The Sedona Main Street
Program is proud to nominate the first annual “Sedona Arts & Heritage
Days” (SAHD) activities as the state’s Best Special Event.
Six Sedona arts and
culture non-profit organizations came together to create this festival.
The event was a collaboration to integrate several existing group’s
programs into a larger performing and visual arts that included local
history and heritage themes. The event was held on May 4-8, 2005 after
one year of planning. All the events were held in the Sedona Main
Street District with the exception of the school events and one concert
(an available venue size issue).
The SAHD began on
Wednesday with in-school concerts by the award winning Fry Street String
Quartet. The Fry performed at the 3 public schools in Sedona where they
also enjoyed lunch with students afterwards which gave time to talk.
Their informal performances were engaging and commanded the attention of
student’s grades 4th -High School Seniors.
On Thursday, SAHD
partnered with the Sedona Gallery Association’s monthly “Thursday
Evening in the Galleries” when the Fry Quartet offered three
‘informances’ (Informative Performances) at the Sedona Arts Center, The
Cottage Gallery, Gifts & Garden and Goldenstein Galleries attracting
many who had never experienced Chamber Music Sedona’s presentations, nor
the Sedona Arts and Heritage Days, attracting broad attention for the
next three days’ events.
On Friday, the Fry
provided a free outdoor noontime community concert at Tlaquepaque Arts &
Crafts Village. An evening opening reception for SAHD was held at Los
Abrigados Resort. Guests were treated to a performance by Grammy
winning guitarist, luthier and performer, William Eaton, who was joined
by Native American flutist Mary Redhouse and percussionist Will Clipman.
This special evening began with a Native American blessing of the
festival by Havasupai Medicine Man Uqualla, who later joined the three
musicians in an improvisational original piece incorporating music,
song, and inspiration. The audience embraced and was one with this
once-in-a-lifetime experience.
Saturday and Sunday
concerts and heritage activities were hosted at the Sedona Heritage
Museum. The collaboration required was showcased on these two days as
representatives from all the partnering groups provided a different
experience for attendees. Saturday evening the Fry Street Quartet
performed in concert as the Chamber Music Sedona season closer.
Concerts over the two
days included Flagstaff Symphony principal musicians as the Oak Creek
Brass, the 2004 Telluride Bluegrass Festival award-winning Burnett
Family Bluegrass, the [A] List Jazz Quintet featuring a Sedona Jazz on
the Rocks Youth Band member invited to ‘sit in’, and the Fry Quartet on
their own and in an “Apple Jam” session with Flagstaff country western
group Custom Country.
The Sedona Historical
Society arranged a staged ‘gunfight’ as comic relief, and brought
old-time crafts demonstrators to the Historical Park, coordinated a
theatrical narrative of Verde Valley history by actor Michael Peach, and
the “world debut” of an original musical play about Sedona Schnebly, our
town’s namesake.
The Sedona Arts Center
made arrangements for a working artist to do their thing, on-site each
day. Canyon Moon Theater arranged for costumed historic enactors to
interact with attendees. Sedona Jazz on the Rocks coordinated the [A]
List Jazz Quartet performance. Chamber Music Sedona held their season
finale Mother’s Day Chamber Music Brunch at the Sedona Apple Barn.
This event required
the coordination of a great many volunteers provided by the Sedona
Historical Museum and Chamber Music Sedona. Local businesses were
engaged to assist with promotion, lodging, food - and as a ‘park ‘n
ride’ venue, the Sedona Trolley transported guests to the Museum. The
Civilian Air Patrol cadets were given a booth for soft drinks sales and
some of the cadets assisted with traffic management duties.
The purpose of this
event, especially in its first year, was not to be a fund-raiser. The
budget for the event was $20,400 and the event made a profit of just
under $1000. In addition to cash, approximately $4000 of in-kind
contributions were donated. Grants from the City of Sedona Arts &
Culture Commission ($1750) and the Arizona Commission on the Arts
($7025) were pursued and received. The economic impact to the community
is much harder to analyze since attendees were not surveyed as residents
vs. out-of-towners. We do know that over 300 people attended the
Gallery Walk evening, approximately 700 students were beneficiaries of
the school concerts, and almost 1100 members of the public attended the
different components of SAHD.
For all these reasons
we nominate “Sedona Arts & Heritage Days” for Arizona’s Best Special
Event for 2006
