Raring to Go

Heart of the Matter

Leaders envision big encore to a big arts season

By Alex Gallagher

Last season at the Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts was unlike anything that program director Abbey Messmer and Scottsdale Arts CEO Gerd Wuestemann had seen in their careers.

“It’s been a roller coaster ride for everyone in their personal lives and their work lives, including us,” Messmer says. “We’ve grown together along the way and adapted in a lot of ways, and we were able to stay open the entire year.”

Despite the challenges of producing shows as the world navigated its way through a pandemic, the Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts staged 207 events through June 15.

Wuestemann says that number “for any performing arts venue to execute in the best of times is a really heavy lift. Our crew has worked their tails off, and it was not the best of times. COVID-19 stuck around for a lot longer than we anticipated, and our team worked through really difficult conditions.”

Wuestemann and his staff followed venues across the nation in requiring patrons to

Among the highlights of Scottsdale’s coming arts season is completion of outdoor spaces around the Civic Center. Recently Gerd Wuestemann, president and CEO of Scottsdale Arts, checked out the project with Brett Elsasser, project manager from Willmeng

Construction. (David Minton/Staff Photographer)

provide proof of a negative COVID-19 test or proof of full vaccination to attend shows, staying the course until late spring.

“We’ve had an amazing season,” Messmer says. “I guess the biggest takeaway is to persevere and collaborate with your partners.”

Now she, Wuestemann and the rest of the staff are planning a big encore to that season.

Messmer is anxious to kick off one of the biggest seasons of her career with showstopping acts like the Temptations, Preservation Hall Jazz Band, an appearance from Broadway star Jessica Vosk, the return of ukulele strummer Jake Shimabukuro, as well as acts like Mariachi Sol De Mexico and “Assisted Living: The Musical.”

However, it is the events planned for outside the performing arts center that have Wuestemann and Messmer the most excited.

Canal Convergence is expected to be bigger in celebration of its 10th anniversary. The Civic Center is set to finish its renovation in January. Once it’s complete, Scottsdale Arts is expected to announce another lineup of acts and the return of Sunday A’Fair for the first time since 2020.

“So, this year’s Canal Convergence will be extra special and we allocated even more of a budget for the event,” Wuestemann says.

“We have also reached out to some of the artists that were part of the very first Canal Convergence back 10 years ago, and oftentimes those artists that we premiered back then have used this as a launchpad for their public art careers and have now become

some of the most celebrated artists in their public art sphere.”

Because of this, Wuestemann expects this year’s festivities to attract over 300,000 people.

“Last year, I think we drew almost 300,000 people to the canal, I hope to think we’re going to get back to that level and probably exceeded this year for the 10th anniversary,” he says.

Not long after Canal Convergence, Wuestemann will race to put the final touches on the Civic Center, where crews just began laying concrete.

Construction has shifted near the Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts and Museum of Contemporary Art, forcing patrons to enter SMoCA through the staff entrance on the north side of the building and enter the performing arts center on the south side until construction on the concourse concludes in August.

Once the dust settles from over a year of construction, Wuestemann is excited to kick off outdoor events just in time for the Super Bowl in Glendale on February 12.

“On January 22, we’re reopening outdoor spaces at Civic Center,” he says. “The ESPN sports broadcasts will happen from the edge of our new Civic Center. It will set up in Old Town right at Main Street with the Civic Center in the background.”

After the Super Bowl leaves town, Wueste-

Mariachi Sol de México de José Hernández will return to present its “A Merry-Achi

Christmas” show on December 17. (Mariachi Sol de México de José Hernández/Submitted)

mann is excited to keep the good times rolling on his newly constructed stages.

“With the outdoor stages coming into their own as well, we will have additional opportunities to bring big productions outside,” he says.

Messmer says the increase in stages will lead to an up in her staff size.

“We’re expecting to increase our staff a little bit and be very busy with presenting events and renting the space,” she says.

Although the 2021-22 season has closed its curtains, Wuestemann and Messmer feel the past season will be reflected on positively and they are anxious for acts to take the various stages at the Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts and on the Civic Center lawn.

“This past season is one we’ll always look back with a special place in our hearts because we were able to do so much this year and bring so many joyful moments back to people,” Wuestemann says. 