Join Bonnie G as she welcomes Michael Shaw, the artistic director of Dezart Performs, to discuss the exciting news of their recent acquisition of the First Church of Christ Scientist building in Palm Springs, which will be transformed into the new Desert Playhouse. This significant move comes after a thorough reassessment of their previous plans to relocate to Cathedral City, showcasing the organization's growth and commitment to bringing vibrant art and culture to the Coachella Valley. Michael shares insights about the new space, its features, and the community-centered approach they plan to adopt. The episode also highlights the generous support from donors that has made this dream a reality. Tune in to hear about the journey of Dezart Performs, the power of community support, and what lies ahead for this beloved arts organization. Listen to The Desert Scene and stay up-to-date with show information on our website at www.TheDesertScene.com or Subscribe and Download from one of our preferred Podcast Distribution Partners including Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts, Audible, Captivate.fm, or Spotify. This podcast is presented by the Mutual Broadcasting System.

Takeaways:

• Michael Shaw announced the purchase of a new building for Dezart Performs, transforming a church into a community arts center.
• The new location will significantly increase seating capacity and provide more rehearsal space for productions.
• Community support has been overwhelming, with a generous donation of $500,000 aiding the transition to the new building.
• The building's historical significance ties back to the church's original congregation, creating a unique full circle moment.
• Desert Performs aims to foster collaboration with other organizations, making the space available for community events.
• The opening of the new facility is planned for the 2025-2026 season, following necessary renovations.

In a land of sunshine where the palm trees sway there's a special show to brighten up your day.

From rockin festivals to Broadway dreams.

Tune in with Bunny G.

It's a desert scene.

The desert scene with Barny G.

Meet the stars and feel the beast from the Coachella Valley is the place to be for all the culture, fun and harm I need the desert sea.

Yeah.

With Barney G.

Mutual broadcasting welcomes you to the desert scene, featuring conversations with the people who make culture, art and entertainment happen in the Coachella Valley.

From local theater to live music, art exhibits, to cinema and beyond.

The desert scene is presented by El Portal mexican restaurant in Cathedral City.

Now here is your host, Bonnie G.

And welcome to the desert scene.

So happy to have you here.

Very, very happy to welcome to the show my good buddy Michael Shaw, who is the artistic director of Desart, performs, and he's got some big news.

Hey, Michael, how are you?

Good day?

I'm great.

How are you?

Good.

So I'm so, so excited about this new building.

Tell us about it.

Oh, my gosh.

The word's out.

Clearly out.

So, as you know, last Sunday we had our season launch party, and we made a big announcement to that, that crowd at 849 that we had just gone into escrow to purchase the first church of Christ Scientist building in Palm Springs and turn it into the new desert playhouse.

Yay.

So this happened, as many people.

Forgive me, I've got a little bit of a chess cold, so my clearing.

No, I'm fine.

I just have some congestion.

But anyway, as many people know, our plan was originally to move to a location in Cathedral City.

And over the last couple of months, after probably last three or four months, we had reassessed that location and its costs and decided that it wasn't practical for us or fiscally sound for us to make that move.

So we went on a new search for a new location.

And this literally happened almost overnight.

And the church went on the market very quickly, and we basically jumped on it.

We had a tour of the space.

It checked off all the boxes in regards to space and sanctuary size for the audience, backstage use.

There's even a Sunday school class which will be converted into a rehearsal hall.

There's offices, there's a lobby.

And it's just a beautiful building.

It's an arbitrary designed building.

And it's just to say that we're ecstatic would be.

It's an understatement, because it's just.

It's exactly.

It's unexpected.

We didn't obviously, expect to buy a building.

But the campaign has been incredibly successful.

We continue to obviously seek funds because now we are.

Now we're buying a building and we're converting it.

So there is additional costs that we originally planned for.

Exactly.

So it's a big.

You know, it's obviously a huge deal for us.

It's a.

It's a.

