The Sedona amphitheater’s personal ad drew seven replies. Now an eight-person working group of seven city staffers and a member of the business community gets to vet the prospects before Sedona City Council tentatively hears its findings, Tuesday, Dec. 8.
The respondents are the Amphitheater Action Group, Keen Independent Research, Sedona Cultural Park 2.0, Sky City Productions, Starke Contractors, Venue Partners and Webb Management Services.
A request for information “is only for gathering information not for selecting an operator or awarding a contract,” city spokeswoman Julie Graham wrote in an email. The city issued its RFI May 27 to gauge private-sector interest in restoring and operating the Sedona Cultural Park’s Georgia Frontiere Performing Arts Pavilion, closed since 2003, as a concert venue. Submissions closed Sept. 30.
“We’re not going to be declaring a group to have a better proposal than others,” city of Sedona Community Development Director Tony Allender said. “What we’re looking for truly is the possibility of a pathway forward to restore and operate the amphitheater by a third party, while still meeting the city’s objectives for the cultural park”.
The business representative and one of the city staffers has experience with the live music industry but “we’re not going to disclose names yet,” Allender said. Sedona’s voters made their objective for the Western Gateway area clear when they passed Proposition 403 by over 60%, prohibiting the city from using any part of the 41 acres at the site for residential housing.
The Amphitheater Action Group, an ad-hoc Sedona coalition, includes Lippman Entertainment’s Scott Ross and Nick Lippman, music-industry veteran Paul Fishkin UTA agent Talia Myers, musician and studio co-owner Tim Jessup restaurateur Lisa Dahl, and hotelier and former Winslow mayor Allan Affeldt.
Sedona Cultural Park 2.0 is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit of Sedona area residents, business owners and community leaders led by its president, John Bradshaw, a former vice mayor of Sedona and Jeep tour business owner. The group has been active in working to reopen the amphitheater before the RFI was issued. Sedona City Council approved pursuing a non-binding letter of intent to develop a business plan for the amphitheater with a 6-0 at its April 28 meeting.
Sky City Productions, which produces outdoor concerts in Arizona such as the Prescott Valley Summer Music Festival and Summer Concert Series, is an audiovisual, equipment rental and event production company based in Prescott that specializes in staging, lighting and sound.
The Keen Independent Research is a Phoenix-based market research and economic consulting firm. The cultural planning documents it has written include the Parker, Colorado, Cultural Strategic Plan in 2026, the Littleton, Colorado, Arts and Culture Community Strategic plan in 2024, the Mesa Arts Center.
Starke Contractors Strategic Plan in 2024 and is a Women’s Business Enterprise and Women-Owned Small Business “commercial general contracting firm, specializing in tenant improvements, retail, public work sector, hospitality, office, restaurants and alterations,” the Las Vegas-based company stated. “As a commercial general contractor in Nevada, Utah, Arizona and California we have completed a variety of projects including resort renovations, office buildings, additions, interior renovations, tenant improvements, commercial buildouts, restaurants, retail stores, and have worked on some of the most iconic properties and projects on the Las Vegas Strip”.
Denver-based Venue Partners is a marketing and sponsorship company whose mission is to match venues with corporate sponsors for marketing and promotion. Founded by Lee Carrothers, it touts the naming of the Colorado Rockies’ home stadium in Denver as Coors Field in the company’s resume.
New York-based Webb Management Services, founded by Duncan M. Webb in 1997, provides “advisory services for arts and culture facilities, organizations, agencies, and districts,” its website read and the firm has handled planning work for more than 500 clients and assignments.
The responses “will help the city understand feasibility, operating options private-sector interest, and how ideas align with city goals for the Cultural Park,” Graham wrote. The city’s working group’s first meeting is anticipated to take place this week, Allender said. “The responses will be available to the public once the working group has completed its review,” Graham wrote. “After reviewing the findings, the council will decide whether moving forward with a formal process, such as a request for proposals, is warranted. Until council has made a decision, the city will not take any action to move planning forward.”
