The Phillip England Center for the Performing Arts Foundation in Camp Verde looks forward to a variety of new events and performances in 2023.
Founded in 2018, the center supports and increases access to the arts and culture of the Verde Valley. The center immediately formed a relationship with the Camp Verde Unified school district and provides assistance to their performing arts center and arts and culture program.
The center is named after a former superintendent of the school district, Phillip England, who was a strong proponent of the arts.
The goal of the foundation is to “educate and enlighten, enrich, and entertain students, residents and patrons in the larger Verde Valley area,” PECPAF president Jane Whitmire said.
During 2022, the center focused on celebrating the cultural richness and diversity that exists in the valley. PECPAF hosted a Dia de los Muertos event this past fall, which was the first such event in Camp Verde. There were mariachis, traditional food and activities that allowed participants to learn more about the cultural significance of the celebration.
The center partnered with the Camp Verde Community Library and worked with elementary school children to produce some of the decorations for the event. “That was just extraordinary,” Whitmire said.
The center plans to place more focus on highlighting the Verde Valley’s indigenous heritage, especially that of the Yavapai-Apache Nation. On Feb. 5, PECPAF will feature a presentation on the Yavapai and Apache people as United States Army Indian Scouts in the 1870s by Dr. Maurice Crandall, an associate professor of history at Arizona State University and an enrolled member of the Yavapai-Apache Nation. Crandall will discuss how the experiences and work of Indian Scout veterans helped to establish reservation communities in the Verde Valley, Prescott, Payson and Fort McDowell.
Previously, on Jan. 8, the center hosted a performance by Uptown Big Band, a 13-piece vintage jazz orchestra that plays old Hollywood tunes, contemporary favorites, swing and standards from the WWII era.
The center has not yet hosted any student performances, but the organizers hope to incorporate those at some point, allowing students to work with professional performers and role models for the performing arts.
PECPAF is “really expanding access and providing opportunities for kids, young adults and even senior adults to recognize what their own talents might be and the possibilities for those,” Whitmire said. “I believe that we all have opportunities to serve as role models for others. Sometimes we do that, not even knowing that we’re doing it, but we’re making a difference.”
Admission for students is free, regardless of age, and all proceeds after expenses are contributed to the Camp Verde Unified School District’s arts and culture programs.
Upcoming events at the center include:
- Presentation by Maurice Crandall, Ph.D.: “After the Whirlwind: Yavapai-Apache Scouts and the World They Made,” Sunday, Feb. 5, 3 p.m.
- Presentation by Jeffrey Hall, Ph.D., executive director of Lowell Observatory: “Telescopes Around [And Out Of] This World,” Sunday, March 5, 3 p.m.
In previous years, PECPAF has been the venue for the Green River Folk Festival, showings of the 1977 film “Kingdom of the Spiders” and performances by Bluesman Mike and the Blues Review Band, The Sugar Thieves, the Dom Moio Quartet, Uptown Big Band and Hopi Rhythms, in partnership with the Verde Valley Archaeology Center.
For more information, visit pecpaf.org.
