SPARK! Festival of Creativity Set for Mesa Arts Center, 3/13-17

spark! Mesa's Festival of Creativity is a free, five day event offering food, music, fun interactive experiences for the whole family, all providing an immersive environment to celebrate the work of amazing, creative people. The festival will take place at the Mesa Arts Center (MAC) during Spring Break, from Wednesday, March 13 through Sunday, March 17, running from noon-9pm Wednesday-Saturday, and noon-7pm on Sunday.

Each night there will be a Featured Headline Musical Act featuring popular regional artists in Country, Blues, Rock and more. Musical ensembles will perform throughout the day at the Wells Fargo Garden in the center of the Mesa Arts Center campus. To close each day, enjoy a popular headlining act while enjoying a refreshing beverage from the Beer Garden.

Featured performers include Squonk Opera with their GO Road Show, an innovative travelling stage with all kinds of fun built-in original instruments, a piano that rotates, a giant inflated puppet, and more. Each of their four daily performances begins with a parade down the Shadow Walk through the heart of the MAC. SQUONK OPERA from Pittsburgh, PA performs unique contemporary opera and theater incorporating modern, experimental and rock music and audience interaction. At spark!, they are offering four daily shows (preceded by a parade through the MAC campus!) of their new GO ROAD SHOW on the North Patio

Compagnia TPO from Italy will present Kindur: The Adventurous Life of Icelandic Sheep, in which the company crafts "paintings in movement"-immersive atmospheres for performers and audiences that are brought to life when walls and floors are touched and respond with music, colors, sounds, or images. In Kindur, Iceland's fairy tale glacial landscape is the site of discovery for daring sheep who are compelled by their own curiosity and the mysterious unfolding of the seasons to explore the impossible green of the hills, the crystalline blue of the ice, and the ethereal northern lights.

ERTH [Visual and Technical Theater] from Australia creates engaging interactive theater incorporating giant puppets, music and sound effects. At spark! they present multiple daily shows of ERTH's Dinosaur Petting Zoo on the South Lawn. An eye-popping visual experience of giant dinosaur puppets, stilt-walkers, inflatable environments, and flying creatures are only the beginning of the ERTH experience. Travel with ERTH's multi-faceted performers on a journey through prehistoric ages. Experience an amazing selection of dinosaurs and other creatures that inhabited the earth millions of years ago.