At a time when our nation questions the efficacy of effigy, Arizona Arts Live is creating a space for the community to further explore the conversation around monuments and their meaning. Australian artmaker, Craig Walsh challenges the traditional concept of monuments to celebrate living, contributing, members of our Southern Arizona community.  Monuments will take place each night from October 29 through November 29 in the trees of the University of Arizona. Projecting the faces of some of our local heroes in an outdoor environment that allows for physical distancing will provide the community an opportunity to engage with and enjoy this work at their own pace each evening.  Meet our Monuments Plan your visit: Employees, students, and visitors must use face coverings in all UArizona locations, both indoors and outdoors, in accordance with UArizona’s Administrative Directive. All visitors are encouraged to download Covid Watch Arizona, the University’s new, free and anonymous exposure notification app. Monuments starts daily at sunset. Allow between 30 minutes and 1 hour to enjoy the experience. Parking is available at Tyndall Garage, a short walk from Centennial Hall. Garage parking is free on Saturdays and Sundays, though exceptions may apply. On-street parking is also available in the Main Gate neighborhood. Location of our Monuments

XIXA is a guitar-slinging six-piece formed in Tucson, in the heart of the deep Southwest, uniquely attuned to the desert and their Latin roots. Combining gritty guitars and drums, the bumping grind of Peruvian chicha, and windswept psychedelic desert blues into a mesmerizing stew, they are by turns trippy and devilish, like a jam band getting high on Diá de Los Muertos. XIXA’s songwriting and sound, a collaborative effort of co-frontmen Brian Lopez and Gabriel Sullivan, has solidified into a dark, near-mystical experience. Collectively, they’ve gathered spiritual and psychedelic influences from all over the world, creating something entirely unique. As Tucsonans, experiencing XIXA is a must. Their performances bring out hidden aspects of our lives in the desert — the mysterious, the ethereal, and the mind-bending. COVID-19 Safety: Working closely with the Pima County Health Department, MSA Annex follows the highest COVID-19 safety protocols. The MSA Annex Festival Grounds were constructed to seat audiences of 500 people and during these times will seat just 94. Guests will sit either in groups of two or four and must arrive together before entering the grounds. Unfortunately, no single tickets are able to be sold.By using electronic tickets only, the entire experience will be hands-free. When concert-goers arrive, their phone will be scanned and they will be escorted to their personal, physically distanced 6-foot circle. Face coverings must be worn upon entry and when not seated. All seating groups are placed at a minimum of 10 feet apart from one another. COVID Safety Monitors will be on-site to enforce the face-covering protocols and escort anyone out of compliance out of the venue. All visitors are encouraged to download Covid Watch Arizona, the University’s, free and anonymous exposure notification app. Directions and more information about the MSA Annex.

Arizona Arts Live is proud to present Tom Walbank and Roman Barten-Sherman this Thursday at 6pm from Centennial Hall. This video release is an intimate performance by two of Tucson’s finest blues musicians, performing treasures from American musical history. Tom Walbank is a veteran blues musician, who has shared a stage with the likes of B.B. King, Charlie Musselwhite, Jimmie Vaughan, Lazy Lester, Kim Wilson, Canned Heat, and many others. At 16, Roman Barten-Sherman has been singing and playing the blues since he was a young child. In his repertoire, he embodies a rare mastery of pre-war acoustic country blues, skillfully moving from the slide guitar virtuosity of Mississippi Fred McDowell to the complex fingerstyle playing of Reverend Gary Davis and Blind Blake. Together Tom and Roman perform a sprawling, partially improvised set full of story and emotion. With Tom on his main instrument, harmonica, and Roman on vocals and fingerstyle guitar, the set is a compilation of pre-war and North Mississippi hill country blues interpretations, material from their recently released, Searching the Desert for the Blues. Ahead of this Thursday’s performance, check out Roman Barten-Sherman, and Tom Walbank online. And don’t forget to give their collaborative album a spin.

