Good morning, afternoon, or evening depending on when this finds you. 
Welcome to the Greater Phoenix A to Z Podcast. I’m your host Casey Gilchrist.
I am so excited for today’s episode. As many of you are aware, Greater Phoenix is home to so many diverse cultures, and these cultures are represented through our region’s amazing food and music, and art scenes.

But one of the most underdiscussed forms of cultural expression in our region is fashion. 

So the team and I at GPEC rallied three of the best and brightest voices from our region and we will chat all things fashion, design and sustainability. Side tangent, I'm especially interested in this topic because I recently restarted binging Project Runway on Netflix, and I'm also a huge fan of Next in Fashion with Tan France and Gigi Hadid.

So we will go ahead and get into the guest intros. First, we have an architect and interior designer with over three decades of experience whose work can be found all over the world. He's also a member of the Greater Phoenix art community whose work with the Phoenix Art Muse, Artlink, and as an associate faculty professor at Arizona State University's Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts has made him one of its most active members.

Welcome Oscar De la salas. Thank you for being here.  

Thank you so much. What a pleasure.
 
Absolutely. Our second guest recently worked on costumes for Ballet Arizona's world premiere of Moving Movies, is a featured artist in the 2024 Art d’Core Gala and whose sustainable designs draw inspiration from nature, traditional techniques, and the construction of vintage clothing.

Her designs are also stocked by local curators including Phoenix General. We're happy to have you, Leonor Aispuro.  Thank you so much for having me. I'm going to get it by the end of this episode. I'm going to, yes.  

And our final guest is co-founder of Fabric. She is also a designer of award-winning and eco-friendly fashion design featuring tailored ball gowns and other keepsake garments made from thrifted and recycled t-shirts that have made their way into the Tempe Center for the Arts Gallery.

Angela Johnson, welcome to the show.

Thank you so much for having me. Awesome. Well, I'm, I'm thrilled we have all of us here to talk fashion. So Oscar, I'm going to start with you. You're an experienced fashion curator, model, teacher, architect, and community connector. So, you have such a broad and unique perspective when it comes to this.

How has the local fashion scene changed over the years and where are we now in Phoenix? 

Well, this is a very broad question, but all of them let's say, that take me to a journey. All those questions take me to a journey. I have 25 years in town. I arrived from Milan. Actually, if I wanted to call it directly, it's a call, a place called Padua in Italy.

And then I stopped in Milan and then grabbed my bags in Madrid and I came here. So I'm giving you that perspective because for the European world, the world of fashion is completely different. Much of the world of business. So, when I came here, it was the nineties. There was a sense of place. There was a sense, a sense of style. 

It was, you know, we're in a city that is very hot. And it's also a city where hospitality, in terms of tourism, is part of our city. So kind of a resort style. But I've seen it growing and changing. I think these two ladies here next to me can tell the truth behind of, if locals use local fashion, which have changed tremendously. 

But we want more input in local fashion and the locals to use our local designers. Now, in terms of overall fashion the city, as you know, is very warm. So, or it gets very cold. And I think Phoenicians have, have learned to do that transition, even though we have our own unique point of view.

Or style, and it's very, how do I say these in a kind way with all candor? It's a very gym alike fashion to go anywhere and everywhere. I'm going to quote my mom on this one.
 
When she landed in Phoenix the first time, she said, Oh my God, the Phoenix airport is the biggest gym that I've ever been to. That tells you how people look when they go traveling, which is completely different than my experience all over Europe. 

That's very true. It's like athleisure capital of the United States, I feel like, and I felt the same sentiments coming from the east coast and it being very like black and blue and very structured.

And here it's a little bit more laid back, lots of beige, lots of softer colors, which was interesting.  Do any of you both have any added color you want to add to that in terms of the fashion scene here and how it's evolved? Go ahead, Angela. 

Oh, this question was built for me. 

Yes, go. Tell us. 

I was trying to be nice.

Well, I'm going to speak on the fashion scene from an entrepreneur angle. And I am from Arizona and I moved to Los Angeles to go to fashion school and work in the industry. And worked in the industry for years and then came back to Arizona because, you know, this place is amazing. 

It is.

