Toni, the founder of the Jerome Indie Film & Music Festival discovered Jerome in 1972 at the age of 6 when her parents brought her to the crumbling, deserted ghost town of Jerome. She was immediately hooked by the mystery and magic of the town even at such a young age. She begged her parents to bring her back many times each year. Toni and her two younger sisters explored every nook and cranny of the town crawling through broken windows of old buildings and down rickety old staircases. One of her favorite things to do was to sneak away from her sisters only to scare them by making haunted ghost sounds up and down the hallways of the old High School. Toni's greatest dream was to someday live in Jerome. In 2004 that dream partially came true when she opened an art gallery named the Enchanted Mission. She lived in Phoenix at the time and had an art gallery there also. She worked the shop in Jerome on the weekends and lived in a tiny apartment above the shop with her husband at the time and her two children, Chase & Taylor. Her mother and sister ran the shop during the week. After her divorce in 2006 she lost her gallery. She was heartbroken. She dreamed of some day returning to Jerome and in 2011, seeds were planted in her heart to begin a film festival there. During this time, Toni began screenwriting and began looking for a cinematographer to shoot her films. After searching months, she decided that Jason Ryan’s talents were far superior to other cinematographers she had found. They actually met in person for the first time at the Phoenix Film Festival in 2011. A couple months later, Toni shared her idea to start a film festival in Jerome. Jason was very excited about Toni’s idea never imagining that he would become a co-founder once their relationship took off and would give wings to her original dream. Jason and Toni have been together now over 11 years and will be getting married next summer.

Prior to sharing her idea with Jason to start a film festival in Jerome in 2011, Toni had entered into the acting world and attended many Arizona film festivals. Toni realized that Jerome would be a perfect place to hold a film festival similar to the Telluride Film Festival given its mountaintop appeal and quaint similarities. Toni's second son, Trey had passed away in 1997 due to a medical misdiagnosis. She had always wanted to create something special in memory of her baby. She decided that creating a film festival in the town she had loved since childhood in honor of her lost baby would be a dream come true. In 2013, Toni held her first film festival. She appeared as an extra in 5 of the 90 movies that were screened. Toni now resides in Jerome full time with Jason Ryan ironically in the same place that her gallery, The Enchanted Mission, once operated from 2004-2006. Although their home is only 750 square feet, Toni fondly refers to her beloved residence which is a floor to a historic hotel built in 1907 as her mini mansion. Toni is also the founder/director of the Jerome Wine, Food & Flower Festival that celebrates its 2nd year in May of 2024. Holding this festival is a dream come true for Toni and she can’t wait to welcome guests and filmmakers alike each year to her beloved heart town of Jerome. Az. Some festivals are geared more towards the guests but ours is geared more towards the filmmakers as the founders are filmmakers and we know the dedication first hand that it takes to create a film.