Sundance 2018: Quiet Heroes emerges as Utah testament to compassion, love, inclusion in extraordinary circumstances

For most of the 1980s, “officials in the state of Utah did nothing but sit back and watch people die of AIDS. That is not a hyperbole,” Ben Williams, one of Utah’s best known gay historians, wrote in a QSaltLake magazine several years back. Unfortunately, Utah was no exception at the time. Few people across … Read more

Sundance 2018: Utah film industry’s connections strengthen as model for independent film community

Sundance 2018

Utah’s connections to the Sundance Film Festival (Jan. 18-28 in Park City and Salt Lake City) run deeper than what many people likely will see in the press coverage. Not only has the international festival been established as one of the most significant cultural events every year in the state, it has fostered film literacy … Read more

Utah Film Center to screen Mexican documentary No Dress Code Required on eve of 4th anniversary of Utah marriage equality ruling

In 2013, four months before the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in the Windsor case set the stage for courtroom challenges to bans against same-sex marriage in every state, the Mexican Supreme Court ruled in a case brought by three couples from the state of Oaxaca that denying the rights to marriage equality was unconstitutionally discriminatory. … Read more

Artist Cody Chamberlain’s obsessive muse, spiritual solace in the Utah desert

In the first issue of Seven Arts, a cultural arts magazine launched in 1916, Romain Rolland, a French writer who was a close friend of Marcel Duchamp, contributed an essay titled America and the Arts. He paid great tribute to Walt Whitman – “the elemental Voice of a great pioneer,” the American corollary of Homer. … Read more

Karen Horne’s latest series of paintings capture moods of dance in classic, social settings

Expressing the art of dance in painting is among the most difficult challenges artists attempt. Many know of Edgar Degas, who practically lived at the Paris Opera in the 1870s, watching ballet rehearsals and performances, often from backstage, so that his paintings would be as true to representing the intensity of movement and focus of … Read more

Repertory Dance Theatre’s Top Bill promises a holiday homecoming celebration of dance

In spirit, creative passion and his life experiences, William ‘Bill’ Evans epitomizes that beloved family member who occasionally returns home to reconnect, celebrate and nourish the memories of wonderful times and to exchange stories about how the family came together to turn the most challenging moments into a new expression of love and learning. At … Read more

The virtuoso as new music advocate: Carlton Vickers on redefining flute music in 21st century

In 1991, a very young Carlton Vickers was one of the featured musicians on a Salt Lake City performance of Composition for Four Instruments, a prescient work American composer Milton Babbitt (1916-2011) wrote in 1948 that foreshadowed the New Complexity School, one of the most significant developments in music over the last half century. Babbitt, … Read more

Authentic voices in the Utah Enlightenment: Plan-B Theatre, Torrey House Press, Repertory Dance Theatre

While the bomb-throwers—both metaphorical and literal – invariably claim to speak for the locals, most of the locals I’ve met prefer to speak for themselves. They’re old-timers and newcomers, Republicans and Democrats, conservatives and liberals. They’re scientists, tribal members, ranchers, and telecommuters, often more than one of the above. Some criticize the federal government, and … Read more

The Culinary Center, making magic happen, one class at a time.

Cooking has really become an art form. Since the launch of The Food Network, people are not only gathering in the kitchen, but around the table again, partaking in a home cooked meal. But what if your cooking skills are not up to par? Fortunately, the Culinary Center, formally the Viking Cooking School, has a … Read more

Backstage at The Utah Arts Festival 2017: Ed Pratt, one of the stalwarts in festival’s behind-the-scenes production

Longevity is a strategically important adjective to describe the Utah Arts Festival. It is an asset that also primes an organization to be flexible enough to change, adapt and incorporate new ideas and fresh perspectives. Institutional memory is key. The festival has been fortunate to have many staff, volunteers, partners and sponsors who have committed … Read more