The heart of SAACA’s work is cultivating programming that spotlights our creative community, celebrates our region’s unique culture, and provides direct opportunities for artists to make and sell their work.
We accomplish our mission through self-presented events and service-based programs delivered in partnership with Towns, Cities, Non-Profit Collaborators, and Businesses.
OVER 500,000 NEW ARTS OPPORTUNITIES & EXPERIENCES CREATED
COLLABORATION AS A CATALYST
Southern Arizona's arts and culture infrastructure is unique in that no municipality or city entity provides permanent or sustained and stable funding sources for artists, arts organizations, or cultural programs.
This climate drives relationship-based innovation, as evidenced in many of our non-traditional types of collaborative work: arts and healthcare partnerships, rural creative placemaking projects, culinary arts, economic development, business and arts integration, and non-arts sector overlap programs.
BUILDING STRONGER CONNECTIONS TO THE POWER OF THE ARTS
CONNECTION TO COMMUNITIES
SAACA evaluates our programming annually to reflect ever-changing community needs, audience, and opportunity variables. With sustained engagement through in-person programming, we are guided and informed in a regenerative manner. These relationships help build relevant, needed, and resilient programs. This mode of program delivery is especially important when building trust in rural communities, which requires sensitive recognition of geographic and cultural differences.
We build trusting and sustained relationships with
Individual artists, arts organizations, and creative sector businesses
Partners from public and private sectors
Program participants of all ages, geography, income, and backgrounds in the diverse communities we serve.