This March, as Scottsdale Art Week returns, one of Arizona’s most influential cultural leaders is receiving the recognition his life’s work deserves. James (Jim) Ballinger will be honored with the Scottsdale Art Week Lifetime Achievement Award, acknowledging more than four decades of leadership that reshaped the Phoenix Art Museum and, in the process, transformed the cultural identity of the entire region. In fact, the Phoenix Art Museum is the beneficiary of the Scottsdale Art Week Opening Night Vernissage taking place on Thursday, March 19th.
When people talk about the rise of Arizona’s arts scene, they often point to the museums, the collectors, the galleries, the exhibitions. They rarely talk about the decades of steady leadership that made it all possible. For Arizona, that leadership belongs to Jim.
When he arrived in Phoenix in the 1970s, the city’s arts landscape was still emerging. The Museum was modest. The audience was small. The future was unwritten.
“I planned to stay for five years. Get some experience and move on.”
Instead, he stayed for more than forty.
Over the decades, Jim guided the Phoenix Art Museum through an extraordinary evolution that mirrored the growth of Phoenix itself. The building expanded. The collections deepened. International exhibitions arrived. Education programs flourished. Community partnerships strengthened. What began as a regional institution became a national force and Phoenix became a serious art city because someone believed it could.
“I often tell people I worked at three different museums. They just happened to all be at the same address.”
His personal archive traces that transformation. Early black and white photographs of small galleries. Groundbreakings for new wings. Opening nights that brought global art to the desert for the first time. In fact, some of the Museum’s most defining moments came early in Jim’s tenure.
“We did Tamayo’s first exhibition in America. We did Cuevas’ first exhibition in America. And we showed Frida Kahlo long before the world really knew who she was.”
Back then, Frida was Diego Rivera’s wife. Today, Diego Rivera is Frida Kahlo’s husband.
The same instinct guided the Museum’s early contemporary acquisitions. Jim remembers purchasing a Kehinde Wiley painting for seventy thousand dollars. Today that work would command millions. The value was never just financial. It was about recognizing cultural significance before the world caught on.
What Jim built was not simply a museum. He built an ecosystem. Programs like Contemporary Forum cultivated collectors and supported artists. The Museum became a civic gathering place, a classroom, a conversation, and a mirror of a city discovering its voice.
“It is a rather humbling experience. Years later, it's nice people still know I am around.”
For Jim, that perspective comes from having witnessed the full arc of Arizona’s cultural rise from the inside. And today, that arc is still unfolding.
That momentum is on full display as Scottsdale Art Week presented by Scottsdale Ferrari returns, standing at the cultural crossroads of the American Southwest. The same desert landscape that once drew creative giants like Georgia O’Keeffe and Frank Lloyd Wright now welcomes a new generation of global voices, with well over one hundred galleries from across the United States and around the world gathering in Scottsdale.
Event Co Owner Jason Rose has watched that momentum accelerate rapidly.
“Any upstart has to prove itself and we were no different. But after an amazing year one from the venue to the experience to the sales the interest from galleries across the world has been exceptional. We will have a sold out show from extraordinary galleries.”
He adds that the world’s attention is now firmly on the Valley.
“People are fascinated by the Phoenix and Scottsdale metro area and view it as a new frontier for their galleries because of the population explosion here including being the fastest growing region in the country for millionaires.”
For Fair Director and Co-Owner Amy Gause, the fair’s arrival feels less like a sudden success and more like the natural result of decades of cultural groundwork.
“I have spent the last twenty five years of my career in the art world both nationally and regionally and it became clear that Scottsdale was ready for an event of this caliber. We have a deep and sophisticated collector base, a distinct cultural identity and a continued influx of wealth into the state. We were the only major city in America without an international art fair.”
She explains that the fair’s mission is to honor the Valley’s creative identity while opening its doors wide to the world.
“Our mission is dual focused. We aim to present the well established art scene of Scottsdale and the Southwest to the international art world while also bringing the global art world directly to Scottsdale.”
And honoring Jim carries special meaning.
“Jim Ballinger served as Director of the Phoenix Art Museum for 40 years and now holds the title of Director Emeritus. The recent dedication of the museum’s North Wing in his honor speaks volumes about his lasting impact. Today, Phoenix Art Museum stands as the preeminent museum in the Southwest, and we are incredibly fortunate to have that institution here. We all owe Jim deep gratitude for his enduring commitment to the arts in Arizona. We are honored to echo his long-standing contributions to the arts in Arizona at Scottsdale Art Week.”
As Scottsdale Art Week unfolds with monumental installations, international voices, expanded cultural programming, and new collector spaces, it is also quietly celebrating the rare kind of leadership that makes everything else possible.
Scottsdale Art Week
March 19–22, 2026 | WestWorld of Scottsdale
With galleries from across the country and around the world, Scottsdale Art Week presented by Scottsdale Ferrari continues its rise as one of the most exciting new art fairs in America. Slated to feature 120 galleries, the fair blends historical and contemporary works while spotlighting contemporary Indigenous artists and honoring the Southwest’s rich cultural legacy.
Set at the crossroads of American art history that once drew icons like Georgia O’Keeffe and Frank Lloyd Wright, Scottsdale Art Week offers four days of exhibitions, awards, entertainment, and cultural programming during Arizona’s most beautiful travel season.
Opening Night Vernissage (March 19th, 2026) launches the celebration, setting the tone for a globally connected art experience rooted in the heart of the Valley.
scottsdaleartweek.com
“We did Tamayo’s first exhibition in America and Cuevas’ first exhibition in America." -Jim Ballinger
“I have spent the last twenty five years of my career in the art world both nationally and regionally and it became clear that Scottsdale was ready for an event of this caliber." -Amy Gause