Meet Michael (Mike) Oleskow of FOUND:RE Phoenix in Downtown

Today we’d like to introduce you to Michael (Mike) Oleskow.

Michael (Mike), let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I came to Phoenix in the summer of 1998 — it was hot, 117 degrees. I had just left AT&T and came to Phoenix to co-found a stationery, greeting card and gift company called Max & Lucy. Shortly after that, I got involved with the ARTS scene in Phoenix, but more as a spectator. Then, about 10-12 years ago, I opened a successful contemporary art gallery on the ground floor of a live/work space built on an infill lot at 1st Avenue and McDowell, featuring the work of mostly local artists.That’s when my passion about phoenix ARTS really got flowing. I served on the Board and as the Board President of Artlink, the arts organization that puts on the First and Third Friday Artwalks each month, Art Detour every March, and I continued working over the next several years to energize the downtown arts and culture scene.

In my spare time, I’ve managed and curated gallery space for other gallerists and I’ve been a Commissioner on the City of Phoenix Arts & Culture Commission for the last three years. I believe that business needs to support the Arts to keep a vital Downtown, so I was a co-chair for a Phoenix Community Alliance program called ArtWorks Phoenix to help align the business community with the arts.

Currently, I am Cultural Curator at the FOUND:RE Phoenix Hotel. I’ve been involved with the hotel since September of 2015, a year before the hotel’s grand opening in October 2016. In that capacity, I am responsible for all of the art on the property, from the public spaces in the hotel, our restaurant called Match Restaurant and Lounge and for the 104 guest rooms on eight floors. The hotel is one big gallery where every piece of art is for sale. All of the art is by Arizona-based artists with most of the artists living in the Phoenix Metro Area. Having worked with so many of the artists in the past and knowing the level of talent we have here in the Valley of the Sun, I knew my vision could be realized for the very cool, funky, inviting art boutique hotel  — and that is indeed FOUND:RE Phoenix.

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Early on, my challenge was to create an art vision for the FOUND:RE Phoenix while literally walking through a construction site and looking at blueprints. It was hard to imagine what the final outcome would look like when the hotel didn’t even have walls. Luckily, I had some experience with blueprints after building a live/work space from the basement up. The other challenge for me was to select the initial group of artists to open the FOUND:RE hotel. The pool of talented artists in Arizona and especially Metro Phoenix is so large it was hard to limit the search. Fortunately, I think I was able to create a nice mix of high-quality art and still be accessible and approachable.

Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about FOUND:RE Phoenix – what should we know?
As to hotels and especially art boutique hotels, FOUND:RE is not the usual, and we’re proud of it. We strive to give our guests a unique experience from the time they check in at the front desk to their departure. We’re all about the discovery, whether it’s art everywhere you look, or the menu items we have in our restaurant Match. And we just don’t hang art on our walls at FOUND:RE and say we are an art boutique hotel, I am a full-time curator and I try hard to make the art amazing and approachable on many levels.

As an organization, we decided instead of a mission statement, we would have four values, more to the point and far easier to remember – kindness, wonder, community and not-the-usual. Even our name begins with the word “Found” as in discovery. The RE: which you will see used throughout the hotel, means “in reference to” so when our guests are at FOUND:RE Phoenix, they have the opportunity to discover all kinds of things.

I’m very proud of the culture and the brand we’ve created here and for Phoenix. We’ve needed a Downtown hotel like FOUND:RE for some time where locals and guests can hang out with the art and the artists — that kind of connection is what makes a city vibrant and alive. As I said to someone recently, “It’s great that we’ve stopped apologizing for not being like Denver, Portland, and Austin. We can say we’re Phoenix, and we’re darn proud!”

Is our city a good place to do what you do?
I might not have said this ten years ago, maybe even five, but we have a vibrant and alive city. Yes, there are always things that could be improved, but even those things, like more bike lanes, shade, and pedestrian-friendly sidewalks, are starting to happen. I moved here from east coast cities like Philadelphia and New York and used to complain all of the time that Phoenix was a second rate city. But at some point, you realize it’s not about complaining, it’s about doing. That change of heart transformed everything for me. Now, I look around and see all the changes and improvements that have been made within the last five years or so and realize that we’ve finally arrived.

Pricing:

• Original art can be purchased from below $500 up to $20,000
• Room rates are $149 – $459 seasonally
• Entrees start at $11 and go up to $32