Best Local TikTok 2024 | WildJoy Experiences | Megalopolitan Life | Phoenix
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Best Local TikTok

WildJoy Experiences

WildJoy Experiences owner Lacy Cain built a cult following of empowering Arizona to find their #wildjoy by hosting #makefriends events and joining #thejoyclub community. This spicy soul seems to actually want to get to know her followers and revels in meeting and making new friends, unlike other "influencers" who think they're too cool for school. By showing her face often, speaking to the camera and cross-posting on Instagram, she's grown her brand to be a local behemoth. Whether she's giving details on a music festival, trying out a new restaurant or promoting moonlight yoga on the Salt River, Cain knows what her audience is interested in and gives it to them in a fun and engaging way. She's also an advocate for helping the homeless, which makes her a bit of a unicorn — an influencer with a soul.

Best Local YouTube Series

Just Give Me Five

Some interviewers rely on dozens of questions to probe their subject's background, motivations and opinions. Dave Miranda and Jimmy Nelson, however, only need five. Since 2020, the local pair have showcased a who's who of Valley icons, creatives, athletes, performers and personalities in their phenomenal Phoenix-focused YouTube channel, Just Give Me Five. Asking each person only five questions, Miranda and Nelson get their subjects to open up and perform candid deep dives into their life stories and speak their truths. Miranda — a hip-hop artist, writer and radio show host — selects the guests, writes the questions, conducts the interviews and hosts each episode, while Nelson — a filmmaker and videographer — records and edits everything. The results are a captivating, informative and occasionally hilarious series of lengthy video interviews. Memorable moments abound: Gin Blossoms frontman Robin Wilson gave an inside look at appearing on "Saturday Night Live." Veteran local broadcast DJ Bruce Kelly gushed about staging pranks with Senator John McCain. And Phoenix Suns all-star Cedric Ceballos discussed collaborating with legendary rapper Warren G. Just Give Me Five has more than 150 episodes so far, and Miranda is launching a radio version on independently owned station KDIF 102.9 FM later this year.

Best Radio Station

KRDP Community Radio (90.7 FM)

Jazz fans who were disheartened when KJZZ dropped the genre from its airwaves earlier this year can take solace in knowing it still has a home on the FM dial through KRDP. The upstart independent radio station, which signed on in 2022, broadcasts multiple flavors of jazz throughout the day, courtesy of on-air talents such as Dee Alexander, Tom Coulson, Dave Schwan and John Hill. It's just one part of KRDP's eclectic and diverse musical repast, which includes sounds you won't hear on any other station in the Valley. There's also funk, R&B and soul every weekday afternoon, nightly shows playing everything from contemporary indigenous music to alternative hip-hop and traditional gospel every Sunday morning. (KRDP also offers a separate internet stream, which was formerly known as local online station Radio Phoenix, which focuses on indie tunes.) Beyond the music, KRDP airs a variety of community-oriented and public affairs and specialty programming ranging from progressive news show "Democracy Now!" to shows aimed at Arizona's African-American and BIPOC communities. The station's broadcast range is largely limited to the East Valley at the moment, but its owners, Desert Soul Media, are raising funds to add a second signal at 91.9 within the next year.

Best Art Museum

Phoenix Art Museum

Why visit Phoenix Art Museum? Let us count the ways. Along with iconic museum attractions like the Thorne Miniature Rooms and Yayoi Kusama's "You Who Are Getting Obliterated in the Dancing Swarm of Fireflies" infinity room, the museum keeps its offerings fresh and interesting with an eclectic lineup of temporary exhibitions, including "Guarding the Art," which allowed the museum's noncuratorial staff to choose works to display, and the blockbuster "Barbie: A Cultural Icon." And there's much more to Phoenix Art Museum than the art. Lectures, film screenings, music events like PhxArt Amplified and, coming soon, a new cafe experience, give the public even more reasons to head downtown. And the museum makes it easy to stop by — this year, it announced the return of monthly free First Friday events, expanded admission hours Wednesday through Friday, gave military members and their families free entry over the summer and ran several other promotions to get more people to experience the best art museum in town.

Best Art Gallery

Lisa Sette Gallery

Andrew Pielage

Lisa Sette Gallery is an oasis in the heart of Phoenix. As we walk in, we escape from the light, heat and noise of the city into the gallery's Al Beadle-designed building, a quiet temple dedicated to creativity. Sette is approaching a major milestone — 40 years of owning art galleries in the Valley — and yet the work her space exhibits is as fresh and challenging as ever. The gallery represents a who's-who of Phoenix-based talent, including Rachel Bess, Mayme Kratz and Mark Klett as well as national and international artists such as William Wegman and Reynier Leyva Novo. This year's exhibitions have included a summer group show and "The Moon Is a Lantern," featuring works that present the moon as an allegory for change and remaking. We can't wait to see what Lisa Sette Gallery has in store in the future.

