This spring, something new is taking root.
The MUSE•eum is partnering with Chic Artistry Studio (@chicartistrystudio ) to transform the space into a living creative calendar filled with storytelling dinners, storytelling circles, workshops, and nights that remind you why culture matters.
We’re doing this for the love.
For the love of Black folks.
For our stories, our creativity, and the spaces where we get to be fully ourselves.
Not just events.
A creative home.
A table for stories.
A room for imagination.
March through May, we’re building something beautiful together.
Save the dates.
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The MUSE•eum @ Chic Artistry studio (@chicartistrystudio )is a creative collaboration designed to activate the space with storytelling, workshops, cultural dinners, and community-centered programming. This partnership brings together art, culture, and experience-driven events under one roof.
When people decide where to live, they’re not just choosing a neighborhood, they’re choosing culture. Strong arts and culture sectors don’t just reflect community vibrancy, they create it. In the Greater Phoenix area, the creative economy generated more than $15.8 billion in output and supported nearly 100,000 jobs. Cultural districts and downtown creative hubs consistently drive urban revitalization by attracting residents, businesses, and investment.
What too few city builders, developers, and real estate investors realize is that the people producing culture, event creators, artists, musicians, and storytellers, are the invisible infrastructure of every thriving city. Their work shapes nightlife, dining, retail, and neighborhood identity. When venues close or producers operate in silos, the city loses its rhythm. The result is fewer new residents, slower small business growth, and less long-term investment.
Culture is economic development. It influences how people move, spend, and settle. The producers behind local festivals, open mics, gallery walks, and food events are the same people driving tourism, economic circulation, and homebuyer attraction. They make cities livable.
If we want to build cities where people stay, buy homes, and belong, we must resource the people who create culture. Cultural producers are not an afterthought, they are the architects of belonging, community, and growth.
Take the survey that’s linked in my bio 🙌🏾
#WeProduceCulture #CulturalEconomy #UrbanGrowth #DowntownPhoenix #EventProducers #CreativeCities
Join Centered.PHX(@centered.phx )+Rebel Phoenix Theatre Collective (@rebelphxtheatre ) for a staged reading of Stew, a richly layered and emotionally charged play by acclaimed playwright Zora Howard. Performed by members of the Rebel Phoenix cast, this intimate reading explores family, memory, survival, and the unspoken ingredients passed down through generations of Black women. The reading runs approximately 90 minutes with no intermission. Guests should allow up to two hours total for the full event experience, including seating and post-show gathering.
Directed by: Felicia Penza (@busyfee )
June 8th
7pm-9pm
South Mountain Community College
Link in bio.
CALL FOR STORYTELLERS
Dear Black Man, This Story Is For You.
A @centered.phx storytelling experience.
We’re seeking storytellers for an evening centered on the voices, reflections, truths, and lived experiences of Black men.
Each story will begin with:
“Dear Black Man…”
We’re looking for stories that are honest, grounded, funny, reflective, vulnerable, and real. Stories about identity, friendship, fatherhood, love, pressure, healing, softness, joy, becoming, and the moments that changed you.
Stories should be approximately 5–7 minutes.
🗓 June 26, 2026
📍 Phoenix, AZ
Submit your story at the link in bio or DM for details.
#DearBlackMan #CenteredPHX #BlackStorytelling #StorytellingExperience
MAY AT THE MUSE•EUM!
We’re building more than events. We’re building rhythm, ritual, and real community through storytelling, creativity, conversation, music, and cultural connection.
This season at The MUSE•eum, expect spaces that help you reconnect with your voice, your people, your creativity, and yourself.
MAY EVENTS
May 6 - The Artist’s Way
Weekly Wednesday guided creative circle helping artists, thinkers, and dreamers unblock creatively and take their practice seriously again. (Ends 5/27)
May 14 - HBCU Happy Hour
A social mixer for HBCU alumni, culture-builders, and community-minded folks who miss the feeling of the yard, the conversations, and the connection.
May 21 - Speak Easy
A Black-centered storytelling and public speaking collective where stories, speeches, and stage presence are developed in community.
May 22 - Centered.PHX Storytelling Night
Real stories. Real people. Real connection. An intimate storytelling experience centering Black life, memory, humor, healing, and joy.
Centered.PHX (@centered.phx ) presents a free community screening of TCB: The Toni Cade Bambara School of Organizing (2025, 105 minutes).
