Episode 91: Where To Experience Culture and Art in Tempe, Arizona

Danielle Desir: Welcome to The Thought Card, a podcast about travel and money. Where planning, saving and creativity leads to affording travel, building wealth and paying off debt. We are the financial savvy travelers.

Located in the heart of metropolitan Phoenix, Tempe, Arizona is a college town with a personality all its own. With 330 days of sunshine each year and the average temperature around 87°. Tempe is a fun, refreshingly off the destination that embraces an active lifestyle and laid back atmosphere. It's also a place where community matters. Splash around on a lake, explore miles of hiking and biking trails, chow down on delicious eats and not so typical treats cheer on your favorite sports team or grab a cold one at one of the many craft breweries. But what you may not have realized is that Tempe has a vibrant arts and cultural scene. From performing arts to contemporary art and even the natural beauty of the Sonoran Desert. In this episode, we're going to explore three Tempe attractions. I hope that after listening to this episode, Tempe Arizona will be on your radar as destination to visit and you'll add these specific arts and cultural attractions to your travel itinerary.

A special thank you to Tempe Tourism for making this episode possible.

First up is Desert Botanical Garden, a living museum which showcases over 50,000 desert plants in beautiful outdoor exhibits.

Dana Terrazas: Hi there, my name is Dana Terrazas and I'm the Director of Marketing and Communications at Desert Botanical Garden. The Desert Botanical Garden is like definitely one of those icons here in the valley. So it's just a beautiful desert oasis with 50,000 plants from around the world. So, we are considered a living museum. So we have our beautiful native plants on display from across the world. We have thematic trails. But we also have so many different art exhibitions events throughout the year, opportunities to engage in educational opportunities for families all the way through lifelong learning. So it's just a really great place to come explore the desert and really experience these different types of programs that the garden has to offer.

Danielle Desir: If folks have never heard of a living museum, what does that term mean?

Dana Terrazas: Indoor museums might have artwork on the walls in paintings and things like that. But we have asession plants. So our plants are part of a collection. So we have 50,000 plants in our collection. And those are plants from the Sonoran Desert, but they also come from across the world. So we have plants from Africa and Australia and all different communities and environments. And we have some here in a living museum and outdoor venue where the plants are alive and very much part of a museum collection.

Danielle Desir: All right, thank you for that explanation. So the garden features five thematic trails. Do you have a favorite trail?

Dana Terrazas: Oh gosh, it's so hard to pick a favorite. I think it definitely depends on time of year for some of them. So we have a beautiful wildflower trail. So that definitely is in bloom and multiple different times of the year. But spring season that is just gorgeous and beautiful. And it leads you to our butterfly pavilions. So we offer a fall and a spring butterfly exhibitions. So you get to wander this beautiful trail filled with all these different desert blooms and then kind of immerse yourself into our butterfly calories. So that's amazing. And then I have to say our heritage trail, it's just beautiful too. So it's the most historic part of the garden. If you've been here or not, you might have seen pictures of our card owns. They're these beautiful tall cactus something, there's the world's, but they're actually card owns that were planted 75 years ago, right when the garden was being built. So it's these just beautiful practice and you sort of walk under them and go to the most historic part of the garden. So I love that material as well. Is there a particular order that you'd recommend to hit the trail or it doesn't necessarily matter necessarily. We see most visitors need about 90 minutes. And of course, you know, you could knock it out in 30 if you're just kind of quit taking some pictures for instagram or if you'd really like to spend the day, you can absolutely do that. But we have something called r desert portals. So as you enter the garden, that's an experience and it's stuff that's just kind of sets the stage for what you're about to see. But at the portal you can kind of choose your destination. So whichever trail you'd like to start on, there's a way to get back to the center and kind of then experienced the other trails. So it really depends on your mood for the day. I don't even want to sort of catch first different times of the year. We might have our catches clubhouse. It's available for Children open. So if you've got little ones with, you might want to hit the kids activities first before they get a little sleepy. If you've got more time to explore, you might start at the back of the garden and work your way out and with a nice lunch or cocktail.

