified voices through visual storytelling.
arts hero sponsored by
Your local full service agency providing travel services for over 40 years
“Stories help us build bridges, reconnect us to our own humanity and create a sense of empathy that is deeply needed, especially now,” Schachter says. “I’ve seen the power and fantastic strength of storytelling with my own eyes.” DOCUMENTING VOICES As a boy, Schachter learned he could tell stories through a camera. He later intertwined his passion for photography with his training in ecosystem management by documenting the relationship between people and place from the Ecuadorian Amazon to Madagascar. After completing graduate school at Yale, he was hired by the Sonoran Institute. He put his ear to the ground almost immediately. In 2001, Schachter started a photography program at the nonprofit VOICES, which hired youth to document Tucson’s stories. In 2006, he co-founded Finding Voice, a program at Catalina High School that used
digital storytelling and other art forms to support the literacy development of refugee and immigrant students. The students used their skills to reveal and address critical community issues with local partners. CONNECTING VOICES Schachter’s life work prepared him for his current position: founder and director of CommunityShare, a nonprofit that connects K-12 educators and students with community partners. Schachter calls it “a human library of human books.” CommunityShare’s online platform and offline network has connected nearly 10,000 students to practicable learning experiences. “It’s important that community members reconnect with the education system,” Schachter says. “By engaging with students and teachers, community members not only can bring real-world relevance to classrooms, but also can help young people imagine a future for themselves they perhaps never knew was possible.” We hear you.
Do you know an Arts Hero? Someone who works tirelessly to strengthen, improve and enhance the arts in our community? Nominate him or her at onmediaaz.com
LALO
BACA
From a good seed, a dance group flourishes
Lalo Baca is a proud papa extraordinaire.
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Your local full service agency providing travel services for over 40 years
To keep his children on a straight and narrow path, he seized upon their interest in dance to form Ballet Folklorico Tapatio. In the early days 22 years ago, a group of three couples (including three dancers who were his children) practiced on Baca’s porch. Its first performance was at a church in Bisbee. Today there are 168 dancers, ages 2 to 70. They practice in a South Tucson studio Baca built next to his upholstery shop, a business that earned Arizona Daily Star readers’ favorite honors this year. He dreams now of building a theater for dancers and musicians. MASTER GARDENER “I think I got a good seed,” Baca says. “I put it in the ground, and it grows and grows.” He is a master gardener. The dance group, with the ongoing nurturing and support of Baca, performs internationally and consistently wins awards for excellence and authenticity. But what has taken root in South Tucson is more than just an arts and culture
phenomenon. The dance studio is a community hub, and Baca is a father figure to many who visit it—children and adults. SOMEONE TO EMULATE “A lot of kids say, ‘I want to be like you’,” Baca says. The words catch in his throat, and his eyes leak just a little. That’s what happens when his heart overflows with love. Director Jose Luis Baca, one of the original Ballet Folklorico Tapatio dancers, is a proud son who knows his father is a pillar of the community. “He’s a hero,” Jose Luis says. The words catch in his throat, and his eyes leak just a little. “If it wasn’t for him, we wouldn’t be where we are today.”
Do you know an Arts Hero? Someone who works tirelessly to strengthen, improve and enhance the arts in our community? Nominate him or her at onmediaaz.com
LALO
BACA
From a good seed, a dance group flourishes
Lalo Baca is a proud papa extraordinaire.
arts hero sponsored by
Your local full service agency providing travel services for over 40 years
To keep his children on a straight and narrow path, he seized upon their interest in dance to form Ballet Folklorico Tapatio. In the early days 22 years ago, a group of three couples (including three dancers who were his children) practiced on Baca’s porch. Its first performance was at a church in Bisbee. Today there are 168 dancers, ages 2 to 70. They practice in a South Tucson studio Baca built next to his upholstery shop, a business that earned Arizona Daily Star readers’ favorite honors this year. He dreams now of building a theater for dancers and musicians. MASTER GARDENER “I think I got a good seed,” Baca says. “I put it in the ground, and it grows and grows.” He is a master gardener. The dance group, with the ongoing nurturing and support of Baca, performs internationally and consistently wins awards for excellence and authenticity. But what has taken root in South Tucson is more than just an arts and culture
phenomenon. The dance studio is a community hub, and Baca is a father figure to many who visit it—children and adults. SOMEONE TO EMULATE “A lot of kids say, ‘I want to be like you’,” Baca says. The words catch in his throat, and his eyes leak just a little. That’s what happens when his heart overflows with love. Director Jose Luis Baca, one of the original Ballet Folklorico Tapatio dancers, is a proud son who knows his father is a pillar of the community. “He’s a hero,” Jose Luis says. The words catch in his throat, and his eyes leak just a little. “If it wasn’t for him, we wouldn’t be where we are today.”
