Jun, 24, 2026
Media AlertsSpecial Events and Programs
Phoenix Art Museum premieres 2025 Arizona Artist Awards exhibitions; launches in-gallery Phoenix Symphony summer series and art activations with Sissy Art
PHOENIX (June 24, 2026) – This July, Phoenix Art Museum (PhxArt) will premiere Alice Leora Briggs’ NOW WHAT? and the 2025 Lehmann Emerging Artist Awards exhibition as part of its annual Arizona Artist Awards program. The Museum will also open Ecstatic Time: Alchemy of Photography in the Norton Photography Gallery. Along with new exhibitions, PhxArt presents specialty arts-engagement programming for the summer season. The Museum and The Phoenix Symphony are partnering to present live in-gallery musical performances, while Sissy Art brings hands-on artmaking activities to the galleries designed for audiences of all ages to enjoy. Additional event details and ticket links are provided below.
FEATURED EVENTS
2025 Arizona Artist Awards Exhibition Opening + Artist Lecture with Alice Leora Briggs
Wednesday, July 29, 2026
5 pm | Artist Reception
6:30 pm | Artist Talk with 2025 Scult Family Artist Award Recipient Alice Leora Briggs
Free for Members + Summer Pass holders | $5 for the General Public
Join Phoenix Art Museum to celebrate the opening of the 2025 Arizona Artist Awards exhibitions, honoring the latest recipients of the Scult Family Artist Award and the Sally and Richard Lehmann Emerging Artist Awards: Alice Leora Briggs, Jan Talmadge Davids, and Chris Ignacio. The evening begins with a community reception, followed by an artist talk in the Museum’s Whiteman Hall featuring 2025 Scult Award recipient Alice Leora Briggs, who will discuss her technical process, recent work, and creative practice.
Tickets are available here.
The Arizona Artist Awards are made possible by the Scult Family; Sally and Richard Lehmann; and the Cohn Fund for Arts and Culture, a founding gift of the Phoenix Art Museum Education and Engagement Excellence Fund.
Kids Day at PhxArt
Sunday, July 12 | Noon – 5 pm
Free for Members + Summer Pass holders | Included with general admission
Every second Sunday of the month, bring the whole family to Phoenix Art Museum for a day of hands-on creativity and play! Designed for visitors of all ages, Kids Day at PhxArt features interactive, in-gallery art-making and Storytime programming that connect you with PhxArt’s collection and special exhibitions.
This July, Kids Day is inspired by the vibrant worlds of music and sound to celebrate the Museum’s newest installation, The Instrument of Troubled Dreams (2018) by Janet Cardiff & George Bures Miller, and dive into a symphony of fun:
- Noon-5 pm | Compose a paper craft inspired by music and sound
- Noon-5 pm | Construct a noise maker made of everyday objects
- 1:30-2 pm | A live reading of ZIn Zin Zin a Violin by Lloyd Moss
- 2-2:45 pm | Performance by The Phoenix Symphony
Tickets are available here. All art-engagement programming is included free with general admission.
Kids Day is made possible by Desert Financial Credit Union, the Angela and Leonard Singer Endowment for Performing Arts, The Discount Tire Endowment for Children’s Art Programs, and the William Randolph Hearst Endowed Fund for Education Programs.
Films at PhxArt: Silence of the Lambs with Brian Raftery
Saturday, July 18 | 1 pm
Free for Members | Included in General Admission
Featuring a live introduction by Hannibal Lecter: A Life author Brian Raftery and a post-screening book signing
As Clarice Starling, an FBI trainee who enlists the help of the infamous Hannibal “the Cannibal” Lecter to gain insight into the mind of another killer, Jodie Foster subverts classic gender dynamics and gives one of the most memorable performances of her career. Anthony Hopkins plays the archetypal antihero—cultured, quick-witted, and savagely murderous—delivering a harrowing portrait of humanity gone terribly wrong.
About Hannibal Lecter: A Life
Drawing from exclusive interviews and previously unseen archival materials, this one-of-its-kind biography of Hannibal Lecter documents the cannibal’s journey from terrifying villain to unexpectedly adored antihero.
About Brian Raftery
Brian Raftery is a journalist, podcaster, and author. His works include the books Hannibal Lecter: A Life (2026) and Best. Movie. Year. Ever.: How 1999 Blew Up the Big Screen (2019). He also wrote and hosted the narrative podcasts Mission Accomplished, The Hollywood Hack, Do We Get to Win this Time?, and Gene & Roger, all produced by Spotify and The Ringer. A former senior writer for Wired, Brian’s writing has appeared in The New York Times, GQ, The Ringer, and New York Magazine, among several other publications.
Tickets are available here.
The book Hannibal Lecter: A Life will be available to purchase at the Museum Store.
Films at PhxArt is made possible by Fit Via Vi Films.
Summer with Sissy Art
Free for Members + Summer Pass holders |
Included with general admission
In July and August, join local art + social collective Sissy Art (@sissyart) for art-making in the galleries! Sissy Art offers an exciting and relaxing way to craft and unleash your inner artist with unique hands-on creative activities.
