Southwest Collaborative Music Convergence 2025
September 18th-20th
at the Coconino Center for the Arts
Please join us at the Coconino Center for the Arts to celebrate the 2nd Annual Southwest Collaborative Music Convergence! Spanning three days and nights of concerts and presentations, this is a one-of-a-kind experience for musicians and audiences alike. Along with co-director Thollem McDonas, Interference Series has invited a wide variety of collaborative musicians from around the region to create unique sonic experiences that express the dynamics of the Southwest ecologically, socially, politically, as well in response to CCA's two exhibits, Shades of Route 66 and Route 66: Alternative Perspectives. We are grateful for the opportunity to bring together all of these exceptional artists who have spent their lives honing their craft through collaboration with others. Most of all, we are excited to share it with the community!
The Convergence is an extension of a concert held Feb., 2023 in Tucson that Thollem curated as part of the Peaceful Sky Benefit. PSB was organized in order to raise awareness of the increasingly dangerous exercises the U.S. military is conducting in the southern desert. Based on the enthusiasm of the participants and the audiences, it became clear that the Convergence needed to happen again. The artists for this year's Convergence include musicians who participated in both 2023 and 2024 plus local musicians from Flagstaff and the Navajo Nation. Next year we are planning to open it up to more musicians from the region. See/hear you out there!
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A special thanks for funding support from Creative Flagstaff, the City of Flagstaff BBB Tax Revenue Fund, the NAU Honors College, and John Schiek.
3-Day Event Pass – $40 (Available On-Line)
Individual events - $20 (available day-of)​
Note: 3-Day passes are transferable if you cannot attend all of the events through boxoffice@coconinoarts.org (indicate) both the name of the original ticket purchaser and the name of person to whom the pass is being transferred
Get Tickets Here!!!
No one turned away for lack of funds.
* On Sept 14th Thollem will play an
anticipatory solo piano concert at the CCA
Event Schedule
Thursday, Sept 18th
*Large Ensemble Concert (Theater)
7:00 - 9:00 PM
(Doors at 6:30)
Friday, Sept 19th
Large Ensemble Concert (Theater)
7:00 - 9:00 PM
(Doors at 6:30)
Saturday, Sept 20th
*Artist Talks (Theater)
10AM - 12PM
*Sonic Happenings (Gallery and Outdoors)
2:00 - 4:00PM
*Large Ensemble Concert (Theater)
7:00PM - 9:00PM (Doors at 6:30)
Artists
Abby Fisher (percussion), Betsy Hamill (multi-instrument), Chad Kim (movement and), Chelsey Trejo (multi-instrument), Chris Woodward (percussion), Edie Tsong (multi-instrument), Eric Matchett (acoustic guitars), Gabby Isaac (synth and effects), Jeremy Schroeder (trumpet), Kai Natseway (piano, keyboards), Lauren Sarah Hayes (electronics), Lillie Gordon (violin), Michael Begay (guitar and effects), Owen Davis (percussion), Igloo Martian (everything), Rob Wallace (percussion), Sage Bond (guitars), Somei Kundu (tenor saxophone), Spencer Huttenmeyer (bass), Teo Morris (violin), Thollem (Piano, synth, voice), Vicki Brown (violin and electronics) And more...
During the 2025 Convergence we were lucky to be joined by many impromptu performers from diverse backgrounds. One of the most memorable guests was local Flagstaff Poet, Cathy Tompkins, who graciously read these works live alongside our many musicians. She has shared her work with us to be archived here along with future photos and recordings. These poems are all copyright protected from 2025 by Cathy Tompkins.
The Next Best Thing
I want to bring it to you, dear one,
To share even a modest gift
But chances are I’ll get it wrong
Not knowing your heart’s desire
Or more importantly
Finding it disagreeable
so
I will be content with
Bringing it to myself
My life, my purpose,
My contribution,
My next best thing
Might not measure up
To your expectations
So I have no choice
But to reject your yardstick
And proudly define my own
Shall I Play?
Once were fairies
Orbs
Mists
Green men
Dancing
To the music
Of hushed trees,
Click of beetle battle,
And march of ant fellows.
Around the fire,
We danced, too.
Wonder held us.
The stars in the skies
Walked us from season to season
But we danced
To make promises of
Those possibilities.
All dreams a certainty.
What we value
We sacrifice
Forgetting
But knowing deeply
Without fine finger tips
As if through a veil
Stardust always ours.
Only our fears
Well fed,
We lure
Implore
Invoke
Beg
Beseech
Petition and
Compel
Action on our behalf
While we figure out
How to endure
When there is not enough
Whatever
Making games of such beckoning
And basketed sacrifices.
Voiced now through muffled veil
Such soft bidding
Should we dance
We might still see fairies
Where the stars play.
Swings
Ups and downs
Ins and outs
Highs and lows
Bang or bust
Bull or bear
Order or chaos
Ignore the trough
Miss the point
See what's coming
Don't hold your breath
Be prepared for this ride
Hold your own close
Entropy weasles in
Plateaus give way to canyons
Mountains to sand
Confidence to fear
Harmony to dissonance
Friends becoming enemies
Entropy doing double time
Wondering darkly about
7 generations hence
Come back to this fire
Our strength in numbers
Shoulders ready
Now play
Play with sound
Play with possibility
Play with an eye to
Turning our sandcastle
Into a fortress
Improv
The very air vibrates
With the Next Best Thing
The only purpose of such wild creation
Voice meets voice
Sound meets sound
Noise meets noise
Some echo moments of time and space
Chaos a prankster
Ready to put a foot in the door
An entry to unexplored space in time
We hear through a muted veil of memory
Knowing that order is comforting
But change inevitable
Only fear trips trust
Then new rhythms restore it
Photos by Tobias Feltus
