t he Valley’s arts and culture community is buzzing, and it’s exciting. After more than a year of closed venues, canceled performances and endless pivots, arts groups are looking optimistically to the new season ahead. I think we can all agree that, as a community, we missed the arts. The pandemic taught us how life-enhancing going to a museum, seeing a show or connecting with nature can be. A source of comfort, beauty and inspiration during this unprecedented time, the arts will also be critical to the Valley’s economic and psychological recovery from the pandemic. That’s why Frontdoors has partnered with Virginia G. Piper Charitable Trust on this special issue to highlight the artists, arts organizations and arts workers who will help us to imagine and create a more vibrant future for us all. Piper Trust recently awarded more than $2 million to 26 local performing arts organizations to help with their reemergence after the disruption of the pandemic. Trust founder Virginia Galvin Piper believed arts and culture are key to community health and vitality, so the Trust felt compelled to help arts and culture organizations begin to reimagine their futures beyond COVID-19. “We are focused on frequent conversations with our nonprofit partners to hear how their organizations, staffs and the clients they serve are doing as we move into more encouraging times,” said Mary Jane Rynd, president and CEO of Virginia G. Piper Charitable Trust. “Our Trustees remain on the pulse of how the pandemic is specifically affecting the various sectors within the nonprofit community and what we all need to do as we rebuild and reestablish.” EDITOR’S NOTE { on the job } Karen Werner | EDITOR-IN-CHIEF THE BUZZ OF REINVENTION Piper Trust recently awarded more than $2 million to 26 local performing arts organizations to help with their reemergence after the disruption of the pandemic. What if we could all play a role in helping the arts sector rebuild by going to a performance or exhibition? This issue highlights lots of opportunities for doing that. In our cover story, arts leaders share the big events they’re betting will bring audiences back. And throughout the issue, you’ll find philanthropists, journalists, executives and arts workers extolling the value and importance of art. But it’s not just cultural value at play — Arizona’s arts organizations add significant value to our economy. As Greater Phoenix Leadership president and CEO Neil Giuliano writes in his editorial on page 18, by providing thousands of jobs and billions of dollars of economic impact every year, Arizona’s arts and culture organizations are an essential part of our growing economy and create countless opportunities for life-enhancing experiences and educational growth. So, as the new arts season is kicking off, we invite you to support local arts and culture organizations and feel the buzz of reinvention, along with the hope and excitement of being together again. AUG/SEPT 2021 | 10 | FRONTDOORS MEDIA

© 2021 Virginia G. Piper Charitable Trust pipertrust.org Enriching Health, Well-Being, and Opportunity for the People of Maricopa County. ARTS & CULTURE Healing…unifying…life-changing… critical for community health and vitality.