A Local Business Every Film Buff Should Know: No Festival Required

As part of my continued effort to highlight local business people around Phoenix, I recently sat down with Steve Weiss of No Festival Required. Check out our interview to learn more.

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Recently, I had the pleasure of speaking with a very special guest: Steve Weiss, who is the executive director of No Festival Required—a local business that endeavors to bring independent films to Downtown Phoenix. Cited below for your convenience are timestamps that will direct you to various points in the video. Feel free to watch the full message or use these timestamps to browse specific topics at your leisure: 00:15 - Introducing today’s guest: Steve Weiss 00:33 - Steve shares the history and vision of No Festival Required 02:23 - Steve explains his own background and experience with film 03:41 - Steve speaks on the growing prevalence of film in the Arizona arts scene 04:35 - How Steve has carved a unique niche for sharing film outside of festivals 07:19 - Steve shares information about an upcoming screening for “Five Seasons: The Gardens of Piet Oudolf” on Wednesday, October 30 starting at 7 p.m. If you have any other questions for Steve, would like ticket information for “Five Seasons”, or have any other questions about No Festival Required, visit www.nofestivalrequired.com. Otherwise, as always, please don’t hesitate to reach out if you’d like to speak with me about your real estate goals. I look forward to hearing from you soon. 

How Social Spin Laundromats Are Improving Our Community

Christy Moore is the owner and founder of Social Spin Laundromats, and a long-time friend of mine. She sat down with me recently to talk all about her business and how it’s improving our community.

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I’m delighted to be joined today by Christy Moore, founder and owner of Social Spin Laundromats. We’ve known each other a long time, and I was very excited to get an update on all the wonderful things she’s doing in the Phoenix community. Here's an outline of our discussion with timestamps so that you can skip ahead to the section(s) that interest you the most: 0:30- Christy gives us a background on her life, her career, and her work at Social Spin 2:20- The two goals of Social Spin, according to Christy 3:30- Why I think Social Spin is such a brilliant idea for our community 4:10- Where Christy would like to take Social Spin 5:25- Where to find Social Spin Laundromat and a look at the services they offer Thanks so much to Christy for joining me. It’s so great to see someone with a passion for building our community up. If you have any questions for me in the meantime, or know of a local nonprofit that we could talk to for our next video, don’t hesitate to give me a call or send me an email. I look forward to hearing from you soon. 

Community Spotlight: The Aguila Youth Leadership Institute

The Aguila Youth Leadership Institute works hard to empower the youth in our community through education.

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“Our mission is simple—we wish to create positive change in our communities and in our world.” That’s the mission statement of the Aguila Youth Leadership Institute here in Phoenix, and today I’m proud to be sitting down with their founder and CEO Rosemary Ybarra-Hernandez so she can talk more about what they do to empower Hispanic youth in our area and help them navigate through their academic, personal, and professional world.

For your convenience, I’ve provided timestamps of our conversation so you can skip ahead to certain sections at your leisure: 0:27—Why Rosemary started the Aguila Youth Leadership Institute 2:13—Why “Aguila” means being a part of a gang of good 3:03—How their presence has grown in the Phoenix area 4:05—The details of their upcoming quinceanera 5:38—How Rosemary’s youth taught her the value of education and giving back to the community If you’d like to volunteer with the Aguila Youth Leadership Institute or learn more about this wonderful organization, you can call Rosemary at (602) 518-0612 or visit their website at www.aguilayouth.org. As always, if you have any real estate questions for me or you’re thinking of buying or selling a house in the Phoenix area, don’t hesitate to reach out to me. I’d love to help you.

Keeping Art Alive at the Metropolitan Arts Institute

There are many great Phoenix Area homes for sale. Click here to perform a full home search, or if you're thinking of selling your home, click here for a FREE Home Price Evaluation so you know what buyers will pay for your home in today's market. You may also call me at 602-252-4191 for a FREE home buying or selling consultation to answer any of your real estate questions.

Continuing with my series of interviews with nonprofit organizations, small businesses, restaurants, and arts organizations within the Phoenix community, today I’m speaking with Lisa Starry. Lisa is the Associate Head of the School at Metropolitan Arts Institute.