Danielle Desir: That sounds like so much fun And I'm like imagining what it would look like. So amazing. Amazing. So there are over 400 rare and endangered species at the garden. What are some of the unique plants you'd like listeners to know about?

Dana Terrazas: So if you haven't been to Arizona or the garden before obviously and icon for the valley is the Saguaro cactus. So we have swirls throughout the garden which are beautiful to see. We have something in the back of the garden that we refer to as our beauty, which is a beauty here in napa go park and that is filled with beautiful Saguaro cactus. So to be able to experience that is, you know, very special to be able to see it? But then throughout the grounds, like I mentioned, there's 50,000 plans. It's hard to kind of pick your favorites, but we have beautiful prickly pear that bloom throughout the different seasons. Our patios, we have the largest agave collection in the world. So outside of our cactus collection, which we have at least 15,000 cactus specifically types of cactus in our collection, we have about 200 jobs that are rare and endangered also on display. So being able to see those are just amazing and then maybe a little lesser known planet for me, it feels like a plant that you'd see in a dr Seuss book. It's called a bosom tree. So they're really fun and definitely distinct when you see them and we have about five in the garden. So it's sort of like a little treasure hunt to find the five version trees I think. So, the garden features a variety of exhibits. Can you tell us more about them Now? The garden exists not only to kind of display these beautiful, rare and endangered plants and keep them protected for future generations, but we want to be a compelling attraction for our community. So one of the things we've been doing for about 15 years is displaying specific artwork in the garden and we're really excited this particular year. We're bringing back glass artist dale chihuly who is known across the world for his beautiful blast displays in museums, He has his museum and gallery space in Seattle Washington or if you've been in las Vegas, have you seen the beautiful ceilings in the bellagio resort? Those our dale chihuly's work. So he will be back. This is the third time the garden will present him. We will have multiple installations within the garden trails, but we'll also have an interior gallery as well. And what's extra special this year is we're partnering up with our friends that frankly wright's Taliesin West and there will also be pieces of jail Tripoli's work available on site. So you have to come see it at the garden but go see it at Taliesin West too. So that's just an example of some of the work that we present. But we've had artists that have just played across the world from Bruce Munro to cracking art who is based in Italy and we have many more artists to come. So to see art in a museum is really special and beautiful. But to see it out in this desert landscape environment just kind of elevates it to another level.

Danielle Desir: Yes. And you know, as I was browsing your instagram channel, it really surprised me because it's like the landscape is art, right? It was so surprised because I've never seen a botanical garden where the way that the plants are just situated. Just so beautiful and so captivating. So a question I had for, I'm thinking listeners will have, this is, do you have any virtual events or virtual things that if people are like, hey, I won't necessarily be able to get to Tempe right now or phoenix right now that I can still experience the garden.

Dana Terrazas: What we are launching in 2022 is a curiosity program. So if you are across the country and you can't make it to Arizona, there's going to be some new things that we're going to be exclusively pushing out by a video. So more to come on that. But yeah check out Youtube first before that comes online, but that's a good way. And there's some virtual tours that are available through our Youtube page and a curiosity program launches. That might be something to participate in.

Danielle Desir: Exactly. Exactly. All right now, what's the most surprising thing that visitors will find when they visit the desert Botanical garden?

Dana Terrazas: I think one thing that's most surprising and I've lived in Arizona my almost my whole life but didn't realize this until I worked at the garden is that cactus are the fifth most endangered organism. So when you think about the fourth most endangered, its coral and coral reefs and we are all aware of that. And the animals that are endangered. But cactus themselves are endangered. And surprisingly, it's not just from growth or climate change. It could have a lot to do lately with as many forest and wild fires that we've had here in Arizona, but it's actually from poaching. So there's individuals that are looking for these rare cactus from other countries or parts of the world and they are removing them from their natural environments and bringing them back to an environment that they can't really thrive and sustain. And so I would share that message that cactus are endangered. I think especially living in Arizona. You see so many, it's like there's no way there's so many that we need to protect these cactus for future generations because they are endangered right now.

