Spork Press has been operating out of Tucson since the early aughts. Their handmade books and tapes, which have been distributed primarily online and at various events around the country, have found a home in their new storefront (2229 E. Broadway Blvd.) The shop, which doubles as Spork’s production facility, will also be a space for readings and music, and will carry books from other small presses.

You can help break in the new space on Wednesday, May 4, during Spork’s soft opening. Enjoy readings, music and drinks while celebrating the latest development in one of Tucson’s literary cornerstones.

Reader bios from the Facebook event:

taylor jacob pate is a writer, painter & runner born in New Orleans & raised lots of other places. He received his MFA from The New Writer’s Project at UT Austin. Along with his partner Blake Lee Pate, he founded & edits smoking glue gun. His first collection of poetry, Becoming the Virgin, is out from Action Books.

Jos Charles is a trans poet and writer. They are author of Safe Space, forthcoming from Ahsahta Press and founding-editor of THEM: a trans literary journal. They are making amends with their situation.

Blake Lee Pate was born in New Orleans & currently lives in Austin. She received her MFA from the New Writer's Project, where she served on the board of Bat City Review. She is the editor of smoking glue gun. Her poems can be found in Dusie, Glittermob, H_NGM_N, Forklift Ohio, Black Warrior Review & elsewhere.

The event begins at 7:30 p.m. For more information on Spork Press, visit the local bookmaker's website.

A jello wrestling benefit and auction for the Southern Arizona AIDS Foundation is held on Saturday, April 23 on 4th Avenue and 7th Street. The evening saw multiple drag performances and several wrestling match ups throughout the jello shot-filled evening of generous donations. 

When he decided to go back to school, Andrew Shuta, the artist whose Master’s thesis Something Went Wrong but I Can’t Remember Why is now showing at Joseph Gross Gallery, knew that he’d ultimately have to stay in Tucson. Spork Press, the small press he has co-run for the last six years, is at a crucial moment in its development, and he didn’t want to miss it. Sometimes constraint is the best fuel for creativity, though, and rather than feeling stuck in Tucson, Shuta has been working over the years to make it into a place he wants to stay.

Spork is a huge part of this effort, as is a forthcoming contemporary art space that he is working on with fellow artist Alex Von Bergen. Shuta hopes that the new space will create a place for emerging contemporary artists in Tucson.

“Right now there is either MOCA—and you have to be pretty established to get into MOCA—or there are galleries that show regional work [desert landscapes and Dia de los Muertos motifs],” says Shuta. “We want to be mini-MOCA, showing work that people might be confused by.”

Shuta describes his own approach as, “make the art you want to see.”

“While I love a variety of aesthetics, from conceptual work to really refined polished formalized work, my personal tastes are weird, absurd, and surreal,” he says. 

Come celebrate National Poetry Month at the Joel D. Valdez Main Library (101 N. Stone Ave.) on Sunday, April 24 for the free workshop entitled "How I Survived the Gay Rights Movement as a Trans Person of Color" and a poetry performance by the black, transgender Huffington Post blogger J Mase III.

The workshop, which runs from 1 to 2:30 p.m. in the library's lower level meeting room, will encourage attendees to explore their identity and address the dynamics of power and privilege in their lives. The workshop is for LGBTQIA individuals and people in solidarity.

The poetry performance and Q&A will begin at 3 p.m. and is free and open to the public.

Here's a little about J Mase III from the event's press release.

Tucson art people, you need to show up to the Best of Tucson digital party. Last year we go TONS of comments from upset readers who wanted to know why their favorite educational art institutions didn't make it to the finals.

Well, I'll tell you why: the Best Art Classes category is being a little neglected in terms of votes. 

So, art fans, listen up. Head over to your Best of Tucson ballot. Tell us where to take art classes, eat Indian food and shop for children's clothes. Tell us about everything in Tucson you love. 

Cirque Roots puts on the second of four showings of Spectrum: a Theatrical Stilt Dance & Acrobatic Spectacle at their studio on Friday, April 15. Dancer Erin Christine Deo opened the performance accompanied by Vasanta Weiss on vocals and the harmonium followed by Cirque Roots performers Jennifer Coughlan, Stephanie Cortes, Zoë Anderson, Brittany Briley and Leanne Marie with music by Jyshua Pcalyps in collaboration with Ian Browning. The all-female performance was put together over a series of four and a half months and addresses the idea that "we are the light we see in others." The troupe has been together for over four years and is getting ready to embark on a small tour around the Southwest both performing and teaching aspiring stilt walkers and acrobats.

Even over the phone, I can tell acclaimed comics Ian Harris and Ty Barnett have been pretty good pals for a while. The two jokesters will unite at the Rialto this Saturday, April 16, for their "Divided Comedy" stand-up show, which explores their opposing and according opinions on hot-button topics such as politics, race, religion and parenting through comedy.  Harris and Barnett jokingly back-and-forth while they give me the down-low on their personal-professional friendship and their stand-up show they promise will "unite a divided nation through laughter." This interview has been lightly edited and condensed. 
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How did you guys meet? 

Ty Barnett: We met about 17 years ago when Ian was performing in Seattle and he said, "Hey, if you ever come to L.A., call me up and let's do something." Most people are full of shit when they say that. He was not full of shit. He let me come and stay on his couch with his then-girlfriend who's now his wife. He was my first friend in Los Angeles. 
Ian Harris: Yeah, we met when we were working together in Seattle and we haven't worked together since. That's why we made this tour. 

