Utah Arts Alliance (UAA) believes that art is for everyone. Going on 15 years, the Urban Arts Festival, presented by UAA, will take place at The Gateway Aug. 30.
“It was about creating the kind of world we want to live in,” Derek Dyer, founder of UAA, said. “And that’s the kind of world that has artists living in our local community and them being able to make a living off of doing what they do.”
Dyer was an artist himself when he and some colleagues were growing up in Salt Lake City. He wanted a place where he could showcase his art, but his options were slim. This is initially what brought UAA to light, establishing the organization in 2003.
“The intention was to build the program support for artists that were lacking when we were coming up,” he said. A few years later, when they had their feet on the ground, UAA created the Urban Arts Festival.
Originating from an idea of a skate deck art show and competition, Urban Arts Festival celebrates urban subcultures like hip-hop, skateboarding, punk rock, mural and street art, and several others. When the event first began in 2010, these art forms didn’t have a platform to survive, but now it’s changed the way communities in the surrounding Salt Lake Valley view them. Dyer said UAA and other festival coordinators received a lot of resistance and “angry phone calls” in the beginning, but now it’s a widely appreciated event.
“There was not a lot of murals in our community back then. and so a lot of it was just kind of creating opportunities for artists that were working in these different fields, that weren’t getting the support or the spotlight that we felt like they deserved,” Dyer said.
What to expect
This year’s festival is a one-day event, as opposed to past years, where the festival was stretched out between multiple days. Attendees can expect around 300 artists participating, including craft vendors, performance artists ranging from bands, solo acts, drag and visual artists. The event is free admission for all, with a mission to bring the Greater Salt Lake community public art, which Dyer explained “adds to quality of life.” And evidence shows that. Many communities in South Salt Lake, the Salt Lake Valley and North Salt Lake have seen a great impact from exactly this. Midvale Main Street, for example, has been revived with their city murals and other artworks, which was influenced by the work of UAA.
“Murals are another really impactful and relatively low-cost way to create more public art in the community,” Dyer said.
As contemporary art grows, Urban Arts Festival and UAA continue to reshape the presentation of the event. This year, they hope attendees take appreciation of the Urban Arts Gallery, which was started from the popularity of the Urban Arts Festival. Dyer said that in the contemporary age, it is also important that the public learn to appreciate the art forms surrounding them and participate in the growing mediums in their communities.
“Learn something new, take home some art, be inspired by some music, and just have a good time,” Dyer said. “This really feels like such a happy coming together of especially Salt Lake community.”
Urban Arts Festival will be presented at The Gateway on Aug. 30. Find out more about the event at their website here.
