UtahPresents Blog

Happy Retirement to Keven Myhre and Toni Byrd

Happy Retirement to Keven Myhre and Toni Byrd

It is with bittersweet feelings that we announce the retirement of two of our core staff, Finance Manager Keven Myhre and Box Office Manager Toni Byrd.

Keven has been at UtahPresents for 10 years, working as the Production Manager, Operations Director, and most recently, Finance Manager. He began his career as a set designer, and has worked as a designer, director, and production manager. During his career he has worked for many, if not all, of the local theatre companies, including Salt Lake Acting Company, The Grand Theatre, Sundance Theatre, Plan-B Theatre, Pioneer Memorial Theatre, Utah Musical Theatre, Egyptian Theatre, and the Babcock Theatre. In 2016, he received the Thomas DeGaetani Award from the United States Institute for Theatre Technology, which honors an outstanding lifetime contribution to the performing arts by an individual or organization.

Toni has been part of the Utah theater community since the 70’s as a student, actor/director and box office employee. She has been at UtahPresents since 2021. Throughout her career, she has worked at many local arts and theatre organizations. As an actress, she has worked on stage for Pioneer Theatre Company, Salt Lake Acting Company and the Grand Theatre. She worked as a director for EttaGrace Black Theater (which she co-founded) and the Grand Theater. Toni worked in the box office at Pioneer Theatre and Salt Lake Acting Company, and as Box Office Manager for the Grand Theatre and UtahPresents/Kingsbury Hall.

UtahPresents is currently accepting applications to fill the role of Finance Manager, and more information will be coming regarding our box office staffing. Please visit our employment page for more information and links to open positions. https://www.utahpresents.org/jobs/

The staff at UtahPresents have loved working with both Keven and Toni and we wish them the best in their retirement!

Paula Fuga Brings Joy Through Music

Paula Fuga Brings Joy Through Music

As Paula Fuga introduced herself as an artist and songwriter from Hawaii, a young boy in the back row perked up. She continued introducing herself and explained that today she was going to teach them a song she wrote for her nieces when they were going through a hard time. The boy got up and moved to the front row to be closer, and even got some personal instruction from Paula as the class practiced their chords.

Paula Fuga performs at Mountain View Elementary

It was a touching moment in a week of music and joy with Paula Fuga. During her stay in Salt Lake City, she taught several classes and met with community members, before her public performance at Kingsbury Hall.

The week started out with a lecture and film screening with students from Dr. Maile Arvin’s Pacific Islands Studies classes. Paula discussed her Hawaiian heritage and how it influences her songwriting. She encouraged the students to be intentional and to always remember your words can be both a blessing and a curse. Students mingled afterwards to talk with Paula and ask questions.

Paula with staff from the Juvenile Justice and Youth Services Program

One of the most impactful classes of the week took place at the Juvenile Justice and Youth Services Center where Paula met with eight young people detained there. As she told them about her difficult childhood growing up homeless in Hawaii, and how she worked to overcome those challenges to become a successful artist, both youth and adults in the room cried. Paula worked with the youth to learn some songwriting skills and ways to direct their emotions into music.

Next, Paula taught two classes to elementary students at Mountain View Elementary. The school has ukulele classes for fifth grade students, though they are just starting to learn chords. Paula performed a song for them and then worked with the students to learn and practice two of the chords from the song. By the end of the class, many students were able to play along with Paula, including the young boy who moved to the front row.

Beverley Taylor Sorenson Arts Learning Program Teachers in a workshop with Paula

Teachers involved with the Beverley Taylor Sorenson Arts Learning Program also attended these classes and assisted the students in mastering the chords, and then met with Paula separately to talk and ask questions of both Paula and each other, discussing ways to overcome challenges in teaching music and the arts in K-12 classrooms. A second teacher workshop took place the day after Paula’s public concert, in partnership with the Utah Division of Arts and Museums. This workshop, held at Mana Academy in West Valley, focused on songwriting techniques for the classroom, and the teachers wrote a song together.

The theme of the week, from performance to classsrooms to individual interaction with teachers and students, was joy – joy from Paula’s music and the love she shares through her songs.

