The Rialto Theatre Gallery Project, which opened to the public in April, showcases the wide variety of performers the Rialto and its affiliates have hosted, as captured by their house photographers C. Elliott and Mark Martinez.Â
The gallery archive contains more than 5,000 photographs detailing shows since 2004. Rialto and their affiliate venues like 191 Toole hosted more than 400 shows in 2018 alone. From this massive collection, the Rialto Theatre Gallery Project shows 75 images from their shows, as well as concerts they produced at the University of Arizonaâs Centennial Hall, and a dozen concert posters designed by Ryan Trayte. Featured artists in the exhibit include Childish Gambino, Daveand Phil Alvin, Michael Franti, Tom Jones, Elvis Costello, Snoop Dogg and Durand Jones. Photos are available for purchase, and if bought, the gallery slot will be replaced with another image from the archive. The gallery will also play a soundtrack of some of the artists on display, cura
Cathy Rivers has worked with community radio for 10 years. Soon, she will be involved with music in a different format.Â
In June, Rivers starts her job as the Rialtoâs executive director, taking over for Curtis McCrary, who worked at the theater for 16 years.Â
Along with serving as executive director since 2015, Rivers worked as a program director and DJ for KXCI. Rivers says sheâs ready to move on, but she wanted to be sure that KXCI was in a good place.Â
âIt was the perfect time for me to leave KXCI, as the staff and board of directors are really rock-solid right now,â Rivers says. âThey are ready to move on without me. We had to learn to go from live broadcasting to remote broadcasting. Once we learned how to pivot like that and keep KXCI doing really well, it made it feel fine to now move on.âÂ
Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz) visited the Rialto Theatre this week to highlight federal funding designed to get local music venues open again. The federal government allocated more than $16.2 billion to the Shuttered Venue Operators Grant for live venues, live performing arts organizations, museums and movie theatres, as well as live venue promoters, theatrical producers and talent representatives. But when the Small Business Administration opened the portal for the first-come, first-serve program on April 8, the demand crashed the system. Two weeks later, Kelly and Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz) joined many of their Democratic colleagues to send a letter to SBA urging them to reopen the application portal before “more independent businesses are forced to shutter permanently or file for bankruptcy.” SBA announced it would reopen the portal on April 24 and the Rialto Theatre was one of the
Posted By Jeff Gardner on Wed, Apr 7, 2021 at 11:19 AM KXCI Community Radio executive director Cathy Rivers won t have to move far for her new role: executive director of the Rialto Theatre. Well known to the downtown music scene, Rivers will assume the new role starting June 1. According to the Rialto, Rivers was selected due to her talent and proven skill as a local leader, in addition to being a longtime community partner. “The Rialto Theatre is a vital Tucson institution and a crucial part of downtown, and by extension, our entire community,” Rivers said. “It is crucial that she not only survive these unprecedented times, but thrive in spite of them. I am confident that my experience, combined with community trust, will aid in solidifying the Rialto’s place within the fabric of the Tucson community and expanding its local, regional, and national prominence.”
With COVID cases continuing their three-month decline, vaccines flowing and artists with a year of material ready to perform, the coming months are shaping up to be great times to attend live music in Tucson. Of course, many local venues are not quite ready to host indoor concerts. Those with patios are utilizing their outdoor spaces, and even indoor-only venues are finding unique ways to get music to the masses or prep audiences for when the time is right. The Fox Theatre is collaborating with the Downtown Tucson Partnership to bring back live music, but this isn t a traditional indoor concert series, because the music may very well come to you. Troubadour Thursdays takes place throughout April, and serves as a downtown patio tour, where local musicians will move throughout downtown and perform to multiple restaurants and open areas. Each week features a different style of music, and all of the travelling troubadours are local.