So I came back, but I actually had to close down my own business when I came back because there were no fashion resources at the time. And this is about 2001 or 2002-ish.  And I from that point on thought, why aren't there any fashion resources in Arizona? There are a lot of apparel entrepreneurs out there, and these are people who want to start clothing brands and want to manufacture domestically. 

They don't want to produce giant quantities overseas. They want to make unique, artsy pieces or pieces that fill a void in the marketplace and the internet started to become more important to the fashion industry back then and I knew more and more people were going to do that and so in 2002, I made it my life's work and mission to create a fashion industry in Arizona and I have watched it happen over, what is this now, twenty-two years and the change is remarkable. 

So back then pulling together designers like Leonor and other designers to do fashion shows and things like that eventually segued into a, a lot. There are now many fashion weeks in Arizona. There's hundreds of designers or apparel entrepreneurs is what I like to call them.

There are schools offering fashion programs, multiple schools. In fact, all of us have taught in these schools there are so many cool products coming out of here and there's now factories here and all kinds of things. And the, the quality is changing a lot too. So back in the day, the designers used to be a little bit more I don't know, novice and maybe just experimental, I guess.

And now there are legitimately manufactured brands here. So it's changed a lot. And the, the look is diverse. I mean, it's everything you can imagine from athleisure all the way into elaborate, beautiful runway carpet, you know, dress couture dresses and everything in between. 

That's awesome. And it's, it's nice to see, cause we are a young city and to see us progressing this exponentially in such a short period of time is really nice to see, thanks to the resources like FABRIC that are here in market. 

So Oscar, I want to go back to you a little bit because you're Mr. Worldwide, outside of Pitbull, you're like the better Pitbull.  So, how has your past in architecture and modeling influenced your work in fashion today? 

This is a, a good question that actually someone next to me just asked me on an interview last Friday.

Angela had an interview with me in in one of her community gatherings event and it's the same question came through, and it's a constant question because I am an architect, graduate architect with a master's, a master's in interior architecture, so I've been always in the big world of design, but overall, the world of design includes all the world of humanities, and fashion is part of it, fashion, fashion is the world of design, so architecture has influenced in many ways from the three elements that everyone should consider before getting ready for a day out, which is the structure.

How does it fit you? Basically, the color, which is a compliment to your skin or whatever celebration you're having and the pattern, which is basically the outside, not the other one, which is the material that is perhaps the most important one in Arizona, the type of material that you use, because, as you know, our climate changes and when it’s extremely hot, materials for that type of temperature should be used, either lighter cottons or linens.

I have yet to see one gentleman in a meeting room on a boardroom wearing all linen in this town, so I've never I haven't come across that opportunity, but we learn that through a process. And this city is learning. We have people from all over the world landing, and then you learn through the process that those people bring their knowledge in terms of fashion to our city.

So to wrap up your question is basically I learned the basics through architecture and later on I explored them on my own and it makes me who I am today as a professional. 

Yeah. Anytime Oscar comes to the office, it's, what are you wearing? What's the color? What's the vibe? I will say like you bring up a good point about material and when it comes to business meetings, because we host so many international delegations from all over the world and material, like a linen suit, a full linen suit for a man is unheard of in like Japan, for example.

And it's like, is it appropriate to wear here if we're hosting people from Japan? So it's always something you have to consider when hosting those types of groups. Let's transfer over to Leonor. I really want to get a designer's perspective. What inspired you to start your line?  

Well, my design, I guess history goes back to my younger years just growing up seeing my mother sew, my aunts, my sisters, it's very much something that they enjoy doing and it was like a hobby.

So, I was able to take something that I learned and started also doing as a hobby, but elevate that into become more of a business. By studying and by learning new techniques, I, you know, wanted to take my passion of construction and just I love the way machines work and fabrics and all that. So being able to take that in translating into like a beautiful, you know, piece of art I think is really fascinating.

And how you draw major inspiration from nature and vintage clothing. How do you integrate that into your designs and what inspirations around Greater Phoenix do you take from? 

I like to think that I take inspiration from just about anything. But of course, to me, you know, nature is really important, especially when it comes to like fibers and what you can create going back, you know, historically, how people dress themselves and materials that they used.

