LIFE THROUGH ART: Central Arts Collective, 188 E. Broadway, presents PACT: Life through Art, an exhibition featuring donated works by local artists, to raise funds for PACT for Life, a local organization providing support services to those living with AIDS. Preview the show and meet the artists at an opening reception during Art Walk, from 7 to 9 p.m. Thursday, August 22. Show continues through September 19, culminating with the Life through Art auction. Gallery hours are noon to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, Thursday Night Art Walk and Downtown Saturday Night. Call 623-5883 for information. IDES DE AGOSTO: Weave yourself into Tucson's cultural fabric on Sunday, August 25, at the 14th annual Fiesta de San Agustín, spilling into the streets outside the Arizona Historical Society headquarters, 949 E. Second St. Dating back to 1775, the festival started as a tribute to the then-presidio's patron saint. It roared through the 1800s and then faded from view, only to be fetched from obscurity's clutches by the historical society in 1983. Now a local gem, this year's not-to-be-missed event will feature musical luminaries Mariachi Los Aces and the Children's Classical Orchestra from Sinaloa, Mexican rope tricks by Charros de Jalisco, folk dance with Ballet Folklorico Mexica, western storytelling, and a whole string of regionally minded food booths. That's just the start--the afternoon rolls on with Tohono O'odham music from the Cisco Band and Young Waila Musicians, and ends sometime near 11 p.m. with a wide-open street dance to a jumping norteño beat. Through an Immigrant's Lens: Jose Rodriguez's View of His Adopted Land, a photographic display depicting early 20th-century Tucson, opens at 1 p.m.; and the ongoing Arizona-Sonora: Documents of a Shared History, are both on display indoors. For more information on this thoroughly Tucson event, call the Arizona Historical Society at 628-5774. ROOMS WITH A VIEWPOINT: After more than a decade of relentless renovation, nearly all the funky old rooms at the Hotel Congress have been brought up to current retro panache. Now it's time for a little gloating, as the hotel swings its doors wide open for a full public airing from 6 to 10 p.m. Saturday, August 24, with a contingent of Tucson's non-profit groups: Native Seeds/SEARCH, the Tucson AIDS Project, Primavera Foundation and Derechos Humanos hold court upstairs. "We're achieving critical mass, as far as the rooms go, and now we want to show them off," says hotel spokesman Dan Vinik. "So we thought it would be great if we could have them occupied by non-profit businesses." The Congress will also have bars offering both serious booze for adults, soft drinks for kids, live music, vintage-outfitted bellhops and plenty of recycled attire, compliments of Mr. Lulu's Fashions. The Hotel is perched on the nubs of downtown, at 311 E. Congress St., on the corner of Fourth Avenue. For details, call 622-8848.

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