This list, first presented at the 2013 The Downtown We Want event, summarizes over 100 “fine grain” opportunities to get involved in your city. The opportunities are organized by individuals or groups that care passionately about our community, to promote and enhance downtown Phoenix. For the sake of brevity, this list does not include seasons of professional sports teams; seasons of professional arts organizations; themed months; or events, parades, and shopping experiences revolving around major holidays.
We invite you to engage in an existing project or encourage you to start something that fills a hole or stakes out new territory. If you live or work outside of downtown Phoenix — in another council district or city across the Valley — we invite you to create a similar list and share it. If you know of something that should be added to the list, please write to us here and we’ll add to the next printing.
We look forward to meeting you and seeing you at an event downtown. Thank you for all you do for downtown Phoenix!
–Welcome to Phoenix, a culture-building project by Jim McPherson & Lindsay Kinkade.
Support Organizations
□ Advocates for Latino Arts & Culture alacaz.org
□ Arizona Preservation Foundation azpreservation.org
□ Arizona State University Public Allies lodestar.asu.edu/leadership/publicalliesaz
□ Bike Lab bikelab.org
□ CO+HOOTS cohoots.com
□ Design for Good (AIGA) designsummit.org/phoenix
□ Discovery Triangle discoverytriangle.org
□ Downtown Phoenix, Inc. bit.ly/dtphxinc
□ Downtown Phoenix Partnership downtownphoenix.com
□ Downtown Voices Coalition downtownvoices.org
□ Grand Avenue Members Association grandavenuephx.wordpress.com
□ Hance Park Conservancy hanceparkconservancy.org
□ Local First Arizona localfirstaz.com
□ Phoenix Center for the Arts phoenixcenterforthearts.org
□ Phoenix Community Alliance phoenixcommunityalliance.com
□ Phoenix Historic Neighborhoods Coalition phxhistoric.wordpress.com
□ Phoenix Hostel & Cultural Center phxhostel.org
□ Phoenix Spokes People phoenixspokespeople.org
□ Preserve Phoenix preservephoenix.org
□ Project Rising projectrisingphx.org
□ Reinvent PHX reinventphx.org
□ Roosevelt Row CDC rooseveltrow.org
□ Seed Spot seedspot.org
□ Shop Phoenix phoenix.gov/econdev/shopphoenix
□ Sustainable Communities Collaborative sustainablecommunitiescollaborative.com
□ The Arizona We Want thearizonawewant.org
□ The Manifesto Project themanifestoproject.org
□ Thunderdome Neighborhood Association for Non-Auto Mobility on facebook
□ Urban Choices on facebook
Events
□ A Day in the Park on facebook
□ Art Detour artlinkphoenix.com
□ Art4All Mobile Arts Program art4allaz.org
□ Bike Lab phxbikelab.org
□ Building Community Cinema nofestivalrequired.wordpress.com
□ Buzzcation buzzcation.com
□ CityScape Entertainment & Events cityscapephoenix.com
□ Civic Space Park Concerts & Movies phoenix.gov/parks/civicprk.html
□ Creative Connect creativeconnect.org
□ Creative Mornings Phoenix creativemornings.com/cities/phx
□ Critical Mass Bike Ride on facebook
□ Day for Downtown Service Project handsonphoenix.org/bigdaysofservice
□ Devoured Culinary Festival devouredphoenix.com
□ Downtown Phoenix Book Club on facebook
□ Envisioning Phoenix Film Series on facebook
□ Feast on the Street feastonthestreet.org
□ First Friday artlinkphoenix.com
□ Get Your PHX getyourphx.com
□ Grand Avenue Festival grandavenuephx.wordpress.com
□ Ignite Phoenix ignitephoenix.com
□ Independents Week localfirstaz.com/independents-week
□ McDowell Mountain Music Festival mmmf.net
□ Melrose on 7th Street Fair m7streetfair.com
□ No Pants Day improvaz.com
□ Park(ing) Day Phoenix on facebook
□ Pedal Craft pedalcraftphx.com
□ Phoenix Annual Parade of the Arts phoenixannualparadeofthearts.com
