Backstage at The Utah Arts Festival 2018: Friday headliners include DJ A-Trak, Talia Keys and The Love, Osmond Chapman Orchestra, world premiere dance, jazz commissions

Friday’s performing arts lineup at the Utah Arts Festival covers everything from electronic dance music on the Amphitheatre Stage to world premieres of jazz and dance commissions on the Festival Stage. BANDALOOP (5:30 p.m. and 7 p.m., Library Square plaza) and The Bboy Federation (6 p.m., The Round) continue their daily shows. The Big Mouth … Read more

Backstage at The Utah Arts Festival 2018: Aasia Hamid’s self-taught bead artistry, Nathan Brimhall’s volumetric sculptures among Artist Marketplace highlights

Eye-popping art is the standard in this year’s Artist Marketplace at the Utah Arts Festival. Two examples are Aasia Hamid’s intricate jewelry pieces incorporating bead work with tiny seed beads woven together with needle and fishing line thread. Hamid (Booth 46) is making her second appearance at the festival, is from Gilbert Arizona. Nathan Brimhall … Read more

Backstage at The Utah Arts Festival 2018: Opening day headliners include Ron Pope, Gomez, The Sound of Motown, Bandaloop, The Bboy Federation

Opening day headliners for the Utah Arts Festival include popular local bands along with the inaugural headliners for the festival’s new Arts Amplified Concert Series. Ron Pope will open at 8 p.m. on the Amphitheatre Stage, followed by the British band Gomez at 9:30 p.m. For a feature interview with both musical acts, see The … Read more

Backstage at The Utah Arts Festival 2018: Many new voices, along with individual, team poetry slam competitions will electrify Literary Arts venue

Many new voices will highlight the Literary Arts venue, in its 24th year, at the Utah Arts Festival. And, the Big Mouth Stage, located on the east side of the festival campus adjacent to The Leonardo, is expected to draw large crowds again for the popular individual and team poetry slam competitions. Among the highlights … Read more

Backstage at The Utah Arts Festival 2018: Christopher Diaz at forefront of new literary voices as writer, performer, teacher

From Houston, Christopher Diaz (June 23, 8 p.m., The Big Mouth Stage) is among the exceptional lineup of writers and performers from a new literary generation that has become the foundation for the Literary Arts activities at the Utah Arts Festival, especially in the last four years. Diaz, who is Chamorro, fulfills many roles. In … Read more

Backstage at The Utah Arts Festival 2018: The radical vulnerability of Bassam’s poetry

In college, Bassam read many of the great poetic classics including William Blake and Lord Byron. They was a philosophy major, insistently searching for “metaphysical purpose,” as xe describes it in an interview with The Utah Review. Bassam will perform June 24 at 2 p.m. on The Big Mouth Stage at the Utah Arts Festival. … Read more

Backstage at The Utah Arts Festival 2018: Peggy Dolkas’ Empatizzare will premiere as festival dance commission in Ruuddances concert with Ballet West artists

One of dance’s most powerful functions is its capacity to express something so profoundly that the audience watching it connects to it immediately. As we have listened to the voices of the #MeToo movement that always have been there but suddenly gained the frequency and volume which has asked us to empathize on a deeper … Read more

Backstage at The Utah Arts Festival 2018: Dance’s major presence includes Children’s Dance Theatre, Repertory Dance Theatre, SALT Contemporary Dance, The Bboy Federation

Dance has a monumental presence at this year’s Utah Arts Festival. There are the daily performances of BANDALOOP, the phenomenal vertical dance company from Oakland, California; a June 22 performance of RUUDDANCES featuring Ballet West and Ballet West Academy performers who will present classic and contemporary ballet works including the festival’s dance commission by Peggy … Read more

Backstage at The Utah Arts Festival 2018: Utah sculptor Cordell Taylor featured fine art exhibition at Library Square gallery

In The Gallery at Library Square on the fourth floor of The City Library, Process: Sculptures by Cordell Taylor will be the featured fine art exhibition for this year’s Utah Arts Festival. A Brigham City, Utah native, Taylor has worked as a professional sculptor for a quarter of a century and his work is available … Read more

Backstage at The Utah Arts Festival 2018: Melanie Shore’s As The Seasons Shift is festival jazz commission

Compared to many other jazz musicians, Melanie Shore had a late start. She started out as a classically trained pianist in her childhood but by the end of high school, she realized, as she describes in an interview with The Utah Review, “I didn’t have a passion for it.” As she “scoped jazz out” in … Read more