In Tucson, the theatre and arts communities are about to become integrated in a physical fashion.
The Tucson Museum of Art and Historic Block will be sharing space for the Arizona Theatre Company at the museum's current Alameda Street location. The plan calls for the museum to start leasing out office space to the theatre company this month. The museum and theatre company will also begin to share reception, meeting and education space.
In the past decade and a half, the Arizona Theatre Company worked in the Glenwood Hotel, located in close proximity to the Temple of Music and Art. But the COVID-19 pandemic wreaked financial havoc on the company, forcing it to downsize, sell its space at the Glenwood Hotel and restructure. The new arrangement will see the box office, costume store and production offices of the Arizona Theatre Company work out of the Temple and Scene Shop, and the business, development and marketing operations will be based out of the Tuscon Museum of Art.
Luckily, the two organizations have a friendly history with each other.
“TMA has a long-standing relationship with ATC, and a shared history in the Temple of Music and Art where the museum’s first public gallery was located,” Tuscon Museum of Art CEO Jeremy Mikolajczak said to Inside Tucson Business. “Arts organizations have been hard hit by the COVID-19 pandemic, and when we work together, we ensure the survival of Southern Arizona’s vibrant creative landscape.”