Backstage at The Utah Arts Festival 2017: New stories, voices, creative tools unite artistic community for 41st annual festival

Every year’s Utah Arts Festival brings new stories. For the 41st annual festival, visitors will see Florida’s Bill Wharton The Sauce Boss prepare enough gumbo to feed the crowd while he sings in his distinct style of Florida-inspired funk and blues. The Pedrito Martinez Group consistently impresses crowds, including the recent Spoleto Festival, with its … Read more

2017 Deer Valley FIS Freestyle Ski World Cup

For the 15th time, Deer Valley Resort hosted the 2017 FIS Freestyle World Cup this past weekend. Aerial and mogul ski teams from around the world came to showcase their top talent at this world-class event. Canada, USA, France, Switzerland and Finland were among the countries represented at the competition. The crowd on Saturday evening … Read more

The top 10 of many fine moments in 2016 for the Utah Enlightenment

There were many fine moments this year for the Utah Enlightenment. In compiling the list of what I believe were the 10 best defining moments of Utah’s cultural awakening for 2016, the pool of choices was more than satisfying in breadth and depth. There has been a great deal of recent press, for example, about … Read more

SC16 supercomputing conference provided real-life experiences of collaboration, engagement for everyone on STEM spectrum

For Salt Lake City’s West High School students Nicole Andrade and Kelsie Muhlestein, touring the massive exhibit floor at last week’s SC16 global high-performance computing conference whet their appetites for a STEM field major in college. Kincaid Savoie, one of the University of Utah’s SupercompUtes team members who competed in a 48-hour competition that really … Read more

Torrey House Press’ Edge of Morning highlights Native American voices on Bears Ears, public lands

We were the land’s before we were. Or the land was ours before you were a land. Or this land was our land, it was not your land. We were the land before we were people, loamy roamers rising, so the stories go, or formed of clay, spit into with breath reeking soul— Heid Erdrich, … Read more

Backstage at The Utah Arts Festival 2016: ‘Getting Fat in A Healthy Way,’ ‘Ties The Room Together,’ ‘Thumbscrews’ take top Fear No Film honors

Fifteen awards were announced today in the Fear No Film portion of the Utah Arts Festival, including a Grand Jury Prize, Utah Short Film of The Year, Fear No Filmmaker Award, three honorable mentions and the best short film in each of the seven ‘transitions’ categories around which the film festival was organized as well … Read more

Backstage at The Utah Arts Festival 2016: Winners announced for Artist Marketplace, Literary Arts competition, IAMA songwriter

The Utah Arts Festival has announced various awards for the 40th anniversary event. Nine awards were presented for the Artists Marketplace. All of the award winners are eligible for invitation to the Utah Arts Festival in 2017. Best of Show and People’s Choice Award winners also will have their booth fees waived. The 41st annual … Read more

Backstage at The Utah Arts Festival 2016: 40 Years New

It becomes immediately evident that Utah’s history in arts and culture is as rich in pioneer spirit as when the settlers first descended into the Salt Lake valley nearly 170 years ago. In 1899, at the age of 30, Alice Merrill Horne was elected to the Utah Legislature (the third woman to do so) and … Read more

Plan-B Theatre’s 26th season features plenty of past, present enigmas and mysteries

NOTE: This is Part Two of a series about Plan-B Theatre, which offers a glimpse of the four new productions for the 26th season. For Part One, see here. Enigmas and mysteries – two wrapped with music and a third with the perplexing question of whether a murder actually did happen – will comprise a … Read more

Utah Film Center regroups, sets fund-raising campaign after fire disaster

Just months before it will open its 15th anniversary season and during a time when annual attendance for its screenings has increased by at least 50 percent in the last five years, the Utah Film Center (UFC) is facing its biggest challenges after a four-alarm fire in late March destroyed its offices in downtown Salt … Read more