- Friday, July 3 | 5 – 8 pm* – Drawing Club with Live Clown Model
- Friday, July 24 | 5 – 8 pm – Picasso Collage Self Portraits
- Wednesday, August 5* | 5 – 8 pm – Drawing Club with Still Life
- Saturday, August 22 | 1 – 4 pm – DIY Sock Puppets
*Free-access times
Art-making activities are included with general admission.
Purchase tickets here.
Summer Symphony Series
Free for Members + Summer Pass holders | Included with general admission
The Phoenix Symphony is coming to PhxArt for six performances this summer. Catch them on select Sundays during Kids Day (July 12, August 9, and September 13, from 2–2:45 pm) and on select Wednesday evenings throughout the season (July 22, August 19, and September 16, from 5–5:30 pm*). Save the dates and come experience the Museum in a whole new way.
*Free-access times
Performances are included with general admission.
Purchase tickets here.
OPENING SOON
2025 Arizona Artist Awards
Opening July 29, 2026
In NOW WHAT?, 2025 Scult Family Artist Award recipient Alice Leora Briggs reflects on human mortality and the passage of time through an intimate display anchored by her signature sgraffito works and a site-specific installation. In adjacent galleries, 2025 Lehmann Emerging Artists Awards recipient Chris Ignacio premieres a new series, Everything is Ourselves, that draws from puppetry and performance traditions to consider how animated objects function as extensions of identity, while fellow Lehmann Award recipient Jan Talmadge Davids showcases repair(ian), a series that examines the relationship among physical landscape, emotional identity, and geographies.
The Arizona Artist Awards are made possible by the Scult Family Artist Award; Sally and Richard Lehmann; and the Cohn Fund for Arts and Culture, a founding gift of the Phoenix Art Museum Education and Engagement Excellence Fund. Alice Leora Briggs: NOW WHAT? and the 2025 Lehmann Emerging Artist Awards exhibitions are organized by Phoenix Art Museum and curated by Christian Ramírez, the Cohn Assistant Curator of Contemporary Art and Director of Engagement. Their Phoenix premiere is made possible by the Cohn Fund for Arts and Culture, a founding gift of the Phoenix Art Museum Education and Engagement Excellence. Additional support is provided by the Rob Walton, Jordan Rose, and Rose Law Group Fund for Contemporary Art. All exhibitions at Phoenix Art Museum are underwritten by the Phoenix Art Museum Exhibition Excellence Fund, founded by The Opatrny Family Foundation with additional major support provided by Joan Cremin.
Ecstatic Time: The Alchemy of Photography
Ecstatic Time: The Alchemy of Photography
Opening July 29, 2026
Ecstatic Time: The Alchemy of Photography features nearly 100 works from the collection of the University of Arizona’s Center for Creative Photography (CCP) in Tucson that demonstrate the transformative, experimental, and whimsical nature of the medium. Featured works span nearly the entire history of the medium, presenting everything from still lifes to time-lapse and astronomical imagery. The exhibition celebrates the 20-year anniversary of the landmark partnership between Phoenix Art Museum and CCP.
Ecstatic Time: The Alchemy of Photography is co-organized by Phoenix Art Museum and the Center for Creative Photography. The exhibition is curated by Emilia Mickevicius, PhD, the Norton Family Assistant Curator of Photography. All exhibitions at Phoenix Art Museum are underwritten by the Phoenix Art Museum Exhibition Excellence Fund, founded by The Opatrny Family Foundation with additional major support provided by Joan Cremin.
NEW ON VIEW
Janet Cardiff & George Bures Miller: The Instrument of Troubled Dreams
Janet Cardiff & George Bures Miller: The Instrument of Troubled Dreams
On view through 2027
The Instrument of Troubled Dreams by Janet Cardiff & George Bures Miller is now on view to Arizona audiences for the first time. Internationally recognized Canadian artists Janet Cardiff & George Bures Miller are known for their immersive multimedia sound installations and audio and video walking tours that invite visitor engagement and sensory engagement. The Instrument of Troubled Dreams is an interactive, room-sized audio installation featuring a replica of a 1960s Mellotron, 23 speakers encircling the listener/performer, and chairs. Museum visitors are invited to sit and play the instrument, experiencing a range of music, vocal tracks, and background sounds played back in full spherical surround.
Janet Cardiff & George Bures Miller’s The Instrument of Troubled Dreams is on loan from the Diane and Bruce Halle Collection.Contemporary art exhibitions and projects are made possible in part by the Rob Walton, Jordan Rose, and Rose Law Group Fund for Contemporary Art. All exhibitions at Phoenix Art Museum are underwritten by the Phoenix Art Museum Exhibition Excellence Fund, founded by The Opatrny Family Foundation with additional major support provided by Joan Cremin.
Modern Treads: The Discount Tire Poster Collection
Modern Treads: The Discount Tire Poster Collection
On view through January 3, 2027
Following the urbanization of Paris, industry giants such as Michelin, Dunlop, Continental, Pirelli, and Goodyear followed in the footsteps of talented lithographers and recognized posters as an effective form of communication.