This documentary is a biography of the influential writer, filmmaker, and cultural worker whose humor and deep insight inspired a generation of artists to dedicate themselves to community empowerment. Structured as a series of lessons on cultural organizing, the film draws from Bambara’s life and is shared through the voices of her friends, colleagues, and students.
This experience is part of an ongoing storytelling and documentary effort to center and preserve the voices of Black women in real time.
Following the screening, community storytellers will share personal reflections inspired by the film, creating space for conversation, connection, and collective witnessing.
Join us for an evening of film, storytelling, and community as we reflect on legacy, cultural work, and the power of telling our stories.
⸻
FRIDAY, MAY 22, 2026
📍@chicartistrystudio
222 E McDowell Rd
Doors: 6:30 PM | Screening: 7:00 PM
Free to attend | Limited seating
Save the date. June 19.
The DJs are telling the story.
Good music. Good people. Good vibes.
A Juneteenth where the turntables do the talking.
@centered.phx + @picnicsessionsphx + @thesquarephx
Dear Black Woman,
We’re sharing some stories for you.
Join us tomorrow, Friday April 24, for Dear Black Woman, This Story Is For You: Part II with @centered.phx x @sunflowersoulproject
This is a storytelling experience that holds space for truth. Stories about love, boundaries, survival, and becoming.
Every story begins the same way:
Dear Black Woman…
If you’re in the room, we hope this one reaches you.
Friday, April 24
Doors 6:30|Stories start at 7:00pm | @chicartistrystudio
🎟️: tickets at link in bio
#DearBlackWoman #CenteredPHX #sunflowersoulproject
Dear Black Woman,
We’re sharing a story for you.
On April 24, Join these storytellers for
Dear Black Woman, This Story Is For You: Part II
with @centered.phx x @sunflowersoulproject
This is a storytelling experience that holds space for truth. Stories about love, boundaries, survival, and becoming.
Every story begins the same way:
Dear Black Woman…
If you’re in the room, I hope this one reaches you.
Featured storytellers:
@hussll_@ashbash_stylephx@jijivishaholistic@creating.myreality@idee602@christinajcolvin@2girlzn1mom
-
Friday, April 24
Doors 6:30pm|Stories 7:00pm |📍@chicartistrystudio
—-
Centered.PHX is the only Phoenix, AZ based storytelling experience that highlights the diversity of voice and lived experiences within the Black community. Each event centers a unique perspective through the lived experiences of Black folks.
#DearBlackWoman #CenteredPHX #sunflowersoulproject
Dear Black Woman,
We’re sharing a story for you. Stay tuned as we introduce your storytellers this week!
On April 24, Join these storytellers for
Dear Black Woman, This Story Is For You: Part II
with @centered.phx x @sunflowersoulproject
This is a storytelling experience that holds space for truth. Stories about love, boundaries, survival, and becoming.
Every story begins the same way:
Dear Black Woman…
If you’re in the room, I hope this one reaches you.
Featured storytellers:
@hussll_@ashbash_stylephx@jijivishaholistic@creating.myreality@idee602@christinajcolvin@2girlzn1mom
-
Friday, April 24
Doors 6:30pm|Stories 7:00pm |📍@chicartistrystudio
—-
Centered.PHX is the only Phoenix, AZ based storytelling experience that highlights the diversity of voice and lived experiences within the Black community. Each event centers a unique perspective through the lived experiences of Black folks.
#DearBlackWoman #CenteredPHX #sunflowersoulproject
Dear Black Woman,
We’re sharing a story for you.
On April 24, Join these storytellers for
Dear Black Woman, This Story Is For You: Part II
with @centered.phx x @sunflowersoulproject
This is a storytelling experience that holds space for truth. Stories about love, boundaries, survival, and becoming.
Every story begins the same way:
Dear Black Woman…
If you’re in the room, I hope this one reaches you.
Featured storytellers:
@hussll_@ashbash_stylephx@jijivishaholistic@creating.myreality@idee602@christinajcolvin@2girlzn1mom
-
Friday, April 24
Doors 6:30pm|Stories 7:00pm |📍@chicartistrystudio
—-
Centered.PHX is the only Phoenix, AZ based storytelling experience that highlights the diversity of voice and lived experiences within the Black community. Each event centers a unique perspective through the lived experiences of Black folks.
#DearBlackWoman #CenteredPHX #sunflowersoulproject
