Canal Convergence comes to Scottsdale

Canal Convergence is a free ten-day event along the Waterfront in Scottsdale. It features large art sculptures, entertainment, and food booths.

Canal Convergence 2022 will mark 10 years of large-scale public art in and around the Arizona Canal at the Scottsdale Waterfront. To celebrate this momentous occasion, this year’s featured theme is “Celebrating 10 Years of Water + Art + Light.”

This year’s event will present light-based public art and programming that embodies the event’s themes from the past and present to provide an authentic and immersive art experience in and around Scottsdale’s canal.

Natalie Marsh, director of Scottsdale Arts Learning & Innovation, talks more about what’s to be expected at the event.

Sculptures

“They are temporary public art installations,” said Marsh. “They are often also addressing the themes of the event which is art, water, light with and undercurrent of sustainability because of course we’re right on the canal, we’re right on our water system and many of the artworks are also addressing that sort of theme on how how do we care for our natural environment so it remains sustainable,” maid Marsh. She mentioned that a lot of these displays are also interactive or meant to light up during the evening to make the experience more immersive for the guests.

Creation Process

Marsh said that bringing this experience to life can be a tough experience.”We invite artists from all around the world to submit their applications. We go through an extensive jury process,” said Marsh. She continued to mentioned that a lot of artists that have worked with them in the past have so much success later on that is hard to bring them back because they find themselves very busy. “We do a mix of were we want there to be participatory experiences, greet places to take a photo, beautiful construction and of course that entertainment value is always really important,” said Marsh.