Arizona Arts & Culture News: Arizona Opera director; Cave Creek Museum; Navajo Code Talkers

July 12, 2024

By Jessica Vaile

Arizona Opera director leaving after eight seasons / Tucson.com

Joseph Specter will leave the Arizona Opera at the end of the upcoming season. Specter has been the company’s president and general director since 2016. The Opera was founded in 1971 in Tucson. By 1976, the company had become Arizona Opera and was performing full seasons there and in Phoenix.


Fourth-generation Navajo weaver’s video game-inspired art on display at MoMA / KJZZ

Melissa Cody is a fourth-generation Navajo weaver from No Water Mesa, Ariz. Her latest show, “Webbed Skies,” is on display at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City through September. Her work explores everything from uranium mining to the pixelated games she grew up playing.


Making history: The Cave Creek Museum prepares for its fall opening CITYSun Times

Even though the Cave Creek Museum is closed for summer, there is still much going on to prepare for the fall re-opening, which will include the debut of an ancient pottery exhibit in the Museum’s Archaeological Wing. 


Japanese photographer spotlights WWII Native American code talkers / KYODO NEWS

Until the 1960s, few knew of a special unit of Navajo Code Talkers in the U.S. Marine Corps who helped ensure the secrecy of U.S. military communications in the Pacific theater during World War II. 


Maricopa County to Fund Improvements at Popular Mesa Community Centers / Signals AZ

Visitors at the City of Mesa’s Firefighter Memorial, i.d.e.a. Museum and Mesa Historical Society will soon enjoy an even more memorable experience thanks to the renovation funding approved by the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors.


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