Staff Reports | Happenings & Events
ArtSpark #1,” the inaugural exhibition for Scottsdale Arts’ new ArtSpark program, will open Sept. 25 in the Center Space gallery at Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts.
Launched in 2025, ArtSpark is a career development program for emerging artists that provides funding, community engagement opportunities and professional development workshops designed to connect participants with the broader arts community, according to a press release.
Natalie Marsh, director of Scottsdale Arts Learning & Innovation, curated “ArtSpark #1” and worked closely with participating artists as they created new work and built professional networks.
“The diversity and vibrancy and depth of the artists coming out of Phoenix right now is really exciting,” Ms. Marsh said. “It’s not necessarily due to a large organization, like us, which has gallery spaces to hold exhibitions. It’s about these grassroots incubator programs that have communities to network and learn from, and Scottsdale Arts is proud to be a small part in that.”
“ArtSpark #1” features work created by artists in the inaugural cohort: Sawyer Boyd, Izzy Brethour, Cierra Eubank, Tifa Holman, li rothrock and Bronson Soza.
Mr. Soza is a Phoenix-based visual artist whose work spans printmaking, watercolor and drawing. He earned a bachelor’s degree in art studies from Arizona State University and works as an artist and arts educator throughout the Valley. His work explores themes of identity, memory and place.
In his artwork, “They’re All Queens,” Mr. Soza experimented with reclaimed wood and adhesives, using architectural design as a form of communication. He combined imagery from family photo albums and his own camera roll with construction materials to reflect the Valley’s rapid growth during the past several decades and its impact on local history and culture.
“The reason I got interested in combining my family archives with construction materials is because of these memories I had of orange orchards in Chandler Heights when we would visit my great grandparents,” Mr. Soza said. “They are no longer there. Instead, it’s new developments and empty lots, where they’re setting up houses and other buildings. I want to preserve the memory of the culture and history of what that place once was by physically pasting it on top of these symbols of rapid development and change in Phoenix.”
A key component of ArtSpark is community engagement. Through workshops delivered in partnership with Sow Art Collective, Casa Caracol and thems., Mr. Soza invited participants to create linocut prints, short stories and poems rooted in memory and personal history. Visitors to the exhibition will be able to read those stories in Mr. Soza’s publication, “1.19.25 (Mission).”
Applications for the second ArtSpark cohort will open soon. Mr. Soza encouraged prospective applicants to embrace collaboration and seek opportunities to engage broader audiences through their work.
Ms. Marsh said she looks forward to expanding the program and hopes future cohorts will engage with Scottsdale Arts’ other departments and initiatives, including Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts, Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art, Scottsdale Public Art, Scottsdale Arts Learning & Innovation, Canal Convergence, Civic Center LIVE and Scottsdale Arts @ Cattle Track.
“Since Scottsdale Arts is a multidisciplinary arts organization, I hope that we can make this program multidisciplinary in its arts too,” Ms. Marsh said. “In addition to visual art, I’m hoping that we get some applicants who are representatives of dance or music or performance in theater. I love mixing these art forms, so I’m curious to see how this program could work with this blended approach.”
Future ArtSpark cohorts will have studio space at the Cattle Track Arts Compound through a new partnership between the two nonprofits.
“ArtSpark #1” runs from Sept. 25, 2026, through Jan. 17, 2027. A public reception will be held from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. Friday, Sept. 25, to celebrate the work created by artists in the first cohort. Visitors may view the exhibition in the Center Space gallery from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday and from noon to 5 p.m. Sunday through Jan. 17, 2027. The center is closed Mondays.
