Share Your Story With Us!

On March 9, 1899, the agency that became the Utah Division of Arts & Museums was founded, making 2024 our agency's 125th anniversary. We’d like you to help us celebrate 125 years of supporting creative individuals and cultural organizations across the state. Please share your story and/or photos related to your experience with our agency using the button below. We will share these stories and photos on social media, in newsletters, on our website, and in other communications. Thank you! 

UA&M 125th Anniversary Memento Collection Form
A group of people stands in a gallery in front of a sign that reads, "Artists in Residence."

Fanny Guadalupe Blauer,
Artes de Mexico en Utah

I want to express my gratitude to the Utah Division of Arts and Museums. With your support, we have been able to achieve many goals, reach out to community, and build a more sustainable organization. You are an organization that has believed in us; with your funding, you have allowed us to move to the next step. I am thankful to all our volunteers, staff, and community that have trusted our programs and have helped us to make them meaningful and accessible to our different communities.
A woman holds a birthday cake in front of another woman.

Elizabeth Egleston Giraud

UA&M had a profound effect on my life. In 1983, I started working for Repertory Dance Theatre as the development director, writing grants soliciting funding from UA&M. I knew nothing of UA&M prior to this, but it swept me into the local and state arts community. Through UA&M I received a summer fellowship to work at the National Endowment for the Arts, where I learned of graduate degrees in historic preservation. The next summer I was on my way to Cornell University. That master's degree established my long career in historic preservation, and it all began with my RDT employment and association with UA&M. Photo by Doug Sonntag.
An orchestra and choir perform onstage.

Sara Penny,
Orchestra of Southern Utah

Funding from the Utah Division of Arts & Museums has allowed us to have many exciting symphony orchestra concerts, including commissioned music, as well as expanding audiences through school assemblies, family matinees, and VIP tickets for 4th and 9th graders as we encourage students to choose their own instruments for their musical journey. 
A group of people plays with a multicolored tarp and balloons.

Sara Penny,
Cedar City Arts Council

Being a Local Arts Agency for Cedar City has been enhanced by grants from the Utah Division of Arts & Museums. We are able to host a Final Friday Art Walk on the last Fridays of June through September to feature local artists and musicians, public socials to connect the community with artists, and a public literary group. One of our most valuable uses of the funds has been funding mini-grants of up to $500 for community art projects since 2008. This has helped several organizations get organized that are now enhancing our community, such as the Cedar City Junior Ballet, Master Singers' men's choir, In Jubilo women's choir, Iron County Acoustic Music Association, and Southern Utah Watercolor Association. Most recently, our grant-funded Music and Motion classes for adults with disabilities (pictured in photo above) have been very successful. We also coordinate an art and photography contest in conjunction with the Cedar Livestock and Heritage Festival. We appreciate the ongoing support of the arts throughout the state from the Utah Division of Arts & Museums.
A gray-haired woman with glasses wearing a yellow blouse smiles for the camera.

Carol Edison,
Former UA&M staffer

As a native Utahn with a love of Utah history and a lifelong fascination with Native Americans, I lucked into working at the Utah Division of Fine Arts in the Folk Arts Program. I was a self-taught photographer, I had some experience working on films, and I couldn’t take enough classes in art history. My master’s degree in English from the U of U didn’t offer much of a career path, so in the summer of 1978, when I got a call from a friend asking if I wanted to spend a month or so in St. George producing the second Southern Utah Folklife Festival, I jumped at the chance!

Not only is Utah’s arts agency the oldest in the country, but our state’s Folk Arts Program is also the second (or third) oldest in the nation. In the mid-1970s, the National Endowment for the Arts, acknowledging the value of traditional arts, encouraged state agencies to create Folk Arts Programs. In 1976, director Ruth Draper hired Hal Cannon, who became Utah’s first Folk Arts Coordinator.

From 1978 until 2011, I had the pleasure of working throughout the state with traditional artists from Utah’s native, ethnic, occupational, and rural communities. I was able to help document their artistry through interviews, sound recordings, and photography. And along with my colleagues, we found ways to share their traditional artistry with the public through exhibitions, performances, festivals, and publications. The Chase Home Museum of Utah Folk Arts and the annual Living Traditions Festival are two of the projects we got started. I had amazing colleagues, worked with incredible artists, and I cherish the 33 years I was able to work at the first state arts council in the country.

A man wearing a white outfit performs onstage.

Mestre Jamaika
(Mauro Romualdo),
Salt Lake Capoeira

I’m grateful to the Utah Arts & Museums’ support of artists like myself. I am from Brazil and practice the unique Afro-Brazilian art form of capoeira. Through UA&M’s Career Advancement Scholarships, I’ve been able to study with a master drummer as well as work with a mentor to write and record capoeira music. I was also honored to receive the Performing Arts Fellowship in 2021. The professional development, funding, and recognition have in turn helped me better the Salt Lake capoeira community that I serve, including our outreach efforts across Utah. Thank you, UA&M!
The views and opinions expressed in any content from outside partners do not necessarily reflect the views of the Utah Division of Arts & Museums.