Zócalo Public Square

There are 15 major arts and music festivals in the Coachella Valley each year, from the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival to the Desert Lexus Jazz Festival -- and that’s just from January to June. What do these festivals bring to the local community, and why have they all sprung up in this area? These were the questions tackled at a "Living the Arts" event co-presented by the James Irvine Foundation in front of a full house at the Sunnylands Center & Gardens in Rancho Mirage. Desert Sun arts and entertainment reporter Bruce Fessier got answers from Modernism Week's Lisa Vossler Smith, Palm Springs Art Museum's Irene N. Rodriguez, Indio Mayor Lupe Ramos Watson, and music writer and photographer Steve Appleford.