Why Do Coachella Valley Festivals Rock So Hard?

The Best Arts and Music Festivals Are Devoted to Quality, Diversity—and Their Communities

There are 15 major arts and music festivals in the Coachella Valley each year, from the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival and the Palm Springs International Film Festival to the Rancho Mirage Writers Festival and the Desert Lexus Jazz Festival—and that’s just from January to June. What do these festivals bring to the local community, and why have they all sprung up in this area? These were the questions tackled at a “Living the Arts” event co-presented by the James Irvine Foundation in front of a full house at …

by Sarah Rothbard | April 15, 2015

What’s So Great About Coachella?

The Power of Indie Pop, Shakespeare, and Fine Art Festivals to Create Community and Make People Happy

April 11, 2015

This weekend, tens of thousands—maybe even nearly 100,000—music fans are rocking out at the Coachella Music and Arts Festival in Indio, California. With multiple stages going full-blast, festivalgoers will face …

Don’t Count on Your City to Build an Arts Scene for You

In Riverside, Coachella’s Director, the Local Arts Walk Founder, and a Historian Say the Best Thing Artists Can Do Is Make Things Happen for Themselves

by Sarah Rothbard | March 19, 2015

Who or what creates and builds a city’s arts scene? How can a flourishing arts community advance to the next level? At a “Living the Arts” event co-presented by the …

When Bakersfield Plays, America Listens

Buck Owens Put the City on the Map with an Entirely New Country Sound. Does His Legacy Live On?

by Sarah Rothbard | January 29, 2015

Depending on the person you ask, Bakersfield, California became a musical mecca thanks to the Gold Rush, Dust Bowl migration, or World War II, when young men flocked to California …

Visalia Can Help You with Your Zombie Opera

This Central Valley City Supports the Arts—and Reaps Their Cultural and Economic Benefits, Too

by Sarah Rothbard | October 17, 2014

Can the arts make a city vibrant both economically and culturally? Artists and arts administrators in Visalia, California, think so. At a “Living the Arts” event co-presented by the James …

Want the Arts to Make Your City Vibrant?

Don’t Just Throw Money at Artists. Give Them Places to Perform, Collective Bargaining Powers—or a Break on Permits.

October 15, 2014

For towns like Visalia, California, the expression “arts for art’s sake” doesn’t make much sense. In Visalia—as in other emerging arts towns throughout the U.S.—art isn’t just there for its …

The James Irvine Foundation