In 2012, the International Communication Association sets up camp in what for us is long-unseen territory: Phoenix, Arizona, which will host ICA from 24th May to the 28th for our 62nd Annual Conference. Known as "The Valley of the Sun," Phoenix is the sixth largest city in the United States, and its fastest growing. Indeed, it is only in the last 20 years that Phoenix has reached the top 10 U.S. cities, and its population swelled by nearly 25% between the 2000 and 2010 censuses. The ICA Newsletter begins in this issue to explore this dynamic city, in preparation for the conference at the Sheraton Phoenix Downtown Hotel.

The series begins in the area adjacent to the Sheraton Downtown, which is also adjacent to Phoenix's baseball stadium, Chase Field. Appropriately, it's known as the Stadium District.

Before Chase Field (originally known as Bank One Ballpark) was constructed in 1996-98, downtown Phoenix was a busy business and financial district during the day - but at night was as desolate as the desert surrounding the city. But in 1995, Phoenix was awarded a baseball franchise - the Arizona Diamondbacks - to begin playing 3 years later. The city used this as an opportunity to develop commercial and tourist attractions in its downtown area, with the new baseball field as the anchor. Fifteen years later, the Stadium District is a trendy urban area with increasing residential areas and a high tourist attendance. Many of Phoenix's proudest and most visited attractions are located there.

Most prominent among these, of course, is the Stadium District's stadium. Chase Field, located five blocks from the Sheraton Downtown, is the home of the Arizona Diamondbacks baseball team. Chase was an innovation in design - the first stadium in the United States to be built with a retractable roof and the first anywhere to include natural grass. It is also well-attended - its record attendance, in fact, is 49,700, nearly a thousand people more than its actual capacity! As it happens, Major League Baseball's season will be 2 months deep at the time when ICA is in Phoenix, and the conference schedule coincides with Chase Field hosting a three-game stand between the Diamondbacks and the Milwaukee Brewers.

Chase is not, however, the only sports venue in the area. Two blocks west lies the US Airways Center, an indoor arena that serves as the home of the Phoenix Suns basketball team and the Arizona Rattlers arena football team. However, the 18,000-seat coliseum (known as the "Purple Palace" for the color of its seats) will only host a sporting event if the Phoenix Suns are in the NBA playoffs.

Both Chase Field and the US Airways Center are located on East Jefferson Street. However, most of the Stadium District's popular attractions are located on or near Washington Street, one block north of Jefferson. A particular favorite spot is the Arizona Science Center. The 120,000-square-foot science museum receives 400,000 visitors every year. Its permanent exhibitions include a state-of-the-art planetarium and massive five-story IMAX screen, along with the popular "Get Charged Up!" interactive physics gallery; the earth sciences exhibit, "Forces of Nature"; "My Digital World," a gallery dedicated to the science of the Information Age; and an exhibition about the construction process and materials specific to Arizona's climate, "Many Hands Make A Home."

The Arizona Science Center facility opened in 1997, an ultra-modern complex; steps away, however, is a site that belongs to another time. Heritage Square is a slice of Phoenix's historic beginnings: a block of Victorian houses and other buildings from the time of the city's original incorporation. These include the Teeter House, which serves today as a restaurant and tea house; and the Stevens House, which houses the Arizona Doll & Toy Museum. Both of these are incongruities, two turn-of-the-20th-century Midwestern bungalows set down in the heart of the Southwestern U.S. desert. Nearby, however, is an even more unusual structure: the Rosson House. Built in 1892 for the then-county treasurer and later mayor of Phoenix, Dr. Roland Lee Rosson, the grand house went through several owners and uses over the years before it was purchased by the city and restored to its original appearance. The house today serves as a museum of life at the time of Phoenix's origins.

The Rosson House is one of Phoenix's Points of Pride - a group of landmarks around town that "represent the best features of the city for both residents and visitors." Within a few blocks on Washington Street are two more. One block west is Phoenix Symphony Hall. The 1972 concert hall is the jewel of Phoenix's arts community, with an ornate and spacious lobby, 600-square-foot stage, and state-of-the-art equipment and acoustics (down to the bases on the auditorium's 2,300 seats - they're made of wood, which has a natural resonance when in contact with sound waves). In addition to hosting touring acts, Symphony Hall is home to the Phoenix Symphony, Arizona Opera, and Ballet Arizona.

Five blocks further west from Symphony Hall is another concert venue: the Orpheum Theatre, built in 1927 as a vaudeville hall. It served as a movie palace and Broadway circuit theater before it was restored in the '80s to its original, Spanish Baroque architectural style inside and out. It's the interior that marks the Orpheum as a treasure: its 1,364 red velvet seats (1,062 on the floor, 302 in the balcony) are surrounded by intricate moldings and friezes that frame breathtaking, panoramic frescoes of the Arizona mountains, designed to evoke the feeling of a classical outdoor theater.

Don't be fooled by the name of the Stadium District. Chase Field forms its heart, but it's only the most visible of a wide variety of landmarks and attractions that will keep the curious Phoenix visitor both busy and fascinated. And best of all, each of these attractions is a short walk from the site of the ICA Conference.