A Community Currency ‘Discount Art Token’ Opens In Phoenix Area July 4th
Local businesses across the Phoenix valley are signing up to try out the new Phoenix Bux art token. The token was crafted by a local artist and it seems over 1000 of them will be manufactured for this first test project. The participating business will allow one token per customer per day and the token will offer customers at least one dollar off their purchase, but perhaps more at the discretion of the business.
Here’s more from their web site.
It is intended to facilitate awareness about how economies function, develop a tangible format for community support networks, and foster ideas about long term finiancial initiatives. The worth of this token is inherent as art rather than metal. Sculpted by local artist/jewelers Chadwick and Rueling, each PHX BUX will be something worth having and exchanging.
While this might seem like an enormous project, we felt that something small-scale could be constructed as an experiment to see if our community could sustain something like this.
Artist and Jewelers Chadwick and Rueling opened a showroom across the street and after months of discourse have agreed to design and produce an art token that we can use as a local discount coupon and a cross marketing campaign.
A few design ideas came up and the hand has made it onto the token. The idea is that as artists we are constantly using our hands to create and when we exchange with each other it is done hand to hand. Often when we assist each other it is seen as a helping hand.
Now that the prototype has been created we have been showing the token around to local, independent businesses that are key components to creating and fostering the development of local culture. The response, while at times is perplexing, has been overwhelmingly positive and supportive. We had originally set out to make 500 tokens and it looks like we are going to make over 1200.
We are interested in constructive feedback and projects utilizing the token. please direct all inquiries to conspirephoenix@gmail.com with phx bux as the subject.