Danielle Desir: Alright. And my last question is, what's the Sonoran Desert like if someone has never been to Arizona and visited the desert, what does it look like? What does it feel like? Is it hot? Should we be bringing our sunscreen with us? Tell us all the things.

Dana Terrazas: Absolutely. So first I'll say so many people like the desert must be just so dark and just like dusty and just boring. But if you look at our instagram page or any of our social media, the desert is alive and it is beautiful and filled with color. So you know, so many different shades of green. The sunsets are unbeatable and the cactus blooms and the plants that we have are filled with every color that you can imagine. So just a beautiful, vibrant Community and environment here. But yes, we are hot but that's okay because we're not human. So it won't be snowing in the winter. So you can come where if there is short. So the tank top check out the garden, there's sunscreen on and pretty much I'd say 10 months of the year is just perfect weather and yes, it's warm. But you learn to survive those hot days since we're not traveling to know. All right, well thank you again dana for coming on. This was really fun and really enjoyed learning all about the desert Botanical Garden. Can you let folks know how they can connect with you online? Absolutely. So check out D B G dot org on that one page of our website. You can find our social channels on everything from instagram, facebook twitter and Tiktok and we would love to eventually see you at the garden. So please make your trip to Arizona visit the garden and if you can't make it, stay tuned for that curiosity program, you can tune in from your home.

Danielle Desir: Next we're heading to ASU Gammage historic Performing arts center bringing broadway's best to Arizona.

Colleen Jennings-Rowgunsock: My name is Colleen Jennings-Rowgunsock. I am the vice president of cultural affairs at Arizona State University and executive director at ASU Gammage.

