Detailed look at the slate for 15th Utah Film Center’s Damn These Heels LGBTQ Film Festival

The Utah Film Center’s Damn These Heels LGBTQ Film Festival offers 23 films and three programs of short films for its 15th anniversary. Utah filmgoers have a rare opportunity to see some of the best examples of LGBTQ cinema today, as 21 films are receiving their Utah premieres and two others are being their first … Read more

Backstage at The Utah Arts Festival 2018: Closing day headliners include St. Paul and The Broken Bones, Salt Lake City Saxophone Summit, Repertory Dance Theatre, finals for individual, team poetry slams

Closing day headliners for the Utah Arts Festival will offer their own infectious expressions of musical joy to send visitors off with pleasant memories of the 2018 event. In The Arts Fest Amplified Concert Series, St. Paul and The Broken Bones from Birmingham, Alabama closes the Amphitheatre Stage with a concert beginning at 8:30 p.m. … Read more

Backstage at The Utah Arts Festival 2018: Saturday headliners include People Under The Stairs, Guy Davis, Rob Ickes and Trey Hensley, Azwaj premiere by Saad Haddad

Saturday’s headliners present many options for what historically are the largest crowds for single-day attendance at the Utah Arts Festival. And, with sunny skies and temperatures expected to be in the comfortable range of the mid-80s, every festival music stage will be packed. The Arts Fest Amplified Concert Series continues with People Under The Stairs … Read more

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: 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