Modern Treads: The Discount Tire Poster Collection features 15 oversized posters from approximately 1900 to 1930 that celebrate industrial innovation and the growing popularity of the automobile. Drawn exclusively from the Collection of Discount Tire, the posters trace both artistic innovation and industrial transformation.
Modern Treads: The Discount Tire Poster Collection is organized by Phoenix Art Museum and co-curated by Rachel Sadvary Zebro, Associate Curator of Collections and Susan Driver, Curator, Collection of Discount Tire. Modern Treads: The Discount Tire Poster Collection is made possible by Presenting Sponsor Men’s Arts Council. All exhibitions at Phoenix Art Museum are underwritten by the Phoenix Art Museum Exhibition Excellence Fund, founded by The Opatrny Family Foundation with additional major support provided by Joan Cremin.
CLOSING SOON
Florentine Baroque: The Haukohl Collection
Florentine Baroque: The Haukohl Collection
Closing July 26, 2026
Florentine Baroque: The Haukohl Collection presents more than 30 examples of painting, sculpture, and decorative arts drawn from the most important Florentine Baroque art collection outside of Italy.
Florentine Baroque: The Haukohl Collection is organized by Sir Mark Fehrs Haukohl with the generous support of the Haukohl Philanthropies. Its presentation at Phoenix Art Museum is coordinated by Rachel Sadvary Zebro, Associate Curator of Collections. Florentine Baroque: The Haukohl Collection is made possible by FOCUS on European Art.Additional support is provided by Joanna and Mick Levin.All exhibitions at Phoenix Art Museum are underwritten by the Phoenix Art Museum Exhibition Excellence Fund, founded by The Opatrny Family Foundation with additional major support provided by Joan Cremin.
For a full list of exhibitions on view now at Phoenix Art Museum, visit phxart.org/art/exhibitions/.
OTHER JULY EVENTS
Storytime
Thursday, July 2 | 10:30 am
Free for Members | Included with general admission
For more information, click here.
Storytime is made possible by the Angela and Leonard Singer Endowment for Performing Arts, The Discount Tire Endowment for Children’s Art Programs and the William Randolph Hearst Endowed Fund for Education Programs.
Object of the Month: Black and White Checked Suit
July 2, 4, 16, 23, 30 | 11:30 am
Free for Members | Included with general admission
For more information, click here.
Object of the Month is made possible by CMI Gold & Silver.
Friday, July 3 | 5 – 8 pm
Free general admission | $10 special exhibition
Tickets are available here.
First Friday at PhxArt is made possible through the generosity of APS with additional support from Arizona Community Foundation.
Saturday, July 4, 11, 18, 25 | 11 am – 3 pm
Free for Members | Included with general admission
For more information, click here.
Create Playdate is made possible by The Discount Tire Endowment for Children’s Art Programs, and the William Randolph Hearst Endowed Fund for Education Programs.
Wednesday, July 8 | 6 pm
Free for Members | $8 for general public
Tickets are available here.
Films at PhxArt is made possible by Fit Via Vi Films.
National Theatre Live: All My Sons
Sunday, July 19 | 1 pm
$15 for Members | $20 for General Public
Tickets are available here.
OTHER DISCOUNTED + FREE-ACCESS PROGRAMS
Pay-What-You-Wish Wednesdays
Every Wednesday | 3 – 8 pm
Voluntary-donation general admission
Free for Museum Members | $10 special exhibition
Pay-What-You-Wish Wednesdays are made possible by SRP and City of Phoenix, with additional support from Arizona Community Foundation.
Active-duty U.S. military personnel and their families enjoy free admission from Armed Forces Day (May 16, 2026) through Labor Day (September 7, 2026) as part of the Blue Star Museums program.
From Memorial Day through Labor Day, get out of the heat and into our air-conditioned galleries with the PhxArt Summer Pass.
For just $75, pass holders get:
- Unlimited visits from May 27–September 6, 2026
- Free general admission for two adults and all youth (17 and under)
- Free monthly film screenings
- Free access to Create Playdate + Sissy Art art-making activations in the galleries
- Free access to artist lectures
- 10% off at the award-winning Museum Store
- And more!
For more information, click here.
About Phoenix Art Museum
Since 1959, Phoenix Art Museum (PhxArt) has engaged millions of visitors with the art of our region and world. Located in Phoenix’s Central Corridor, PhxArt creates spaces of exchange and belonging for all audiences through dynamic exhibitions, collections, and experiences with art. Each year, 300,000 guests on average engage with critically acclaimed national and international exhibitions and the Museum’s collection of more than 21,000 works of American and Western American, Asian, European, Latin American, modern, and contemporary art and fashion design, along with vibrant photography exhibitions made possible through the Museum’s landmark partnership with the Center for Creative Photography at the University of Arizona in Tucson. PhxArt also presents live performances, outstanding examples of global cinema, arts-education programs and workshops, a monthly live-music series, and more for the community. To learn more about Phoenix Art Museum, visit phxart.org, or call 602.257.1880.
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