ABOUT SCOTTSDALE CULINARY FESTIVAL

Scottsdale Arts and R Entertainment announce the 42nd annual Scottsdale Culinary Festival—one of the longest continually running events of its kind in the country—on Saturday, April 18, 2020, at Scottsdale Civic Center Park.

This will be the first year of the event under new leadership. The first Scottsale Culinary Festival was created more than four decades ago to raise funds for Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts. Now the reinvigorated Culinary Festival is under the direction of Scottsdale Arts, a multi-disciplinary, nonprofit arts organization that operates the Center.

Not only does the Culinary Festival enhance Scottsdale’s brand as an upscale food destination, a portion of the proceeds from the event benefit Scottsdale Arts and its four branches: Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts, Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art (SMoCA), Scottsdale Public Art, and Scottsdale Arts Learning & Innovation.

For this year’s Culinary Festival, Scottsdale Arts is joining forces with R Entertainment, the Scottsdale-based production company behind such notable events as USA Today’s Wine & Food Experience, the Arizona Taco Festival, and The Good Life Festival.

More than just another food event, with R Entertainment’s production resumé and Scottsdale Arts’ multi-disciplinary expertise, the new Scottsdale Culinary Festival will be a daylong, outdoor, lifestyle experience, featuring booths from numerous local restaurants, demonstrations by some of the nation’s top chefs, and interactive seminars by food and beverage industry leaders—all in support of the arts. With something for everyone, the Culinary Festival will include food options for a variety of dietary restrictions and entertainment that appeals to diverse festivalgoers.

The new Scottsdale Culinary Festival will share some traits with Scottsdale Arts’ two other signature events: Scottsdale Arts Festival and Canal Convergence | Water + Art + Light. Like the Arts Festival, which celebrates its 50th anniversary March 13–15, 2020, Culinary Festival will bring the newly renovated Scottsdale Civic Center Park alive with food, art, entertainment and fun. And, like Canal Convergence, the Culinary Festival also has a focus on sustainability and a goal to become a zero-waste event.

THE ORGANIZERS

SCOTTSDALE ARTS
Through its dynamic partnership with the City of Scottsdale, the nonprofit Scottsdale Arts (formerly known as Scottsdale Cultural Council) creates diverse, inspired arts experiences and educational and outreach opportunities for the community, while fostering active engagement of individuals, businesses, education, and government with the arts. Since its founding in 1987, Scottsdale Arts has grown into a regionally and nationally significant, multi-disciplinary arts organization, offering an exceptional variety of programs through four acclaimed branches—Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts, Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art (SMoCA), Scottsdale Public Art and Scottsdale Arts Learning & Innovation—serving more than 600,000 participants annually. In conjunction with the City of Scottsdale, we also host more than 200,000 people annually on our campus through a robust rentals program.

SCOTTSDALE CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS
Since 1975, Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts has provided a stage for a wide range of artists and genres, creating shared, inspiring experiences for the community that celebrate artistic excellence and cultural awareness. Today, one of the premier performing arts halls in the western United States, the Center presents a diverse season of music, dance, theatre, comedy, and film from around the world.

R ENTERTAINMENT 
R Entertainment is an experiential marketing, content, and business development company, producing 200 dates a year, such as the USA TODAY Wine & Food Experience, The Taco Festival with Comcast Spectacor, Kentucky Derby Fillies & Lilies Party, Super Bowl events, PGA Waste Management Phoenix Open, Arizona Diamondbacks Evening on the Diamond, The Good Life Festivals by Shea Homes, and others. R Entertainment also books concert entertainment nationwide. Visit R-Entertainment.com. 

FESTIVAL LEGACY
Learn more about the Scottsdale League for the Arts and the lasting legacy of the organization that founded the Scottsdale Culinary Festival. Learn More

GETTING THERE

LOCATION AND PARKING
Scottsdale Civic Center Park is located just north of Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts at 7380 E. 2nd St. in Old Town (downtown) Scottsdale. Free parking is available in the public parking garage located to the west of the Center at Wells Fargo Avenue and 1st Street. Additional free parking is available at the Old Town Parking Corral at East Second Street and Brown Avenue and at the Scottsdale Civic Center Library parking garage located at Drinkwater Boulevard at 2nd Street.

MEDIA

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