I think that's really fascinating. So being able to kind of take again, what's old and, you know, what the future is create, you know, creating something new that can kind of enmesh, I think is a challenge and I like being challenged. 

So being in a place like Arizona where there is so much nature just around us is really cool to see colors. I mean, just the sky sometimes, you know, I am every day, you know, you can look up and it just looks completely different. And so just that alone, you know, I think being able to find inspiration in the little things is really what I look for. 

I like to think that I could be like locked up in a room and I could still create because I would be able to look at those little things that, you know, like a spider web or something random. So, yeah. 

Is there a particular era of vintage that you're drawn most to? 

Yeah, you know, I don't know. I think as a kid, I loved looking at like old paintings and seeing how like the fabrics, they look so realistic, like the Suttons and the silks and you know, and then taking that to like the kind of like flapper era, you know, again, you know, the art behind it. 

I love the 50s and the 60s and you know I especially am very inspired by my mother and the things that she made without having like social media or you know, any sort of like real background in clothing construction. I think it's very cool just to see like old photos of her and, you know, like the seventies and yeah, I think that's really fascinating again, just being able to, like, look at the simple things like even in my background and being able to be inspired from that.

Absolutely. And I'm particularly drawn to the seventies. If I could go back and be a model in any era. It'd be the seventies, the hair, the colors. 

You definitely could. 

I don't know about you guys listening. I'm sorry. I'm going to interrupt.  If you were here, you listeners, you will get inspired and smile as I am to listen to Leonor describes what she describes her inspirations.

It is a joy. To hear an artist so close to the, to the production. Thank you for that, by the way, it was incredible description. 

Thank you. 

Absolutely. And this is a question for everyone on the, on the podcast today. What role do you believe sustainable and ethical fashion plays in the broader fashion industry today? Angela, initial gut reaction, we're going to pivot to you. 

Okay, so this is a big question. I'm going to try not to take up too much time, but this industry is broken. It is the second most polluting industry on the planet, right under the oil industry, and the oil industry is actually trying to fix itself, whereas the fashion industry is having a very hard time doing that.

And it's because of money. You know, we as consumers need to think differently about how we purchase our clothing and what we were, what we're purchasing and why we're purchasing it because we're all wanting it to cost less than our lunch and our clothing should not be disposable. It should be something that you hang on to.

It's something that you pass down. It's something that you, you know, covet and that you love and that you wear for a long time and you repeat wearing it. And you. Trade with other people and things like that. And that's where us as consumers can change this industry. But until that happens, the industry is kind of stuck.

I mean, the big brands have no choice but to actually try to make everything cheap. And in order to do that, they have to overproduce in giant quantities overseas. And most of that they can't sell. They sit on all this inventory, and then that ends up in the landfills or burned in incinerators. And that's the core root of what's wrong.

So our whole mission at FABRIC is to change that. I mean, it is all about trying to provide an alternative to the fast fashion model because it's a race to the bottom that no one's ever going to win. And the people who bear the brunt of that are the workers and the planet, you know, and so we all have to, we're stewards of the planet.

We all have to do something about it. And so our mission is to figure out what that looks like. And so we really support and try to encourage and use technology so that apparel entrepreneurs can make small batches domestically because that is the key to it. If you can have a circular economy in fashion and you're everything stays, you know, local and you make small batches and you're optimizing order quantities and you're making things that are, you know to demand basically, then that's a much smarter way for us to be able to do that.

And now there's a lot of technology and we've embraced all of that at FABRIC., so our whole core, our whole mission is people-focused, but our vision is planet-focused, because there is, there is something we can all do about it. And so, you know, trying to fix it together by, you know, buying better things by spending our money and our money speaks, right?

But then actually as industry people trying to figure out how that should look and, and employing the technology that makes that happen. I mean, after all, cotton is grown here. And it's sent to China. And then it's sent back. Like, come on!  

That's a very good point. That's a very good point. Any other comments?

Yeah, I would say I agree with Angela 100%. I think as a designer, especially an independent designer, I really have to focus and, you know, sometimes take a step back and see, how can I, you know, be as sustainable as possible? Sometimes it's not you know, realistic to be 100 percent sustainable, but I think looking at which ways I can either, you know, create things domestically recycle fabrics you know, I, again, try to find inspiration.

