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Arizona Commission on the Arts Arts Commission Change Jaime Dempsey is leaving her position as executive director for Arizona Commission on the Arts, a state agency designed to foster the creative and professional development of the arts sector, in June. Dempsey will assume the newly created position of senior vice president for philanthropic initiatives with Arizona Community Foundation, which facilitates philanthropy in many sectors, including arts and culture. As of this writing, the commission had not announced its specific plans for conducting an open search to fill the executive directo...

A new face towers over downtown Phoenix, anchoring a fresh mural painted by Miles "Mac" MacGregor (a.k.a. "El Mac") and Thomas “Breeze” Marcus. The artwork is located on a brick building adjacent to The Monroe tower at 111 West Monroe Street, where the collaborators quietly began bringing the mural to life in mid-March. The central image is a young woman holding a rose, who appears to be looking eastward toward the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Community where she's from. "The mural is really a monument to the original people of this land," says El Mac, who paused to document the work with his...

'People felt comfortable with him': Remembering Isaac Fainkujen, tattoo artist and friend Elizabeth Montgomery, Arizona Republic No matter what you needed, Isaac Fainkujen found a way to be there and many knew him as a person who could create a unique connection with everyone he met. The longtime Valley visual and tattoo artists died March 20. He was 44. Fainkujen is survived by his brother Seth and sister Bonny Fainkujen and many family and friends. “He found a way to connect with everybody that he talked to whether it was the clerk at the gas station to anyone, people felt...

The longtime Valley visual and tattoo artists died March 20. He was 44. Fainkujen is survived by his brother Seth and sister Bonny Fainkujen and many family and friends. “He found a way to connect with everybody that he talked to whether it was the clerk at the gas station to anyone, people felt comfortable with him and opened up to him,” said Bonny. “I’ve had people in the United States, Germany and Spain reach out to tell me stories of their unique, special connection that they had with Isaac. Everything that he did had his own unique imprint on people in a different way.”

Listen • 4:03 The Akron Civic Theater is undergoing a significant makeover. But the $8.5 million worth of capital improvements isn’t only focused on the inside of the building. The Civic is hoping to have a bigger impact on the neighborhood around it. Downtown Akron’s Main Street is undergoing a transformation. The city has wrapped up a major street reconstruction project along several blocks, including the one where Akron Civic Theater is located. The long-vacant buildings next to the Civic are part of a major redevelopment project, and the Civic itself is doing its...