• Hollywood & Highland, L.A.

    Hotel California

    HI-Arts has jokingly been referred to as “Hotel California” due to the length of time staff members tend to stay with the organisation. It must be doing something right. So it’s appropriate that I should end my sabbatical at a hotel in California.

  • On the road again

    On Thursday morning, I was up early for a 200 mile round trip to the town of Sells to visit the new Tohono O’odham Native Cultural Center and Museum. This might seem a long way, but the roads here make life easier – the only trick is to stay awake on those long, straight desert roads in a car with automatical gears.

  • Andromeda Heights

    Wednesday morning was my big event – I had offered to lead a session on marketing and audience development for resident artists and community businesses here in the Ajo area. Flyers had been sent out, notices posted and adverts placed, and we had a very respectable turnout of close to twenty people at the training.

  • Marcus at the Curley School, Ajo AZ

    A home from home in Ajo

    I have found my new hot desk at the International Sonoran Desert Alliance offices in south-west Arizona. This week I’ll be in residence here in Ajo (pronounced ‘Ah-ho’), the largest town to be found in the US half of the Sonoran desert.

  • Bisbee AZ

    Bisbee bee

    Last night, I headed out to see the Arizona Theatre Company’s latest production at the Temple of Music and Art theatre in downtown Tucson. I’m hoping to meet the theatre company’s managing director, Kevin Moore, later in the month, so thought I better do my homework!

  • Tucson, Arizona

    Yesterday I picked up a surprisingly large hire car and moved on to the second stop on my Arizona sabbatical, Tucson.

  • Down to business

    This morning, I had a fascinating meeting with Matt Lehrman. Matt is Executive Director of Alliance for Audience, an agency helping the Greater Phoenix region’s arts and cultural community to raise their visiblity and engage new audiences.

  • All the fun of the State Fair

    I woke early at 6am – which isn’t so bad considering that is 1pm British time. I think I may have beaten the jet lag by staying up late last night.