The Cedar City Arts Council works to build our arts community through mini-grants, promotion of events, and networking socials.

Mini-grants for individuals and organizations are up to $500.  The next deadline is Feb. 28 and the application is on this website under support.  These mini-grants have helped launch many local organizations and added value to our arts community.  Our ten year celebration of these grants so you can see the breadth of support. https://www.cedarcityartscouncil.org/july-social-and-you-are-invited/ We have awarded $85,0000 in grants since 2008. Just this past year we helped get the Kolob Canyon String Camp move to Cedar City, helped get a percussion festival started with national clinicians, provided funds for refurbishing instruments so Beryl Elementary can have an orchestra, supported the community Nutcracker ballet performance, and a mini-grant is supporting movement and art classes for the mentally disabled. Several local bands got their equipment start from mini-grants including 8eez, Runaway Fire, and Coyote Bluegrass. Fabric workshops, literary readings, art display lights for the Watercolor Society, the lights for the Iron County Acoustic Music Association shows, and many other community projects have been facilitated by the mini-grant program. 

Public Socials: Three times a year we host a public social with presenters and refreshments to connect our arts community and to celebrate accomplishments. Most recently we honored Shauna Mendini with our annual Arts Service Award.  

Final Friday Art Walks:  On the last Friday of the month from June through September we arrange music at several venues from Artisans Gallery to the Southern Utah Museum of Art. Artists set up displays, mostly at the corner of 100 West Center Street from 5 to 8 p.m.  Contact Sara Penny at cedarcityartscouncil@gmail.com if you would like to be involved.

Monthly electronic arts newsletters to help connect the arts community and the public. We also have active social media on Facebook and Instagram and our motto is “Relentless Arts Advocacy”.  Part of our mission is to promote our local artists and organizations.  We are rebuilding audiences after the pandemic and are excited to share our joy in the arts.  The newsletters are also posted on Facebook and Instagram to help share events and arts information.

The Cedar City Arts Council hosts a Literary Group every other month led by Mary Anne Andersen.  They alternate discussing fiction and non-fiction books. They meet at the Cedar Main Street Books on the first Wednesday at 7 p.m.  The next meeting is March 6 and the book is Strength for What Remains, by Tracy Kidder.  It is the story of one man’s inspiring American journey. It introduces the ordinary people who helped him, providing a brilliant testament to the power of second chances. You are welcome to come and share in the discussion.

We are thrilled with all of the opportunities in the community to be involved in the arts. At the request of the state PTA we created a resource of arts education for children.  It is on this website under Education. Let us know of any corrections or additions that need to be made.  Under Arts Resources on this website you can find contact information for the arts groups. Jubilio and the Master Singers are happy to have new singers.  The community theatre groups offer opportunities to the community both on and offstage. It is really remarkable how many flourishing arts groups we have in the area.  Attendance has started to rebound after the isolation of Covid. Our Orchestra of Southern Utah was one of the few orchestras that kept performing during the pandemic with testing, masks, and other precautions. 

In conjunction with the Cedar Heritage and Livestock Festival we coordinate an art and photography exhibit at the Diamond Z for students from kindergarten through high school.  Prizes are provided by the Festival and Randy Seely has built exhibit boards and directs hanging the exhibit and judging.  

Local Arts Agency designation by the Mayor and City Council renewed in 2023 for the Cedar City Arts Council.

Weekly Column in the Iron County Today, currently written by Mary Anne Andersen. This is to promote art participation and recognition as we build our arts community.

Volunteers are always welcome for the Cedar City Arts Council. People who are interested in the arts. We especially appreciate those who can organize events and help build our arts community.

We appreciate the businesses who provide membership discounts.  Members join annually to support all of these projects on this website under support  Levels range from students at $10 to organizations at $50. If you would like to offer a business discount to members contact Sally Hunter or Sara Penny to be on the revised brochure that is currently under production. Donors are also welcome and we are a 501 (c) 3 non-profit. Our other financial support comes from the Utah Division of Arts and Museums and the local Recreation, Arts, and Parks tax.  Thanks to those of you who voted to reauthorize RAP in the November election.

The Arts Council was active in the 1990s and then languished.  Carol Ann Modesitt led the effort to get the Arts Council reinvigorated and non-profit status was awarded in 2003.  Due to missing a tax report we lost our federal status. Bruce Hughes took over as treasurer and was able to get us reinstated in 2013.  It was an ordeal when a clerk typed Cedar Rapids instead of Cedar City, but Bruce persevered. He makes sure all the compliance forms are filed properly now and we appreciate his help.  A non-profit is like a business with an extra layer of reporting.

