Meet Cindy Dach, a Phoenix Community Alliance "City-Shaper"
Cindy Dach prefers to think of herself as a Downtown steward.
Despite all her professional accomplishments, she sees Downtown Phoenix as the product of a particular moment — being in the right place at the right time, alongside other community leaders, building on the foundational work of those who came before.
In 1997, Dach relocated to Phoenix from Denver, at a time when Downtown was stagnant, much less defined. She and her husband, Greg Esser, were surprised Downtown didn’t have a “there there.” It was an environment peppered by empty lots, vacant buildings, and restaurants that closed at four o'clock.
More than 25 years later, her community leadership as Changing Hands’ CEO, Local First Arizona co-founder, and a Downtown Phoenix, Inc. (DPI) Board Director, helped define Roosevelt Row and Downtown as a place where communities formed and small businesses could shape their destiny and urban environment.
Phoenix Community Alliance (PCA) was built on the foundation of industry professionals who all share the same goal: to use their expertise to benefit the Greater Downtown Phoenix community.
PCA: When we interviewed David Krietor, he coined the phrase 'Urban Pioneers' to describe the foundational work of you and Greg, Kimber Lanning, and Wayne Rainey, whose communal businesses started around the same time. When did you realize you were helping create a Downtown community through these third spaces, like Eye Lounge and MADE Art Boutique?
Dach: I came from an urban community where whatever your interest was, you could find your people, whether knitting, poetry, or the love of cats. When we moved here, we were both looking for our people. However, at that time, if you didn't attend ASU, you were outside that emerging arts community.
[When we bought the Eye Lounge building,] it was just magic because Wayne [Rainey] was moving into monOrchid and Holgas [Gallery], and Kimber [Lanning] had taken over what was Metropophobobia [Pronounced Metro-poh-fuh-boh-bee-uh].
At the same time, there was this confluence of all of us where we could each walk to each other's spaces, and suddenly, people attract people. We began coordinating regular hours to promote our galleries because we thought that was important for the artists. The theme behind this was that the more we organized and communicated, the more we could stay afloat.
[My husband] Greg [Esser] came from an interesting arts collective and community in Denver. There was a gallery called the Pirate Gallery, which was 100% the model for Eye Lounge, except people became members and paid monthly rent. The twist with Eye Lounge was that an artist could only be a member for three years. We wanted this idea that you moved on, and there’s always room for others.
I didn't feel something because we were doing something. I felt it because other people shared my interest in having a community around the arts and walkability.
PCA: Did that loose coordination between everyone unofficially mark the beginnings of the Roosevelt Row Community Development Corporation (CDC) you co-founded?
Dach: After Greg and I bought Eye Lounge, now the Greenwood building, in 2000, it was announced that the city was trying to bring Cardinal Stadium to Roosevelt. I saw a map where Eye Lounge would’ve been a parking lot.
We didn't have a voice, and the CDC formed to create and protect a community. Here's the avenue to having that voice at the table in development. Eventually, it united us and we won.
Our mission was to have a friendly artist community, not an arts district, that was livable, walkable, and shaded. We didn't achieve artist housing, but we accomplished a lot.
The first event we started was the Harvest Festival, which featured pumpkin bowling, a concept designed by Joe Willie Smith. The [Valley of the Sunflowers] field was the other major tipping point. Someone in our community worked at Intel, and we got a grant to support the project, which led to a relationship with Bioscience High School. ASA [Arizona School for the Arts] was coming up. We were among the first communities to say, “Look at our two high school bookends.”
From 2011 to 2012, Valley of the Sunflowers activated a vacant lot in Roosevelt Row that also brought attention to urban blight within Greater Downtown. When the sunflowers matured, Phoenix Bioscience High School students harvested the oil for a biofuel project.
It speaks to the [Downtown Phoenix Inc. volunteer program] The Flock because it was volunteerism where people created connections that turned out to be life-changing. To this day, I still meet people who met people through the project.
PCA: Changing Hands is known for its literary events featuring authors. As their former Marketing and Events Director, you arranged for notable authors to visit your store. Do you have a favorite story of an author you arranged to appear at a book-signing event?
Dach: We would do maybe six author events a year at that time. I saw what Tattered Cover did with author events in Denver, and knew we needed to be doing that here. I would call New York, saying, “We want this author to come here.” And they were like, “Where's your closest airport. Is it LA?” It was getting New York to know we were on the map for events.