UtahPresents Impact

UtahPresents supporters and donors Dinesh Patel and Gordon & Connie Hanks, along with Advisory Board Chair Tiana Hood and Vice-Chair Havilah Clarke, discuss why they support UtahPresents and the impact of our programming.

 

Spring ReachUP Impact

Spring ReachUP Impact

UtahPresents ReachUP engagement events this spring were as varied as our artists. Led by Community Engagement Manager Melissa Salguero, these events reached nearly 4,000 people, mostly K-12 students.

Step Afrika kicked off our January with their electric performance on Martin Luther King Day. Following the show, students from Highland High School, who are in the first and only high school stepping group in the state, met the performers and spent time talking and asking questions. The students also performed a short stepping routine for the Step Afrika dancers.

Though stepping is a well-known art form in many parts of the country, it is not as widely practiced locally and seldom presented here. For these students to see professional step dancers and be able to meet with them afterwards was an incredible experience, encouraging them to imagine possibilities for their own futures.

March brought us the fun and joy of Music From The Sole, a tap dance and live music company that celebrates tap’s Afro-Diasporic roots, coming to Utah for the first time to perform both a student matinee and public performance at Kingsbury Hall. During their time here, the artists taught a master class with students from the University of Utah School of Dance and participated in an Afro-Diasporic Dance Exchange that UtahPresents organized at Sorenson Unity Center. The Dance Exchange also featured local organizations Bomba Marilé and Samba Fogo. Attendees ranged in age from nine months to 79, and was a joyous evening of dance, music, and community.

March also featured a public performance and student matinee of Ocean Filibuster, an immersive multimedia theatre performance that explores the critical relationship between humans and the ocean. Partnering with Save our Great Salt Lake, the project aimed to raise awareness of the plight of the lake and what we, as individuals, can do to save it. Members of the group attended the performance in costumes that were made and worn during the most recent state legislative session, as they marched to support water conservation efforts.

Together with Save Our Great Salt Lake, we partnered with the University of Utah’s Sustainability Office and Center for Equity & Student Belonging, along with community groups River Writing Collective and Making Waves for Great Salt Lake, to sponsor a Student Art Contest. Students from across the county created visual art or writing inspired by Great Salt Lake. The contest was open to K-12 students and undergraduates at the U of U. Entries came from students as young as 2nd grade up through college age and varied from paintings to multimedia pieces to longform poetry. View the winning entries here.

UtahPresents also partnered with Save Our Great Salt Lake on their annual vigil at Antelope Island, where community members gathered to advocate for efforts to save and revitalize the lake.

We rounded out the semester with Red Baraat, a North Indian Bhangra fusion band performing their Festival of Colors show celebrating Holi. For this show, we partnered with Utah Punjabi Arts Academy, who opened for Red Baraat and also taught classes at Olene Walker Elementary in partnership with Promise South Salt Lake.

Spring semester also included two master classes with School of Music piano performance majors with virtuoso pianist Simon Trpčeski, a community conversation with the artists from Black Violin, in partnership with Live at the Eccles, and our annual collaboration with University of Utah Youth Theatre for their production of SpongeBob the Musical.

 

National Endowment for the Arts Funds UtahPresents’ Stage Door Series, Featuring New Works by Plan-B Theatre and Heartland Collective

National Endowment for the Arts Funds UtahPresents’ Stage Door Series, Featuring New Works by Plan-B Theatre and Heartland Collective

Plan-B Theatre also receives funding for EllaMental by Dee-Dee Darby Duffin, which will serve students in grades 4-6 statewide as the company’s 12th annual Free Elementary School Tour

UtahPresents is thrilled to announce it has been approved by the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) for a Grants for Arts Projects award of $25,000 to support the Stage Door series. The UtahPresents series, reimagined to feature local artists producing new work, will present premiere performances of Plan-B Theatre’s Kilo-Wat and Heartland Collective’s Minute and Far.

The Stage Door series was created to present touring artists and ensembles in a more intimate setting. Patrons enter through the backstage door of Kingsbury Hall and sit on the stage where the performance takes place. This coming UtahPresents season, the Stage Door Series will become an engine to support the rich creative community in Salt Lake City with a new focus on local artists.

