Featured on the October 1st, 2026 edition of ARIZONA SPOTLIGHT with host Mark McLemore:
- Learn how the Steinfeld Gallery has created another “A Gorgeous Excitement” show for 2026, just in time for this year’s “Art Walk”. Mark talks with volunteer curator Paul Gold, and the Steinfeld's volunteer director Janney Taylor.
- You may have heard about the unique properties of Sonoran Desert Toads, and the illicit drug tourism trade that exploits these animals right here in our backyard. Laura Holanszky interviews Kimon De Greef about his book “The Ego Trip: Psychedelic Toads, a Trail of Deaths, and the Guru Who Peddled Transcendence”, published in August by Doubleday.
- And it’s also time for the Tucson Film Festival, and Mark will talk with two new directors with strong local roots. Matt Goldman, a former musician, is the director for "Music Ruined My Life", that will be screened on Saturday at 7:30PM; and Ernie Bustamante, a Stanford graduate and the director of “Street Smart: Lessons from a TV Icon”. The film is a profile of Sonia Manzano, who is best known for playing Maria on Sesame Street from 1971 to 2015. She received a Lifetime Achievement Daytime Emmy Award in 2016 and recently created the PBS Kids animated television show "Alma's Way." That film has the “Documentary Spotlight” at the Tucson Film Festival on Saturday at 3pm.
Webpage by Anicia Trejo-Flores.