I think one of the things that's really amazing about a tissue damage. It was built in 1964. It was the last architectural structure that frank Lloyd Wright, the famed american architect had a hand in and the then president of Arizona State University president damage. It was actually designed to be the Opera house in Baghdad and then King Faisal the second was deposed and so it never happened. As luck would have it frank Lloyd wright and President damage were dear friends and president damage believed that a great university should have a great performing arts center. Lo and behold we received damage and among all of the many accolades for damage. One of the little known facts is there are 27 different shades of Terracotta in the building. So I would defy anyone to come and pick out those 27 shades where we are today is ASU Gammage is an internationally recognized performing arts center, the largest one in the American southwest. We commission work, present work, we are the number one touring broadway house in the country. We also commissioned artists to be with us over extended period of time to just work on projects and do a number of things. We see 35 1000 schoolchildren in the course of a year, in terms of their arts education program. We've also been in the Australia correctional facility for over two decades and have worked with women who have been incarcerated, helping them to take off their mask of victimhood. We received Emmys and a number of other awards for our work and our filming of our work that we have done in the Australia correctional facility. We are great partners across the entire spectrum of Arizona State University which is the largest university in the country. it also it has a global reach. So a lot of our partnerships are also global in nature as well as a multiplicity of campuses here in the valley in L. A., in New York and London in Nairobi and so forth and so on. It's a great extension a ASU Gamage will bring a wide array of shows from Hambleton fresh off of its run on broadway to return the engagement here. We also re mount national tours, which is an honor not given too many theaters. So with the advent of COVID as broadway is reopening again. We are re mounting several national tours for the road and the most recently mean girls going out, which means the company comes in there with us for a period of time, then we run them and then they're pushed out of the nest and onward. In addition to those kinds of things. Gammage also has a program called Beyond and that means beyond broadway. And so we have artists such as Bill T jones. We have artists such as the new york philharmonic. We have a number of artists who come and spend a great deal of time with us in residency in performances in working not only with students in master classes but the greater community and Bogart, arguably one of America's finest directors came to do three works over a three year period of time and she conducted directing workshops and we had people come from san Francisco L. A. Vegas Seattle. So those things happen. But in addition to the kinds of traditional works you see on the stage, we also are a place of honor. So when Senator Goldwater, Arizona's favorite son passed away, he requested that he be laid to rest and honored at A. S. U. Damage. So it was the first time in the history of the state of Arizona that the entire house in senate came to a tissue damage to send our favorite son off to his ongoing. We've also naturalized citizens sworn in the Arizona bar. We hosted the presidential debate where 3,500 members of the international press, including Al Jazeera were at ASU Gammage for that presidential debate. So there's a number of things that happened at Gammage that span from traditional culture, innovative culture, world renowned moments of importance as we move ahead. Very, very impressive. Now you mentioned that at damage. You have broadway features such example like Hambleton and Mean girls. So you're bringing the best of broadway to Arizona. What other types of broadway shows have been featured at the performing arts center. Other kinds of shows include the Lion King, which will also mark a return next summer with us. And it's such an amazing show, but it requires that you have aisles. So what people don't realize is we have continental seating. So the seating goes straight across with no aisles. We actually remove 268 seats out of damage to have that show. No small feat that because it is and historic building. So each chair while they look identical are just slightly that much different. So every chair has to be placed in its own box. Because trust me, the first time we did it, we didn't do that. And so now we know they all have to be in boxes. So things such as that and new work like spring awakening. And and not only do we have those kinds of things, but we hold auditions for companies that are looking to build roles while they're on the road. And we last year had six Arizona artists on broadway, I should say two years ago because of the pandemic doing rolls and some of those individuals started out with us. But the program we called the ASU Gammage High School Musical Theater Awards. And we have high schools up to 26 where now we did 28 last year audition with the musical that their high school did. We picked the best female, the best male and we send them to new york where they compete with other students from around the country. We have had students from our high school musical theater ward go from that award. Two roles in Dear Evan Hansen Rolls in spring awakening roles in almost famous. We are very proud of that. And I even have a new york producer that says, hey, if I need someone, I call Colleen and say who's in the high school musical theater awards because you guys have the best. So we do those kinds of things and we think of it as our high school Tony awards. We also, in terms of broadway play a role. I am on the board of directors of the broadway league. I am honored to be the only Tony voter in the state of Arizona. So I represent represent a little small known fact is that when I do the Tonys and do the red carpet, my gowns are designed by Arizona designers. So many Arizona designers, I've been able to give them their first quote, unquote first big dress and kind of send them on their way, which is really an exciting thing to do. We also have looked at school and school is so important and how our students learn. And we have a program called performances for students. The molly blank program, performances for students. And we bring students not only to Gammage to see performances, but we build curriculum so their teachers can teach in those performances where a member of the Kennedy center and performing arts schools, there's only 21 in the country and we are one with the mason public schools. We also find the time to teach teachers to teach the arts and teach artists to become teachers. So we have 100 and 50 teaching artists who worked at work throughout the pandemic which was extraordinary. Speaking of which, we have also learned how to become television studios. So during the time when people were struggling and trying to figure out what to do with Covid. We actually turned our cruise into television crews and we streamed live 190 performances and we did that nationally and internationally. We had four states where they tied into our schools programs so their students could have schools programs. So we're kind of a very busy group at ASU Gammage incredible.

Danielle Desir: And so, so, so inspiring. So in addition to the broadway shows what other types of performances can visitors expect as well?

