DTPHX Spotlight: How Angelique Kane is Reimagining the Phoenix Center for the Arts
“We believe everybody is an artist, and we provide the materials, space and instructors to help guide what people already have,” says Angelique N. Kane, Executive Director of Phoenix Center for the Arts.
“If you believe, like I do, that the arts are a transformative tool for healing, we want as many people as possible to have access to that. If we focus on that, it creates a table for the creative community that may or may not think like us, but we create a sacred space where we get to know each other as humans.”
Kane, who moved to Phoenix with her family from Baltimore five years ago, has been working with Phoenix Center for the Arts since April 2025. She brings her dynamic, inclusive leadership style to this creative hub mainstay of Downtown Phoenix, revitalizing a space that has seen many iterations over the years.
Phoenix Center for the Arts is located on Margaret T. Hance Park, surrounded by a public oasis of greenery in the desert. Established in 1975, the Center was operated by the City of Phoenix Parks & Recreation Department until 2011, when it was under threat of closing due to budget cuts. Community organizers led the charge to turn the Center into a non-profit, allowing it to continue operating as a vital creative space.
Kane brings her background in social work, non-profits, centering community needs, as well as her personal passion for arts to the Center. Kane says, “Cultural preservation, to me, means leading with respect and building alongside people who are already doing meaningful work in Phoenix. I’m focused on forming genuine relationships and ensuring our programs grow from existing creative communities, rather than being imposed on them.”
“I grew up in a creative family,” shares Kane. “My mom is an event designer and I grew up in spaces where I was always seeing some type of craft happening. I was always in environments where creativity was encouraged. I think it starts with curiosity. I was encouraged to be curious.”
“I’ve raised four artists. I have three musicians and a dancer; they’re moody and it’s loud. But because I was raised in an environment that encouraged creativity, not just in arts or crafting, but in writing, in how I dressed, in how I was able to express myself, I see that as a form of creativity.”
Kane shares, “I’m a Black woman, and I’ve raised Black children. They aren’t always in spaces where they have had mentors or teachers that they could identify with culturally. It was always important for me to encourage them to really lean into their self-expression. So absolutely, you go into spaces where you are classically trained, but also express yourself.”
Kane aims to foster these spaces of self-expression for everyone. Grounded in the Center’s history of community engagement, Kane brings a leadership approach rooted in empathy, trauma-responsive practice, and culturally sustaining systems, helping the organization continue to meet the evolving needs of Downtown Phoenix. She says, “There’s a quote by Elbert Hubbard, which I’ve been using as an anchor for what we do now at the Center. He was known as one of the fathers of arts and crafts, and he said, ‘Art is not a thing; it is a way.’ I’ve always had a belief that I could share a really difficult message with you, and how I say it to you is the game changer. It’s not always the what, it is the how.”
Kane believes that artistic expression helps foster this. She says, “Our mission is to provide arts and culture opportunities for all, through education, programming and advocacy. The way we demonstrate that, is we treat the arts like it is for everybody. When you talk about the historical and political climate of Phoenix, I look at the Phoenix Center for the Arts as a community center for everybody. We might not agree with person A or person B, but I believe that the intersection is being able to express yourself.”
This inclusive and intersectional model has led to an exciting variety of programming at the Center. Upcoming classes for both youths and adults include a wide range of offerings, including street photography, soldering, drawing, watercolor, dance, and glass fusing.
The Third St. Theatre, which is connected to the Center, is a 210-seat auditorium regularly hosting film screenings, live performances, and art happenings in the heart of Downtown Phoenix, and the Center hosts the annual Phoenix Festival of the Arts, which celebrated its 14th anniversary in 2025.
Kane continues to bring her humanistic approach to the Center, honoring its history, while also paving the way for an exciting new culture in Downtown Phoenix.
She says, “If we live with curiosity and creativity, it will lead you to places, people and things that may not always be what you thought were the norm. When you create a tolerance for things you may have thought were different, you see humans first.”
Royal Young (@theroyalyoung on Instagram) is a non-binary poet and author from downtown New York City, who now lives and creates in the desert. Their work has appeared in Interview Magazine, New York Times, The Rumpus, Phoenix Magazine, Phoenix New Times, LOOKOUT, and DTPHX, among others.