Lisa started her teaching career after graduating from the California Institute of the Arts with a major in dance and choreography. She taught at several schools before getting the opportunity to interview at the Metropolitan Arts Institute and have her own dance program. Needless to say, she applied, got the job, and built a stellar dance program. Not only that, but she was also able to apply her other business skills such as marketing to the administration. After eight years, she was then asked to move into that administration. It was scary at first, and she didn’t want to let her students go, but the new position offered a whole new world of things to accomplish and learn. She was eventually awarded the title “Associate Head of School,” and with co-director Matthew Baker, can now claim to be one of the original founders of Metro Arts. 

Metro’s charter has always been able to specialize in visual and performing arts, which is rare because most other art schools are exclusively one or the other. They started humbly as a high school (grades nine through 12) with just 63 kids. Since the beginning, though, academics have always come first. If there’s a student that’s not doing well in their primary courses, they get pulled out of their performing or visionary arts classes until their grades get caught up. Lisa admits that kids can struggle with this, but their passion for art always wins out and forces them to work through it. 

Now, Metro boasts 250 students - their full capacity for the building. They’ve been full for several years, in addition to a waiting list towards the end of the year for students who still want to attend. Their enrollment process is first-come, first-serve, and they start applications in September for the following year. Prospective students and their parents are required to go to an open tour before deciding if they want to continue. If so, they fill out their applications, their transcripts go into registration, and if their grades are good enough, they’re in. It can be stressful for parents whose kids end up on the waiting list, but they’re assured that things can change quickly, and Metro can usually get everyone enrolled. If not, there’s always next year!

"Metro offers more time and focus in their classes than regular public schools."

Despite the arts being cut from most public school systems, they have shown to be every bit as important to kids in stimulating their thought process. Metro differs from most public schools in that they utilize a block schedule so that there is more time and focus in the classroom. There are fewer classes in a certain subject per week, but those classes last much longer. Six years ago - prompted by her own son not having a school to go to - Lisa started a middle school program with one 7th grade class and one 8th grade class comprising about 25 kids each. Unlike their older pupils, these middle schoolers are required to take the same academics daily. Students must therefore take their art classes at the end of the day in order to learn to balance their interests with their high school academics with the time comes. 

Metro is located at 1700 N 7th Avenue, Phoenix, AZ 85007, and you can find them online at www.Metro-Arts.org, where you can learn all about the school and staff and events that are going on. Lisa herself maintains the site, and she will be posting their tour dates for enrollment for the following year in mid-August, with the first tour happening in September. If you have any questions, you can just use the contact feature and it will get channeled back to her. She can also be reached by phone at 602.258.9500. 


Thank you very much for spending time with us. If you have any other questions regarding this great organization, or anything pertaining to real estate, you can always call me or send me an email. Have a great day. 

How the Phoenix Community Toolbank Can Help You

There are many great Phoenix Area homes for sale. Click here to perform a full home search, or if you're thinking of selling your home, click here for a FREE Home Price Evaluation so you know what buyers will pay for your home in today's market. You may also call me at 602-252-4191 for a FREE home buying or selling consultation to answer any of your real estate questions.

Today we're here with Jana Smith, the Executive Director of the Phoenix Community Toolbank. This is a great organization that lends tools to other charitable organizations, schools, non-profits, or neighborhood associations for mission-related impact.

The Phoenix Community Toolbank is part of a national Toolbank organization. The concept of Toolbanks has been around for 25 years. A group of churches in Atlanta had folks get together and put their tools in a shared space so more people had access to them. In 2008, a parent company formed with the goal to replicate Toolbanks throughout the United States. 

An interesting aspect of the Toolbank model is that Toolbank will not open in a city that doesn't want or support it. First we gauge if there is interest and support in a community. We first started looking at Phoenix in 2011, and when it was determined that there was a community need, we started fundraising to open one in 2013.

At the Phoenix Community Toolbank, we have a 10,000 square foot warehouse filled with everything from power tools to rakes. To qualify to borrow tools from Toolbank, you simply need charitable intent. If you are out there doing good work, Toolbank will work with you so you can use their tools.

Toolbank is located at 3801 East Alioney Street. Although their business hours are 8:00 am to 5:00 pm Monday through Friday, Jana says they will work with organizations who need to pick up tools on the weekend. If you have any questions, you can contact Toolbank at (602) 692-2473, or visit http://www.phoenixtoolbank.org/ for more information.

As always, if you have any real estate questions, please do not hesitate to give me a call or send me an email. I look forward to hearing from you!