This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2015, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

In Salt Lake City, we are lucky to have many avenues to experience art, and dollar for dollar, it's easy to feel the value when experienced with friends and family. Additionally, the arts offer opportunities to learn new things, experience diverse arts and cultural activities and support their community. Although cost may be a barrier for some activities, as recent studies by the National Endowment for the Arts suggest, our community offers options for all budgets.

One of the best opportunities to gain as much value from the cost of a ticket or admission is found each year at the Utah Arts Festival, the state's largest gathering of artists and entertainers as well as the single largest venue for many simultaneous artistic demonstrations and expressions of culture. Marking its 39th year, the festival provides a solid argument for being the best arts entertainment value.

This year, on June 25-28, both Library Square and Washington Square in downtown Salt Lake City will be once again transformed into a massive destination for artistic expression and creative inspiration that includes hundreds of artists as well as scores of performances from local, national and international origins on six stages.

And, for the third year in a row, admission to the festival will be only $12 at the festival entrance, $8 online in advance and, as always, children under 12 are admitted free.

The Utah Arts Festival offers incredible variety enabling any visitor to find plenty of activities during each of the event's four days. In an opportunity to give even more value, for one week only beginning April 17, the Utah Arts Festival will offer a $25 four-day pass that will be good for all of the festival's events.

The festival four-day pass represents a 30-percent savings over the door price, and permits pass holders to skip long lines and to jump immediately into all of the festival's events. The discounted price of $25 translates to an incredible festival value for the visitor: Just 56 cents for each hour of the festival, roughly a dime per artist and fractions of a penny for every good idea, exciting artwork or lasting memory.

Yearly, fresh faces and ideas transform our perceptions about creativity at the Utah Arts Festival. Kurt Wenner, a pioneering 3-D interactive pavement artist, whose jaw-dropping work has been featured in 30 countries for more than three decades, is among the featured participants. Wenner's creations have been found throughout the world, as well as in a National Geographic documentary about his work that has been screened at prominent film festivals. He also has been recognized for his work by the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

The festival also takes its obligation seriously to expose children to art with many free hands-on activities.One venue is the Art Yard, where children can interact with artists and their work, create make-and-take projects, learn more about artists' creations and feed their intellects and appetites with a PB&J sandwich with milk.

"With such a big event, we take to heart the concept of how 'art lives here' by focusing on the relationships we always want to have with the community," Lisa Sewell, Utah Arts Festival director explains. "We understand the best art grows out of and responds to our relationships in the community. In those deeper connections we make each year at the festival, our most vibrant art and communities thrive."

This year's festival once again includes Fear No Film, a popular attraction that includes a juried and audience competition for dozens of short films, including the best works from Utah filmmakers. It attracts nearly 500 submissions annually and two-thirds of the films typically come from outside of Utah and the United States.

True to the arts festival's objective to help build lifelong relationships with the arts and highlight the next generation of artists, this year's up-and-coming exhibits from Utah high school students will take center stage at The Fine Arts Gallery at Library Square. The exhibition is one of the longest running of its kind in the United States.

Each year, the festival presents an unprecedentedly broad spectrum of culture and influence from the best and brightest at the Artists Marketplace, where artists present and sell their work directly to the public, and at the Maker booth, where visitors can observe artists create and explore their own crafts. From literary arts at the Salt Lake Community College's Community Writing Center to visual arts at the Urban Arts area, and from music at the Susanne Millsaps Singer Songwriter Showcase to scores of multimedia, street theater and culinary arts demonstrations, the Utah Arts Festival is among the area's most accessible outlets to culture.

Nearly 90,000 people visit the festival each year and for many visitors, there are never enough hours in the day to see everything, experience the performances, listen to music or spend time in the summer sun soaking in the community's best festive spirit.

For more information on the Utah Arts Festival, go to UAF.org or call 801-322-2428.

The Utah Arts Festival is where art lives! Visit http://www.uaf.org for all the latest details, news, and artists @utahartsfest #artliveshere