The Cedar City Arts Council (CCAC) is made up of artists and art lovers of all kinds. The Council’s dynamic working board of directors represents dance, literary, music, theatre, visual arts, and beyond in Iron County, Utah. If you’re passionate about the arts and cultural scene in Iron County, please voice your opinions and interest using our survey.

2023-2024 Board:

Debbie Drake, Past President

Debbie Drake, Instructional Systems Department (ISD) Director with Southwest Technical College (STECH) has a goal of getting the newly created ISD department structured systematically and up and
working functionally within the year. Drake loves the challenge of working creatively to build the college and has lent her energies and talents to doing so since 2008, earning the Cedar City Chamber of
Commerce Educator of the Year award in 2013. She has a varied business ownership background including 25 years as co-owner, manager, and lead designer for D&S Construction (a local award-winning design/build company), a retail store, fitness center, land development, property management, leadership training, online course development and freelance art work. As a long-time resident of Cedar City,

Drake has served her community in many capacities and is currently the President of the Cedar City Arts Council for a second time, past Vice President of Color Country Toastmasters, Secretary of Cedar
City Chamber of Commerce Women in Business and serves on the boards of Utah Women in Higher Education (UWHEN), Southwest Applied Technology College Foundation, Utah Culinary Arts Festival, Community Education Council, and a yet-unnamed board that will bring Women’s Conferences to the Iron County Area. She holds a Master of Education Degree in Instructional Design from Western Governor’s University and a Bachelor Degree in Art Composite from SUU.

Ann Mailee, Past President | Anne completed her undergraduate degree in Illustration and minor in Museum Studies at Southern Utah University. She has lead publishing projects with fellow visual artists and has come to love the challenge in art collaborations and community projects. When she finds time to work on personal projects, she prefers the unforgivable nature of ink whether it is applied with a pen or a brush. She grew up with a passport that her parents never allowed to expire and this lead to a passion for travel and taking inspiration from cultural art. Though she has wanderlust in her heart, she always finds her way back to Southern Utah.

Adrienne Anderson, Past Board Secretary | I lived most of my life as a “Tweener”; that being physically located between Chicago and Milwaukee in Lindenhurst, Illinois. Taking advantage of what both cities had to offer was an awesome experience, between art, music, theatre, museums and of course, football. Moving to Poulsbo, Washington, in 2004 became very valuable as joining the Poulsbo Artist League enhanced my interest in art work providing many art-related opportunities. I was Past Secretary of the League and continue to keep in touch with what is happening in Kitsap County. Now, as a resident of Cedar City, I am very happy to be involved with the Arts Council as its Secretary. Cedar City Arts Council is very important and unique by providing current monthly ART information as well as educational assets in the form of Mini Grants twice a year for children, teens and adults. This City is amazing as it shines its light on the oeuvres of the multi-variety of artistic talents showcased here and enjoyed by all!

Sara Penny, Vice President | Sara serves on the Board of Orchestra of Southern Utah. She plays viola in the orchestra and the Southern Utah Quintet. She helped establish the Southern Utah String Music Festival and Suzuki Strings Cedar City. Her B.A. is from the University of Utah in communications, and her extensive string training began at age 8, with teacher Roy L. Halversen. Her husband, Des, is a retired engineering professor who has subsidized her love of music so she could be of service. Their two children both play cello. Their son, Brian, is a sound engineer in New York and is now focused on internet security. Their daughter, Bridget, is married and is busy raising four children. Sara loves live music, art, photography, friends, family, and teaching children how to make their own music.

Mary Anne Andersen, Mini-grants and Literary Group | Mary Anne and her husband retired to Cedar City in 1999, with the intent of finding the good life in a place where they had vacationed for forty years. She received her bachelor’s degree in English and music from the University of Utah, acquiring a Phi Beta Kappa key and a husband along the way. The couple’s educational pursuits took them to Arizona, Salt Lake City, and finally Fresno, California, for twenty-five years. While in California, Mary Anne raised three daughters, studied piano, taught as an adjunct professor of piano at Fresno City College, and maintained a large studio of private students. The “retirement” to Cedar City has been anything but. The past fourteen years have offered Mary Anne a new class of private students, adjunct teaching and accompanying at SUU, service work in church and community, five years as a member of the Spectrum’s Writers’ Group, and positions on the Cedar City Music Arts board and the Cedar City Arts Council board, where she chairs the Artists’ Grants Awards committee and leads the literary group.

Diane Walsh, Art Walk | Diane moved from Chicago to Cedar City in September of 2013 after 32 years with AT&T. She has three children, one of whom has followed her out to this beautiful place. Diane has always been fascinated with art, especially painting and painters. She paints every day and this has been her salvation. She misses the art museums and galleries in Chicago, but thinks there is a depth of talent here in Cedar City, just some of which we know. She has taken classes and workshops from some great artists, including Janis Pozzi-Johnson (5 years at Evanston Art Center), who taught her how to see and translate to a surface; and workshops at Dillmans Bay Resort by Frank LaLumia, who taught her the joy of “plein air” painting and to limit her palette (She can mix any color!). Diane believes that art is healing, and she’s honored to work on behalf of Cedar City’s local arts community.

Steve Yates, Art Walk | A Colorado native, Steve has made Cedar City his home since 1980. After graduating from SUU (then SUSC) in 1987 with a major in English Literature and a minor in Anthropology, he worked a range of jobs from retail management to newspaper ad sales, and from magazine copywriting to freelance graphic design/photography. Steve found his niche in August of 2012 as director of Artisans Art Gallery, a position he finds “incredibly rewarding.” As a sideline, he operates S Yates Art & Design, offering art reproduction, printing, photography, and graphic design. His current project is photographing the art of southern Utah artist Jimmie Jones for an upcoming book by SUU professor, James Aton. Steve enjoys creating his own unusual art, long hikes in Zion and Bryce Canyons, reading, writing, live music, and spending time in his kitchen, where he makes “a mean shrimp vindaloo.” He appreciates the chance to be on the CCAC board, and looks forward to helping advance the arts in Cedar City.