Utah Arts Festival 2019: For literary arts’ 25th year, a new name – Wordfest – signals wider path in creative expression

EDITOR’S NOTE: To read more about some highlights of this year’s Wordfest literary arts program, see the feature about Darius Atefat-Peckham here, Thatcher Elmer here and poetry slams here. For the 25th year of the Utah Arts Festival’s literary arts program, there is a new coordinator – poet Trish Hopkinson – and a new name … Read more

Utah Arts Festival 2019: The state of performance poetry, slams in Salt Lake City thrives, expands to new generations

The state of poetry as an oral art form in Utah is thriving. Last year, at national competition, the Salt Lake City Unified team, which took first prize at the Utah Arts Festival’s slam contest, finished in fourth place among 72 teams, the best performance ever for a Utah-based team. And, the prospects for the … Read more

Utah Arts Festival 2019: Women Who Rock! Day to highlight music, literary activities, Fear No Film screening, CodeDevs workshop

This year at the Utah Arts Festival, June 21 (Friday) is dedicated to Women Who Rock!, with female musicians, poets, writers and spoken word performers set on various stages along with a Fear No Film program and a coding workshop for girls headed by two sisters who work locally as software developers and engineers. The … Read more

Utah Arts Festival 2019: The maker spirit runs deep in the Art and Technology venue

As a kid, Michael Beck already was inspired to be a maker. “My grandfather was a cabinet maker and he taught me woodworking; my dad and grandfather got me into the try everything mindset,” he says. “I love taking raw materials and making something, be it a model train layout, knitting a scarf, or making … Read more

Utah Arts Festival 2019: A grand tradition of young artists in traveling exhibition of Utah All-State High School Art Show

In 2016, Regan Reichert, then a senior at Lone Peak High School won a juror’s choice award in the annual Utah All-State High School Art Show, which champions the work of juniors and seniors, as selected by a professional jury. He also received a scholarship for a classical style portrait of a young girl. Reichert … Read more

Utah Arts Festival 2019: Saurus will bring prehistoric vibe to festival’s street theater scene

Many of Utah Arts Festival’s special street theater attractions have been unforgettable. In 2014, Australia’s Strange Fruit using a soundtrack with excerpts from Mozart to swing, acted out a universally approachable timeless story of a boy and girl in romance, expressing love, loss, jealousy and joy. However, the quartet of performers danced, flirted and delighted … Read more

Utah Arts Festival 2019: What’s the new vibe for the 43rd edition? Many new faces, events at all venues

EDITOR’S NOTE: The Utah Review begins its preview coverage today of the 43rd Utah Arts Festival, which will be held June 20-23, noon to 11 p.m. daily, on the Library Square in downtown Salt Lake City. As this is the state’s largest multidisciplinary arts and cultural gathering each year, The Utah Review considers the Utah … Read more

Inaugural Dance West festival, workshops unite 3 pillars of Utah dance culture: Repertory Dance Theatre, Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company, University of Utah’s Salt Dance Fest

As a compelling testimony to the impact of three immensely successful artistic institutions coming together in the heart of Utah’s dance culture, the inaugural Dance West Summer Fest – hosted by Repertory Dance Theatre, Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company and The University of Utah’s Salt Dance Fest – is poised to become the destination event in the … Read more

Utah Film Center’s Through My Lens screening to feature short documentary films about immigration, migration by Salt Lake City valley students, their teachers

Sixteen short documentary films produced by students in schools throughout the Salt Lake City valley in collaboration with their teachers and featuring a wide range of stories about immigration and migration will premiere May 1, as part of the Utah Film Center program Through My Lens, an educational collaboration unlike any other in the U.S. … Read more

Red Desert ensemble’s spring concert a mesmerizing jam session

The Red Desert ensemble, the duo project of clarinetist Katie Porter and composer/percussionist Devin Maxwell, organized one of the most interesting public jam session concerts to happen recently in Salt Lake City. Joining forces with numerous local musicians, Westminster College students, and University of Utah students from Radical Quiet, Phillip Bimstein’s honors college course about cultivating a heightened … Read more