NEA: Our Town Award

We’re delighted to announce that Creative Flagstaff has been awarded the competitiveNational Endowment for the Arts’OurTown Grant to support urban and rural engagement in multidisciplinary arts programming throughout Coconino County, Arizona, which will provide arts access to diverse communities through creative placemaking. This partnership between Coconino Center for the Arts and Coconino County will provide leadership to broaden arts and cultural programming to reach urban and rural communities county-wide, through:

Creative Asset Mapping: identify, describe, and visualize arts and cultural venues to serve as a guide for visitors to increase visitation and strengthen local economies through cultural tourism.

Inclusive Artist Registry: increase visibility for a diversity of regional artists and serve asa point of contact to communicate artist opportunities. Free for artists to upload their profile and artwork for public accessibility.

Artist Professional Development and Digital Media Training: offered in-person indifferent regional community centers and recorded for online access and remote presentations with live Q&A panels.

Creative Placemaking: new, temporary installations led by community partners. These paid opportunities for artists will be facilitated by arts professionals and juried by members of the local communities.

Exhibitions and Programming Support: expand components of CCA’s regionally relevant exhibitions to travel to partnering venues and support collaborative exhibitions.

The OurTown award of $75k for this two-year project is the largest NEA grant our organization has ever received. We acknowledge that this comes at a time when so many of our cultural partners are facing significant reductions in federal funding, and we are honored that, against the odds, this award will enable us to expand the reach of our arts, science, and cultural programs and partnerships to serve our Northern Arizona community.

Professional Development Workshop

Managing Web Presence for Artists

Date/Time: Saturday, November 8, 9am-noon

FREE EVENT; Registration Required

Feeling overwhelmed by all the ways you’re supposed to show up online? You’re not alone—and you’re not doing it wrong. This workshop is designed to help you take a step back, make sense of your digital presence, and move forward with more clarity, confidence, and creativity. We’ll explore approachable strategies to boost your visibility across key platforms and connect with the people who matter most—without burning out or getting lost in the noise. Led by the team at Mountain Mojo Group, this session brings real talk, real tools, and a whole lotta support for artists, makers, and mission-driven teams doing big things.

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Coconino County Artist Registry

We are excited to announce that CCA’s County-Wide Artist Registry is now live!⁠
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Coconino Center for the Arts (CCA) strives to connect and strengthen communities through increased access to and engagement in the arts. This registry is a resource and networking opportunity for Visual Artists, Performing Artists, Literary Artists, and Artisans from Coconino County, AZ to share their work and expertise with other artists, patrons, venues, and organizations.⁠
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At CCA, we’re committed to inspiring collaboration, increasing access to the arts, and promoting creative expression and critical thought by actively reflecting the cultural diversity of our shared community.⁠
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The registry will continue to accept new members year-round, making it an ever-growing network of creativity and collaboration.⁠

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SHIFTING TOPOGRAPHIES

Extracting the Landscape

Carol Hartman, Into The Light, mixed media, 62”x90”

Jeff Schmuki, Extractors #1, 2024, mixed ceramics with glazes containing mine tailings and lithium oxide, 24” x 16” x 14”

Klee Benally, The Dark Mark of Manifest Destiny, 2021, digital gif

Exhibition Dates: October 18 – December 20, 2025

SHIFTING TOPOGRAPHIES: Extracting the Landscape features projects by Carol Hartman (Red Lodge, MT), Jeff Schmuki (Stateboro, GA), and Klee Benally in memoriam (Diné, Black Mesa, Navajo Nation; Flagstaff, AZ). In a rapidly changing climate, we are witness to and complicit in irreversible scarring of the land. There are eight National Parks and Monuments within a 2-hour drive of Flagstaff that face potential threats to their preservation, due to the proposed federal reopening of protected sacred lands to mining. This timely and relevant exhibition theme—extraction—takes on a markedly different approach depending on the geographical and cultural perspectives of the represented artists.

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Upcoming Exhibition Programming

Film Screening, Tha ‘Yoties & Info Session

In Defense of our National Monument: Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah kukveni – Ancestrial Footprints of the Grand Canyon

Join us for an evening of film, music, and conversation in defense of our national monuments — presented in connection with our current exhibition Shifting Topographies, which explores the intersections of land, culture, and resilience.⁠

⁠Tomorrow; Wednesday, November 5, 2025

Doors at 5pm⁠

Program at 6pm⁠

⁠Featuring screenings of:⁠

Monumental Moments — Follows Maya Tilousi-Lyttle and her mother, Havasupai advocate Carletta Tilousi, as they fight uranium mining near the Grand Canyon. Directed by Pete McBride.

⁠A Cry for the Homelands — Explores the ongoing struggle for social and environmental justice among Grand Canyon tribes, featuring Derrick Suwaima Davis, Carletta Tilousi, Ed Kabotie, among others.⁠

⁠A Call to Consciousness — A short film the hauling of radioactive ore through Indigenous lands of the Southwest featuring music by Ed Kabotie & Tha ‘Yoties

⁠Live performance + talk by Ed Kabotie & Tha ‘Yoties⁠

November 15th: Protecting Our Landscape with Recycled Art- Free Youth Workshop. 11am-12pm & 12:30-1:30pm registration required.

November 19th: Thin Air NAU Literary Magazine Poetry Workshop, 5:30-7pm registration required.

December 11th: Stop the Mines! A Conversation with Berta Benally 6pm, Sihasin concert 7:30pm.

December 20th: Shifting Topographies: Extracting the Landscape closing reception & discussion with Tonizhoniani, 6-7pm.

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Exhibition Sponsors

Neal Galloway

Tin Can Conversations

Neal Galloway, Splintered Symbiosis, Tin cans, wood, brass, steel, string, 2025

Exhibition Dates: October 18 – December 20, 2025

Artist Talk: November 20, 2025 | 6PM

Concurrently in the Project Gallery, Tin Can Conversations uses the core motif of a tin can telephone to explore the fragility, complexity, and profound value of interpersonal communication. A series of sculptures and time-based artworks explore physical and psychological distance, miscommunication, disagreement, sensitivity, power dynamics, love, and connection. Inspired by a difficult cross-country displacement, and by the challenge of maintaining healthy relationships during the COVID pandemic, Galloway uses unconventional materials in his artworks to connect with audiences, while pushing those materials to overcome their humble origins.

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Sponsor a theater seat

There’s still time to be part of the Coconino Center for the Arts’ Theater Seating Fundraiser! Each seat sponsorship includes a personalized plaque on the seat of your choice — a meaningful way to honor a loved one, celebrate a milestone, or show your love for the arts in Flagstaff.

Your gift goes further right now: thanks to a generous matching donation from a former Creative Flagstaff board member and their spouse, every contribution is doubled to help us reach our goal!

Special thank you to All Awards, Flagstaff’s local awards shop, for generously donating the plaques in-kind.

Sponsor your seat today and help us create a more comfortable, modern theater experience for the community.

Seat plaques allow up to three lines of text!

Examples:
Line 1: In Honor of [Your Name or Tribute]
Line 2: A Friend of the Arts
Line 3: 2025 – Forever

Your support will help us create a more welcoming and comfortable space for performances, screenings, and community events. Let’s finish strong—join us today!