Whatever fabrics, sometimes people just give me things and I have to, you know, get creative and see what can I make with this and you know, You know, trying to have a realistic business perspective also in creating things that I know are going to sell that are not only beautiful and good quality, but that people can wear over and over and over.

Like, that's the whole idea. I think behind my garments, things that people want to wear and not be ashamed because they already were photographed in it when on social media. But you know, contrary to that, it's something that they're photographed in over and over and over and that they, you know, love to share because it's something that makes them feel good. And yeah, I think as a designer, that's kind of my whole idea and trying to maintain sustainability.  

Can I say one more thing? 

Absolutely. Go for it. 

So her, Leonor's work is so beautiful. So when somebody does purchase it, they do want to wear it over and over. And it's also unique, you know, it's not something you're going to find anything comparatively at, you know, Target or something like that, you know, and that's the key is a designer has to make something that is special and that people will spend more money on because, you know, it's something that not everybody's gonna have and they can wear it over and over because of that.

So she's doing a really good job of being able to do that. And the other thing I want to mention is policy is now going to drive all of us to think like this, and it's happening in Europe. I mean, they're in, in France, there's actually laws being enacted right now on what needs to happen, what the industry needs to do, what brands need to do with their leftover scraps or the fabrics you know, that they're using and the way that it's being made.

And, you know, that's going to trickle over to the U. S. eventually soon, too. So people like Leonor, you know, are going to be the highlight of the fashion industry.  

So I know your audience is mainly the business people in the business world, and this is perhaps a message to them. I learned from, I mean, when I was a kid I was the point of contact to my mother when she used to repurchase some of the fashion pieces that she had.

So I was the, I was the person who sketched the different options that she could have in order to take it to the, to the seamstress. So as I grew with my dad, started to do the same thing. My dad was a very prominent executive for Pfizer in Colombia.  that worked through Latin America. So he used to change the shapes of his jacket, but he had his own tailor and his own cobbler as well.

There's something that we need to go back to, which is having your own tailor and your own cobbler. They are the point of contact of that cycle to reuse things. So if you own something, try to do a hand me down, even, you know, if he's in a good shape, I still own my dad's ties. When my dad died, it was one thing that I asked my mom. It was to give me his ties and I still use them and they're incredible quality. Once again, if you design something and it's manufactured in good quality, you use it for a number of years.

 So I know that you're speaking to the business world. So if you have that Armani jacket that has big shoulder pads and it's just too much fabric that goes to your knees. Take it to your tailor and then like try to speak through design to the modern world. They will do a good job. So keep those pieces and try to decelerate the shopping. You don't have to go online and purchase something for your upcoming event.

Try to find something you have in the closet and change that. But you have to have your seamstress. Or your tailor. 

Yeah, that's a very good point. For Waste Management Phoenix Open or WMPO, the amount of Amazon order returns that I saw at the Whole Foods line because of all the fashion that people bought for that event and then it rained so they couldn't even wear it and now they're returning it. It was mind boggling to me and similar vein to you, Oscar, about being in the business community. 

The ladies, we all have our go to nail tech, and the men, we have our barber, like you said, get to know a tailor, and also I'm a big fan of renting fashion. Rent the Runway, I'm a subscriber, because I'm trying to figure out how I reduce my footprint, and there are times when I have to go buy something really quickly, because, you know, Rent the Runway can't get it to me fast enough. 

But I think that that's another option that a lot of businesspeople can take that's accessible. It's affordable. Affordable is relative. I know. But if you're an executive or in a position where you can, that's another avenue.

And Angela, I want to go back to you because we've talked about FABRIC in some of the comments, but I kind of want to spend a little bit more time on what FABRIC is and how it was conceptualized. I know you spoke on it a little bit more, but can you elaborate a little bit more on that? 

Yeah. Well, basically, when I moved back here from Los Angeles and didn't really have any manufacturing opportunities here to continue my clothing brand, and started pulling together the community. Eventually, that segued into the fact that 15 years later, I realized there was a lot of fashion designers here and apparel entrepreneurs and no manufacturing.