I think it's going to be a big boom for the community.

The church congregation has been the only tenant in that building.

They've owned the building for almost 70 years and it just kind of feels like a match made in heaven, if I could say that.

Because the architecture is stunning.

We obviously are thrilled and honored to have a building of this magnitude.

And we will take care of it hopefully as well as the church has and will bring a lot of joy to the community.

Our plan has always been to open up a community center.

So it's not just us, but we want to be able to have the space available to other organizations.

Right.

Right.

So that's, you know, it's a win win for everybody involved but I think mostly for the community.

And David C.

Lee pledged pledge has pledged $500,000.

That's helpful in addition to the other people that have contributed the campaign.

That sounds like a perfect size.

It's absolutely wonderful.

It's 50% larger than what we were originally going to move into in Cathedral City.

It's a much better space in terms of available usage.

The big.

The two big things that we didn't have in the original space was a rehearsal hall, a rehearsal room and ample office space.

So this is like, this meets those two needs that we originally weren't expecting.

So we can have rehearsals for, you know, an event or another organization can use the rehearsal hall while we're in production in the main sanctuary and it still meets our needs.

It actually exceeds our original plan for seating because right now it looks like we can fit comfortably 150, which is great.

We're almost doubling our seating capacity right now at the women's club.

Okay, super.

Yes.

Yes.

November.

We've already started mapping out a very tight timeline in terms of once we occupy the building, which escrow closes, I believe on November 29.

So once that's completed, then we obviously get the keys and we just jump right in.

We've already had a number of inspections this last week.

We've only been in us for less than two weeks.

The last week has been all about inspections and environmental whatever and all the stuff that you have to do to take, you know, to basically make sure that we're, you know, moving into a sound, safe building.

Yeah.

And location.

Yeah.

We're going to take a really quick break here on the desert scene.

We're talking to Michael Shaw, artistic director of Desert performs.

They got a new building that's going to open up next fall.

We'll be right back.

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And we are back on the desert scene, talking to Michael Shaw of desert performs.

So, Michael, from what I know of you, I think I know the answer to this question.

But I have a feeling that you're probably gonna get in there and roll up your sleeves with a paintbrush, et cetera, when whatever's needed.

As far as this project, you actually do know me very well.

I probably will.

I don't know.

They'll probably make me wear a hard hat or whatever it is, but, you know.

But I will.

I probably, knowing me, will just be like, oh, well, let me just.

Let me just, you know, I want to be involved, obviously, and I want to participate.

I will leave, you know, the big work to the professionals.

Good idea.

I don't know how I'm doing with, you know, how well I could do with plastering, but it's incredibly heartwarming and incredibly exciting to think that.

I don't know, it's funny, I just.

People are just like, you must be on the moon right now, you know?

And I'm like, of course I'm incredibly excited.

But there's.

I don't know that it's really hit me right.

Yet.

Yeah.

Yeah.

You know, we're still in the process, and.

But what's been really wonderful is the community support and the excitement that it's stirred up.

I mean, people are so, so thrilled for us.

It's obviously been a long, long standing dream to have our own space.

But then it says it's a building like this.

The significance of this building alone and the fact that it's.

That we're being honored with this, you know, this stewardship.

To take it over, one little fabulous piece of information, a little tidbit that I just recently found out was the church of Christ Scientists has been in, I believe, in Palm Springs since the thirties.

Wow.

Needed a place to hold their services.

So, interestingly enough, while the building was being built, before they moved into it, the congregation of the first Church of Christ Scientists actually held their services at the Palm Springs woman's club.

Really?

Wow.

I was like, when I read that, I was like, you gotta be careful.

Full circle.

Yes, yes, yes.

Total, total twilight zone.

It's like, what the heck?

So it's.

If you believe in it.

I do.

It was meant to be.

And it just brings an affirmation to this incredible opportunity.

I truly feel blessed to have this kind of come our way, and I hope that we do it justice in terms of obviously, maintaining the beauty of the building, which, you know, we wanted.

