How MPG and Make-A-Wish Arizona Have Grown Together at the Wish Ball.
Most event partnerships begin with a single project. When you consistently show up and the team works hard, those one-off engagements grow into something you didn’t fully anticipate when you first signed on. The atmosphere, the people, the cause. It all becomes familiar. A trust develops on both sides, one where the client and the team genuinely want to see each other succeed.
That’s what MPG has built with Make-A-Wish Arizona.
Since 2021, MPG has been the AV and event production partner behind Make-A-Wish Arizona’s annual Wish Ball, one of the most significant nonprofit fundraising events in the state. What started as a production engagement has grown into a relationship defined by shared investment, honest collaboration, and a quiet commitment to making each year better than the one before.
Where It Started
The connection between Cindy Kenna, MPG’s client lead, and the Make-A-Wish Arizona team goes back nearly 15 years. Long before MPG came on officially, Cindy had already earned a place in their world. She was someone they called when they needed guidance, not just execution.
When MPG stepped in as the official production partner in 2021, that history mattered. Cindy had already laid the foundation, so the first year wasn’t about proving credibility. It was about making the event as strong as it could be.
And 2021 was no ordinary starting point. The world was still navigating pandemic restrictions when Make-A-Wish Arizona decided to hold a hybrid Wish Ball. Roughly 270 guests filled a room designed for 1,000, while thousands more watched live from home. The virtual stream was broadcast through mpgproductions.com, making MPG not just the room’s AV partner but the broadcast backbone of the entire evening. For a first official year together, it set the tone for the kind of partnership this would become.
Growing with the Event
One of the things that makes this partnership work is that neither side is coasting.
In 2022, with restrictions behind them, Make-A-Wish Arizona came back full force. The Wish Ball returned as a sold-out event themed Making Waves and raised a then-record $3.8 million in a single night. The room was full again, the energy was high, and MPG’s job was to match it.
In 2023, the event pushed further still. Themed Dare to Wish Bold, that year’s Wish Ball raised $4.6 million, setting another record. Again, MPG held the production together as the event continued to scale in ambition and reach.
Then came 2024, and the biggest configuration change yet. Make-A-Wish Arizona moved the entire event to Chase Field, home of the Arizona Diamondbacks, and staged the event on the field. Transforming a massive baseball diamond into an intimate, emotionally connected experience required thoughtful, intentional planning. By scaling back and focusing on moments that felt personal, MPG created a warm, engaging atmosphere in one of the city’s largest spaces. There’s no pulling from last year’s playbook when the room is a baseball diamond.
MPG welcomed it. That’s the nature of this partnership. Each year brings a new theme, a new venue configuration, and new expectations. The team sits down with Make-A-Wish Arizona, understands what the event needs to accomplish, and builds from there.
In 2025, the event returned to the JW Marriott Scottsdale Camelback for Make-A-Wish Arizona’s 45th anniversary, themed Art of Wishes. It was a milestone year, one that honored four decades of wish-granting and raised over $3.3 million. MPG was there for all of it. From a production standpoint, this presented a unique challenge, as Make-A-Wish Arizona requested the event be staged in the round; no natural front of house, no single focal point, no clear backstage. Every sight line has to work. Every speaker position, camera angle, and video feed has to be rethought from scratch.
By 2026, the event had returned to a ballroom format at the JW Marriott Camelback in Scottsdale, but at a scale none of the previous years had matched. MPG produced the largest screen they’d ever built for this event: a 13 × 80-foot curved display spanning the front of the room, powered by a 4-projector blend, full audio, and complete lighting design for 800 to 1,000 guests. The scale was unmistakable. And yet the room never felt cold or cavernous. The intimacy of the event’s mission was still there. Getting both right at the same time doesn’t happen by accident. It comes from six years of knowing the client, knowing the room, and knowing what the moment calls for.
What the Work Actually Involves
Good production is mostly invisible. When it’s working, guests don’t notice it. They just feel it. The room feels right. The program flows. The moments that are supposed to land, land.
At the center of every Wish Ball is a local celebrity or MC who is a former or current wish kid. This choice is intentional. It anchors the entire room to the reason everyone is there. MPG’s job is to support those moments completely while letting them breathe. Not over-produced, not under-prepared. The production should lift the moment, not compete with it.
Getting there takes more than equipment. Each year, MPG works with the Make-A-Wish Arizona team to weave the event’s theme into the production design. Not just how content appears on screen, but how the entire visual experience carries the message of the evening. The goal is a cohesive night, not a collection of technical elements running in parallel.
Behind the scenes, MPG also handles teleprompter training ahead of each event. Whether presenters are working with a standard setup or presidential paddles (the discreet glass panels that allow speakers to maintain eye contact with the audience without looking down at notes), they step on stage feeling prepared. It’s a detail that rarely gets mentioned. It makes a real difference in how the evening runs.
A Team That Takes It Personally
The Make-A-Wish Arizona team trusts MPG to run with it. That’s not a small thing. It means they’ve seen, year after year, a crew that takes ownership of the outcome and not just their individual piece of it.
That sense of shared responsibility shows up in everything: how the team communicates during planning, how they move on site, and how they handle the moments that don’t go exactly as expected. Production is full of those moments. What separates a good team from a great one is whether the client ever has to feel them. When everyone on the production side is genuinely invested, it creates a kind of steadiness the client can feel. That steadiness is what lets them stay focused on the event and the mission it serves.
Six years in, the relationship has that steadiness. It’s not something you can manufacture. It’s built show by show.
In Their Words
After the 2026 Wish Ball, the Make-A-Wish Arizona team shared what the partnership means to them.
“MPG’s entire team absolutely ROCKED IT!!! Thank you, Cindy and Lindzy, so much for all that you do — words cannot describe how grateful I am to be able to work with you on Wish Ball. Everyone was OBSESSED with the screen. Not only that, but MPG has ALSO always gone above and beyond to help and has been incredibly gracious throughout the process.”
— Annalise Ghiz, Director of Events, Make-A-Wish Arizona
“Thank you again for your and your team’s help at the 2026 Make-A-Wish Passport to Wishes Wish Ball. The event was wonderful, and I’m so thankful for your support. It was a beautiful event, and MPG brought it to life!”
— Jessica Haag, Senior Director of PR and Marketing, Make-A-Wish Arizona
What This Means to Us
We don’t take lightly what it means when a client trusts you with an event like this. The Passport to Wishes Wish Ball isn’t a corporate conference. It’s a night built around children and the wishes that change their lives. The stakes are different. The room feels different. And our team shows up accordingly.
We’re proud to have been part of this event since 2021. Through a hybrid broadcast in a half-empty ballroom, through sold-out years that broke fundraising records, through a baseball stadium staged on the field , through a 45th anniversary milestone in the round, and through the largest screen we’ve ever built for this event. Every year has been something new. Every year, we’ve been grateful to be in the room.
To Annalise, Jessica, Jodi, Fran, and everyone at Make-A-Wish Arizona: thank you for continuing to trust us with something that matters this much. We’ll see you next year.
You must be logged in to post a comment.