And we had a lot of fashion shows and we had a lot of schools offering programs. And it was just heartbreaking to watch people graduate from those schools and move away. And, and you know, to find jobs or apparel entrepreneurs struggling to manufacture from Arizona, you have to be located next to where your manufacturing happens because you're very hands on when you're an apparel entrepreneur and you have to check things and move things from place to place.

And, and so I thought, you know, 15 years in you know, we can't have all these fashion weeks and runway shows and stuff and not have any manufacturing because if somebody gets orders for, you know, their pieces and they can't manufacture it, that seems, you know, Crazy. And so eventually the idea for FABRIC came because I thought, well, we need no minimum manufacturing and and basically support for apparel entrepreneurs so that they can actually learn production management because that's really the skill that you need.

You can go to fashion school and you can learn how to sew and make patterns and stuff, but technically that's somebody else doing the job. You know, you're hiring a pattern maker, you're hiring seamstresses, you're hiring, you know, cutters and all of those people and your skill set really needs to be production management.

How do you hire them? How do you fill out grading and marking tickets and cutting tickets and sewing contracts and source materials and trims and things like that and nobody realizes that's the actual skill set so FABRIC is that we actually train apparel entrepreneurs. 

We have a roadmap where if you don't know anything about this and you've never gone to design school and you can't afford to hire a full time person as your production manager there's a roadmap that you can follow at FABRIC that takes you through every single step I mean granular every single step and all the classes and everything are built into it and then we have a free sourcing library and we have an event space and we have the actual no minimum manufacturing so that you can test the market before you actually invest in the product larger batches someplace else and all the technology that allows all of this to be more sustainable and more ethical and more efficient and more cost effective.

So could anyone, my dream in life, and I might get to it one day, is to open an athleisure brand for like size inclusive, you know, type of ladies and men and also infiltrate the golfing market, like mostly, because there's no good options in golf right now for women so can anybody like, as, novice as I am, as a fan of Project Runway, join your program.

Yes, in  fact, majority of people have no prior experience. There's a few people that have a degree already in fashion in some way, but even those people don't, that's not what they teach you in design school. So, we say yes to everyone. 

Awesome. Well, that's good to know. I might be coming over to visit you guys. And Angela, you're also a designer too. And you also draw inspiration from old t-shirts. Like, what are some of your favorite types of, you know, shirts to recycle into your designs? 

Unfortunately, I don't have time these days to make very many of those ball gowns anymore. But yeah, my creative outlet for the last 20 years while I've been growing a fashion industry in Arizona is to be able to make ball gowns and blazers out of recycled t-shirts. And so it's sustainable. It's fun. I wish I had time to make more of them, but not these days. And the inspiration just comes from the t-shirt and the client. So, you know, when somebody orders one, they can provide their own t-shirts or they can say, Hey, I want it to be all pop culture or all music or all travel or whatever. And then I get to go thrift all the shirts and put it together. 

That's awesome. And what I want to ask you all just for personal. What are some of the best like vintage shops here in Phoenix or in the region that you could go to find good quality, whether it's T-shirts or vintage pieces or designer pieces, maybe one from each of you that you would recommend.

I would say, oh, there's quite a few, but I like Luxie Vintage. 

Luxie Vintage. 

You took mine. 

Oh, sorry.  

Where is this? I'm new, I'm new-ish. 

Well, she now has a store in Tempe. 

Okay. 

But she's been doing this forever. She just has the cutest pieces. Yeah, she curates her store beautifully, but yeah, there's there's quite a few. Deep End vintage.

Sorry. Yeah. 

No, you say all you want Say all you want. 

Yeah Rodeo Vamp Vintage, but yeah, there's there's quite a few. 

Okay. Awesome. Angela. I know she took yours but do you have any others? 

Well, I’m always a fan of the good old-fashioned Goodwill I mean, that's where I’ve always got my t-shirts from and even like I hate to say it but garage sales and stuff, too.

Estate sales.

Well, there comes me, right? My favorite is Vintage by Misty. Misty Guerrero in Scottsdale. And by the way, you see me wearing these very loud suits that I have commissioned to Mr. Turk, late husband of Trina Turk.  You will see some of those suits there if you want to grab one of those. I, that's where she, I, I send my stuff too.

