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Festival preview
The Center for Latter-day Saint Arts Festival is in a few weeks (June 28-29) in NYC. We’ve been working on it for a year, and we’ve got surprises galore.
If you’re a parent with wee ones: On Saturday morning, before noon, there are fun activities for children—bookmaking, storytelling, and dance—with Kevin Hawkes, New York Times bestselling author (Library Lion, Weslandia), and others.
If you love tv and the movies: A first screening of “Heart of Africa,” a new film by Congolese filmmaker Tshoper Kabamabi about two missionaries—black and white, in the Congo; and the 10th anniversary screening of the complete, groundbreaking, award-winning thriller, “The Book of Jer3miah,” with the filmmakers, Jared Cardon and Jeff Parkin.
If you’d rather stay home and read a book: a keynote address by Harvard Divinity School professor David F. Holland on “Art and Religion in the American Novel”; a concert reading and performance of literary works (poetry, fiction, live music); and a discussion with poets Lance Larsen, Susan Howe, and Michael Lavers called “How Poetry Works.”
If you’re sort of smart: a panel discussion, “Women in Art” with three scholars with diverse backgrounds and approaches to the visual arts; a presentation on the great matron of Utah arts, Alice Merrill Horne; a panel on how to look at art; another on collecting art in today’s market; and a performance/presentation on the power of dance.
If you grove to music: a concert retrospective of the music of David Fletcher, with special guests Sarah Asplund, Jonathan Austin, and more; a reading of a new play with music about James W. McConkie, written by his grandsons, Davey and Jamie Erekson; a tango duo from Argentina; and the marquee event of the festival, a concert at the Kaye Playhouse featuring Latter-day Saint performers from Nashville, Broadway, Finland, and more.
If you want to log in some gallery time: five (count ‘em, five) exhibitions that include two photography shows based on Utah landscape; a sound installation accessed through your phone; conceptual art about women’s voices; and a video installation titled “Belief in Zion.”
Pretty amazing, pretty diverse, pretty fun, pretty cheap.
About that: children are free; a two-day pass is just $25 ($12.50 for students); and the concert (Center Stage at the Kaye Playhouse) are $15 and $20.
Another Life for "Cat"
We're very happy to announce that Andrew Maxfield’s composition, They All Saw a Cat, which the Mormon Arts Center commissioned and premiered at our Festival is having another life. On September 29, the BYU Philharmonic, under the direction of conductor Kory Katseanes, will give the orchestral premiere of the work as part of a free family concert series at Brigham Young University.
Recap Video
While the festival was coming to a close, our videographer was just getting started. In the weeks after we wrapped up in July, he and his crew were editing every presentation, concert, and discussion in order to put it all on YouTube. That way, anybody can experience the entire festival wherever they live. We asked him to create a short recap video, and we sent it out to all of our subscribers yesterday. Here's a link to the video on YouTube.
More Great Press
In a Church News article over the weekend that highlighted events of the Mormon Arts Center Festival, staff writer Morgan Jones described some exciting elements of our June event. Although it happened far away from Salt Lake City, the Center has been very fortunate to attract the attention of media outlets in Utah, including the Salt Lake Tribune, the Deseret News, Church News, and KSL-TV.
The Kindness of Strangers
In addition to the crew of committee members and supportive friends, the Center has been the recipient of some anonymous kindness in preparation for the festival. One of the last checklist items before the festival opens on Thursday was a series of posters and banners to decorate the Italian Academy itself. Printing oversize posters can be expensive. A large poster can be about $200. So I was pretty nervous when I went to my local shop and gave them a flash drive with about 15 posters--some of them to be mounted to foam core.
Sing With Us
Mormons a generation or two ago knew the music of Evan Stephens like the back of their hand. It was everywhere. Nearly two-thirds of the hymns in the early 20th century hymnal were composed by him. Conductor of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, prolific composer of hymns, anthems, oratorios, and operettas, and a master choral teacher: Stephens was easily one of the most influential men of his era in the Church. How did this son of a Welsh coal miner, with almost no musical training become such a force?