But teens and college students? Not so much.
That will change this Thursday, when the 31st annual festival kicks off at Salt Lake City's Library Square. The four-day celebration is getting hipper with the addition of a new "Urban Arts" program that includes hip-hop dance performances, a do-it-yourself designer T-shirt booth, an interactive design project for teens and a YouTube-like tent where festivalgoers can shoot and upload their own short films.
"The festival needs to expand its audience base and embrace the younger generation," says new executive director Lisa Sewell, who's making a conscious effort to reinvigorate the event through such emerging artforms as digital video. "This is a different take on art. And it's just as valid as what we, the older generation, think of as art."
This marks Sewell's first festival since she took over leadership of the Utah Arts Festival last fall, but don't expect to see any other big changes this weekend. All the entrenched festival elements, from musical headliners to roving street performers to 130 visual-artists' booths to the Toddler Zone, return intact. There's also a fine-arts exhibition on the fourth floor of the Main Library and two world premieres of classical music. In other words, there's still plenty of stuff for the "older generation" and for art lovers of all ages.
So what will you find at the 2007 Utah Arts Festival? Here are some highlights:
Urban Arts: The "hip-hop" movement encompasses four elements of urban street culture: music and DJing, rapping and MCing, breakdancing, and graffiti. There won't be any graffiti at this year's arts festival, but at least two of the other hip-hop elements will be represented nightly at 10:30 in performances by the Boogie Men, four young Utahns who will pop their dance moves to beats by local turntable artists DJ Chu and DJ Abstrak.
"A lot of it really is improv," says Heather Fountaine, the festival volunteer who oversees the dance group. The performances will blend choreographed moves with solo freestyling, she says. "Every one of these dancers has their own style and their own [tricks]. It's truly an art."
Young festivalgoers also will gravitate to the "UsTube" tent, where they can borrow a videocamera (or use their own) to shoot a festival-themed video of 60 seconds or less. Project organizer John Schaefer expects hundreds of short films to be shot around Library Square, with the best to be shown on a big screen and posted on the festival's Web site (www.uaf.org).
"I want it to be pretty raw," says Schaefer of his populist film project, which encourages everyone to embrace their inner Tarantino. "I want it to mirror the YouTube experience."
Finally, young scenesters may dig the nightly fashion show by Salt Lake City clothing line Filthy Gorgeous, which also will operate a booth where festivalgoers can help design their own caps, bags and T-shirts. Designer wannabes can choose from a variety of stencils, paints and colored markers to customize (and buy) Filthy Gorgeous couture. Prices for a shirt will start at about $20, depending on the materials used.
"It's giving people a chance to become an artist and make clothes," says Keith Bryce, executive director of the Filthy Gorgeous line. "Everyone will have an opportunity to create something original."
Musical acts: As always, the live-music headliners at this year's festival are an eclectic bunch. The rising star of the lot may be Angelique Kidjo, a singer-songwriter from the west African nation of Benin who has recorded with such diverse artists as Peter Gabriel, Ziggy Marley and Carlos Santana. Kidjo's music melds African, Latin, jazz and world-beat rhythms into a breezy, exotic and danceable groove. She performs Friday at 9:30 p.m.
Unless you're only into, say, polka music, the rest of the bill offers something for almost everyone. There's blues-rock by Tommy Castro (Thursday, 9:45 p.m.); jazz from the Crescent Super Band, made up of Utah's best high-school jazz musicians (Saturday, 7:30 p.m.); back-porch rock by Remedy Motel (Saturday at 9 p.m.); and bluegrass from Phillips, Grier & (Utah native Matt) Flinner on Saturday at 9:45 p.m.. The festival closes with New Orleans jazz by the venerable Preservation Hall Jazz Band and rhythms by world-beat group Kan'nal (both June 24 at 9:45 p.m.).
Literary stuff: Headliner Kimberly Dark delivers poetry, storytelling and a distinctly female perspective (see story, D2). "Transperformance" blends the spoken-word stylings of Alex Caldiero with the ambient sound-and-video textures of Theta Naught (Friday and Saturday, 9 p.m.). The Big Mouth Cafe tent will be the site of a poetry slam nightly at 8. And the new "Wasatch Ironpen" allows festivalgoers to face off in a 24-hour short-story, poetry and essay competition (register Thursday between 1 and 2:45 p.m.).
Art for sale: Bring your checkbooks - artists from around the West will showcase and sell their paintings, prints, photos, ceramics, sculpture, jewelry and toys.
Street theater: Wander the grounds to catch everything from belly dancers to a fire-wielding samba troupe to 50 youths on violins to the antics of the Moosebutter comedy troupe to Shakin' Up Shakespeare, a group of young actors performing brief selections from the Bard's plays.
For kids: The Art Yard, at the south end of the festival grounds, offers hands-on arts and crafts for creative children. Nearby are a face-painting tent and the fenced-in Toddler Zone, where parents can catch a breather while their little ones play. Kids and adults also can create customized headgear at the Mad Hatter booth.
Food and drink: Satisfy your appetite and quench your thirst at more than 16 food and beverage booths, most of them in a row along 200 East. On the menu will be everything from Thai curries to PB&J sandwiches to coffee, beer and wine.
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* BRANDON GRIGGS can be contacted at griggs@sltrib.com or 801-257-8689. Send comments to livingeditor@sltrib.com.
How to do the festival
Event times and dates: Noon to 11 p.m. Thursday through June 24 at Library Square, 210 E. 400 South, Salt Lake City, and the east half of the Salt Lake City-County Building grounds.
Tickets: $8 for adults, $5 for senior citizens and free for children 12 and younger. A lunchtime admission special of $5 is available Thursday and Friday from noon to 3 p.m. only.
Special pricing: A $25 four-day pass is available Thursday at the on-site box office and online at www.uaf.org. Visit any Tesoro station and pick up a Summer of Arts Passport for a $3-off coupon redeemable at the box office.
Event highlights
Boogie Men: A four-man hip-hop group performing nightly at 10:30.
Angelique Kidjo: Her music melds African, Latin, jazz and world-beat rhythms into a breezy, exotic and danceable groove. She performs Friday at 9:30 p.m.
Kimberly Dark: Poet and storyteller makes her Utah debut June 24 at 9 p.m.
More information: Visit www.uaf.org or call 801-322-2428.