Colleen Jennings-Rowgunsock: So one of the things is, we are also home to the large ensembles at the Arizona State University School of Music. So you can come in here symphonies, you can hear the choral union, you can hear the wind Symphony, you can hear a number, the organ. We have a great organ program and in Gammage itself in the shell, the 80 ton shell that is upstage. We house an a leo Skinner organ. There are not that many left and we have 3015 pipes put in there. So it is one of those places where you can come in here. Great organ music and our graduate organ students actually do concerts there. We do a number of things that we just ask people to drop by. We do brown bag lunches. We do open tech rehearsals. We have a series of concerts so bad everyone can have a chance to do it. In addition to the performance work, we have a visual arts program. And so when you come to damage and you walk through the lobby and the grant here and the balcony you will see on the wall works done by Arizona artists. So we tend to focus on collectives, whether it's photography collectives or watercolor collectives on those walls. We do have spaces for really big work. So on occasion we will invite in a visual artist from across the country or from around the world. We try to tie into a number of programs that A. S. U. Does like we honor Dr King and Dr King's legacy. I happen to share that committee. So we have our students, our young students, K through 12 do servant leadership representations. Some of it is writing, some of it is three dimensional, some of it is interactive work. And we post that work on the walls. We have also worked with our journey home program where the women in the Australia correctional facility make heart. And we put that art on the wall. There are only a handful of permanent pieces in Gammage. So I'm gonna let you know how important this is. We have a bust of Frank Lloyd Wright. We have a bronze bust of president damage. We have a portrait of mrs Gammage in our Gammage lobby and kate Gammage was the first development officer at Arizona State University. So she was really the first lady of development and her portrait is in that gallery and as well as David Schooler and Mrs Schooler. David Schooler was my predecessor and the very first director of damage is portrait is there. And then on the center staircase, Victoria Clint. Oh who was an inmate at the Australian correctional facility. Came out, went to college, learned how to do visual arts, came back and worked in our program and had the inmates create this beautiful tree that is like a woman raising her arms and each square is done by a different inmate and it is on the center staircase lobby that is all that's permanent. Everything else shifts. So it's just how important the journey home program is and how important artists are in our valley and that artists are in our valley and that people understand that and they vary in ages now.

Danielle Desir: We'll make sure to have some photos of a ASU Gammage in the show notes because I definitely want to see all of the visuals that's going on. So thank you so much for sharing all of that. Is there anything else that you'd want our listeners to know?

Colleen Jennings-Rowgunsock: I want our listeners to know that our mission is connecting communities. So we look at connecting communities internal to ASU faculty staff and students external to ASU. Various communities, various religions and race and neighborhoods and things. So that's very important to us. It is also very important to us that everyone understand. We are committed to the ASU Charter that we are measured and valued by whom we include, not whom we exclude and the success of those we include. And I have to tell you you can go on no better journey than to come to ASU Gammage. And when I said to several artists who come and perform, I should understand we have gone through two pandemics, the pandemic of COVID-19 and the pandemic of systemic racism. You are the second responders, you are the ones that make us laugh, make us cry challenges, help us to understand how we work together and are together. So I think that's very important and it guides everything that we do here.

Danielle Desir: Lastly we have ASU Art Museum, a university art museum of the future, pioneering new models of arts learning and innovative approaches to contemporary art.

Miki Garcia: My name is Miki Garcia. I'm the director at the Arizona State University Art Museum. So Arizona State University Art Museum was founded in 1950. It is a university that really sees itself as one that enacts the charter of ASU. Which is that we do not define ourselves by whom we exclude but whom we include and how well they succeed. So that is the overarching core value of Arizona State University and the museum implements that using art and objects to tell stories to include various perspectives and to be really a teaching tool for both scholars, students audiences as well as communities who are part of the larger fabric of education and existence in Arizona, ASU Has year round exhibitions that rotate seasonally. What types of exhibitions and mediums can visitors expect when they visit? That's right. ASU Museum has many galleries where we show both temporary exhibitions as well as long term public art exhibitions. We show work by a variety of artists and disciplines and perspectives anything ranging from sculpture to painting, installation, public art. Our strengths here at the university Art museum are prints and drawings. We have a beautiful prints and drawings studies center that you can make an appointment and come see. We have one of the best 20th century craft and ceramics collections in the country. And we have a very vibrant Latin X. Latin american commitment to artists of our region. And we also commission a lot of new work. That is to say that we invite many artists from around the world to come be with us here in Tempe in residents to learn from the city ASU And make new never before seen work that we feature in our galleries now.

