Center for the Latter-Day Saint Arts
2022 Annual Report
2022: A YEAR IN REVIEW
THE CENTER GALLERY
The Center Gallery completed its operations at the end of May. (Its lease was for one year after opening.) In its unbeatable location across the street from Lincoln Center and under the eaves of the Manhattan New York temple, all but one of its five exhibitions took place in this fiscal year. Nearly 10,000 visitors viewed the exhibitions, and depending upon the show, 70-90% of those in the gallery were from the community rather than members of the Church. In all, exhibitions featured 57 artists from 12 countries. Among the highlights of the Center Gallery were two book-length publications and notable exhibitions on the sacred feminine, depression-era photographs of Utah, and art created during the early months of the pandemic by LDS people around the world.
FRIDAY NIGHT AT THE CENTER GALLERY
Beginning in January 2022 and running without interruption thereafter was a weekly program in the Center Gallery of lecture presentations, concerts, readings, figure drawing classes, film screenings, and vocal master classes. Some of these were collaborations with other institutions, including Brigham Young University and The Juilliard School. The culminating event in the popular series was a three-day festival of new musicals written by LDS songwriting teams. Each of the exhibitions remain in full (images and texts) on the gallery’s website.
THE ARIEL BYBEE ENDOWMENT AT THE CENTER fOR LATTER-DAY SAINT ARTS
2022 marked the inauguration of the Endowment with a call for LDS composers to submit proposals to write a song cycle for the illustrious, international opera soprano, Rachel Willis-Sørensen. She will premiere the work at a future date. A jury of composers, singers, and professionals (who would be the envy of any international vocal gathering) selected a winner: S. Andrew Lloyd, from San Antonio, Texas. He will compose a work for soprano and piano setting the Francis Thompson poem, “The Hound of Heaven.” The Endowment has already raised more than half of its target amount of $150,000, the investment income of which will fund annual prizes honoring the legacy of Ariel Bybee, in perpetuity.
MORMON HISTORY ASSOCIATION CONFERENCE
The Center collaborated with the Mormon History Association (MHA) in sponsoring its annual conference, adding arts sessions to the usual program of historical explorations. The 2022 conference, held at Utah State University in Logan, opened with a concert of LeRoy Robertson music by Craig Jessop’s American Festival Chorus and a fascinating brief sketch of Robertson’s career. Preceding the concert, attendees enjoyed a gorgeous exhibition of art by Latter-day Saints at the nearby Nora Eccles Harrison Museum of Art. From there the conference continued with two solid days of inspiring presentations, over sixty in all, the largest number ever in MHA history.
I AM: THE JOURNEY
In June 2022, the Center presented I AM: The Journey, a celebration of global, Latter-day Saint voices through art, music and dance. This family-friendly, multi-disciplinary stage performance and accompanying visual arts exhibition was sponsored by Deseret Book and Allyson & Dan Chard and took place at the Conference Center Theater in SLC on June 18, 2022.
I AM: The Journey was led by the Center’s Diversity and Inclusion Committee, and co-produced and co-directed by Kevin and Lita Giddins. The I AM visual arts exhibition, curated by Kwani Povi Winder, was then on display at the Flagship City Creek location of Deseret Book through July 31, 2022. A documentary featuring the artists of I AM: The Journey aired on KSL in October 2022.
THE SEASON 22/23 LAUNCH
The Center launched one of its most ambitious projects to date in September: The Season 22/23, a comprehensive, one-year aggregation of cultural works by Latter-day Saint artists and creators around the world and throughout Latter-day Saint (Mormon) culture. The Season includes a database of thousands of current cultural events projects around the world, classified by genre, artist, content and/or synopsis, venue and event details. A monthly publication expounds upon these listings, with editorial content by qualified contributors who are making sense of the Latter-day Saint cultural texture. Guided by an editorial board of thought leaders working in various disciplines and locations, The Season's editorial content is a framework for readers to think through the cultural discourse and foster an elevated artistic community.
LETTER FROM THE CHAIRMAN
It has been a banner year for the Center for Latter-day Saint Arts, but then every year is. This one was marked above all by the arrival of our new executive director, Mykal Urbina, who comes to us from working at the New York Philharmonic and the Segerstrom Center for the Arts in Orange County, California. Mykal has taken hold of our diverse operations with professional finesse and kept us going through a complicated year. She has fulfilled all of our expectations for what for us is a major change in our organizational structure.
The history of philanthropic organizations shows that virtually all of them in time pass through a transition from a mainly volunteer organization to a mix of volunteers and professional staff. Success means growth, and growth brings more complicated operations. The Center’s operations have constantly broadened ever since our founding in 2017 and now require full-time oversight and expert strategizing.
We have expanded because we wish to support the entire creative process from the beginning with the artists, through performance and display for audiences, to study and analysis by scholars. The creative process, we believe, does not end when a work of art is completed. The process continues until it is absorbed into the culture. So besides supporting artists, we have programs to help our patrons bring art into everyday life. We sponsor scholarly study and critical analysis. We produce podcasts, teaching manuals, conferences and seminars. Our ultimate aim is to enhance art and learning in Latter-day Saint society and to make this culture visible to the world at large.
High ambitions to be sure, but suitable for our people and our culture and within reach, we believe, with people like Mykal helping out.
Richard Bushman
Chair, Board of Directors
DONORS
WE GRATEFULLY ACKNOWLEDGE DONORS WHO HAVE CONTRIBUTED TO THE CENTER.
Donations Received October 1, 2021 - December 18, 2022
$100,000+
The Beesley Family Foundation
Kem and Carolyn Gardner
$25,000-$99,999
Anonymous
The Foulger Family Foundation
Stanley Hainsworth
The Sam and Diane Stewart Family Foundation