Do you know an Arts Hero? Someone who works tirelessly to strengthen, improve and enhance the arts in our community? Nominate him or her at onmediaaz.com
PHOTO BY AMY IJAMS PHOTOGRAPHY
MARYANN
GREEN
Multi-talented teacher finds creative happy place Maryann Green is a theater teacher, director, producer and occasional performer. All of those talents help her excel at advancing Tucson’s theater scene, particularly at its burgeoning fringe.
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For Green, freewheeling fringe theater and other unconventional efforts that give artists and audiences opportunities to connect during live performances are the basis of her creative happy place. CREATING SPACES Green is executive director of the Tucson Fringe Festival (celebrating its ninth annual event this month), organizer of the Beer with the Bard pub crawl and producer of Live Theatre Workshop’s Etcetera series, featuring late-night avantgarde works. All of this is in addition to being a longtime theater teacher at Rincon and University high schools and part of Female StoryTellers. “What I have decided I do best is create space for other people to do what they do best,” Green says. “That falls into everything that I’m doing. For my teaching, I’m giving my students the
freedom to express themselves and learn about themselves and to explore identities and relationships. With [the fringe festival and Etcetera], I’m giving artists space to create things that nobody else is giving them space to do.” EXPANDING OPPORTUNITIES Green came to Tucson 1996 for the narrow purpose of earning a University of Arizona degree to teach theater. By chance and to her delight, Tucson served up fringe and a whole new world she loves exploring. She doesn’t know what’s next, but she’ll continue to take her chances with the Old Pueblo. “Tucson has been very good to me, giving me opportunities to do what I love to do,” Green says. “I’m just going to let Tucson show me what to do next.” Do you know an Arts Hero? Someone who works tirelessly to strengthen, improve and enhance the arts in our community? Nominate him or her at onmediaaz.com
Your local full service agency providing travel services for over 40 years
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11/22/19 3:47 PM
PHOTO BY AMY IJAMS PHOTOGRAPHY
MARYANN
GREEN
Multi-talented teacher finds creative happy place Maryann Green is a theater teacher, director, producer and occasional performer. All of those talents help her excel at advancing Tucson’s theater scene, particularly at its burgeoning fringe.
arts hero sponsored by
For Green, freewheeling fringe theater and other unconventional efforts that give artists and audiences opportunities to connect during live performances are the basis of her creative happy place. CREATING SPACES Green is executive director of the Tucson Fringe Festival (celebrating its ninth annual event this month), organizer of the Beer with the Bard pub crawl and producer of Live Theatre Workshop’s Etcetera series, featuring late-night avantgarde works. All of this is in addition to being a longtime theater teacher at Rincon and University high schools and part of Female StoryTellers. “What I have decided I do best is create space for other people to do what they do best,” Green says. “That falls into everything that I’m doing. For my teaching, I’m giving my students the
freedom to express themselves and learn about themselves and to explore identities and relationships. With [the fringe festival and Etcetera], I’m giving artists space to create things that nobody else is giving them space to do.” EXPANDING OPPORTUNITIES Green came to Tucson 1996 for the narrow purpose of earning a University of Arizona degree to teach theater. By chance and to her delight, Tucson served up fringe and a whole new world she loves exploring. She doesn’t know what’s next, but she’ll continue to take her chances with the Old Pueblo. “Tucson has been very good to me, giving me opportunities to do what I love to do,” Green says. “I’m just going to let Tucson show me what to do next.” Do you know an Arts Hero? Someone who works tirelessly to strengthen, improve and enhance the arts in our community? Nominate him or her at onmediaaz.com
Your local full service agency providing travel services for over 40 years
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11/22/19 3:47 PM
CHIEKO
IMADA
Learning, and teaching, life lessons through ballet By the time Chieko Imada arrived in Tucson in the mid-1980s, she already was an accomplished professional dancer, leading the confident, purposeful life she was trained to live from the time she started ballet lessons in Tokyo at age 8.
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Soon Tucson settled into Imada, turning her reality into a decades-long dream that she is in no hurry to see end. “I’m just so amazed,” says Imada, assistant artistic director and director of educational outreach at Ballet Tucson. “You know, Tucson is not a big city. To be able to continue what I love to do and to be able to explore in this community for 30 years and hopefully inspire people and children interested in the dance world, I’m very thrilled and appreciative.” TRADING CONCRETE FOR CACTUS Imada went through a personal transformation when she moved from what she calls the “concrete life” of a city teeming with people to the quiet company of cactuses.
