The POP: Art in Unexpected Places festival returns to Kierland Commons for its fifth year, offering audiences a creative opportunity to shop, eat and connect with the arts in meaningful ways.

The Kierland POP Festival, presented by the Kierland Master Association, will feature a series of interactive art installations and experiences, including live art, music, philanthropy, cuisine, wellness and more at Kierland Commons and the Westin Kierland Resort & Spa.

The festival will take place on Saturday and Sunday November 6 and 7 at the mall, 15205 N. Kierland Boulevard.

The event is the result of a collaboration between Kierland Commons, the Westin Kierland Resort & Spa, the Kierland Master Association and the Southern Arizona Arts & Cultural Alliance.

Known to have attracted over 15,000 visitors, this year’s attendees can expect to see performances and installations spanning the gamut of entertainment, according to SAACA Executive Director Kate Marquez.

“The name sort of describes everything,” she said. “You can shop in Anthropologie and around the corner, you see a pop-up painter, or you eat something at Shake Shack and watch a Chinese line dance performance, or you walk the sidewalk at Kierland Commons and see an eight foot chalk art mural in front of you and violinists in the corners, ”Marquez said.

“That kind of experience that you would have when you went to a place like San Francisco or New York and you were bombarded with painters on the streets and musicians as you walk around, it makes you participate and experience the art of creatively. “

Visitors can also browse the festival’s Handicraft Market on Main Street, featuring up to 40 artists and vendors selling a variety of handicrafts. Products for sale include candles, artisan foods, sculptures, and paintings

For Marquez, the most rewarding part is the ability to showcase local artists while strengthening connections between people, “place and purpose” through “collaborative arts-based experiences”.

“For me, that’s what fills me up,” Marquez said. “And we have the opportunity to present this to the community in a really dynamic way so that we can break down the barriers to participation that exist in the art world. Having this opportunity to reshape people’s minds around arts and culture really allows for more dialogue in a truly connected and meaningful way.

SAACA, a non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation and advancement of the arts, champions Marquez’s sentiments.

The association seeks to meet the needs of artists by creating programming highlighting local creators while simultaneously expanding the opportunities for sale and profit from their work.

“We are a local non-profit arts organization that primarily focuses most of our diverse programming by working directly with local artists of all genres, diversity and mediums,” Marquez said, citing filmmakers, digital designers, architects , musicians, visual artists, photographers and conductors. , among others.

SAACA has created over 300,000 arts-focused experiences, from innovative community festivals and cultural celebrations to creative sector development and accessible arts enrichment programs.

Marquez, who has worked with SAACA for 15 years, attributes his motivation to join the movement to the tangible results of the organization seen throughout the local community.

“The inspiration was really to work with some kind of organization that I can see the impact locally, and sometimes it’s hard to do, whether it’s for profit or not for profit,” said the executive director. .

“In fact, we can interact with many representative groups in the community, ranging from working with engineers and creative robotics teams to papier-mâché artists. It changes your view of humanity and the kind of room where we see how the arts are an integral part of everything we do, from the moment we wake up until the moment we fall asleep.

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Kierland POP festival will operate this year in a “modified structure” to accommodate safety guidelines, according to Marquez.

All events and experiences will take place in an outdoor setting while promoting social distancing, face mask restrictions from local ordinances and increased disinfection for all shared spaces, she continues.

“We have definitely prioritized supporting individual artists by providing them with safe opportunities and above all a way for them to showcase and sell their work within the community,” she said.

Although a “strong list” detailing the artists of the 2021 festival has not yet been finalized, it is expected to be released in early October,

Marquez, adding that the public “can count on the fact that there will be the same levels of action”.

Once announced, the list will be available on kierlandpop.com.