□ Phoenix Design Week phxdw.com
□ Phoenix Urban Design Week phxudw.com
□ Phoenix Public Market phoenixpublicmarket.com
□ Phoestivus Market phoestivus.com
□ Places, Spaces, Faces Community Dinner on facebook
□ Retro Spectacular on facebook
□ Rogue Green roguegreen.blogspot.com
□ TEDx Evans Churchill on facebook
□ TEDx Phoenix tedxphoenix.com
□ Third Friday artlinkphoenix.com
□ Urban Wine Walk downtownphoenix.com/winewalk
□ Viva PHX vivaphx.com
□ Zombie Walk downtownphoenix.com/zombie
Tours
□ AIA Reincarnation Tour on facebook
□ Central City South phxrevitalization.org
□ Coronado gcna.info
□ Eastlake Park Neighborhood on facebook
□ Encanto-Palmcroft encantopalmcroft.org
□ Evans Churchill evanschurchill.org
□ F.Q. Story fqstory.org
□ Grand Avenue grandavenuephx.wordpress.com
□ Historic Heritage Square rossonhousemuseum.org
□ Jane’s Walk Phoenix on facebook
□ Midtown Museum District midtownmuseumdistrict.org
□ Modern Phoenix modernphoenix.net
□ Public Art Tours phoenix.gov/arts/publicart/tours
□ Sunnyslope sunnyslopehistoricalsociety.org
□ Willo willohistoricdistrict.com
□ Windsor Square windsorsquarephoenix.org
Print & Online Resources
□ CenPho.com cenpho.com
□ Downtown Devil downtowndevil.com
□ Downtown Phoenix history book arcadiapublishing.com
□ Downtown Phoenix Journal downtownphoenixjournal.com
□ Downtown Phoenix Podcast downtownphoenixpodcast.com
□ Downtown Public Art bit.ly/PHXPublicArt
□ dtphx.co Downtown Guide dtphx.co
□ Historic Homes in Phoenix phoenix.gov/pdd/historic/orderhpbooks/index.html
□ Java Magazine javamagaz.com
□ Light Rail Blog raillife.com/blog
□ Local Revibe Magazine localrevibe.com
□ Midcentury Marvels book phoenix.gov/pdd/historic/orderhpbooks/index.html
□ Historic Neighborhoods Map phxhistoric.wordpress.com
□ Phoenix New Times Jackalope Ranch blogs.phoenixnewtimes.com/jackalope
□ Public Art Online Map culturenow.org
□ Radio Phoenix radiophoenix.org
□ Small Wonders Maps localfirstaz.com/small-wonders
□ Valley Hype valleyhype.com
□ Valley Metro Arts & Culture Guide valleymetro.org/destinations
□ Valley Metro Destination Guide valleymetro.org/destinations
□ Vanishing Phoenix vanishingphx.downtowndevil.com
□ Welcome to Phoenix welcometophoenix.us
Physical Improvements
□ A.R.T.S. Initiative rooseveltrow.org
□ Adaptive Reuse Program phoenix.gov/pdd/services/permitservices/arp.html
□ Adopt a Light Rail Station valleymetro.org/metro_business_opportunities/adopt_a_station
□ Adopt a Park phoenix.gov/parks/volunteer.html
□ Calle 16 Mural Project chefsilvana.com/calle16.html
□ Canalscape canalscape.org
□ Cohousing vestacommunities.com
□ Community Gardens phoenixpermaculture.org
□ Hance Park Dog Park friendsofhancedogpark.com
□ First Baptist Church Renovation jonesstudioinc.com/public/39/index.htm
□ Fresh Express Mobile Produce Market discoverytriangle.org/fresh-express
□ Garfield Green Art Park alwunhouse.org/green
□ Graffiti Busters phoenix.gov/nsd/programs/graffiti
□ Grand Avenue Rail Project (GARP) garpaz.org
□ Greening America’s Capitals (Lower Grand) phoenix.gov/parks/greeninggrand
□ GRID Bike Share gridbikes.com
□ Grow Phoenix Gardens phoenix.gov/residents/community/volunteer/growphxgardens.html
□ Hance Park Master Plan on facebook
□ Holiday Lights on Central phoenixcommunityalliance.com
□ Maryvale on the Move maryvaleonthemove.org
□ PHX Renews phxrenews.org
□ Plan PHX myplanphx.com
□ Rio Salado Audubon Center riosalado.audubon.org
□ Roosevelt Grow Garden thegrowhouse.blogspot.com
□ Shipping Container Infill Project rooseveltrow.org
□ The Lot: What Should Go Here? on facebook
□ This Could Be Phoenix thiscouldbephx.com
□ Urban Form Project phoenix.gov/pdd/pz/dtplan.html
Updated April 25, 2014
Downtown Voices Coalition 