Julie Ray Creative

10/13/2026

This weekend, the Office of Collecting and Design came to town!

It’s a traveling museum, and it’s exactly my kind of thing: an oasis of tactile exploration, a nostalgia machine devoted to the diminutive, the misplaced, the unusual and the forgotten. It was hosted in Chandler by Chandler Museum.

On Saturday, I participated in the Flatlay Experience, where you lay out objects on a flat surface and photograph them from above, and then I visited the museum on Sunday afternoon with my daughter.

I came across this 42-foot trailer a few years ago while working with the Mini Time Machine Museum of Miniatures.

It’s on a Fall Tour now, so it might be stopping in a city near you. It was such a cool experience. I highly recommend!

09/24/2026

The reviews are in, and the Weavers & Spinners Society of Austin agrees!

“Our QA testers, the Board, and the few people who’ve seen the site so far are raving about it. They love how it looks, works, seems so fresh and is easy to find everything. Thank you for all your hard work.” —Fazia Rizvi, Weavers and Spinners Society of Austin (WSSA)

Julie Ray Creative designed a new website for WSSA to showcase the contemporary nature of this traditional art form: We simplified the menu, designed a new home page focusing on the educational and social benefits of joining, added images and videos to draw people in, and put the calendar of events prominently on the home page to show its array of offerings.

WSSA is a vibrant community of 250+ fiber artists in the Austin region, and it needed a website to match the organization’s unique character and spirit. JRC designed and implemented a modern, welcoming WordPress website that meets the needs of current members and piques the interest of potential new ones.

Check out the site at: https://wssaustin.org/

09/17/2026

Tucson Meet Yourself 2026 starts one month from today! October 16-18.

Keep your eyes out for one of our Meet Yourself bus tails riding like the wind.

For 10+ years, JRC has been the proud creative partner of Tucson Meet Yourself, producing everything from pop-up banners to food vendor panels to merchandise.

I'll be there, and this year I'll be volunteering with my daughter. We hope to see you there!

You can sign up to volunteer at: https://tucsonmeetyourself.org/volunteer/

08/27/2026

With Tucson Meet Yourself – I just got recognized as one of their top fans! 🎉

08/27/2026

Anti-AI Slop

Just when you thought AI could not be stopped, one Tempe music venue is saying no to AI-generated flyers for bands.

If bands do send them an AI-generated flyer, Yucca Tap Room will substitute it with a generic flyer that is, basically, ugly. If this sounds yucky, there is a good reason for their anti-AI stance. “People aren’t showing up to your shows because of them,” it stated on Instagram.

Instead, Yucca Tap Room is partnering with a local arts group, Tempe Art and Music Coalition, so that bands can be paired with artists to create low-cost custom flyers, starting at $25.

It’s a win-win-win!

“I think the artists just appreciate somebody coming out and saying it,” said Jacqueline Swan, executive director of Tempe Art and Music Coalition, on KJZZ Phoenix'sThe Show. “I think a lot of us have been sitting there watching AI unfold, we’re being told about its inevitability, and you can feel a little powerless, and artists have so many obstacles already.”

You don’t have to look far to find content generated by AI. But one Tempe music venue has had it with flyers advertising bands that are created by the technology.

08/20/2026

Client News!

JRC has been busy updating, refreshing and finalizing projects for our clients, and we’d like to share their successes!

For 10+ years, JRC has been Tucson Meet Yourself’s creative partner, and our role keeps expanding as TMY’s popularity grows. This year, from October 16-18, 2026, you can expect the same immersive magnificence as ever since 1974, with 500+ folk artists and musicians, 50+ emerging foodways vendors, 5 stages, and 8 culture micro-pavilions.

An exciting TMY addition is the news that, in honor of the United States’ 250th birthday, TMY has been selected as one of about 40 festivals nationwide to partner with the Smithsonian Institution's Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage on Of the People: The Smithsonian Festival of Festivals.

We're hard at work prepping the website, program, ads, signage, and merchandise.

08/13/2026

Client News!

JRC has been busy updating, refreshing and finalizing projects for our clients, and we’d like to share their successes!

We have been supporting Kino Border Initiative / Iniciativa Kino para la Frontera with its fundraising efforts to expand its footprint in Nogales and raise 3.6 million to complete the renovations on its new 2-acre Migrant Community Campus. Our role has to been to help communicate the status of the campaign on the website.

The campus will offer a comprehensive set of spaces designed to support migrants' physical, emotional, and spiritual well-being alongside practical needs, including wellness and recreational areas, expanded medical and social services, and flexible community spaces for education and connection.

At JRC, our mission is to help you tell your story, reach more people and make a bigger impact. As your creative partner each step of the way, we will evolve with your needs and drive continuous progress toward your goals.

We are so proud of Kino Border Initiative as it gets closer (84%!) to achieving its goal!
Learn more and support the campaign at: https://www.kinoborderinitiative.org/migrant-community-campus/

Image: Rendering of Migrant Community Campus from KBI website.

08/06/2026

Client News!

JRC has been busy updating, refreshing and finalizing projects for our clients, and we’d like to share their successes.

First up, we’re spotlighting Southwest Folklife Alliance ( Folklife Alliance), which has launched a complete overhaul of its website! SFA has been dreaming about building a new site to more clearly convey what they do for the community: artist support, documentation, cultural organizing, education, and festivals.

Pulling from SFA’s beautiful photo library by Steven Meckler Photography, JRC overhauled the site with eye-catching images and animated elements and implemented a modern, lightweight website platform, which improved site organization. Big kudos to our designer Jenni Pagano for spearheading this massive project!

07/11/2026

It's been 8 years, and my Chandler Arts Commission service is done! I served two terms, plus an additional 2 years of someone else's term. Let me count the ways this experience has been valuable to me:

Lesson 1: Publicly funded art opportunities are essential for artists to earn income and gain credibility and visibility in the community. I saw the behind-the-scenes of the public art process while selecting artists for public art projects including the Tumbleweed Recreation Center (pictured). While I was on the Commission, the City started a project to beautify traffic control boxes. Many artists received their first public art commission through this project.

Read the other two lesson on my blog post!
https://julieraycreative.com/chandler-arts-commission/

Photo 1: “Sunset Flight”: coLAB Studio sculptural art installation and shade canopy
at the Tumbleweed Recreation Center. Installed May 2025.
Photo 2: Julie with Tucson artist Jessica Gonzales in front of her

Photo 3: Artist Giovanni Dixon in front of his "Legendary" mural honoring the famous Chandler boxer Zora Folley.

04/17/2026

I'm taking part in Julie Berman's new Podcast Guesting Program! It's a series of one-on-one sessions to prepare me for interviews and presentations related to my passions: Advocating for public support of the arts, promoting creativity and civic engagement, and inspiring folks to get engaged in their communities.

We're going through a step-by-step process that's allowing me to take time for each phase and get really clear about why I'm doing this. I appreciate that Julie takes the time to thoroughly explain each stage and provides worksheets and recordings of each session. Her guidance gives me confidence that I'll be fully prepared for taking my show on the road! 😆