Here’s a great opportunity to learn more about Agua Fria National Monument without making the drive up there.

From the BLM:

BLM Partners with Museum, ASU, and Tonto National Forest on Perry Mesa Exhibit:
Agua Fria National Monument staff have been working with the Pueblo Grande Museum, Arizona State University (ASU) researchers, Tonto National Forest officials, and others to help develop a Museum exhibit about Perry Mesa. Perry Mesa is the dominant geographic feature in the Agua Fria National Monument. The 50,000-acre Perry Mesa National Register District, which spans the Monument and part of the adjacent Tonto National Forest, was designated to recognize the significance and extent of the archaeology on Perry Mesa. Originally designated in 1975, the District was expanded in 1996 and is now one of the largest prehistoric districts listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The exhibit will highlight the history, ecology, rock art “petroglyphs,” artifacts, and pueblo ruins in the area, and their connections to the entire central Arizona landscape and other cultures. The nearly 3,000 square foot exhibit opens March 5, 2010, and will be on display for one year at the Pueblo Grande Museum.

Jessica rocking out at #nvfn

Last month, Jess Egli-Cannon and I organized our first #nvfn North Valley Friday Night. We started at Joe’s Grotto, then briefly moved to the Dubliner before settling in at Uncle Sam’s.

It was an absolute blast. An unforgettable blast, as a matter of fact.

What the hell is #nvfn anyway?

In short, #nvfn is a monthly opportunity to get together for a night of fun in the north Phoenix area. It’s one of several regularly-scheduled regional #pfn events. On the third Friday night of each month, we get together and hang out—and hilarity and a good time ensues.

A lesson in taking the initiative

Jess and I had met about a month before the event at the post-event dinner of Social Media Club Phoenix. We sat across the table from each other and chatted, and at some point the conversation turned to #pfn events and how the original organizer of #nvfn had to give it up. We decided right there that we should take the lead in re-establishing the event. A few days later, I checked in with Jess and we started the planning.

It’s amazing how easy it was to get this idea rolling. It took a random suggestion after a few minutes of conversation with a stranger: “Hey, maybe we should organize an #nvfn,” and a follow up message “Hey, so do you still want to organize that #nvfn thing?” to get started.

That’s it.

Over the last six months or so, I’ve gotten pretty active on twitter. I’ve consciously and successfully pushed myself to throw caution to the wind, step out from my introverted nature, and get involved with new people.

And I’ve learned—very clearly—that it’s incredibly easy to get value of out of taking that initiative. It’s a great life lesson to learn. The marketers at Nike have it right: Just Do It.

Seriously: Just. Do. It.

Tomorrow night we’ll be at Rock Bottom at Desert Ridge

The March 19 #nvfn will be starting at 7pm on the patio at Rock Bottom at Desert Ridge. We’ll undoubtedly retire to at least one other venue over the course of the night, so please check the twitter stream for details. I’d love for you to come and join in the fun. If you want to stay informed of future events, hit up the #nvfn facebook page or the #pfn announcement page.

In this very tough funding climate, quite a few nonprofit professionals have found themselves looking for employment. It’s not the easiest time to find work in the nonprofit sector, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t job vacancies out there. Believe it or not, some nonprofits are hiring here in Arizona.

I attended a recent meeting of the budding Phoenix Nonprofit Professionals Network and met Karen Ramsey of Lead for Good. About half of the attendees were looking for jobs and Karen graciously shared a list of nonprofit job listings that she had collected. I passed it along to a friend, who in turn found it very useful.

So I thought it would be helpful to post an edited version of that list. If you have suggestions for additional links, please let me know in the comments and I’ll add it them to the post. This list is focused on nonprofit jobs in Arizona (mostly Phoenix), but that doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t include sites like Monster, CareerBuilder, Craigslist, or even social media sites like LinkedIn and Twitter in your job search. Of course, reaching out to your own personal network is probably the first step.

Here’s the list:

• Alliance of Arizona Nonprofits’ Job Center
• ASU’s Lodestar Center Nonprofit News newsletter
• Association of Fundraising Professionals Greater Arizona Chapter job postings
• Association of Fundraising Professionals job center
• Chronicle of Philanthropy’s Philanthropy Careers
• Nonprofit Oyster
• Opportunity Knocks
• NonProfit Times’ NPT Jobs
• Nonprofitjobs.org’s Community Career Center
• CharityChannel’s Career Search
• Idealist.org’s Jobs
• Arizona Commission on the Arts Job Opportunities
• “By the Seat of Our Pants” Nonprofit Management Newsletter (includes job postings)
• International Association of Business Professionals IABC/Phoenix Job Bank

Please comment with any feedback on these sites, suggestions for sites to add, or if you found a job through any of the listings. Good luck!

If you haven’t already checked out a Culture Pass, you need to. They’re available for “check-out” from your local Phoenix-area library and will admit four adults for free to one of several museums:

• Arizona Museum of Natural History
• Arizona Museum for Youth
• Arizona Science Center
• The Bead Museum which is now closed
• Cave Creek Museum
• Children’s Museum of Phoenix
• Desert Botanical Garden
• Heard Museum
• Mesa Contemporary Arts
• Phoenix Art Museum
• Phoenix Zoo (only two admissions)
• Pueblo Grande Museum
• Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art

It’s a great way to get in your culture fix without spending any extra cash. However, you’ll need to get a bit lucky, as the passes aren’t always easy to come by. In fact, the rack is nearly always bare at the popular libraries, less so if you’re willing to travel to some of the ghetto locations.

But you shouldn’t despair if you can’t snag one of those passes – many of the museums participating in the Culture Pass also have regular free admission days. Here’s the list, which is current as of May 20, 2009. I’ve included links and phone numbers so you can verify a museum is still participating before you show up.

Arizona Museum of Youth
Noon – 5pm first Sunday of each month
35 N Robson St, Mesa – 480-644-2467

Arizona Museum of Natural History
Noon – 5pm first Sunday of each month
53 N MacDonald St, Mesa – 480-644-2230

Children’s Museum of Phoenix
6 – 10pm first Friday of each month
215 N. 7th St, Phoenix – 602-253-0501

Heard Museum
11am – 5pm second Sunday of each month
2301 N Central Ave, Phoenix – 602-252-8848

Heard Museum North
11am – 5pm second Sunday of each month
32633 N Scottsdale Rd, Scottsdale – 480-488-9817

Heard Museum West
10am – 5pm second Saturday of each month
16126 N Civic Center Plaza, Surprise – 623-344-2200

Mesa Contemporary Arts
Noon – 5pm first Sunday of each month &
10am – 8pm Thursdays
1 E Main St, Mesa – 480-644-6560

Phoenix Art Museum
3pm – 9pm Wednesdays &
6pm – 10pm first Friday of each month
1625 N Central Ave, Phoenix – 602-257-1222

Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art
10am – 8pm Thursdays
7374 E 2nd St, Scottsdale – 480-874-4666

This is a great way to check out some great museums – leave a comment if you really enjoyed a particular place or if you find any other locations with free admission days. Thanks!

Update: As mentioned in the comments, Bank of America customers can now show their cards at the Phoenix Art Museum and The Phoenix Zoo the Musical Instrument Museum on the first full weekend of every month to receive free general admission. Check out more details here.

Photo credit: Rail Life