FALL 2017 40 | FRONTDOORSMEDIA .COM FALL ARTS & CULTURE DIRECTORY AZCitizensForTheArts.org AZCitizensForTheArts.org For more than 35 years, Arizona Citizens for the Arts has been the public voice of non-profit arts and culture. Our goal – a vibrant well-funded arts and culture sector that gets rightful credit for the contributions it makes to shaping the future for our young people and the vitality of our local com- munities. Along with more than 100 arts and culture organizations statewide and 5,000 citizen advocates, we do together what organizations alone cannot – change perceptions and change policy for the benefit of arts and culture in Arizona. A relentless advocate for more public and private funding for arts and culture in Arizona... An enthusiastic promoter of arts education in our schools... A reliable source of information on arts and culture issues for advocates, media, elected officials and voters...

FALL 2017 FRONTDOORSMEDIA .COM | 41 FALL ARTS & CULTURE DIRECTORY BALLET ARIZONA Ballet Arizona is the official Ballet Company of the State of Arizona whose mission is to create, perform, and teach outstanding classical and contemporary ballet. The company is dedicated to preserving and celebrating classical dance while creating and commissioning new innovative works. The 2017-18 season features a mix of classical ballets against contemporary dances. The season opens with Swan Lake, followed by the festive The Nutcracker, with Cinderella rounding out our classical season. Our spring season features contemporary ballets in Today’s Masters and All Balanchine, while a brand new ballet will be featured at An Evening at Desert Botanical Garden. balletaz.org THE BRIDGE INITIATIVE: WOMEN IN THEATRE The Bridge Initiative: Women in Theatre incubates and celebrates professional female theatre artists, promoting gender parity across all theatrical disciplines. Upcoming programming: THE BECHDEL TEST FEST at the Tempe Center of the Arts, September 9th and 10th. Two days of play readings and film screen - ings that satisfy the Bechdel Test: two female characters talk to each other about something other than a man. Events include an audition workshop, a panel discussion, talkbacks, children’s workshops, and lobby mixer. HEARING HER VOICE: NEW WORK BY WOMEN, a monthly play reading series hosted at the ASU Kerr Cultural Center, free to public. bridgeinit.com BLACK THEATRE TROUPE Black Theatre Troupe’s acclaimed 2017/18 Season includes Caroline or Change, bringing Motown and Gospel set against backdrop of Civil Rights movement, August Wilson’s epic Seven Guitars, Black Nativity, a legendary holiday event based on Harlem Renaissance poet Langston Hughes, a powerful look at school segregation with Lines in the Dust, and concluding with Blackberry Daze, a musical adaptation of Ruth P. Watson’s romantic mystery thriller. blacktheatretroupe.org