Voices: Catherine “Rusty” Foley

Tell us about an arts experience that changed how you saw the city.

My vision of Phoenix arts and culture has been shaped by a lifetime here. My parents, who came from big cities with long-established cultural traditions, naturally made the arts part of our family life. We attended theater performances, museums, and concerts; took music and art lessons; fell asleep to my mother’s piano playing; listened to Leonard Bernstein’s Young People’s Concerts, classical music, and the American songbook; and watched countless musical variety shows on television.

As soon as I could afford a ticket—even a balcony seat—or take advantage of a free museum day, I began exploring the arts on my own. Over the years, watching Phoenix’s cultural community grow and flourish has been a primary source of my pride in Phoenix.

It also is why I’ve devoted so many years to supporting and advocating for the arts. I believe everyone should have the opportunity to experience Phoenix’s rich cultural life, just as I have.

Someone you love is visiting. If you wanted them to understand Phoenix through arts and culture, where would you take them and why?

My goal always is to show visiting friends that Phoenix is a thriving ecosystem of creativity, excellence, and diversity—one whose arts, culture, and culinary offerings – from organizations big and small – are the equal of those of any major metropolitan community in the country.

Last December, I hosted a delightful four days with a lifelong friend and former Valley resident who has lived in New York City since college. Between three holiday gatherings, we visited the new James K. Ballinger Wing at the Phoenix Art Museum, featuring the Phil Curtis collection; spent several hours at the Phoenix Festival of the Arts (where she happily purchased work from a local artist); ventured to Cottonwood to explore its wine scene and historic downtown; and enjoyed four outstanding local restaurants.

Previously, similar visits have included introductions to the Desert Botanical Garden, the Heard Museum and the Musical Instrument Museum – all experiences that reflect what is authentic and special about our city.

What changes would you like to see in Phoenix, cultural, economic or civic, that would help arts and culture thrive?

Much of the credit for developing most of Phoenix’s major cultural institutions goes to the vision of business leaders of the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s. They recognized a vibrant cultural community essential to the city required their financial support, and they considered it a civic responsibility.

Beginning in the early 2000s, however, business support for arts and culture gradually eroded. Mergers and acquisitions shifted leadership of many major local large businesses to out-of-state interests that saw economic opportunity in Phoenix but placed less value on supporting local arts and culture.

The Great Recession accelerated this decline, as corporations reduced nonprofit giving and arts and culture absorbed some of the deepest cuts, many of which were never restored. Then COVID dealt another blow, reducing attendance and corporate support. Those losses have yet to be recovered.

Today, rebuilding corporate financial support for arts and culture is a major critical element to the success of the arts and culture sector.

Rusty Foley was named executive director at Arizona Citizens for the Arts in 2011 after serving on the board of directors and as chair. She was the Phoenix Arts and Business Council’s 2007 Arts Board Member of the Year, received Phoenix Theatre’s “Women Who Care” award and was the Arizona Capitol Times 2012 Leader in Public Policy for Arts and Humanities. As an arts advocate, she also has served as a board member of Arizona Theatre Company, Childsplay and the Phoenix Art Museum Corporate Council, a member of Americans for the Arts State Arts Advocacy Network Council, and as former chair of the Friends of Phoenix Public Art board.