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Surprise arts venue study shows future hope

The Vista looks for 3rd reboot, new managing

The 1,300-seat Vista Center for the Arts sits empty right now as the city of Surprise and Dysart Unified School District discuss a possible agreement on the operations of the district-owned facility on the campus of Valley Vista High School.

Ryan McGinley/DUSD

The Vista Center for the Arts has been through this before.

It rose from a high school auditorium to become a professional arts and music venue in 2019 right before the COVID-19 pandemic struck and stopped all shows.

A couple years later, it rebooted for two seasons to bring notable acts such as comedian Jeff Foxworthy to Surprise before the school district that runs the venue realized it was in way over its head and stopped productions.

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