Arizona Arts Live joins the historic Hotel Congress for the final installment of HOCO Fest Labor Day weekend in Downtown Tucson. This four-day music festival features over 60 of Arizona’s best artists, a film festival, a record fair, art installations, and daytime parties across six venues in celebration of Tucson as a UNESCO City of Gastronomy. For over 15 years, HOCO has led the charge in reframing what the modern music festival can achieve. This year is no different. Featuring some of the world’s freshest acts, HOCO Fest 2023 takes place September 1-4, 2023, with the likes of Dusty Chaps, Gatecreeper, Orkesta Mendoza, Giant Sand, Kid Congo Powers, Liz Cerepanya and Pete Ronstadt, Holy Faint, Mastodonna, River Roses, and nightly Linda Ronstadt celebrations. This four-day festival will also feature daytime pool parties, art installations, demonstrations, and food and drink offerings. Visit hocofest.com for the full lineup. Tickets are available online or at Hotel Congress.

See a thrilling adventure unfold on the University Mall featuring tightrope walking and extreme acrobatics with Cirque Inextremiste: EXIT. Set on the University Mall, this is the story of a group of asylum patients on their quest to free themselves at all costs. What ensues is a hilarious spectacle featuring a high-flying hot air balloon and never-before-seen balancing acts on a vertical stage you must see to believe. Extreme acrobatic collective Cirque Inextremiste plays with our fears and wreaks havoc with our perspective in their latest production, EXIT. Watch as a hot-air balloon tamer, musicians, and other surprise characters slowly disrupt the performance and derail this feat of engineering. As the story unfolds, performers take over a hot-air balloon to create daring balancing acts and extreme acrobatics, all while several stories in the air. Cirque Inextremiste retains its signature quirkiness, remaining clownish and extravagant while continuing to defy the laws of gravity and push back the boundaries of the circus arts, theatre, and stunt work. Step into a world of madness and escape with this powerful performance as we follow the dreams of a group of unlikely heroes. EXIT is free to attend and will be presented on the east end of the Mall at the University of Arizona main campus in Tucson, Arizona. Link Facebook Instagram Twitter YouTube

Come together and recenter through the collective healing, love, and nutritional uplift embedded in Black roots music. Join Arizona Arts Live as we welcome jazz musician, creative producer, and racial justice advocate Michael Mwenso for a weeklong artistic residence this fall. Known for his work as bandleader of Mwenso & The Shakes and co-founder of Electric Root creative agency, Michael Mwenso’s focus on building solidarity and community through music will take him on a journey through the neighborhoods of Southern Arizona. At the core of his work are artist-led ancestral listening sessions. In this joyful and immersive gathering, Michael will create a sense of community and connection by playing recordings of musical forebears that propelled the advancement of human connection and promoting participants to share what they feel and hear in the messages voluntarily. The ancestral listening sessions reinforce Electric Root’s belief that joy and artistry are essential to dismantling systemic oppression. Electric Root is the only nationwide curator, producer, and facilitator focused exclusively on Black Roots music in the Performing Arts. Co-founded in 2020 by Michael Mwenso and Jono Gasparro, who both bonded over a personal connection with esteemed jazz artist Wynton Marsalis, Electric Root is a product of passion and urgency with a mission to revolutionize how Black music is presented, expose lesser-known artists, decolonize music curriculum, provide artist-led anti-racism training, and heal people. Michael Mwenso with The College of Social & Behavioral Sciences Monday, September 25 | 5:00-7:00 PM Arizona Arts Live and The College of Social & Behavioral Sciences welcome jazz musician, creative producer, and racial justice, advocate Michael Mwenso for an evening of performance art and community connection at The Dunbar Pavilion. Open to the SBS community; students, faculty, staff, and supporters. Free to attend, registration is required. LEARN MORE Michael Mwenso Ancestral Listening Session Thursday, September 28 | 5:00-7:00 PM | Centennial Hall You’re invited to experience music in a new way in this Community Listening Session led by Michael Mwenso of Electric Root and Mwenso & The Shakes. Part listening party, part discussion, part collective celebration, an Ancestral Listening Session is a safe space to experience familiar songs in a new way. We welcome any and all to join us for this radical new event. Space is limited, registration is required. REGISTER HERE Artist's Site Facebook Instagram Twitter YouTube