The series will open UtahPresents 2024-25 season with Minute and Far, created and performed by Heartland Collective, a multi-disciplinary performance collective founded by Molly Heller. Minute and Far plays with perspective, proportion through distortion, and the mechanics of time. This mixed media work is inspired by the stories, both real and imagined, of iconic Kingsbury Hall. Themes of geometric repetition, zigzag forms, and whimsical surprise are explored through movement, live music, and Art Deco inspired scenic elements.

In February, Plan-B Theatre will premiere Kilo-Wat, a new play written by Aaron Asano Swenson, performed by Bryan Kido, and directed by Jerry Rapier. After leading the University of Utah men’s basketball team to the 1944 NCAA Championship, point guard Wat “Kilo Wat” Misaka was drafted into the U.S. Army and assigned to interview survivors of the atomic bombing in Hiroshima. After the war, he was drafted by the New York Knicks, breaking the color barrier in professional basketball. Kilo-Wat explores what it means to make history within history.

Plan-B also received NEA funding for its statewide Free Elementary School Tour of EllaMental by Dee-Dee Darby-Duffin. Created specifically for grades 4-6, EllaMental centers on Ella, a Black, twelve-year-old sixth-grader struggling to make sense of her Big Feelings from the pandemic—grief, loss, fear, and anger—in a post-COVID world.

In total, the NEA will award 1,135 Grants for Arts Projects awards totaling more than $37 million as part of its second round of fiscal year 2024 grants.

“Projects like UtahPresent’s Stage Door Series exemplify the creativity and care with which communities are telling their stories, creating connection, and responding to challenges and opportunities in their communities—all through the arts,” said NEA Chair Maria Rosario Jackson, PhD. “So many aspects of our communities such as cultural vitality, health and wellbeing, infrastructure, and the economy are advanced and improved through investments in art and design, and the National Endowment for the Arts is committed to ensuring people across the country benefit.”

The Reviews are in – Ocean Filibuster Reviews

The Reviews are in – Ocean Filibuster Reviews

 

Photo by Pim Lin, Forest Photography at the University of Houston, 2022.

Reviews are in for Ocean Filibuster’s performance at Kingsbury Hall! Each reviewer noted the skill of actor Jennifer Kidwell, who played both the Ocean and Mr. Majority, the production’s unique and immersive projections. Here’s what they had to say:

The Daily Utah Chronicle

Arts writer Josie Hind wrote a glowing review of Ocean Filibuster, noting that “Kidwell’s ability to switch between the Ocean and Mr Majority was “a feat of performance”… “through a combination of large-scale projection, song and audience interaction, the show was exceptionally unique, engaging and educational.”

Read the full article 

loveDANCEmore

Reviewer Stephanie Garcia notes the importance of Ocean Filibuster’s message: “through humor, a lot of scientific facts, and visual immersion, [Ocean Filibuster] unfurls the specifics of how poorly our anthropocentric approach has managed and exploited natural life and resources”.

Garcia also commented on Ocean Filibuster’s relevance here in Utah: “If anything, Mr. Majority reflects how this city and state’s leaders have overlooked, and put at risk the future even of their own children on behalf of business, greed, and profit.”

Read the review

Utah Theatre Bloggers Association

Salt Lake playwright and Utah Theatre Bloggers reviewer Tatiana Christian calls Ocean Filibuster “a powerful performance piece that challenges people to de-center human desires and focus on her, the Ocean…encourages audience members to think about the interconnectivity of life and that it isn’t just humans who live here.”

Read the full review

CONGRATULATIONS AND BEST WISHES TO BRETLEIGH SANDORF

CONGRATULATIONS AND BEST WISHES TO BRETLEIGH SANDORF

UtahPresents Hiring Development Coordinator

Congratulations to Bretleigh Sandorf, UtahPresents’ Development Officer, on her upcoming wedding! She will be moving to Utah County and seeking work closer to her soon-to-be home. As such, her last day with UtahPresents will be May 31st. The entire team at UtahPresents wishes Bretleigh and her fiancé all the best in the next chapter of their lives!

The impact of Bretleigh’s work at UtahPresents has been far-reaching and impressive. She has created multiple donor programs, overseen fundraising for two new series premiering next season, and helped us exceed fundraising goals. She has teed both her successor and UtahPresents up for success.

