Phoenix Sky Harbor Int’l Airport

Is PHX an airport or an art & music venue?

Art, ,

During its 90th birthday celebration in 2025, Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport (PHX) launched a Culture Corner post-security in Terminal 3 that continues to present art, music, special events, hands-on cultural demonstartions and performances.

Monthly programming lined up for 2026 includes Ballet Arizona, the Great Arizona Puppet Theatre, the Phoenix Public Library, the Heard Museum, the Phoenix Zoo, the Valle Del Sol Folklórico Club, among many others.

But wait. There’s more.

PHX also has a Traveling Tunes program that presents live music four times each month. Performances are scheduled twice a month in both Terminal 3 and Terminal 4.

We love the airport’s Museum Program, which is one of the largest airport art programs in the country.

Both airport visitors and passengers will encounter artwork, exhibitions and aviation history throughout the airport, including in the pre-security Terminal 4 Gallery, the post-security Terminal 3 Gallery, in exhibition cases throughout both terminals, and at the Rental Car Center.

One of the newest exhibitions, called Spectral Alchemy, is on display in the Terminal 4 Gallery and showcases the work of 15 local artists.

So is Phoenix Sky Harbor International an airport or an arts and culture venue?

We say both!

It’s going to be a zoo at PHX airport

Events,

Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport (PHX) hosts an ongoing Culture Corner presenting free activities that include live art demonstrations, crafts, displays, readings, and more.

Since January, local art, culture and history groups have stopped by the PHX Culture Corner to present everything from calligraphy, puppet making and airplane construction to Navajo weaving and petroglyph creation.

This week, the culture corner is going to be a zoo.

On Wednesday, July 30, between 1 and 3 p.m., educators from the Phoenix Zoo will be at the PHX Culture Corner with some animals that make their home in the Arizona desert.

Scheduled to make an appearance are a tiger salamander, an Arizona pocket mouse, a desert tortoise, domestic rabbits, and a red-tailed hawk.

If you’ll be at PHX early afternoon on Wednesday, then head post-security in Terminal 3, near Gate F3 for a chance to visit with some zoo animals.

And no pocketing the Arizona pocket mouse.

Critters at Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport

Art, ,

PHX creature 1

‘Chase’ by Dwayne Hall, courtesy PHX Airport

 

A new critter-filled exhibition titled “Creature Feature” is on display at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport in the Terminal 4 gallery, on level 3.

The exhibition feature paintings and sculptures of strange species and curious critters – most seemingly friendly – by six Arizona artists that have taken their inspiration from the natural world.

Included are fiber animal sculptures, intricately painted portraits of wild animals and whimsical wood sculptures of life-like forms.

The exhibit it presented by the Phoenix Airport Museum, which is  one of the largest airport art museums in the U.S. More information about the permanent collection and current temporary exhibitions can be found here.

PHX Creature 2

The Time Has Come the Walrus Said – by Anne Coe- Courtesy PHX Airport

 

Souvenir Sunday at Phoenix Sky Harbor Int’l Airport

Airports, Souvenir Sunday, Souvenirs,

PHX cat figures

It’s Souvenir Sunday – a day to take a look at the fun, inexpensive and locally-themed items you can pick up when you’re Stuck at the Airport.

This week’s picks come from Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport, where the Cactus Candy seemed far easier to carry than the potted cactus.

PHX - cactus candy

PHX Cactus

But even better than cactus or cactus candy were these additions we found for our growing list of locally-themed animal ‘poop’ candy:

PHX Scorpion scat

PHX Rattlesnake Droppings

PHX javelina droppings

Phoenix Sky Harbor Int’l Airport ready for Super Bowl

Sports, ,

PHX SUPER BOWL CLOCK

At the end of January, about 100,000 football fans will be heading to the Phoenix area for Super Bowl XLIX and a wide range of related festivities.

Most all of them will be arriving and departing from Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport ,where the busiest day will be the day after the Super Bowl, February 2nd.

Is the airport ready for the big game? You bet.

This will be the Phoenix area’s third Super Bowl (games were held there in 1996 and 2008) and planning has been underway for months. Airport officials have been working closely with the Super Bowl Host Committee, airlines, the TSA, car rental companies and other partners to make sure everything is in place.

To accommodate the influx of football fans, restaurants inside the airport will increase their hours and the number of available taxis will be increased by approximately 50 percent.

Sky Harbor will also have increased customer service staff at the ready to welcome visitors. In addition to the 400 volunteer ‘Navigators’ at Sky Harbor, PHX will have about 200 Super Bowl volunteers on hand to answer questions.

Then there are the security preparations.

PHX is coordinating with the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), Phoenix Police Department and other public safety partners to make sure there’s increased law enforcement presence around the airport, including firefighters from the two Phoenix Fire stations located at Sky Harbor who will be patrolling the terminals on bikes.

(My story about PHX getting ready for the Super Bowl first appeared on USA Today in a slightly different version.)