Classes begin June 6 and aim to make you a “better cook at home”

Yavapai Community College announced in a May 1, 2023, press release that it is launching the Sedona School of Culinary, which it says will host a menu of recreational cooking classes to make you a better cook at home! Each class offers a unique culinary learning experience from expert Chefs Carl Miller and Mark Reese

The classes begin June 6 and run for an estimated 2-3 hours.  They will run in June and July. Registration is required.

The following is a portion of the press release from the Community College.

Each class offers a unique culinary learning experience from expert Chefs Carl Miller and Mark Reese. The classes will teach you to prepare and cook delicious meals, appetizers, and desserts perfect for lunch and dinner.

Learn more: sedonaschoolofculinary.com

Each guest can anticipate working with other attendees and the chef during the preparation process to learn some of the cuisine’s backgrounds and culinary techniques that the world’s highest-trained chefs use. And, of course, you get to enjoy your finished meal!

“As we know, food brings people together, from the cooking to the communal dining to the social interaction,” said Chef Carl Miller, Director of Culinary Arts at Yavapai College.

Examples of classes include Farm to Fork, Artisan Pizza and Wine, Middle Eastern, New England, Pasta & Sauce, Mediterranean, Artisan Bread Making, Pretzels and Beer Cheese, Gluten Free Baking, Occasional Cakes, and more.

Classes start on June 6 and are scheduled through July at the Yavapai College Sedona Center at 4215 Arts Village Drive, Sedona, Arizona 86336.

Classes range from 2-3 hours, and registration is required.

For more information on the Sedona School of Culinary and to register for classes, visit sedonaschoolofculinary.com

To read the full Community College press release, click here.

Blog learns that Chef Robert Barr’s contract with Community College will not be renewed after May 14; reasons for Community College’s non-renewal decision unclear

Sedona Center Culinary and Hospitality Program Director Robert K. Barr

The Blog has learned from reliable sources that the Culinary and Hospitality Program Director at the Sedona Culinary Institute, Robert K. Barr, has been notified by Yavapai Community College that his contract with the College will end May 14.  According to those sources, the bad news for Sedona and the Verde Valley was delivered through then Sedona/Verde Dean Dr. Tina Redd sometime before she suddenly resigned. 

Like Dr. Redd, Mr. Barr joined Yavapai Community College in 2018 with sterling credentials and experience.  He had  worked as instructor, restaurant owner and resort administrator  and had  served as personal chef to Ray Charles, Reba McEntire and former Vice President Dan Quayle.

He had  30 years’ of experience in every facet of food preparation, service and management. He is the recipient of the Presidential Medallion, as well as a High Gold Medal and multiple silver medals from the American Culinary Federation. In  1997 he was named as one of the  Best Chefs in America by the Restaurant Hospitality Rating Bureau. He came  to Yavapai Community College from the Le Cordon Bleu cooking school in Scottsdale, where he has served as Chef Instructor from  2015-2018.

The Blog believes that Mr. Barr was seeking to expand programs to teach higher level cooking skills at the Sedona facility but his efforts may not have been well received.  He may also have agreed with others in the  Sedona/Verde Valley  region that to succeed as a destination facility, the Institute had to have four kitchens, more space, and adequate student housing.  These views have not found favor with the previous and present Prescott based administrations.

The implications of the Community College decision to end its relationship with Mr. Barr are unclear.  Those who are most distrustful of the Prescott Community College executives and their total control over the Sedona Culinary Institute fear that it may signal a  first step in a slow but gradual effort to once again shutter the facility.

Everyone in Sedona and the Verde Valley will be carefully watching developments at the Institute over the next few months.

All courses are in the culinary program; so far only 49 of 84 seats have been filled for the fall semester

Yavapai Community College is offering only five courses this fall at the Sedona Center for Arts and Technology.  All of those courses are in its culinary program.

Registration data from the Community College as of August 14, 2021, indicated that so far only 49 of 84 seats had been filled.  However, one of the five courses does not begin until October 11 and accounted for 12 vacant seats.  Of the four courses that begin August 16,   45 of the available 68  seats had been filled; 23 remain open. 

One may recall that back in 2001, the Sedona Center had been open only one year when in June 2001 the Administration began looking to purchase up to 80 acres of land of the Coconino National Forest adjacent the Center. The purpose was to expand the facility to meet the unexpected huge number of students seeking admission to the Zaki Gordon Film Institute, which was based at the Center and worked cooperatively with Yavapai Community College.

The Red Rock News of June 13, 2001, reported that Keith Harwood of the special projects office of the Community College president’s office was interviewed about the lack of space to accommodate applicants to the film program.  He said, “we’re bursting at the seams.  In the short term, we expected to have 100 in our Sedona multimedia program and we have 500.”  The 20,000 square foot Center had only six classrooms. It was also reported that there was a two-year waiting list to get into the program.

However, the film school training began to collapse following  a 2011 dust up between the Film Institute’s Director and the Community College president over curriculum and control. Shortly thereafter the Independent Film Institute fled to a private university.  The College insisted the program would continue to thrive and remain open.

However, in 2015 the film school was closed by the College President and the Community College director of the Sedona programs (who lived in Prescott). The Community College then began moving video training to the Verde and Prescott campuses.  (The theory the College administration was following was to sell the Sedona Center and lease property for any classes and OLLI.)  Today, the small film training program appears to be mostly based in Prescott.  The threat to sell the Sedona Center was blunted by local educational advocates but strong enrollment or a variety of class offerings have  not returned after its renovation and reopening.

Offering four courses beginning in August with 68 seats available; so far only 20 students have signed up

Registration data from Yavapai Community College as of July 16 indicates that the Sedona Culinary Institute program registration is going slowly.   According to the Community College, only 20 students have signed up so far for one of the four courses offered in August.   That leaves 48 open spots.

Registration data for its October program shows that four of 16 slots have been filled so far.

The Institute works against many obstacles this fall. Layoffs in the food industry because of COVID-19 may have an impact on enrollment.  Camp Verde high school students may not take courses at the Institute  because the Camp Verde High School has its own culinary program.   There is apparently no organized bus transportation between Mingus High School and Sedona or from the Verde Campus to the Institute.  There are no residence halls on the Verde Campus or Sedona Center to accommodate those students who cannot find inexpensive housing in the Valley.  The entire project is overseen ultimately  by Prescott based officials who may have neither the time nor the local East County contacts to deal with developing the Institute in the Verde Valley.

Similar problems like these have persisted since the Sedona Center was originally opened in 2000. They have not been directly  addressed by the Community College or the towns and cities in the Verde Valley.