Carmela Ramirez is an influential producer and performing artist in Phoenix, Arizona who has used arts, culture, and community engagement to build connections. She has over 28 years experience producing events for the City of Phoenix, growing the Phoenix Center for the Arts into a major arts center. Ramirez is now retired from the city but continues producing through her own company and advocating for her community through various nonprofit involvement and consultation. She has received several awards recognizing her contributions to the arts and communities in Phoenix.

1. Carmela Ramirez
Producer, Creative Consultant, Performing Artist
Carmela Ramirez is one of the most influential Producers in the greater Phoenix area and an
award winning Performing Artist who has used Arts, Culture and Community as her base for
creative entertainment, community engagement and buildings bridges of connectivity.
A native Phoenician born and raised, the product of an arts-loving Mexican American family,
Carmela was made aware at a very early age that Arts were a universal language that could
envelope people into a common setting and from there……….anything is possible.
Early on Carmela sought her career as a performing artist in theater and music. Throughout high
school and college she sharpened her skills in theater, writing, music and public speaking and
realized how all could be used to deliver her artistic endeavors as well as produce other
emerging artists. As a young theater director, she learned how to oversee various aspects of live
performance and worked with multitudes of artists to deliver a common message. As she toured
with her musical bands, she learned the art of artist management, sound production and how to
work with all levels of house managers, producers, musicians, publicists, arrangers and grasped a
strong understanding of production from the ground up.
This knowledge and learning how to execute it has plummeted Carmela into a sought after
Producer that is guaranteed to create excellent productions, concerts, festivals, fundraise,
produce conventions, educational forums, format and brand business community outreach,
creatively design platforms for communication to the masses and enhance lifestyles for the
general public.
For the last 28 years Carmela worked as the Arts and Cultural Coordinator for the City of
Phoenix. Her early entry brought Carmela into a setting that would surpass any dream job on the
planet! She started by producing lunchtime concerts in the park and designed festivals and
special events. Within a year of working for the city, she was appointed Director of the Phoenix
Center for the Arts in the downtown Arts District. This amazing opportunity allowed Carmela to
apply all she had learned over the years and she was able to grow the Phoenix Center into a
major full scale art center presenting hundreds of visual and performing arts education classes, a
vibrant theater and art gallery. In addition she nurtured the Phoenix Children’s Chorus, began
“CityJazz”, a Big Band Jazz program for youth, produced the Phoenix Symphony Peoples Pops
concerts for 15 years, acted as a city-wide arts consultant for city programs, brought in large
sponsorships, administrated hundreds of staff and budgets, sat on various grant panels and
facilitated Parks Presenting Facilities such as Hance and Heritage Square and Civic Space Park.
As the city’s leading arts producer, she was brought in to facilitate inaugurations for several
Mayors and City Council as well as produce the Mayor’s International Dinners.
Community and Culture. Carmela’s expertise in production took another turn in 2000 when
Carmela ventured into community and cultural events. She knew that a special event could
draw people in. She also realized that she could design specific platforms within the events to

2. bring messages of importance to community. And, with the Latino movement growing rapidly in
the City of Phoenix, she willingly became the Chair of the Latino Institute, a Parks program that
she helped design to build bridges of cultural understanding in the community. By producing
community and cultural events such as El Día de los Niño’s, Back to School and Health Fairs and
the Fabulous Fourth of July (the largest event in the state of Arizona), she drew hundreds of
thousands of residents together over and over again to come together to gain a better
understanding of the richness of community, education, health, civics and of course her passion,
the arts.
Awards and Recognition The amazing journey with the City of Phoenix gained her various
awards and recognition such as Friend to the United Nations, Valle Del Sol “Profiles of Success”,
many City of Phoenix Excellence awards, Ethnic Leadership Award from the Arizona Parks and
Recreation and Phoenix Elementary “Star Mentor”. She has also been inducted into the Raul H.
Castro Institute as an “Arizona Trailblazer”, nominated twice for the Gabe Zimmerman Award for
Public Service and is currently being inducted into the ASU Chicano(a) Studies Library for her
public service and artistry.
The Future in July of 2015 Carmela retired from the City of Phoenix. The future holds many
possibilities for her tireless efforts to advocate for her community and continue her production
excellence. She is a professional singer, band manager, owns her own production company is a
former Chair of PBS Community Advisory Board now continuing board member and very active
in her church. Carmela now desires to apply all her talents to advocate for her community, to
consult non-profits wanting to grow their presence in the community, business’ seeking identity in
the community, emerging artists, youth and seniors and of course arts in all mediums!