Tempe Center for the Arts

Tempe Center for the Arts (TCA) is a publicly owned performing and visual arts center in Tempe, Arizona. It opened in September 2007 and houses a 600-seat proscenium theater, a 200-seat studio theater, and a 3,500-square-foot gallery. Its Lakeside Room seats 200 people and overlooks Tempe Town Lake, with views of the Papago Buttes and Camelback Mountain.

Architecture
The building was designed by Barton Myers Associates of Los Angeles and Architekton of Tempe. A citizens group, formed in 1998, spearheaded a ballot initiative to create an arts center. The resulting increase in the sales tax of 0.1% was used to fund seed money for the management, design, and construction of the facility.

For the entrance, environmental designer Ned Kahn used 8,000 embedded marbles and tiny mirrors to create a shimmering, sunlit effect at the Center’s marquee. It echoes the shimmering effect on the west wall of the Lakeside room, where an array of mirrors captures and digitizes the available light reflecting off the Center’s negative edge pool.[1 ]

The Centre features a roof made of complex, geometrically folded plates. The roof is visible from the surrounding freeways and the man-made Tempe Town Lake, which occupies the natural watercourse of the Salt River, immediately adjacent to the site. It is also visible from many airplanes landing at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport, two miles west of the building.

The lobby is open to the public and became a popular gathering place, promoting positive quality of life issues related to sustainability, recreation, and culture.[1 ]

The city government chose a management company (Kitchell CEM) to oversee a three-phase design competition, which resulted in the selection of the design team in 2000. Following public input, the design was completed in 2003. Construction began in April 2004, and took 40 months. The Center was completed in August 2007, with a grand opening on September 9, 2007.

Five public art pieces were included in the design:


 * Entry Marquee – Ned Kahn
 * Fireplace – trueNorth - Mayme Kratz and Mark Ryan
 * Fountain Reflections – Ned Kahn
 * Lobby Carpet – Ramona Saskiestewa
 * Aurora - Brower Hatcher

The Center includes the Gallery at TCA, a visual arts gallery featuring free exhibits of two and three-dimensional artwork by both locally and internationally recognised artists.

Current Residents Artists

 * Arizona Wind Symphony
 * Black Theatre Troupe (Guest Artists)
 * Bridge Initiative: Women in Theatre
 * Childsplay
 * CONDER/dance
 * Desert Dance Theatre
 * Hayden's Ferry Chamber Music Series
 * Lakeshore Music
 * Scottsdale Musical Theatre Company
 * Stray Cat Theatre
 * Tandem Duo
 * Tempe Comedy
 * Tempe Symphony Orchestra
 * Tempe Winds

Past Resident Artists
Home to city-produced programs:


 * Songwriters' Showcase
 * In the Spotlight
 * Tempe Poetry in April
 * Art After Work
 * Finally Friday