Voices is a series connecting Phoenix community members through conversations about the importance of arts and culture in our city. Hear from local leaders, thinkers, and changemakers as they explore how the arts create a more vibrant, connected, and creative Phoenix—and why a strong creative community is essential to our future.
RICK NAIMARK
Special Assistant to the Mayor
City of Phoenix
- planner of higher education arts spaces
- leader of governmental arts and culture programs and facility development
- board member and advocate for nonprofit arts and culture organizations
- musician—piano and vocals
- prolific abstract contemporary painter
Tell us about a Phoenix arts experience that changed how you saw the city.
A year into my first job at Phoenix City Hall, I was assigned to staff the 1988 Citizens Bond Committee. I got to see how the City of Phoenix invests in arts and cultural facilities through its bond program, and how community advocates mobilize to make sure this remains a voter-approved priority for institutions large and small, from the Phoenix Art Museum to the Black Theater Troupe to the Phoenix Center for the Arts. This unique partnership has created and continues to build on the infrastructure that underpins a strong arts and culture heart of our city, and it needs to continue to be part of Phoenix’ secret sauce.
What changes would you like to see in Phoenix–cultural, economic, or civic–that would help arts and culture to thrive?
Like in many cities, Phoenix has seen artist studios and galleries emerge in lower cost, deteriorated neighborhoods, and their presence becomes part of the revitalization that eventually makes it financially or physically impossible for them to stay. As our central cities become more costly, we need to create subsidized low-cost spaces to make and sell art, both for nurturing the creative process itself but also as a more stable and attractive place for those who want to experience and purchase art. I think of cities in the Midwest and East that have taken older industrial buildings and transformed them into arts incubators, like the Torpedo Factory in Alexandria, Sawyer Yards in Houston, or Industry City in Brooklyn. We can and should do that here.
What’s one “small” creative space or activity in Phoenix that matters more than most people realize?
I think one of our greatest underappreciated assets is The Nash, on Roosevelt Row. Every big city has Jazz clubs, but not every Jazz club is run as a nonprofit organization that doubles as a music education powerhouse. The Nash regularly hosts famous and relatively unknown local and traveling artists and has a great vibe at an affordable price. I strongly recommend it for a night out, whether you are already a Jazz lover or just want to see what the buzz is about. But don’t forget that it has ongoing Jazz education programs, with amazing instructors teaching kids and adults individually and in groups how to embrace this art form. In doing so, they are preserving and strengthening this tradition and powering it into the future with emerging talents.
Rick Naimark performs jazz/popular music on piano and vocals. He is a contemporary/abstract painter who never uses a paintbrush. Proceeds from concerts and art sales are donated to arts nonprofits. He recently served as Associate Vice President at ASU planning new university spaces (including ASU’s Fashion, Music, and Film spaces in Downtown Phoenix, Mesa, and L.A.). Rick also spent nearly 30 years in Phoenix City Government, including as Deputy City Manager, overseeing Arts and Culture programs and facilities. He is active on nonprofit arts boards and is focused on transforming metro Phoenix into an even more artist-forward community.