Danielle Desir: ASU Art Museum is coined, "The University Art Museum of the Future" where you not only embrace new methodologies but also aim to make authentic connections through art and storytelling. So what does that mean? And why is disrupting the classic museum model so important?

Miki Garcia: We are at an urgent point in our society are and we are also embedded in a university where we are always learning from the next generation of students and what their demands and desires are for a better world. And they have been made it very clear that institutions of authority like museums have failed them, have failed to be inclusive for all people. And they are demanding that museums change from a model in which museums cord all the expertise. That is to say that only curator is no what's best from museums that are very shrouded in mystery how the shows get produced. Why the certain artists get shown from museums that have very little diversity in their decision making boards, staff exhibition programs. These are the classical models that are really being challenged by our generation by our next generation of students and audiences who want to see museums speak for them and be about them. And we will verge on irrelevancy if museums do not face these challenges. What's really amazing about ASU Art Museum is that we are in a setting here at ASU. In which we have. We graduate more first generation students than any other university in the country. We are voted the most innovative university seven times in a year. We have these tent poles of innovation and inclusion that define our culture and we're also in Arizona, a place that's about breaking tradition disrupting and thinking about what may be the east and west coast doesn't have the ability to do because of legacy and tradition here in Arizona we can reimagine what the future looks like. We already are a bellwether for so many things around politics. Climate justice, why not the arts. We see the ASU Art Museum as really an incubator and a testing place where we can rethink what it means to be a museum for all. And we actually have had over 20 years of commitment to making sure that the exhibitions we do. That. The stories that we sent her are really reflections of the people in our region and the art of our time and the issues of our time.

Danielle Desir: Excellent. Excellent. Very inspiring. Very, very inspiring. So throughout the episode we're featuring art in Tempe. So do you work with local temp artists and if so, what types of artists do you work with?

Miki Garcia: We do indeed work with Tempe artist. I can tell you that just this summer we worked with Kristin Bauer and Emmett Potter. They were included in a series of exhibitions that was called pilot projects and it was a series of Responsive, adaptive projects that were in response to COVID-19 closures and also the murder of George Floyd and so many others. We wanted to be agile and flexible. So we turned to a lot of local artists both in Tempe as well as beyond in the greater valley to come and make things like film, sculpture, painting all outside so that people could see them throughout the year. We did that and we have worked with many Tempe artists throughout what we do is we don't consider ourselves specifically local art museum. What we want to do is bring the artists who are making amazing artwork in our city in conversation with national and international artists so that we can be part of a larger conversation and we do that all the time.

Danielle Desir: All right, is there anything else that you'd like listeners to know about?

Miki Garcia: ASU Art museum is a hidden jewel that we're really trying to make everyone to learn about Its free. We are free and always open to the public and we're really interested in getting viewer feedback. What do you want from a museum? Come and tell us. We're all ears now.

Danielle Desir: I'd love to hear from you financial savvy travelers, which of these attractions are you most excited to check out? Maybe you have one in particular or you're geeked out about all of them just like me, tweet me at @thethoughtcard or slide in my DMs on Instagram at @thedanielledesir to learn more about Tempe, Arizona. Visit TempeTourism.com and follow on instagram @tempetourism. I hope you enjoyed this episode. But don't forget there's way more where that came from. When you become a supporter of the show, you'll get bonus episodes, additional tips on affording travel, real time updates, as well as strategies for building wealth and creating multiple income streams. Head over to thought card.com/join to support. Also be sure to follow me on instagram. I'm @thedanielledesir slide in my DMS and share with me your thoughts about this episode. What did you enjoy? What stood out to you? Let me know. I'd absolutely love to connect with you outside of the podcast. See you in the next one.