The downtown Main Library has become a focal point for the idea of an artistically visionary Salt Lake City, from its sweeping design to its identity as home base for the Utah Arts Festival and free film screenings. This month, Salt City Artists’ League wants to kick that vision up a notch.

A coalition of writers, artists and performers, the Artists’ League is turning Fridays in August into a weekly Live Arts Festival, with an emphasis on the idea of challenging and uncensored work. This week’s inaugural event features local actors performing four new plays by emerging writers from across the country. Next weekend, D.C. Moore’s play Alaska—about an intelligent, deeply racist college dropout—gets its first airing since a premiere at the University of Utah’s Studio 115 in November 2009. Large-scale paintings and local music will also take their place at various times. Join the experience of pushing Utah’s artistic boundaries.

Salt City Artists’ League Live Arts Festival @ Salt Lake City Main Library, 210 E. 400 South, Fridays in August, 5-9 p.m., free. SaltCityAL.ning.com