Phoenix Center For The Arts

Yayyyyy for promoting the arts in all areas for different ages, levels, schedules and for reasonable prices!!! BRAVO!!!

Sub-​par customer service — did not return calls, cancel classes without giving notice, and do not refund you if you cant attend a class. The instructors can cancel the day of the class with little notice. Took 2 weeks for «Alyssa» to return my call and when she did she claimed I did not contact early enough to receive a refund. While they may offer good opportunities to learn new skills, the management at this place is amateur at best.

Like last year’s reviewer we were very much underwhelmed by this festival. Interesting concept of the artists creating the large paintings all around the perimeter of the property and then selling them for charity on the last day. Only one food truck on the premises (Short Leash, yummm) but we weren’t really there for the food. Lots of booths for associations, groups and charities and short on some of the art media. Weird stage area set up and hardly anyone there They’ve got a ways to go to even come close to competing with any other art festival in the area.

I will start my review by saying that I have wanted to take a photography class my entire life. After finally giving in and buying my first DSLR camera, I immediately sought out education to learn how to use the functions of my camera and to learn how to take fantastic photographs. Now, I needed a class. There are many independent photography studios around Phoenix, as well as Community Colleges, who offer workshops and classes for upwards of $ 300+, sometimes for only a three or four hour session. A friend of mine told me about PCFA after he had taken a painting class there and I decided to look into it. WOW. I immediately signed up for a 7 week (3 hrs per week) class for only $ 150 (for the entire 7 weeks).
The class was incredible. The instructor, Arne Williams, is a veteran photographer (also a very cool guy I might add) who has been a professional since the 1960s and is an excellent teacher. He will teach you the ins-​and-​outs of your camera functions, lighting techniques, composition, shutter speeds, aperture. you name it and he knows all about it. On a weekly basis, he provided the class with lots of great literature to take home and study for some more in-​depth knowledge about taking good SLR pictures. On top of all of this, we went on three «field trips» where instead of meeting in the classroom, we went to some different spots around Phoenix to take shots and practice different camera functions.
I studied English at the UA and would have expected an equivalent in beginning photography education from a university. After I completed the 7 week course this spring, I spent the summer practicing my new skills and feel so much more comfortable using my camera than I ever had before (In Manual :)
Also important to mention that I work 40+ hours per week (m-​f) in my day job and the class was conveniently scheduled from 6 – 9 PM ever Wednesday. I would highly recommend this course to anyone who is interested in starting out with a DSLR.
Side note: My friend took a beginning Oil painting class with Edna Dapo and was equally impressed with his course. He probably does not use Unilocal so I’ll just go ahead and plug a good review in here for him too :)
I would expect that all classes offered here would be a great value in art education and definitely worth the investment.

Nice building, but really not a whole lot to do here. Check out the golden panda sculpture out back.

Closing Gala Dinner at the museum! Amazing! Thank you TriNet!

My daughter is attending camp here and absolutely loves it. The people who work here are very nice and the exposure my daughter is getting to different areas of the arts is fantastic. I was so happy to have found this place and cannot wait to take classes myself in the fall.

What I love most about the Phoenix center is the great atmosphere of creativity and community, a great mix of people learning a new art form and experienced artists who have been going there 20 years or more. Friendly instructors and classmates willing to help you take your skills to the next level. Definitely the kind of place to check out if you are interested in exploring new media as there are quite a few people crossing over to take classes in two or more disciplines at the same time. A great place to connect with people who share the urge to create, with lots of linkages into the downtown Phoenix arts community and beyond. There is also an interesting little theater onsite which is how I got here in the first place, looking for info on the Charles Phoenix performance that will be there the first Friday and sat of november 2009. Guess you will have to go to
for that info as it looks like it ain’t here… Lively and campy fun reliving the best and the worst of 1950s and 60s Phoenix fashion, places, décor and family traditions as recorded by kodachrome family photo snapshots and present day colorful humor/​social commentary by Charles Phoenix, a southern California legend!

I am in shock that I am the first person to write a review on this place! It is freakin amazing. Am I truly the first Unilocaler to discover this gem? I mean, come-​on, this is Phoenix’s own Art’s Community Center. They offer art classes (music, photography, ceramics, pottery, glass, drawing, pastel, etc.) to both children and adults. So far this year, I have taken both a drawing/​painting class and am currently in a piano class.
The location could not be any more perfect. It’s right next to Burton Barr Library in those historic brick buildings on the park. The instructors are all professional artists with degrees in the arts + they are incredibly cool people. I highly recommend this place for anyone looking to enrich their lives with the arts.