As Phoenix continues to grow in diversity, organizations are using arts to represent the variety of cultures while reaching out to non-English speaking communities.
The Phoenix Office of Arts and Culture has recognized the increase in non-English speakers and is taking measures to become more accessible for both the communities and the artists themselves.
“There are so many artists, and so many cultural workers who are not white who live in the city and in the state,” said Sarah Leon Moreno, the office’s grants and community engagement director leading its equity, diversity and inclusion work.
According to Data USA, 37.9% of Phoenix citizens are speakers of a non-English language, which is higher than the national average of 22%.
Funding has historically gone to white-led institutions with white-centric art forms or interpretations, according to Moreno.
“It takes a lot of time and a lot of strategic thinking to undo a lot of that and to start making funding accessible to people who aren’t English speaking or who aren’t white,” Moreno said.
Making arts funding more accessible
While funding has typically been allocated to artists in the central city, the office is working to acknowledge creative businesses located in surrounding valleys. Because living in downtown Phoenix can be so expensive, this helps to avoid alienating artists with less financial resources, allowing their work the same platforms.
The office translated its entire grants portal into Spanish, including its buttons, notes, guidelines, grant forms and instructions. “You have to think about if every step is in Spanish so that someone doesn’t feel like they don’t belong within the process,” Moreno said.
Focus groups of artists of color gave advice to the office on how to approach application and outreach, and in a recent grant program, over 200 people applied, 58% of which were Black, Indigenous or people of color, according to Moreno.
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“Artists of color are more likely to apply for funding if multiple organizations and artists they trusted had recommended them,” Moreno said. “It’s not how strong our social media is, it’s how genuine our relationships are with the community.”
Now, the next steps for the office will be to develop trust with Spanish-speaking communities so they are interested in applying for grant funding in the first place.
As of 2019, 58.2% of Phoenix residents were born outside of the United States, which is higher than the national average of 34%. In 2018, the percentage of foreign-born citizens in Phoenix was 19%, meaning that the rate has been increasing, according to Data USA.
Showcasing diversity through different art mediums
With this growth of foreign-born citizens, Phoenix organizations are using arts in a variety of mediums to represent those individuals. One way is through performance art and expression, both of which are key elements to live theater at the Phoenix Theater Company.
The company has implemented several procedures to ensure inclusivity and diversity within its programs.
It starts early on in the program selection process to decide what stories will be told, and how those can be used to uplift diverse communities. The theatre selects shows that strengthen women, people of color or LGBT people, according to producing artistic director Michael Barnard.
In January 2020, the theater produced “¡Americano!,” a musical based on a true story, following a young boy who discovers his undocumented status when he tries to enlist in the Marines.
“It’s an incredibly inspirational story of courage and desire and need and it really puts a spotlight on what was happening to the DACA population,” Barnard said. The theatre is also working on producing “The Color Purple,” with a choreographer and director of color to expand the diversity of its talent pool, according to Barnard.
“Art offers opportunity for communication among people whether it’s before the show, intermission, afterwards or driving home,” Barnard said. “It inspires conversation, intellectual thoughts, and it allows new voices to be heard.”
While the theatre specializes in performing arts, the Heard Museum is another stage for diverse arts, and reflects Native American culture through its historical exhibits.
The Heard Museum shapes all of its exhibitions with the first-person voice by using Native American advisors and guest curators, according to Dr. Ann Marshall, director of research.
“We are very much engaged with showing the work of living artists,” Marshall said. “Native American advisors say to us, ‘tell people we are still here.’”
The Heard Museum worked with more than 100 Native advisors and artists to install a permanent collection displaying themes of family, community, land and language titled “HOME: Native People in the Southwest.”
While most patrons attend a museum to think of the past, Marshall said the museum values showing live vibrant art by Native people.
“It touches people’s hearts in a way that they remember,” Marshall said. “It causes them to think more deeply about some issues that are facing us in the present, and that we have gone through in the past.”
The Heard Museum has opened an exhibition called “Remembering the Future,” which consists of a painting, sculpture and a variety of other media elements to showcase 100 years of inspiring art from its collection.
Marshall said she constantly learns new perspectives at the Heard Museum while working with different artists. “When you have artists speaking directly to your visitors, you see their excitement and ways in which comments relate to their own lives,” Marshall said.
Another Phoenix arts diversity program is the mural contest announced by Artlink Inc. in partnership with the Phoenix Office of Arts and Culture and Park Central. They stated the goal for the mural is to “celebrate the spirit and identity of Phoenix’s Hispanic heritage,” which is exactly what contestant and finalist Darrin Armijo-Wardle strives to achieve for the piece.
“I want to try to say something about the history, but not try to be cynical about it like I’m presenting some answer,” Armijo-Wardle said. “There’s resistance and triumph in Latin communities throughout history, so I want to honor those people.”
However, he also stressed the importance of holistic representation, saying he wanted to clarify that his plans for the mural would zero in on the parts of Hispanic culture that are lacking in trendy art and media.
“I looked up Hispanic heritage month on Google, and it’s dreadful,” Armijo-Wardle said. “It’s tragic because when you actually see the very specific elements of cultures, you see such a missed opportunity to talk about all Latin groups,” he said. “So that’s where I’m headed, I want to do a nod to Phoenix and expand it to include as many Latinos as possible.”
Local artists fight for scarce resources
Armijo-Wardle said there is still a broader context for how difficult it is for other artists of color to find similar funding and exposure.
“[The government assistance programs] are huge, but the vast majority of artists like me aren’t going to get anything from that,” he said.
He addressed the “harsh reality” that the programs’ advertisements differ greatly from what artists actually receive. “There’s not enough time for working-class people to go through the process, it sounds easy but it is not accessible to most artists,” Armijo-Wardle said.
He explained that the vetting processes prevent most artists from even reaching the level of financial aid. “It’s not nearly enough,” he said. “Even if I do get the money, it’s going to help me, but how many other people will it reach?”
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Armijo-Wardle argues that it is a larger issue of accessibility and that the mass of artists far outweighs the number of programs, excluding those people from the conversation altogether.
“There’s all this talk of arts grants from the government, or how there’s more money than ever, but I don’t know a single person who’s not involved in an educational institution who benefits from any of that,” Armijo-Wardle said.
Still, with all of the measures currently set in place to support diverse art in Phoenix, artists like Armijo-Wardle hope for more than just platforms and outreach, and for more efforts towards universal financial help.
Contact the reporters at screvelt@asu.edu and mstaubs@asu.edu.