We feel incredibly, I don't know, to be bestowed.

This building is really quite an honor, and I'm incredibly excited to take, to bring art to that facility and that community.

And from the one little picture I saw, I think there's ample parking as well, is correct?

Yes.

The parking lot has 40 spaces on the property.

And then there's incredible.

An incredible amount of street parking.

The church is located right behind Cody Place, right off of South, South Palm Canyon.

Okay.

So that whole back neighborhood on Riverside as it spills into random drive and then mesquite, there's.

I've never seen a car park back there, but it's all public street parking.

So the church, you know, in its heyday, I'm sure that the church, I think the capacity of the church was 157.

Okay.

So there is plenty of parking, obviously, for Sunday classes and Sunday services and things like that.

So it's kind of ideal for us.

So go back for just a second.

What was the year that Desart first started?

First had, I think you were staged reading in an art studio or tell us about the very, very beginning again.

She and I partnered together and co founded Des Art, and we were in an art gallery.

And the reason that happened was I had become friends with artists in the Backstreet art district back behind Mercedes Benz, and I purchased a couple of pieces of art back then, became friends with the artists.

They were wanting to kind of create a salon setting in the gallery where they wanted to bring in not just the visual arts, but poetry readings and plays and comedy and things like that.

So Daniella and I became friends over a one woman show that she was presenting there at the gallery.

We struck up a friendship, and long story short, we thought, well, maybe we can, like, manage the theatrical end of this salon, and we can start bringing in plays and things like that.

So at the time, my goal was to really promote new plays and new playwrights who had unpublished work.

So we started out as kind of an incubation, an incubator for new work.

And so for the first few years at the gallery, we just presented original new art, new plays, and then that was like, we had, like, 15 or 20 seats.

I think we had folding chairs.

Yeah, I remember that.

Yeah.

Things in there, you know, and it was great fun.

And I was still living in Los Angeles and coming out on the weekends, it was great fun to just kind of, like, read new work and present new work to the community, and people just kind of, you know, really desired that.

They just couldn't have sustain it because of the financial crisis.

Yeah.

So we had to move.

Unfortunately, the women's club had just become available, and so we signed an agreement with them.

And fast forward 14 years later.

We're still there.

You know, we're doing our last season there, and it's been a wonderful relationship.

The women's club had long known that we were, you know, we're planning on leaving eventually.

Eventually.

So this whole campaign started about three years ago to raise funds to move into a permanent home.

And so it's been very successful, and we're at a place right now where our board truly feels confident that we can take this on.

And, of course, David C.

Lee's incredibly generous gift and pledge has really been a turning point for us, absolutely, to make this happen.

So we're incredibly honored and very fortunate to have this.

Well, Michael Shaw, I am one who believes, and I believe that you have paid your dues.

You and everyone associated with Desar have paid your dues, worked hard, and put it out there in the community.

And put positive vibes out in the community, which is why this has all happened, why this money has come in, why David Seeley's, and why you found this building.

So I don't think.

I don't believe in coincidences.

Congratulations.

You put it out there.

What you give out, you give back, and I think that's what's happening.

So congratulations.

I'm so excited for you.

Thank you so much.

And it's a joy to share the news with you, as you know.

I mean, you and I have been friends for a long time, and I always appreciate your support and your friendship greatly.

You're a sweetheart.

Thank you so much.

Well, get better.

Get rid of that cold and have a great day.

Thanks for being here.

And congratulations again.

Really appreciate it.

Thanks again.

Take care.

Bye bye.

All right, thank you.

Michael Shaw and the rest of you will see you the next time on the desert scene.

The desert sea with honey G.

Meet the stars and feel the beef from the Coachella Valley it's the place to be for all the culture, fun and harmony the desert scene.

Yeah, with Bonnie G.

The desert scenes where you belong with mutual broadcasting, Bonnie G.

Just sing along, just sing along.