Analog tools for coexistence  A THOUSAND WAYS is a three-part performance in which your words, actions, gestures, silence, thoughts, and willingness are the tools. With two people, a telephone, a table, and a stack of cards, a new type of performance emerges. Everything we need is already here, just you and me.   Obie Award-winning theater-makers, 600 HIGHWAYMEN, known for exhilarating performances that challenge the very definition of theater, have created a quietly radical response to this new world with A THOUSAND WAYS. Taking place over the next year, this three-part performance is designed in response to social distancing rules that deliver us from isolation to congregation. Each distinct installment meets participants where they are.     This is an invitation. Will you attend? JUST WHEN YOU THINK YOU MIGHT BE GETTING A LITTLE CYNICAL ABOUT THE THEATRE … THINK ABOUT 600 HIGHWAYMEN.THE NEW YORKER PART ONE / A PHONE CALL — November 13-15, 2020Pick up the phone. Someone is on the line. You don’t know their name, and you still won’t when the hour is over, but as you follow the recorded instructions, a portrait of another person will emerge through fleeting moments of exposure.  PART TWO / AN ENCOUNTER —Winter 2021You and a stranger meet on opposite ends of a table, separated by a pane of glass. Using a script and a few simple objects, a simple exercise of working together becomes an experience of profound connection with another person.  PART THREE / An Assembly – When it is safe to gatherA public convening made up of you and everyone else from the project’s journey. Together we follow a shared score. This final installment is a chance to feel the power and complexities of group assembly.   Part One / A Phone Call is a one-hour experience for two people calling from their homes. You will need a fully charged phone to participate in this performance, 1 ticket per person. Each ticket holder will be required to connect using their own device. Members of the same household must have their own ticket and separate devices to join the event. It is recommended that members of the same household choose different times.

Arizona Arts is proud to present this week’s video release featuring solo violinist Carissa Powe. A student of the UArizona Fred Fox School of Music, Carissa commands the stage, performing solo works both canonical and contemporary in the expanse of Centennial Hall. Her program, which features both solo Bach as well as a modern piece by Jesse Montgomery, represents a 300-year leap through the timeline of classical music. Carissa’s approach to the technical gymnastics of Bach is dazzling, and her performance of Montgomery’s more modern work is equally beautiful, pushing the boundaries of what her violin can do. As she puts it, “you can tell [the piece] was written by a violinist.” Don’t miss this award-winning violinist’s first performance in Centennial Hall, as we’re certain she’s destined for halls far larger. Join us on Thursday at 6pm for the premiere and subscribe to our YouTube channel for notifications about the release!

Weekend Lovers is an electrified four-piece band out of Tucson, AZ playing pop storms with dashes of new wave and 90’s grunge. The group draws from a deep well of collective influences to create a recognizable but fresh rock sound. Their music is riff-heavy with frontwoman Marta de Leon’s vocals and bass-thumping leading the way through their glittering three-minute dance-inducing tunes. The band promises high energy set heavy with guitar feedback and vocal harmonies. Their newest album “I Love U In Real Life” will be released November 6, 2020 on Totally Real Records.

Founded as a means to heal grief through music, D Faktion Nyne is a multi-generational family band that gives deeper meaning to the term family. Performing Waila, a genre of Tohono O’odham folk music that combines Chotis, Mazurkas, Wailas, Kwaliyas, and Cumbias, music has bonded this family through multiple tragedies and many triumphs. Damon Enriquez, the father, has always used music as a means to connect with his family and his community.  From his musical origins playing with his grandfather, he now counts 150 high school and middle school students as his musical pupils. Above all Waila is social, and as a result it brings people and cultures together.  D Faktion Nyne features four brothers, two sisters, and their dad having fun playing Waila. They have no rules and no boundaries, with ALL members having equal say in everything they do.

Gabrielle Pietrangelo is an independent musician and songwriter based in Tucson, Arizona. She has been involved in many bands and projects through the years, including Silver Thread Trio, a well-loved three-part harmony group that collaborated with Howe Gelb, Calexico, Amos Lee, and many others. Gabrielle’s current projects include her recent return to solo performance, a new indie-folk duo with violinist, Beth Daunis, which will release a single this fall, her 1940’s jazz trio with Ben DeGain and Thoger Lund, and the yoga-inspired musical ensemble, Chaparral Kirtan Band. In her Tucson Studio performance, Gabrielle shares her solo efforts against expansive projections in Centennial Hall. Although performing alone, Gabrielle’s music provides an ocean of sound and experience. The deceptively simple sound of her songs shimmers throughout the hall, filling the open space. Join us for a set that spans personal spirituality, lonesome landscapes, and quiet shining moments.

Night Weather is an Indie Rock duo from Tucson, AZ who make music for both your next dance party or an existential crisis. Their time is split between touring and playing shows, shooting music videos, and creating live loop songs, using whatever inanimate objects they find. As a result, their music is full of intriguing sounds and unexpected instrumentation. Mike & Britt met as competitors during an indie musicians showcase in Colorado. Shortly after, they fell in love and settled down in Mike’s hometown of Tucson, AZ.  After writing and performing separately for years with multiple bands, they found themselves still struggling to find the musical voices they truly envisioned.  Instead of continuing down separate musical paths, they decided pursue their creative dreams together. Join us for the culmination of these creative dreams Thursday, October 15, at 6pm, and watch Night Weather’s color-drenched set in Centennial Hall. You won’t forget their ultra-creative instrumentation and catchy vocal melodies. Watch with us!