Performance artist Laura Milkins and writer Anne Greenawalt are both hitting the road to collect stories.

Laura’s project, Walking Home Stories, is a 2000 mile trek from her home in Tucson, Arizona to her mother’s house in Grand Rapids, Michigan. She’s leaving on May 1. She says, “I plan to walk the entire distance, inviting people to walk with me and share a story as I make my way across the country. Each night I will stay in someone’s home and cook dinner and breakfast for them, in exchange for their hospitality.” You can follow her on her Facebook page Walking Home.

Anne and her mother are traveling across the country in The Daughter Project. She says, “I want to discover the stories of mother-daughter duos across the nation as well as explore my relationship with my own mother. My mom and I will traverse the nation via Amtrak to meet with other mother-daughter duos and conduct in-depth interviews with these women.” Anne and her mom will be in Tucson on May 19-20.

You can contact the artists through their websites if you would like to be involved in their projects.  Following are their impressive bios:

Laura Milkins co-organized a cross-cultural art festival called Arizona Between Nosotros: artists from Mexico respond in video and performance. In 2009 she completed a Fulbright scholarship for her performance Walking Stories: Mexico. She received her MFA at the University of Arizona in 2008, a Post Baccalaureate Certification in 1996 and a Diploma in 2000 from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. She graduated from Kalamazoo College in 1993 with Bachelors of Arts in Fine Art. Since 1993, she has shown her work in Boston, Portland, ME, Grand Rapids, MI, Tucson, Phoenix, Oaxaca, Mexico and Mexico City. Prior to settling in Arizona, Laura traveled to Europe, Asia, and South America, documenting the experience through email with text and drawings. Laura has worked in a variety of mediums from traditional painting and drawing to sculpted mattresses and online performance art. Her current work seeks to create community and engagement by involving the viewer in the art making process.

Anne Greenawalt is a writer specializing in literary fiction and nonfiction with an emphasis on feminism and women’s sports and cultures.  Her collection of short stories called Growing Up Girl won runner-up in a national competition that resulted in its publication.  The Daughter Project is one of her current writing endeavors.

The Opening Gala of the first ever Tucson Fringe Theater Festival will be held tonight at 8:00 at Old Town Artisans, 201 N. Court.  The line-up includes many familiar faces from Tucson’s thriving performance artist community, Heather Woodrich, Paco Velez, Denise Uyehara, Natalie Nguyen, Serena Tang, Sarah K. Smith, Jodi Netzer, Laura Milkins, Michele Ceballos Michot, Sean Madrid, Jamie J, Luc Goodhart and Megan Amber Cox, plus Parasol Project, Puppets Amoungus and DJ Carl Hanni spinning fresh tunes.

And what, may you ask, is Fringe?  According to their website:

Fringe doesn’t curate.  Fringe is different.  Fringe loves new work.  Fringe restores the artist’s creative influence.  Fringe doesn’t charge you an arm and a leg.  Fringe doesn’t tell you to eat your vegetables.  Fringe gives all the money back to the artist.  Fringe is a laboratory for ideas.  Fringe is the future of performance.  Fringe is community.  Fringe is awesome.

Shows will continue for the rest of the weekend at 3 different venues: Beowulf Alley Theatre, 11 S. 6th Ave, The Screening Room, 127 Congress and Urban Tribe Collective, 657 W. St. Mary’s Rd, Unity C-12.  Shows include the comedy, A Passion For Christ, Lesley Abrams’ Where There’s Smoke, the rock opera, Halloween in America, Kevin J. Thornton’s I Love You (We’re F*#ked) , the spoken and danced BLOWHOLE and Maythinee Washington’s White Girl. Check the Venues page of their website for times and places.

Thanks to Parasol Project for producing the event. It’s about time we’re catching up; Phoenix has been producing phx:fringe since 2008. You can find out more about the history and ideals of Fringe at the US Association of Fringe Festivals.