Best Pop-Up Art Show

'All In'

Hundreds of people showed up at Tempe's Danelle Plaza on a Thursday night in April, not for a punk concert at Yucca Tap Room, but an art show. "All In," organized by local artist and art teacher Matt Dickson, was intended to be a one-night-only show featuring the works of 50 local creatives. Dickson wanted the lineup of talent to reflect a diversity of ages, styles and location in the Valley, and gave only one direction: "I said, 'Show me the thing you love the most,'" he told New Times earlier this year. The result was a fascinating assembly of paintings by local artists including Lalo Cota, Rachel Bess, Luster Kaboom, Champ Styles, Such Styles, JJ Horner, Manic Tongue, Kyllan Maney, NXOEED and JB Snyder. The show drew such a crowd that it spilled out of the bare-bones storefront and into the parking lot, and Dickson decided to keep the show open over the weekend to allow more people to view it. It was exactly the kind of DIY art show Tempe needs more of, which is why we're glad to see Dickson has another show planned for the same space in October.

Best Art Festival

Canal Convergence

Do we love Canal Convergence because it takes place the second week of November? No, but the gorgeous weather doesn't hurt. The blessedly crisp air is the perfect setting for Scottsdale Public Art's annual festival dedicated to art and sustainability, which is part of the reason it draws so many people down to the Scottsdale Waterfront. But the main appeal is of course the art and the extensive schedule of activities. Scottsdale Public Art brings innovative, interactive works from around the world to the Valley to the delight of patrons of all ages. In recent years, pieces have included a giant octopus to climb on, floating lotuses that shoot fire in time to music and a light-up bridge. All the art is free to see, as are Canal Convergence's many musical performances and a good number of the tours and art activities. It all adds up to an event we eagerly anticipate each fall.

Best Outdoor Art

Oak Street Alley

The tiny stretch of central Phoenix road known as the Oak Street Alley is one of the most delightful parts of the city. The concrete walls that line the street are canvases for the city's artists, turning the area into an open-air gallery any time of the day or night. You could drive through at a snail's pace, but we prefer to park nearby and check out the murals on foot. Some of the pieces, like Maggie Keane's charming ode to A-ha's "Take on Me" music video, have been up for years. But many sections of wall get a new look each spring during the Oak Street Alley Mural Festival, a weekend in which the public crowds the alley while artists paint new creations. It's one of our favorite events of the year.

Best Art at the Airport

'The Phoenix'

It's likely that you've never noticed the walls and floors throughout Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport. Blame it on the frustrating push through security and the sprints across the cavernous hallways to one of the 86 gates of Terminal 4. But the airport's two terminals, the terrazzo floors of the PHX Sky Train corridors and even the Rental Car Center might surprise you. Why? Because of the impressive number of public art installations showcasing the work of Arizona artists and curated by the Phoenix Airport Museum. It started in 1962 with Paul Coze's "The Phoenix," a giant, three-panel, 75-foot mural that was originally located over the main hall in the Terminal 2 lobby when it opened in 1962. When the terminal was decommissioned in 2020, the mural — the first piece of city-commissioned public art chosen by a public vote — eventually made its way to the rental car center in 2021. The iconic work includes 52 different materials and 15 canvases and pays tribute to the first prehistoric inhabitants of the region, depicts a blazing phoenix and, with outstretched hands, honors Arizona's agriculture, ranching and mining history.

Best Art Along the Light Rail

'On a Journey with You'

When Valley Metro's Thelda Williams Transit Center and the light rail's northwest extension debuted earlier this year, it provided riders with both new destinations and a collection of dynamic, vibrant public art to enjoy. Seven pieces were added to stations along Valley Metro's Northwest Light Rail Extension, including such standouts as Oregon-based sculptor Pete Goldlust's playful UFO-themed work "The Travelers" at Dunlap and 25th avenues and local artist Mary Shindell's divine "Ocotillo Rise" murals inspired by desert botanicals at the Metro Parkway Station. The crown jewel is Tempe artist Oliverio Balcells' evocative and vibrant "On a Journey with You," a multipart tile mosaic adorning 66 risers of the stairs leading to the second level of the Thelda Williams Transit Center. The colorful work features Costa's hummingbirds taking flight amid desert flowers, a flowing river and symbols inspired by the Wixárika, an Indigenous culture native to western Mexico. According to Balcells, the birds represent "relationships, admiration, community and love," while the water symbolizes the light rail and the journeys it will lead people on. It creates a stunning, eye-catching sight for visitors to the transit center heading out on their own journeys.

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