Group organizes late-night party to push downtown

Here's something you can't do every night in downtown:

• Dress elegantly and not feel out of place.

• Wander art galleries at midnight.

• Drink, dance, be merry, and meet people who could be tomorrow's community leaders.

• Watch body painting in action.

• Get free valet parking.

• Be a witness to young professionals in Tucson taking their first stab to add vibrancy to downtown.

But from 9 p.m. to 1 a.m. on Friday at the Tucson Museum of Art, 140 N. Main Ave., one can do all of the above.

It's the inaugural First Fridays soiree being put on by Tucson Young Professionals, a five-month-old organization of 20- and 30-somethings bent on making Tucson attractive for young professionals. As of now, all future soirees will be at the museum. The 50-strong group of young bankers, attorneys, CPAs, planners and small -business owners wants it to become a community event on the first Friday on each month.

The late start time is designed for attendees to have enough time to get off work and have a leisurely dinner at a downtown restaurant first.

"First Fridays is our focus on downtown," said Leah Taylor, president of Tucson Young Professionals. "This is going to be our community event to focus on downtown."

The Young Professionals are striving for sophistication a bit beyond Tucson casual. They've toyed with asking for "formal" and "elegant" attire but have settled for a somewhat innocuous term: refined. Shirt and slacks for men, gowns and such for women, preferred, but jeans won't be turned away, Taylor said.

"We're setting a higher standard for Tucson," said Taylor, a small-business banking specialist at Wells Fargo Bank. "We want this to be a night out. This is not your typical Tucson casual."

First Fridays likely will lean toward the younger professionals, though Megan Pellman, chairing the First Fridays committee, says anyone above the age of 21 is welcome.

"It's not specifically directed at young people," said Pellman, a liaison in the city's intergovernmental relations office. "We're trying to provide an event for all people."

But the event is definitely an avenue for young professionals put off by the bar scene.

"They are going to be able to connect with their peers," Pellman said. "It gets them to take the next step to partake in the community. It allows young professionals an easy way to get into the community."

The art museum venue came about after Pellman, 30, and her boss, city lobbyist Mary Okoye, stopped by the Guggenheim Museum in July while on business in New York to check out a similar social event put on at that Frank Lloyd Wright landmark. That got Okoye talking with Robert Knight, executive director of the Tucson Museum of Art.

The museum, somewhat hidden downtown and unknown to most Tucsonans, was more than willing to welcome the Tucson Young Professionals for late night at the museum.

"The value for us is it does expose our museum to people (who) may not know we exist or what we have to offer," said Meredith Hayes, the museum's marketing director. "Art plays a very big role in everything we do. When you understand core elements of art, you have a better understanding of the community, your world and your place in it."

Raytheon Missile Systems, itself reliant on young professionals, is the primary sponsor of First Fridays. Additional sponsorships are welcomed, said Amanda Signori, vice president of the Young Professionals group.

Tucson Young Professionals has an "in" with the establishment, specifically Tucson Regional Economic Opportunities and the Southern Arizona Leadership Council. Taylor, 26, attended the rollout of TREO's Economic Blueprint, where Rick Myers - a catalyst for the blueprint, Tucson Regional Town Hall, and regional transportation plan - asked her what she thought.

"No young people were involved" was Taylor's response. Myers introduced Taylor to Ron Shoopman, SALC's executive director. He introduced her to Signori, 30. The two women launched Tucson Young Professionals in July to promote, attract and retain young professionals in Tucson.

In August, the group established three goals for 2007: start a First Fridays, work to defeat Proposition 200 and create a curriculum to teach college students about the workings of Tucson government.

"We've already accomplished two of them," Taylor said. "We need to set this bar higher."

To meet the group, First Fridays is the place. Mixing body painting, an art gallery, full-liquor bar, dessert from Café à La C'ART, disc jockey Corbin Dooley - and a cigar patio - promises a little something for many tastes.

"We've had quite a bit of interest because of that fact," Taylor said of the cigar patio.

What's it add up to?

"You start to create a positive buzz about downtown and people get excited about the next event," said Signori, who works in the retail services group at Bourn Partners.