“I always tried to experience my true feelings when I was performing, but when I came here I became more mature in a way,” Imada says. “[The desert’s beauty] helped me to become a better artist.” STUFF OF LIFE Imada has sealed her artistic legacy in Tucson with years of teaching, choreography and outreach programs, including Putting Your Best Foot Forward with Ballet Tucson for students in Title 1 schools. “To share what I learned through my life through dancing and then extend it to young children is such a joy,” Imada says. “I believe ballet helps with life learning—not only creativity but patience and discipline, all the important stuff in their life.” The important stuff that helps make dreams come true. Do you know an Arts Hero? Someone who works tirelessly to strengthen, improve and enhance the arts in our community? Nominate him or her at onmediaaz.com
Your local full service agency providing travel services for over 40 years
CHIEKO
IMADA
Learning, and teaching, life lessons through ballet By the time Chieko Imada arrived in Tucson in the mid-1980s, she already was an accomplished professional dancer, leading the confident, purposeful life she was trained to live from the time she started ballet lessons in Tokyo at age 8.
arts hero sponsored by
Soon Tucson settled into Imada, turning her reality into a decades-long dream that she is in no hurry to see end. “I’m just so amazed,” says Imada, assistant artistic director and director of educational outreach at Ballet Tucson. “You know, Tucson is not a big city. To be able to continue what I love to do and to be able to explore in this community for 30 years and hopefully inspire people and children interested in the dance world, I’m very thrilled and appreciative.” TRADING CONCRETE FOR CACTUS Imada went through a personal transformation when she moved from what she calls the “concrete life” of a city teeming with people to the quiet company of cactuses.
“I always tried to experience my true feelings when I was performing, but when I came here I became more mature in a way,” Imada says. “[The desert’s beauty] helped me to become a better artist.” STUFF OF LIFE Imada has sealed her artistic legacy in Tucson with years of teaching, choreography and outreach programs, including Putting Your Best Foot Forward with Ballet Tucson for students in Title 1 schools. “To share what I learned through my life through dancing and then extend it to young children is such a joy,” Imada says. “I believe ballet helps with life learning—not only creativity but patience and discipline, all the important stuff in their life.” The important stuff that helps make dreams come true. Do you know an Arts Hero? Someone who works tirelessly to strengthen, improve and enhance the arts in our community? Nominate him or her at onmediaaz.com
Your local full service agency providing travel services for over 40 years
BRENT
GIBBS
Known for fight choreography, valued as a director and teacher If you’re watching a live performance in Tucson where a scene calls for violence—a fight with knives or swords, for example—chances are you’re looking at the choreography of Brent Gibbs, a battle-tested theater professional who thankfully shows no sign of throwing in the towel.
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Now that we’ve got all the fight metaphors out of the way, let’s talk about what really animates Gibbs, who has earned elite status in the rarefied realm of stage combat. DIRECTOR AND TEACHER “Everyone becomes fixated on the stage combat because it’s the most exotic thing that I do,” Gibbs says. “But I think I make much more of an impact as a director. I think I make much more of an impact as a teacher.” Gibbs has taught theater at the University of Arizona for 29 years and was artistic director at Arizona Repertory Theatre for many years before happily handing the reins this season to Hank Stratton. As a professor, he’ll continue to direct student plays, including the production this month of The Two Gentlemen of Verona.
FIGHT DIRECTOR On the stage combat front, Gibbs is resident fight director at the Rogue Theater and regularly supports other productions in Tucson. Gibbs stresses that his work in theater spanning several decades is far from done. But he’s also at a point where he does look back. “If I were to articulate a legacy, which I have never done, I would hope it would be that I was able to bring people together to create good theater that was entertaining and educational and that affected people and maybe made them think,” Gibbs says, “and that I helped students learn what it is they want to do and to be able to make a life doing that.” Do you know an Arts Hero? Someone who works tirelessly to strengthen, improve and enhance the arts in our community? Nominate him or her at onmediaaz.com
Your local full service agency providing travel services for over 40 years
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2/6/20 2:52 PM
BRENT
GIBBS
Known for fight choreography, valued as a director and teacher If you’re watching a live performance in Tucson where a scene calls for violence—a fight with knives or swords, for example—chances are you’re looking at the choreography of Brent Gibbs, a battle-tested theater professional who thankfully shows no sign of throwing in the towel.
arts hero sponsored by
Now that we’ve got all the fight metaphors out of the way, let’s talk about what really animates Gibbs, who has earned elite status in the rarefied realm of stage combat. DIRECTOR AND TEACHER “Everyone becomes fixated on the stage combat because it’s the most exotic thing that I do,” Gibbs says. “But I think I make much more of an impact as a director. I think I make much more of an impact as a teacher.” Gibbs has taught theater at the University of Arizona for 29 years and was artistic director at Arizona Repertory Theatre for many years before happily handing the reins this season to Hank Stratton. As a professor, he’ll continue to direct student plays, including the production this month of The Two Gentlemen of Verona.
