Community
Art Experiences
The Valley of the Sunflowers
This partnership included Arizona State University, the Phoenix Union BioScience High School,Roosevelt Row Community Development Corporation and the City of Phoenix. This multi-year project activated undeveloped land owned by the City of Phoenix in the heart of downtown with a two-acre field of sunflowers. Through the temporary activation and community engagement, the formerly blighted site became a community destination that hosted picnics, photo-shoots and even a wedding. The sunflowers were harvested and converted into bio fuel for a vehicle designed and built by students in the BioScience High School.
The Valley of the Sunflowers
This partnership included Arizona State University, the Phoenix Union BioScience High School,Roosevelt Row Community Development Corporation and the City of Phoenix. This multi-year project activated undeveloped land owned by the City of Phoenix in the heart of downtown with a two-acre field of sunflowers. Through the temporary activation and community engagement, the formerly blighted site became a community destination that hosted picnics, photo-shoots and even a wedding. The sunflowers were harvested and converted into bio fuel for a vehicle designed and built by students in the BioScience High School.
Feast on the Street
Conceived by London artist Claire Patey and Phoenix artist Matthew Moore and produced by Greg Esser, Feast on the Street converted First Street in downtown Phoenix into a half-mile long dining table covered in white linens. The day-long event hosted on April 13, 2013, attracted more than 9,000 participants to celebrate food, sustainability and art in the desert. This award-winning, unprecedented partnership involved more than 600 ASU students from various schools in collaboration with dozens of community-based organizations and nonprofits. The event was supported in part by ArtPlace America, The Steele Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts.
Feast on the Street
Conceived by London artist Claire Patey and Phoenix artist Matthew Moore and produced by Greg Esser, Feast on the Street converted First Street in downtown Phoenix into a half-mile long dining table covered in white linens. The day-long event hosted on April 13, 2013, attracted more than 9,000 participants to celebrate food, sustainability and art in the desert. This award-winning, unprecedented partnership involved more than 600 ASU students from various schools in collaboration with dozens of community-based organizations and nonprofits. The event was supported in part by ArtPlace America, The Steele Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts.
Container Galleries
The containers were founded with a $90,000 ArtPlace grant awarded to the Roosevelt Row CDC in 2014 for the purpose of developing live/work spaces for artists using re-purposed shipping containers.
Two of the containers became Hot Box Gallery, where the first of many exhibitions curated by Ted Decker of Phoenix Institute of Contemporary Art opened in January of 2014. The third container was transformed into another gallery, where Halt Gallery presented exhibitions beginning in October of 2014.
Container Galleries
The containers were founded with a $90,000 ArtPlace grant awarded to the Roosevelt Row CDC in 2014 for the purpose of developing live/work spaces for artists using re-purposed shipping containers.
Two of the containers became Hot Box Gallery, where the first of many exhibitions curated by Ted Decker of Phoenix Institute of Contemporary Art opened in January of 2014. The third container was transformed into another gallery, where Halt Gallery presented exhibitions beginning in October of 2014.
Desert Initiative
Desert Initiative was a regional collaboration between more than forty universities, nonprofits and scientific and cultural organizations that produced a year-long series of symposia, lectures, exhibitions, installations and events that launched in partnership with the ISEA conference in Albuquerque, NM in September, 2012 and concluded with the Feast on the Street event in Phoenix in April, 2013. Desert Initiative was comprised of artist-led research and projects exploring issues central to desert communities. Programs were jointly marketed through a Desert Initiative Passport and campaign jointly developed by project partners.
Desert Initiative
Desert Initiative was a regional collaboration between more than forty universities, nonprofits and scientific and cultural organizations that produced a year-long series of symposia, lectures, exhibitions, installations and events that launched in partnership with the ISEA conference in Albuquerque, NM in September, 2012 and concluded with the Feast on the Street event in Phoenix in April, 2013. Desert Initiative was comprised of artist-led research and projects exploring issues central to desert communities. Programs were jointly marketed through a Desert Initiative Passport and campaign jointly developed by project partners.
ARID
An online publication focused on desert art, design and ecology was one of a number of collaborations that evolved out of the partnerships fostered through the planning and implementation of the Desert Initiative. Founding partners including Arizona State University, the University of New Mexico, San Diego State University, Woodbury University and the Center for Art + the Environment at the Nevada Museum of Art.
ARID
An online publication focused on desert art, design and ecology was one of a number of collaborations that evolved out of the partnerships fostered through the planning and implementation of the Desert Initiative. Founding partners including Arizona State University, the University of New Mexico, San Diego State University, Woodbury University and the Center for Art + the Environment at the Nevada Museum of Art.
Roosevelt Row
Roosevelt Row Community Development Corporation (CDC) is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization established to further the unique cultural character and creative assets of the Roosevelt Row Artists’ District, to advocate for the continuing presence and role of the arts, particularly individual artists, and small businesses in downtown Phoenix, and to foster a dense, diverse, sustainable and walkable urban community.
Roosevelt Row
Roosevelt Row Community Development Corporation (CDC) is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization established to further the unique cultural character and creative assets of the Roosevelt Row Artists’ District, to advocate for the continuing presence and role of the arts, particularly individual artists, and small businesses in downtown Phoenix, and to foster a dense, diverse, sustainable and walkable urban community.
Public Art Project Management
Public Art Project Management
Over more than twenty years, Greg Esser directed three of the nation’s leading public art programs including the City and County of Denver, the City of Phoenix and Los Angeles County. He has also worked at the national level with Americans for the Arts where he served as a co-founder of the Public Art Network and as Public Art Network Manager. He also commissions public art for private clients including RED Development, Sunbelt Holdings and Brookfield Residential. He has worked with many of the leading artists on major commissions including Louise Bourgeois, Ed Ruscha, Tom Otterness, Kent Twitchell, and Marcus Akinlana among hundreds of others.