Okay. 

So vintage by Misty in Old Town. 

And what about fashion by Robert Black? 

That's another one. Fashion by Robert Black. And then the list goes on. TBN to be.  to be, what's the name, TBN, God, Chrissy Sayare. And also My Sister's Closet, and the list goes on and on and on. 

Oh, I love My Sister's Closet. Yes. 

Yeah. My Sister's Closet is great for men as well. Okay. For everyday business and business attire and stuff like that. It's great. 

And, Oscar, I recently found this out when we were brainstorming for this podcast, but you have a suit on display at the Phoenix Art Museum as part of the Barbie exhibit. It's a, is it bright pink? I haven't been there yet. I'm going to go in the next one to two weeks but tell us about that. How did, how did this happen? 

Yes. It’s like, who has a suit in display at the Phoenix Art Museum? That's what Gary said, my husband. Well the, the, the story comes as that I commissioned a suit from a company called Indochino, which is a multinational company that actually buys looms from different suppliers, and one of the suppliers is a company that produces Versace looms as well in Italy. 

And then I was looking for a pink suit to wear for a fundraiser for TGen and a second fundraiser to, I mean, actually I was in the wrong way. , for TGen, I was part of the committee and the second one was Phoenix Fashion Week to support Check For a Lump, which is another nonprofit with both within women's cancer.

So I did not have one in my closet, so I just went directly to a friend of mine and then he said, you can get one in Indochino. They do incredible work and they have this particular fabric. So I went and commissioned it and then I wore it for these two events. And when are you going to wear that suit again?

But. Gary said, it's like, I don't know. And the Barbie exhibit came to be and the Power of Pink Exhibit came to be. And I am part of Arizona Custom Institute Board. No sorry. I'm a member of Arizona Custom Institute. And then they were having a conversation within the board and. Someone said, Oscar owns a pink suit to Helen Jean, the curator, and she called me immediately.

She said, we, we need one. We don't have one in the collection. Would you be mine? Would you, would you be, would you agree to at least have it if you, I mean, just for the exhibit?  Bring it for a few days, and we'll consider it. So, because you submit something, and then the curators will consider it. So, I submitted it, and I said, of course, yes, and then she sent me pictures of the of the suit exhibited. And it, I have plenty of text messages. 

Yes, I will be one of them. 

Yeah, they tell you, oh my god, I see you here, this is so you. So, yeah, so, one thing leads to the other, and it's a continuous purpose, my purpose and my mission in the community is to elevate the world of arts and to help to propel messages within the world of art.

I love that. And for those of you who want to go visit, it's on display. You don't need a special exhibition pass to go see the Power of Pink exhibit, so it's just a general admission ticket to Phoenix Art Museum. So be sure to go check it out and bombard Oscar with all of your pictures with his suit.

I could honestly sit here and talk for another 30 minutes, but I do know our producers would want me to wrap it up. So we're going to go ahead and do that. But I wanted to give you all an opportunity to share a final thought or just a final comment about the fashion industry here in Greater Phoenix. What you hope to see or a plug, whatever you'd like. And I'd also like you all to provide your contact information if anybody wants to get in contact for a potential design or to join or learn more information about FABRIC, for example, or just to chat with you Oscar 

So I'll start with you Leonor. 

Yeah, I just want to say thank you again for having me here with two amazing fashion people in Phoenix. You know, I think without people like Angela and Oscar It'd be really hard one of my favorite things about Phoenix is that it's such a tight knit community. 

I've also been a designer that moved away and came back and something that has kept me here that has made me feel like I can really grow as a designer Is the fact that we have such an amazing community and I’ve known them for we were just talking about 20 years And you know, I cannot wait to see the things that they continue to do and we continue to do together 

And social, how can people get in touch with you? 

Instagram, it's L E O N O R underscore A I S P U R O. And my website is leonoraispuro.com

Okay, we'll be sure to link all of her contact details in the description of this episode. And Angela, 

Well, I would love to share. This is a perfect audience to share this. So after, you know, I just mentioned the 20 years that have been kind of trying to build an industry here. Things are starting to shape up. And one of the things that I'm really excited about is we have Eco Fashion Week every year at the end of April. And during this year's Eco Fashion Week, we're having an Eco Park Summit. 