Any other reasons you decided to take this tour?

TB: If you look at our poster, Ian looks like a skinhead, it's true, but he's the furthest thing from that. Our viewpoints are different in some things, but they're similar in some things, too. The thing is, we've been able to maintain this friendship personally and professionally for 17 years. If we can do this, let's show these other people you can have different views about life and different perspectives and everything. It doesn't have to be one thing or the other. 
IH: We've gone back to the '60s in so many ways—telling people they can't be somewhere for who they are, judging people sitting at a counter for their genetics. We do some heavy topics and lighter topics [in the show], but I love to talk about religion and people's beliefs, [and] obviously there's a lot of racial tension going on in America right now. 

Recently, comedians have kind of avoided college towns like Tucson because they say University students tend to be pretty PC. What do you guys think about that, and will it affect your show? 

IH: I like college towns, college cities because the people we get aren't usually the students, they're the professors, so it doesn't [affect the show]. It used to be that college was the place where you weren't PC—it was the place to go and expose yourself to things not in your small town. Nowadays, it's not that, but you still have [students] who are open-minded.
TB: Neither one of us will say things [in the show] that people will look at as offensive. We're not coming at it from a standpoint of "You're wrong in what you believe, you're stupid in what you believe." It's more "Here's an idea of how you can look at this." People shouldn't feel worried about being offended, you know—we know how to tailor to our audiences this material. We've been in the business for 17 years. 
IH: I'm always telling friends and family who come and see me [perform], "Watch out, I'm going to offend you!" And I've had people people come up because they didn't agree with something I said, [but] I've also had people come up to me and say, "I didn't find that remotely offensive. It was cool." 
TB: That's part of comedy, and that's part of saying something worth saying. 

Could you summarize the show in a few words or a phrase? 

TB: The perfect mix of two opposite sides of the spectrum coming together for a hilarious night looking at all the stuff you're scared to think about. 
IH: Also, the very unique part about our show is we literally come together on stage and do an audience Q&A. If you've always wanted to ask a black guy a question, if you've always wanted to ask an atheist a question—here's your chance ... Sometimes we'll ask the question in a serious way, and sometimes we're going to ask it in a funny way. 

Anything else you'd like to say about the show? 

TB: You're going to laugh. And if you don't like to laugh, you're dead inside. I'm sorry.
IH: We know there's a ton of stuff going on this weekend in Tucson, and we get that. But (A), if you like comedy, this is one of the best shows you're going to see and (B) nothing like this has ever come through Tucson, to my knowledge.
TB: And if you don't come to the show, the terrorists win. Don't let them win. 

—-
"Divided Comedy's" doors open at 7 p.m. and the show starts at 8. The Rialto is currently offering two-for-one admission on Ticketfly for $10 per person, or $20 per person those who don't want to buy two tickets. Get yours here. For more event information, check out the Rialto's website. 

Ah, the passion of youth. When the leaden yoke built by dealing with stupid adult stuff has yet to settle its heavy arm around one's shoulders.

I say, thank the heavens for it. That passion, I mean. Nothing is impossible. Everything is not only possible, but likely. Without this passion, the world would be a stagnant and dreary place.
There is a group of young folks here in town, high school students, who have brought their passion and youthful energy to an enterprise which can be quite daunting: the creation of a theater.

It's called Acting Innocent Theatre Company, and it opens its second show this weekend. Leveling Up, a play by Deborah Zoe Laufer, probes the fuzzy intersection of the real and virtual worlds played out in the lives of friends. There are three guys that spend much of their lives gaming online, and one actually lands a job with the National Security Agency because of his gaming skills. They want him to manipulate drones and such. This may have the feel of a game, but is it?

Griffin Johnston and several pals from Catalina High School launched Acting Innocent Theatre Company after they had been awakened by their drama instructor, Terry Erbe  (who has now moved out of state), to the power of theater not merely to entertain, but to help us look at things differently.

“It has the power to address social issues, to change minds,” Johnston says, who is the artistic director of the company and is also directing Leveling Up. “And we're trying to bring in younger people, who often think theater's not relevant to them.”

Southern Arizona Arts and Cultural Alliance in conjunction with Park Place mall holds their 5th annual Chalk Art Festival on Saturday, April 9. The festival was held both Saturday and Sunday and featured 16 professional artist murals, two community participation murals and two "KidsZones" sprinkled throughout the mall.

Help the Park Place Chalk Art Festival celebrate its fifth anniversary by contributing your own creativity.

On April 9 and 10, Park Place Mall will be transformed into a colorful display of sidewalk art by artists of all ages. Attendees and professional artists alike will have the chance to create chalk art inspired by nature, outer space, history, science, culture, abstract ideas, and more, according to a press release by the Southern Arizona Arts and Cultural Alliance.

"Our goal is to make public spaces a place for creativity and art, the Chalk Art Festival is a great opportunity to bring the arts into the community" said SAACA Executive Director Kate Marquez. 

The event is now partnered with the Tucson Pima Arts Council and, as a result, will be split into three areas: Professional Artist Murals, Community Participation Mural and the KidsZone.