If I had to go back, my three most memorable authors are Barack Obama, Gloria Steinem, and Anthony Bourdain. My first [off-site] event was at Orpheum Theater for then-Senator Obama [on October 23, 2006].
Anthony Bourdain was probably the sweetest, kindest author I've ever worked with. He'd walk into the bookstore with snacks for the staff. He always said, “I don't know why authors complain about this; they should try working in a kitchen.”
We went out to dinner after his talk, which we used to do more back then, and I suggested Pizzeria Bianco at Town & Country. He's like, "I am from New York, I don't need any more pizza." When he came back two years later, he had dinner with Chris [Bianco]. I wasn't invited. [laughs]
I'm no longer the events manager, but it's still close to my heart. Since November, I’ve concentrated on whether our events are fulfilling our mission: education and helping combat this loneliness epidemic.
Our crafting events are incredibly diverse age-wise. [Baby] Boomers are experiencing loneliness; Gen Z doesn't know how to get off their phone, but they want to.
PCA: When MADE first opened, you envisioned it as a place for shopping and a community hub with workshops. What was your recollection of being in the middle of a growing artist community?
Dach: At that time, everybody was rolling up their sleeves, offering to help. We didn't have the public market yet.
I used to carry this necklace [at MADE Art Boutique] from one of the bassists at the Phoenix Symphony, who was also a woodworker. He would make these beautiful inlaid wood pieces. Suddenly, people from the symphony came, and artists connected, seeing each other's work. In a way, it was the brick-and-mortar version of a viral trend.
It was the first Downtown place selling small wares open seven days a week, which my accountant thought I was an idiot for doing. Financially, she was not wrong. But I also felt I was filling a void, which was a lovely feeling.
We got a lot of convention business at MADE, and it's because people were looking for things to buy. Those people made my day. It's incredible how many hats I sold. People came from the Convention Center and had no idea how hot our sun was.
The sad thing is that if you're staying at the Downtown Hilton, you can go on Amazon and get a hat the next day. That is your competition, but you’ll see it and buy it if you're out walking. You cannot beat that tactile experience.
We need more boutiques. The only way that can happen is if landlords understand these businesses cannot pay what a national retailer can pay because a chain can open a store that’s not profitable because they have another store that is.
That's why [Changing Hands is] at the Newton. They knew that a bookstore shapes a community. That's what we need landlords here to do—percentage rents, and things like that.
PCA: First Fridays has evolved significantly since its inception. How do you envision its future growth balancing sustainability while continuing to support the local community and the artists who helped bring it to life?
Dach: First Fridays really took off because of Square’s mobile credit card system, PayPal, and Wi-Fi. Before that, on First Fridays we had to rent and organize the placement of ATMs throughout Roosevelt. I had five ATMs on the MADE front grounds. It was how we supported the vendors.
If you walked from a show at monOrchid to Eye Lounge, passing three dark dirt lots felt scary. [As a result], we started activating the vacant spaces with vendors. It was a way to support artists and light up the in-between. We never planned what would happen when all the dirt lots were gone. Then you would have street closures, which would become a whole other thing because of safety needs.
Its shape will keep reforming. I love that we are seeing the connection from Hance Park to the stadiums. As that gets filled in, it'll keep shapeshifting. It'll always be a version of itself.
It's going to evolve. What excites me most about Roosevelt Row is that new people from out of town or young people who grew up coming to Roosevelt Row on First Fridays always want to be involved.
Dach and Esser closed MADE Art Boutique at the end of June to reprioritize their family life.
Although a chapter of Roosevelt Row history is closing, Dach isn’t stepping away. In fact, she still considers everything she does a full plate of responsibilities.
In the meantime, Changing Hands, Eye Lounge, her DPI, and Roosevelt Row CDC Board of Directors positions, and other boards keep her busy. She takes pride in the diversity of opinions she brings to DPI meetings, which is a fraction of a larger conversation. Dach views those formative years on the board for Roosevelt Row CDC as a scrappy form of placemaking, visible with something as simple as the shade trees planted for her and Esser to walk home under.
Eye Lounge recently celebrated its 25th anniversary, and they are acknowledging the date with an exhibit inside Modified Arts featuring the work of past and present members on display.
But, what about the vacated MADE Art Boutique building? Everyone has tried, but all she’ll reveal is, “It'll be local, but it's not my story to tell by myself."
Consider everyone riveted.