From the Director - Phoenix Art Museum Winter 2019

Dear Friends,

Since I moved to the Valley of the Sun more than three years ago, fall and winter have become my favorite seasons.

Unlike the time I spent on the East Coast, fall and winter are our busiest time of year, when our city comes alive and when Phoenix Art Museum is once again activated by new exhibitions, vibrant and engaging new programs, and exciting events, like last month’s pARTy in the Garden.

As our year draws to a close, I’d like to take the opportunity to reflect on what we have accomplished together. I am really proud of the fact that during our 2018 fiscal year, which concluded on June 30, we welcomed nearly 270,000 guests to Phoenix Art Museum, including nearly 50,000 guests younger than 18.

What’s even more compelling, however, is that in addition to these guests, the Museum served more than 317,000 additional members of our community through on-site and off-site engagement. But what does a figure like that include?

It includes more than 200,000 visitors who experienced our offsite art installations at CityScape, when they came downtown to skate in the temporary ice rink on Central between Washington and Jefferson. They enjoyed indoor and outdoor installations by artists and live music and dance performances at our satellite location, PhxArt Project: CityScape.

It also includes more than 13,000 students who enjoyed classroom visits from our wonderful Museum Docents, who helped expand their knowledge and understanding of art and the humanities. And it includes nearly 12,000 adults in senior centers, assisted living facilities, and other community spaces who were visited by Docents in an effort to bring arts enrichment activities directly into our communities.

Including our 1.5 million visitors to the web in the last year, as well as our more than 110,000 followers on social media, we had more than 2 million touchpoints with our community in FY18, through on-site, off-site, and online engagement.

I am so proud of the hard work that the staff, Board of Trustees, affiliate groups, and volunteer corps have done to continue to expand our reach into the community. I am also deeply grateful to each of you, for the generosity of your support that makes these accomplishments possible. I hope that each of you will take an opportunity to spend some time at the Museum this season and see the ways in which your gifts bring our Museum to life. We couldn’t do it without you.

With gratitude,

Amada Cruz

The Sybil Harrington Director and CEO Phoenix Art Museum