FIGHT DIRECTOR On the stage combat front, Gibbs is resident fight director at the Rogue Theater and regularly supports other productions in Tucson. Gibbs stresses that his work in theater spanning several decades is far from done. But he’s also at a point where he does look back. “If I were to articulate a legacy, which I have never done, I would hope it would be that I was able to bring people together to create good theater that was entertaining and educational and that affected people and maybe made them think,” Gibbs says, “and that I helped students learn what it is they want to do and to be able to make a life doing that.” Do you know an Arts Hero? Someone who works tirelessly to strengthen, improve and enhance the arts in our community? Nominate him or her at onmediaaz.com
Your local full service agency providing travel services for over 40 years
ArtsHero-TUC-2020-MAR-BrentGibbs.indd All Pages
2/6/20 2:52 PM
PHOTO BY CLAUDIA JOHNSTONE
CHRISTOPHER
CANO
Studio program creates stage for young artists to blossom Christopher Cano calls himself a “go big or go home kind of guy.” A transformative Arizona Opera studio is what happens when he does both.
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In 2017, Cano left the Manhattan School of Music, where he taught for 17 years, to become head of music at Arizona Opera and director of the Marion Roose Pullin Arizona Opera Studio. Back home, where he had received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in piano performance from The University of Arizona, he found the professional opportunity of his dreams.
I’m very lucky that I have a team [at Arizona Opera] that understands and appreciates the importance of that.” Understanding and appreciation are growing. In the last application round, Cano reviewed 552 candidates. The highly competitive program accepted five—three singers, one pianist and one assistant stage director. SHOWTIME This month, studio artists will showcase their talents in Scenes in the Wittcoff performances in Phoenix and Tucson. Cano was born in the former and raised in the latter.
STUDIO PROGRAM In his freelance work, Cano noticed that young artists often were relegated to minor roles. In his two-season studio program, they participate in at least six shows. By the second season, they own the stage in the manner only people with experience own it.
“To be able to come home and go back to my roots was always something I had hoped would happen,” Cano says. “It’s an incredible journey, and I couldn’t be happier with where we are as a program and where the company is at large.”
“The only way any young artist is going to learn how to do the job is to actually do the job,” Cano says. “It really was imperative to take risks, and
Do you know an Arts Hero? Someone who works tirelessly to strengthen, improve and enhance the arts in our community? Nominate him or her at onmediaaz.com
PHOTO BY CLAUDIA JOHNSTONE
CHRISTOPHER
CANO
Studio program creates stage for young artists to blossom Christopher Cano calls himself a “go big or go home kind of guy.” A transformative Arizona Opera studio is what happens when he does both.
arts hero sponsored by
Your local full service agency providing travel services for over 40 years
In 2017, Cano left the Manhattan School of Music, where he taught for 17 years, to become head of music at Arizona Opera and director of the Marion Roose Pullin Arizona Opera Studio. Back home, where he had received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in piano performance from The University of Arizona, he found the professional opportunity of his dreams.
I’m very lucky that I have a team [at Arizona Opera] that understands and appreciates the importance of that.” Understanding and appreciation are growing. In the last application round, Cano reviewed 552 candidates. The highly competitive program accepted five—three singers, one pianist and one assistant stage director. SHOWTIME This month, studio artists will showcase their talents in Scenes in the Wittcoff performances in Phoenix and Tucson. Cano was born in the former and raised in the latter.
STUDIO PROGRAM In his freelance work, Cano noticed that young artists often were relegated to minor roles. In his two-season studio program, they participate in at least six shows. By the second season, they own the stage in the manner only people with experience own it.
“To be able to come home and go back to my roots was always something I had hoped would happen,” Cano says. “It’s an incredible journey, and I couldn’t be happier with where we are as a program and where the company is at large.”
“The only way any young artist is going to learn how to do the job is to actually do the job,” Cano says. “It really was imperative to take risks, and
Do you know an Arts Hero? Someone who works tirelessly to strengthen, improve and enhance the arts in our community? Nominate him or her at onmediaaz.com
These eight heroes were nominated and selected by the community for their hard work and dedication to the arts.
CONGRATULATIONS to the 2019-20 Arts Heroes
Lalo Baca Ballet Folklorico Tapatio
Josh Schachter CommunityShare
Lisa Mishler The Drawing School
Norm Testa Catalina Foothills High School
Christopher Cano Arizona Opera
Chieko Imada Ballet Tucson
Maryann Green Tucson Fringe Festival
Brent Gibbs University of Arizona
arts hero
ON Media thanks Bon Voyage Travel for supporting the Tucson 2019-20 Arts Hero program. To find out more about these Arts Heroes or to nominate the next Arts Hero, please visit: onmediaaz.com/arts-hero
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