“I have truly enjoyed my time at UtahPresents and have immense respect for the mission and vision of this organization,” Bretleigh said. “I want to express my deepest gratitude to the UtahPresents team and Advisory Board for the support, encouragement, and camaraderie they have shown me throughout my tenure. It has been an honor to be part of such a remarkable team.”

“We have been so lucky to have Bretleigh on the team, and her impact will be lasting,” Executive Director Chloe Jones said. “We will miss her and wish her all the best!”

UtahPresents is hiring a full-time Development Coordinator to join our team this summer. This opportunity is ideal for someone looking to launch or advance a career in fundraising or the arts. Prior fundraising experience is preferred but not required. The priority application deadline is May 6, and the job posting can be found here: https://utah.peopleadmin.com/postings/162700  Please help us spread the word!

Save Our Great Salt Lake Student Art Contest Winners

Save Our Great Salt Lake Student Art Contest Winners

 

We are happy to announce the winners of the Save Our Great Salt Lake Student Art Contest.

Visual arts entries included painting, drawing, mixed media and digital art. Literary arts included poetry, short stories, and essays. Contest entrants ranged in age from K-3rd graders up to U of U undergraduate students, and winners represent all age groups.

The visual arts winners will be on display at Kingsbury Hall for the performance of Ocean Filibuster on March 23, after which they will be on display in the Center for Equity and Student Belonging office.

The literary arts winners will read their pieces at the Save Our Great Salt Lake Vigil on March 16, from 2-4PM at the Antelope Island Visitor Center Amphitheatre.

Thank you to our sponsors for supporting this contest:
Save Our Great Salt Lake
River Writing Collective
Office of Sustainability
Center for Equity and Student Belonging

Congratulations to the winners and thank you to all who entered!

 

Visual arts winners:

 

Pablo Cruz-Ayala
University of Utah Undergraduate
Spirit of the Great Salt Lake, Painting

 

Hannah Loertscher
University of Utah Undergraduate
Blessing Ceremony, Digital Art

 

Phoenix Williams
Salt Lake Arts Academy 7-9th grades
Wilson’s Phalarope, Painting

 

Amelia Wiscomb
Canyon Rim Academy, K-3rd grades
Amelia’s Amazing Jetty!!!!!!, Painting

 

Samuel Meikle
Highland High, 10-12th grades
Great Salt Lakeside, Painting

 

Sarah Giordani
University of Utah Undergraduate
Suspended in Salt, Mixed Media

 

Literary Arts Winners

 

Samantha Terrion
Canyon Rim Academy, 4-6th grades
An Ocean of Hope

A body of water, away from the crowd,

away from the houses, the cities, the loud.

Once big and majestic now small and in need.

We must try to save it for the dry is close, close, close far too close.

But there is still time, limited but some.

We must salvage and save it, for the run is so small, the run of water, of lake,

but not of heart, there is an ocean out there of hope, love, hands.

Unified hands, all hands, all colors, all sizes, all shapes but hands all the same.

They will lift, they will shape, they will save this water.

Only that is the future and we must make it the now.

 

 

Cloud Garcia-Ruiz
Salt Lake Center for Science Education, 10-12th grades
The Human Mindset

It is common for the human mind to want to claim Nature, transform her, and use her to make riches for themselves.

But

They fail to realize that Nature has shared her resources to others since the beginning, Many fail to listen. Many fail to realize that it’s not all yours.

But

When you open your ears, listen to those without words, the ones that you try to push out, you can hear them screaming

“It’s not all yours”

But

When you respect them, give them space, and open yourself up to their needs and listen,

You hear the whispering of sweet gifts, and they will offer it to you,

But

Not all

Because it’s not all yours.

 

 

Zabrina Le
University of Utah Undergraduate
To every community, group, and ecosystem that we took from, I am incredibly sorry.

Can I say I’m sorry for those who used you before?

