The Edna Vihel Activities Building, in the city’s Community Center complex, opens the door to participation in the arts to children and adults. It offers a variety of classes in the visual and performing arts and other special interests.

The beautiful $12 million Tempe Public Library contains close to 405,000 volumes, plus videos, compact discs and books on tape. The library features excellent business reference services, an automated library system that is accessible via the Internet, and public Internet access on 23 computers. Its former quarters on the Community Center grounds is occupied by the Tempe Historical Museum which collects, preserves and exhibits aspects of Tempe’s history.

The Tempe Symphony Orchestra presents four free annual concerts at Boyle Auditorium in McClintock High School. The orchestra, formed in 1973, is composed of approximately 80 musicians.

Arizona State University elevates Tempe’s cultural scene to world-class stature with the famous Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Grady Gammage Memorial Auditorium.

Downtown Tempe is a cultural center in its own right. The Spring and Fall Festivals of the Arts each draw nearly 250,000 people who browse the myriad of booths while enjoying a variety of foods and free live entertainment. Sponsored by the Mill Avenue Merchants Association, the events are held the first weekend of December and March and are the second-largest juried art festivals in the nation. Downtown Tempe is also the place for stand-up comedy with the Improv, a branch of New York’s famed comedy club.

Award winning Childsplay, a professional company of adult actors, takes the form and substance of theater for young people into new territory. Their acclaimed efforts instill in young minds an enduring awe, love and respect for theater and preserve imagination and wonder. Founded in 1977, the group has performed for more than 750,000 children and adults throughout the Southwest. Childsplay’s home is the Tempe Performing Arts Center in downtown Tempe. The Performing Arts Center is also home to Tempe Little Theatre, which presents quarterly plays.

Whatever your tastes, there are terrific things to see, do and experience in Tempe.