And what that is, is we're bringing together global supply chain people in a discussion on how to make Arizona one of the first places that that creates a model for that circular fashion economy that I've been talking about. And we have some of the most important supply chain people coming here. We're bringing them in from all over the globe to talk about how do we take those first steps to be able to do that.

So I’m really excited and everybody's interested. Reach out to us, you can actually find all the information about the Summit on our website as well as Eco Fashion Week. And the website is just fabricincubator.com. That's the best way to find us. And if you want more information, you can even email us at info@fabricincubator.com and then we're @fabrictempe on most of our social media. 

Perfect. Yes, I will be having a conversation with you after this. Oscar, round us out. 
Yes, so to wrap it up. Yeah, as you know I've been working in the world of arts and humanities for a long time. So this is, it's funny because I'm, I'm speaking to the business world. I'm here advancing businesses for the firm that I work for at GPEC. 

I come here often. I have conversation with you guys at a, at a very high level of what is going on. going to happen in our state, and then I come back to this desk to talk about my passions and my, and my work with the community. So, if I may say something that wraps the entire world of humanities and the economies of creative economies of the economies of art I joined Artlink about two years ago, and now I am the chairman of the organization. 

So in that position, I'm going to talk about it, and plug some things here. So this is this is the month. The month of March is Art Detour. Art Detour opens every single opportunity for the world of the creatives and our community to have that connection with the creative economies, which moves billions of dollars in our community.

I'm talking from art, performance art. I'm talking from the perspective of culinary arts. I'm talking from the perspective of fashion, museums, curatorial work, galleries, expressions of art, et cetera, et cetera that basically registered the DNA of who we are as citizens. Curatorial bodies and galleries, private and public, they basically curate who we are, is the message of who we are as citizens.

So this is the month we have that celebration. And the peak of that celebration is Art d’Core, their upcoming gala at the Phoenix Art Museum, and hats off, I was able to hand the the chairmanship from that particular event last year to your own Chris Camacho. So he is this year's chairman of the gala.

Honorary chairman of the GALA. So if I'm speaking to the business world here, please come, the Phoenix Art Museum. I the date escapes me, but 

It's March 16th. 

Thank you. Leonor is one of our, is one of our artists who is collaborating with other artists. You're going to find a gala that is very urban, very chic, if I may use that word because it’s very urban. It speaks to all the elements of humanities in one place, one time, in one, in one party, big party. So it's not your gala of tables and chicken served. Sorry, I'm going to say this loosely because we go to a lot with my husband. We support the community at large. 

But, it is a cocktail hour with a hint of a big city taste. So it's something that you feel that you go to New York, you go to San Francisco, Madrid, London, whatever you are around the world in these big, mega cities, metropolitan cities, you will find it here. And the entire world of arts comes together to this event. So definitely I, I I invite you and urge you to attend Panorama.

That's the name this year of the gala is actually called Art d’Core and be part and feel the energy of the world of creatives in, in our city. And with that, also, I'm going to leave just one last message. Please support the world of arts in Arizona. This is an industry of billions of dollars and creates opportunities to expand our brains, our minds, create momentum for us and narrate our stories.

I'm talking from the world of fashion, all the world, all the old world. All the way to the outsources and outskirts of our of our state with our Native Americans and the traditions they left us and, and we keep with us. So thank you for this opportunity. And I'm looking forward to seeing you all at Art d’Core.

Well, I'm sold on Art d’Core. I will find a way to get a ticket.

 It's a lot of fun. It's so much fun. 

I have to go now after that, and I'm definitely inspired by your lasting message about being in, being involved and supporting the arts here in Greater Phoenix. So thank you all of the listeners for joining us on this amazing episode of the Greater Phoenix A to Z Podcast.

Stay tuned for upcoming shows on music. Architecture and more. Do me and our guests a favor and be sure to subscribe to this podcast on your favorite podcast listening app and rate us five stars. You can also leave us a cheeky review. To keep up with what's happening in greater Phoenix, follow GPEC at GreaterPHX on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube until next time be safe and well, cheers.