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ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
SCOTTSDALE PROGRESS | WWW.SCOTTSDALE.ORG | SEPTEMBER 20, 2020
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Different kind of Convergence planned this year BY KRISTINE CANNON Progress Staff Writer
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emember last year’s Canal Convergence? Where families crowded around the hands-on artworks and workshops? Where line after line of patrons waited for a cup of craft beer made with recycled water? Where the hordes of spectators lined Arizona Canal for each showing of Walter Productions’ popular fire show? This year, attendees can expect a much different experience. Scheduled Nov. 6-15, Canal Convergence will do away with on-site live music, its beer and wine garden, and more than 130 hands-on artworks, activities and workshops that drew 300,000 people last year. This year, Canal Convergence organizers are planning new offerings and an expanded the physical footprint of the art experience. What that means is artwork will be placed beyond Arizona Canal at the Scottsdale Waterfront to areas throughout Old Town Scott-
“Spectrum (Frame Version),” by Paris-based artist Olivier Ratsi, consists of 20 suspended LED frames, stretching 40 feet across Marshall Way Bridge to display all the colors in the visible spectrum. (Olivier Ratsi)
sdale, in an effort to minimize crowding and allow for safer social distancing. Some of the artworks will even be placed in areas visible from attendees viewing from their cars or bicycles. Also notably new to Canal Convergence this year is the use of augmented reality technology, which aims to enhance the
Canal Convergence experience via smartphone app. Canal Convergence’s augmented reality and online offerings will replace the physical presence of activities, including workshops, artist talks, and public art tours, and the live entertainment that was once scattered throughout the Waterfront area.
Performances will be live-streamed and held in-person at Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts, where COVID-19 safety protocols will be in place – such as timed entry and spaced seating. The Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts’ reopening and return to performances also includes livestream ticket options, including the upcoming Jazz con Alma performance on Sept. 26, from home. In response to the pandemic, this year’s theme experience is “Reconnect.” “This is a year where we have all been impacted by COVID-19’s devastating effects on our way of life,” said Kim Boganey, director of Scottsdale Public Art. “Canal Convergence is no exception to these changes and will pivot in order to ensure the safety of everyone involved, including our visitors.” Organizers hope to “find common ground and shared humanity through public art, addressing themes of inclusion, communication, collaboration and community en-
see C0NVERGENCE page 19
Scottsdale artist featured on new web series PROGRESS NEWS STAFF
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cottsdale oil painter Nancy Breiman is the featured “creative” on the Sept. 24 episode of AZ Creates!, a new biweekly web series. Created and hosted by Chandler artist and author Laurie Fagen, the half-hour web series highlights artists, writers, dancers, musicians, film, theater or TV creatives in Arizona. Fagen, a crime fiction novel writer, designed the program to connect art patrons with artists, and to work on something more positive during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Nancy Breiman
“I’ve found it challenging to write about death and murder for my fiction,” Fagen explains, who was working on “Bleeder,” her third novel in her “Behind the Mic Mysteries.” “It’s much more inspiring and fun to chat with artists, and I’m enjoying working with my son, Devon Hancock, who is composing original music and editing the video programs,” she said. Breiman enjoys painting nature, and especially flowers, explaining, “I’m in my happy place when surrounded by creative people, bright colors and beautiful things with a paintbrush in my hand.”
Breiman shares her passion with others through volunteering, teaching art workshops and providing one-on-one instruction in oil painting. She is a juried member of Oil Painters of America and a member of The Sonoran Arts League, Arizona Artists Guild, The Southern Arizona Arts & Cultural Alliance and the Arizona Arts Alliance. Award-winning Chandler author Albert Quihuis will also be featured on the second episode of AZ Creates! in the “What Are You Reading?” book segment. Quihuis, who has written a series of chil-
see CREATIVE page 19