Because I am

I am in dismay for your pain

I am in anger for your lost

I am entirely and wholly apologetic for your aching

They admired your beauty, but abused your strength

They called you precious, but took more than they needed

They painted themselves the victors, and you a mere object to take

We are not deserving

We are not even close

How can they ignore the history, the records, the balance you’ve maintained

If you walked away, we’d be left with nothing

Nothing to gaze at

Nothing to admire

A whole system, a whole community, a whole self-functioning foundation

Gone

Gone because of generations of harmful actions

Gone because of human conquering

Gone because he miscalculated your worth

Your worth should be seen as attached to ours

I only count myself deserving if you’re thriving

If the light left this planet, I’d assume you’d had passed

So when there’s threat of your light leaving our orbit

It seemed like my world was over

I can’t even fathom not having you here

Because if not for your presence, nothing seemed acceptable

If not for your energy, no mechanism would be met

So if you were taken away, I’d walk off

Off into the light

Off into the unknown

Off of this planetary plane

We must pledge our loyalty to you as a cause

To you as a being

To you as something or someone with full personhood

So I stand here and I pledge my allegiance to this enduring being

Our mother, our home, our community

– To every community, group, and ecosystem that we took from, I am incredibly sorry.

Fall 2023 ReachUP Events Create Far-Reaching Impact

Fall 2023 ReachUP Events Create Far-Reaching Impact

School of Dance students learning from Circa artists

This fall, UtahPresents’ ReachUp events, featuring performance artist Timothy White Eagle and artists from Cimarron and Circa, reached more than 2500 people from all ages and backgrounds.

Cimarron and Circa both performed student matinees for K-12 students. These two performances reached more than 1300 students across 29 school districts from Logan to Nebo.

Cimarron also taught two community workshops, for both adults and kids. See more of the Cimarron engagement here.

Artists from Circa held workshops with University students from the School of Dance as well as Honors students taking Professor Phillip Bimstein’s Artfully Extended Mind courses. Student comments included “It challenged me to think about space and my body in a new way!” and “I thought I’d struggle but they made it so easy to understand the movement.”

 

Honors College students learning from Circa artists in a class a the Utah Museum of Fine Arts

In partnership with the American Indian Resource Center, indigenous artist Timothy White Eagle participated in a panel discussion on the impact of boarding schools on Native American communities. Historian Steven Lee, Dr. Cynthia Benally from the Education, Culture & Society Department, and Dr. Dena Ned from the College of Social Work, also participated in the discussion, moderated by Department of History Professor Dr. Maile Arvin.

Timothy also spent time with students affiliated with the American Indian Resource Center and the LGBTQ Center, talking about his career trajectory as a queer indigenous artist. Students gained insight and encouragement about navigating higher education and their future career paths.

Timothy White Eagle speaking with students from the American Indian Resource Center and the LGBTQ Resource Center

Thank you to these amazing artists for connecting with our community and bringing their creativity and artistry to Salt Lake and the U campus!

Cimarrón Brought Rhythm, Music, and Joy to Salt Lake City

Cimarrón Brought Rhythm, Music, and Joy to Salt Lake City

It was a short stay in Salt Lake City, but the musicians from Cimarrón made the most of their time here.

On Tuesday, Sept 26, the band taught a maraca class to community members at Sorenson Unity Center in Salt Lake City’s westside. The two maraca players from Cimarrón impressed the group with their show-stopping talents, and then taught several participants some basic rhythms on the maracas.

 

 

The event was a partnership with Bomba Marile, a local Afro Puerto Rican Bomba music & dance group, who taught the group a series of dance steps. The night culminated in a dance circle, with Bomba Marile artists, musicians from Cimarrón, and community members all taking turns showing off their newfound artistic skills in the center.

Wednesday morning started with a visit to Telemundo Utah where the group performed and the band’s leader and vocalist Ana Veydó spoke about the group’s history, their focus on joropo music, and what audiences could expect from the performance. See the spot (in Spanish).

That afternoon, members of the band taught a maracas class to elementary school students as part of an after school program for refugees, organized by our community partner Promise South Salt Lake. The kids had so much fun as they learned about the performance and history of this important instrument from these artists.

The public performance that evening at Kingsbury Hall had the audience on their feet with the incredible beats and energy of the band. The following morning, they repeated the show for an audience of K-12 students from along the Wasatch Front. The students’ energy was palpable, with one teacher reporting that her student musicians were “very excited to see unique musical instruments being used in a culturally significant way.”

 

Over three short but action-packed days, Cimarron reached more than 1100 people throughout the Salt Lake Area.