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Utah Arts Festival 2021: You Are Always 20 takes Fear No Film’s Grand Jury Best of Show; Fear No Filmmaker Award goes to Luis Fernando Puente for The Moon and The Hummingbird

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Twelve awards have been announced in the 18th Fear No Film portion of the Utah Arts Festival, including a Grand Jury Prize, Fear No Filmmaker Award, three honorable mentions and seven audience awards. Winning Grand Jury Best of Show is the Swedish short film, You Are Always 20, directed by Christer Wahlberg, is based on … Read more

Plan-B Theatre’s newest Free Elementary School Tour production, Alli and #3, featuring alligator and heron characters, introduces K-3 children to basic science of nature and climate

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Children attending school in Utah or the Intermountain West region might be surprised to learn that even in the southernmost Rio Grande River Valley, alligators and herons have been known to congregate together. In Alli and #3, the latest children’s play in Plan-B Theatre’s Free Elementary School Tour program (FEST), Alli is an alligator who … Read more

#SLACabaret, Salt Lake Acting Company’s summer debut, shows plenty of examples about leveraging comedic punch celebrating Utah’s peculiarities

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Provocative comedy is an underappreciated, underutilized art form in Utah. The state’s social character and pop culture are sufficiently peculiar, offbeat and unusual to produce spot-on satires and farces. Some segments of Utah’s independent film industry (think of the HaleStorm comedies, for example) have aspired to achieve crossover appeal by highlighting weird, quirky aspects of … Read more

Utah Arts Festival 2021: Creative Zone, Art & Technology, Urban Arts venues set for three full days of activities

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Although a bit scaled back this year, the Utah Arts Festival’s Art & Technology, Creative Zone and Urban Art venues will have plenty of activities for patrons and their families. Creative Zone Open all three days between noon and 8 p.m., the Creative Zone this year temporarily replaces the Kids’ Art Yard, out of prudence … Read more

Utah Arts Festival 2021: Music highlights include headliner Las Cafeteras from East LA; local standouts Fry Pan Band, La Calavera, Mel Soul, Brent Yo and The Messenger

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Las Cafeteras (Aug. 28, 9:30 p.m., Festival Stage) It has been three years since Las Cafeteras, the acoustic alt-folk rock band from East Los Angeles, performed in Salt Lake City, at The University of Utah. They appeared then with the all-female mariachi crew Flor de Toloache, who had won a Latin Grammy just a year … Read more

Utah Arts Festival 2021: artÉmotion in collaboration with Ballet West set to premiere five dance commissions with live music

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In the decade since the Utah Arts Festival added dance commissions to its chamber music and jazz world premieres, Ballet West artists have established stellar standards in the program. This year’s program (Aug. 27, 4:45 p.m., Festival Stage), however, takes the dance commissions to a new level, featuring more new works and artists than ever … Read more

Utah Arts Festival 2021: Fear No Film set for three days of screening at The Leonardo, featuring nine programs totaling 67 short films from 22 countries

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EDITOR’S NOTE: To read more about this year’s Fear No Film slate, including the Utah Made Film program, see here. With the pandemic, some might have wondered what the extent and scope of submissions for an international short film program might look like. This year’s Fear No Film program at the Utah Arts Festival, the … Read more

Utah Arts Festival 2021: Literary Arts program, now in its 27th year, adds new features including BIPOC literary program, readings by college student writers, performances at three stages

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EDITOR’S NOTE: To read more about some highlights of this year’s Utah Arts Festival literary arts program, see the features about the BIPOC literary program here, A. M. Luzzader and Chadd VanZanten here, Danielle Susi and the SLCC student writers here and the indie and team poetry slams here.  Now in its 27th year at … Read more

Utah Arts Festival 2021: Two west regional artists making first festival appearances are Cody Steffler, metalwork; Chris Rasmussen, woodworking

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This year’s Artist Marketplace of 95 artists includes 16 who are making their first appearance at the Utah Arts Festival. They include Chris Rasmussen of Three Forks, Montana, and Cody Steffler of Lava Hot Springs, Idaho.  CHRIS RASMUSSEN One of the 16 artists who is making a first appearance at the festival’s Artist Marketplace, Chris … Read more

Utah Arts Festival: Festival Stage headliners include Jeff Crosby and The Refugees, Will Baxter Band

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Among the headliners being featured at this year’s Utah Arts Festival are Salt Lake City’s Will Baxter Band and native Idahoan Jeff Crosby who will be performing with The Refugees. Will Baxter Band (Aug. 27, 8:15 p.m., Festival Stage) When Will Baxter moved from Fort Collins, Colorado to Salt Lake City, it did not take … Read more