The city of Palm Springs is kicking off a brand-new arts and culture festival—and has big goals for it.
The first XOXO Palm Springs is a collection of more than 60 events, over 12 days, that celebrate the diverse arts and culture scene in the Coachella Valley. Local music venues, theater stages, museums, art galleries and even event organizers like Modernism Week and Greater Palm Springs Pride will host a variety of arts events from Thursday, June 11, through Monday, June 22.
During a recent interview, Palm Springs City Councilmember Jeffrey Bernstein explained how the event stemmed from discussions among the area’s arts and culture organizations.
“Palm Springs has always had this rich arts and culture history, since the tribal era,” Bernstein said. “We have an incredible amount of arts and culture opportunities in our city, especially for a city our size: For a city of less than 50,000, we probably have eight museums, but four major ones, and we have eight film festivals, five theater companies, over 70 live music venues, over 100 galleries and studios, two big choral groups, two symphonies, dance companies, and Pride, and Modernism Week. We more than outweigh most cities our size, so the roundtable came together, and then after a while, it’s like, ‘How can we further position Palm Springs really as a true arts and culture destination, and really highlight that arts and culture … as an industry in itself?’”
The goal of XOXO Palm Springs is to give a platform to as many local arts organizations as possible.
“We have groups of people who know about Modernism and the (Palm Springs International) Film Festival and Pride, but they don’t always overlap,” Bernstein said. “People have started to come to Palm Springs and go to the Plaza Theatre, and maybe the museum, and then see a drag show and enjoy a number of different arts and cultures. It was the arts and cultural community that came up and said, ‘We want to do a citywide arts and culture festival or celebration,’ and they looked at models like Spoleto Festival or Edinburgh Festival Fringe and South by Southwest, which merge a lot of different forms of the arts.”
Even though XOXO be during the toasty-weather month of June, the city hopes for a good turnout.
“Originally, I thought that October was a great time, and the arts and cultural organizations all decided that June really made sense,” Bernstein said. “We had a half-day retreat that had our economic development person; the (Palm Springs Chamber of Commerce); the Convention Center; the heads of the film festival, Modernism Week, (the Palm Springs) Air Museum, (the Palm Springs) Art Museum, Desert X (and the Palm Springs) Cultural Center; the editor of Palm Springs Life; the Public Arts Commission; and the Plaza Theatre, and they all thought June was the best opportunity for a number of different reasons. You already have some signature events in June, like Juneteenth events; you’ve got Short Fest; and … it is pride month. October was a little bit too close to everybody getting ready for their busy season, so they all said, ‘We can do something in June, and we can build it.’”
XOXO Palm Springs is taking inspiration from Modernism Week and other multi-day, multi-venue fests.
“(Modernism Week) doesn’t produce most of their events, but they market them and package them all,” Bernstein said. “You look at models like Edinburgh Festival Fringe, and they start to use every available space in the city, so our group looked at it and said, ‘Well, the schools are empty a lot in June, and the Convention Center has high vacancies,’ so down the line, you could see those being activated.”
“This would be the first time that we’ve had Pride, the Film Festival and Modernism Week doing something within one period.”
Palm Springs City Councilmember Jeffrey Bernstein
While many of the events on the calendar were planned independently from XOXO Palm Springs, a few new events were pulled together because of the fest.
“For instance, Modernism Week is going to be doing tours during this period, and they never really do tours in June,” Bernstein said. “At the Cultural Center, the American Documentary and Animation Film Festival will be having a showcase night, and they’re normally in March. … This is really open to anyone. I just heard from Eight4Nine Restaurant, and they’re going to be adding an art show during it. We have a network of galleries and studios, and they’re going to do a U-Haul art show, and we’re looking at trying to plan a showcase in the Plaza Theatre of some of the LGBT organizations like the Desert Winds Freedom Band and Palm Springs Gay Men’s Chorus.”
Bernstein said it was important that big-name arts organizations are part of XOXO.
“This would be the first time that we’ve had Pride, the Film Festival and Modernism Week doing something within one period,” he said.
Thanks to XOXO Palm Springs, people can realize how vibrant our local arts and culture scene truly is, Bernstein said.
“I think the arts are key to the Palm Springs brand, and we should really be doubling down on that,” Bernstein said. “In the past, people haven’t always recognized how rich our arts and culture scene is, and they’ve often looked to big cities—but we have as much, or more, as many cities. … You can come now any time of year, and in a week, you could do a different arts and culture event every day. I think that attracts new businesses here, and it attracts new people to live here. I moved from New York City, and one of the questions was, ‘What’s the arts and culture scene?’ I think now I would say it’s as vibrant as anywhere.”
A five-year plan for XOXO Palm Springs is in place; Bernstein said he and his collaborators hope it can grow into a landmark festival.
“This is just being put on by the arts and culture organizations, and with more funding and sponsorships, there can be a more active team working on it organizing and promoting,” he said. “I think there’s room for a lot more offerings out there. The Plaza Theatre, I think we’ll have three or four nights, but there’s no reason in a few years they couldn’t have things all 11 nights. Part of it is bringing in other outside groups and different things or new exhibitions, so the five-year plan really is to be like a Modernism Week or an Edinburgh Festival, where there’s a lot going on.
“The second thing is with XOXO, the PS/NExT Summit and then Short Fest, with art and a lot of technology involved, you start to get closer to our own version of a South by Southwest. … It could be, eventually, not just these 11 days; it could be the month of June, like Edinburgh does a whole month. That’s a long-term goal.”
XOXO Palm Springs will take place Thursday, June 11, through Monday, June 22. For a full list of events, visit visitpalmsprings.com/xoxo-palm-springs.
