CATALYST CREATIVE COLLECTIVE
A non-profit community space fueled by collaboration, cooperation, and connection
When SAACA formulated the original concept for CATALYST in 2018, the primary focus was designing a multi-use space for co-working, hosting educational classes and workshops, and bringing artists and creatives together to collaborate on projects.
After facing the profound challenges of operating an indoor gathering space during the COVID-19 pandemic, SAACA adjusted the focus of CATALYST to serve the community in a new and sustained way. The creative community urgently required space to create mission-focused work with shared resources. CATALYST ultimately survived the pandemic’s trials through the resource sharing of over a dozen organizations and individuals coming together to collaborate and utilize the space for varied needs and missions. Rebranding to the CATALYST Creative Collective enables us to better embody the meaningful, necessary, and mission-focused role the space now serves in Southern Arizona. The new name tells a more relevant story of the work at CATALYST each day and ultimately better positions us to serve the creative community. |
|
The CATALYST Creative Collective is a dynamic and inclusive space that reflects the essence of the hundreds of artists, creatives, community members, and nonprofit organizations that come together at CATALYST to collaborate and build shared value.
Current CATALYST partners include working digital creators, culinary-based businesses, visual and performing artists, business networking groups, and nonprofit organizations such as the Southern Arizona Symphony Orchestra, Esperanza Dance Project, Tucson Youth Music, and the educational nonprofit Waters Center for Systems Thinking. Although the name evolves, the primary layout of CATALYST will remain unchanged with dedicated spaces to support a variety of disciplines: the Don Luria & Donna Nordin Teaching Kitchen, the Bob & Vivian Weede Digital Arts and Music Studio, the Watermark Community Room, and more. |
|
The space is supported as a signature Arts & Business Partnership between SAACA and Brookfield Properties at Tucson Mall.
The space is designed in partnership with the Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture at Taliesin (SoAT) Dean Chris Lasch, a partner with the New York and Tucson-based firm Aranda/Lasch, which is a leader in “computational architecture,” or the application of the latest tools and theories coming out of computer-assisted design and manufacturing to architecture. |