Miles Rhoades
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Season 5 Intern
My name is Miles Rhoades and I am a senior at NAU studying photography and arts and cultural management. Born in Boulder, Colorado, I have since bounced around my home state, as well as California and Arizona. After being gifted my father’s old camera in high school, I discovered an ever-intensifying passion for photography. This ultimately led me to the home of my cousin (twice removed) whose father was a fine art photographer in the Pacific Northwest named Max Allara. I spent a summer in Portland, Oregon with my cousin helping to catalog and donate Max’s work to the Portland art museum. All the while being surrounded by immaculate examples of work by and of some of America’s most fascinating and influential photographers of the 20th century. All of this has instilled in me an appreciation not just for art or photography, but for the artists of any medium which give themselves to their work fully and without anxiety, pursuing not only technical mastery, but a continuous expansion of their creativity. Now I’m excited to say I have been given the opportunity to work with and meet more of these artists through The Interference Series and their programming this season, I look forward to seeing you there!
Co-organized by the Interference Series and Thollem, The Southwest Collaborative Music Convergence is an extension of the Peaceful Sky Benefit concerts held in Tucson in February, 2023. The purpose of the PSB concerts was to raise awareness of the increasingly dangerous military exercises in New Mexico and Arizona through music and art over 4 days. The first day of the festival was curated by Thollem, bringing together improvising musicians from around the region. The high spirit of collaboration at that event inspired this year's SWCMC. All of the original participating artists are being invited, as well as a handful of artists who reside in and around Flagstaff, to create work together based on the significance of the greater Southwest – ecologically, politically, culturally, in the past, present and future. This will be a historic encounter of artists who have devoted their lives to honing their craft and their relationships with other artists.
The SWCMC will entail three days of collaborative music-making, including three formal concerts in the CCA's state of the art theater based on pre-planned and spontaneous collaborative groupings, and full ensemble performances. Collaborators will also have the opportunity to give short public presentations on their practice, aesthetics, concerns, and philosophies surrounding their work. A complete schedule is to come, but a key element in participating in the festival is a commitment to immersing ourselves in the collaborative process throughout the three days. We want to explore the potential bonds and connections that can be made over an extended time frame, as well as the collegiality and congeniality that can come from conversation, shared meals, etc. Again, based on the positive response in these regards from last year’s event, we foresee great potential in this type of sustained interaction.
Want more info? Email interferenceseries@gmail.com