Part of the CCAC Board at the August 2023 Social at IMPAC

Social Honors Beloved Dancer, Teacher, and Administrator

By Sally Hunter Jensen, Cedar City Arts Council

Cedar City: The Cedar City Arts Council (CCAC) is continually at work connecting and supporting local artists, with each other and with our community. The Fall Arts Council Social, free to the public, is designed to introduce, celebrate and showcase members of the eclectic arts culture in our area. Everyone is invited to join CCAC on November 8, at 7 p.m. in the Thorley Recital Hall at the SUU Music Building.

Come to the social and be introduced to some of the artists that have received mini-grants from CCAC, via art displays, musical performance and reports on the use that the recipients have made of their awarded funds. The festivities will conclude with the presentation of CCAC’s Annual Community Art Award. This year the honor goes to Shauna Mendini, currently the Dean of the College of Performing and Visual Arts at Southern Utah University (SUU), a recipient of SUU’s Distinguished Educator Award and Creative Publication Award.

The Fall Social presenters include mini-grant recipient the Crossroads Music Festival (CMF) with the SUU percussion ensemble performing as representatives of the summer percussion education and performance project. The Crossroads Music Festival focuses on the intersection of growing musicians and educating the public on the diverse kinds of music of the world via a two-night event in June where two professional groups perform to highlight musical diversity. CMF also focuses on educating up-and-coming musicians. Through an audition process, High School Seniors and College age students are selected to come to SUU campus and learn music. This student group, the Red Rock Percussion Group, plays as an opener to the main acts. Representing the Crossroads Music Festival, the SUU percussion ensemble will perform at the Social, highlighting students who attended the Crossroads Music Festival this past summer.

Also a CCAC mini grant recipient, tenor Steve Grabe, will sing as an introduction to the Wagner program he is producing later this year. Grabe has received praise for his beautiful tenor voice as well as his versatility in Opera, Oratorio and Musical Theatre. He made his Disney Concert Hall debut singing the tenor solos in Beethoven’s 9th Symphony with the CalPhil. He also was heard with the San Diego Symphony along with American Idol Finalists in “Ballroom with a Twist,” and played the Beadle in Golden State Pops Orchestra’s stage version of Sweeney Todd. Tracey Bradshaw will be his pianist at the social. He will be a soloist in this year’s Handel’s Messiah performance with the Orchestra of Southern Utah.

Mallory Sanders, Coordinator of Exhibitions at the Southern Utah Museum of Art (SUMA) and mini-grant recipient, has always had an artistic eye, but it was not until college that she decided to officially pursue her artistic passions. She received her Bachelor of Science in Art, with Museum Studies and Art History Minors from SUU in 2017. She was honored to be chosen as the College of Performing and Visual Arts Valedictorian for her graduating class. Also while at SUU, Mallory discovered a passion for museum work, and in 2016 had the privilege to help open the Southern Utah Museum of Art. She is currently the Coordinator of Exhibitions, which has allowed her to further her creativity with exhibition design. She is honored to be a part of the work SUMA does to engage the community with the arts. Her mini-grant from CCAC will enable her to mount an exhibition of her work in Groovacious, one of CCAC’s small business supporters and a music store.

Currently Sanders’ artwork mostly takes the form of oil painting and printmaking, but she is passionate about drawing, wire sculpture, jewelry making, and photography. In all her work, she is intrigued by details, patterns, distortion, illusion and abstraction. She is a very meticulous artist that is process driven, but is always looking for ways to experiment, striving to make seemingly mundane details transcend the everyday and become a work of art in people’s eyes. She also enjoys keeping things lighthearted and using humor and puns to introduce different techniques and media to viewers. 

Members of CCAC are thrilled to award Shauna Mendini with the 2023 Art Service Award and thank her for her dedication to the arts. Prior to her current position, Mendini served as Chair of the Department of Theatre Arts and Dance, and earlier in her career, as Director of Dance, totaling 30 years of administrative leadership at SUU. As Dean she has overseen SUU building projects such as the Bristlecone Hall and is now supervising the new SUU Concert Hall.

Most recently, she co-directed, with Chang Sheng Mei, an original, collaborative, full-length production between SUU’s College of Performing and Visual Arts and the Hubei Opera and Dance Drama Theatre, China, titled The Dream of Helen. The production debuted July 2011 at the Qintai Grand Theatre in Wuhan, China and returned for an encore performance as part of the Hubei International Arts Festival in October 2012.

She was a dancer with the American Folk Ballet for nearly 28 years with highlight performances at the White Nights Festival, St. Petersburg, Russia and the Cultural Olympiad at the 2002 Winter Olympics. Mendini has served twice on the Steering Committee for institutional accreditation by Northwest Commission on College and Universities. She also serves the National Association of Schools of Dance as both a site-evaluator and consultant.

Please join with CCAC and artists in the community to celebrate and learn about the arts culture in Iron County. Pork Belly’s, a favorite local Main Street restaurant is creating the refreshments, so all at the Fall Social will have time to visit, and further immerse themselves in the arts of southern Utah.

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Who: Cedar City Arts Council 

What: Fall Social

When:  Wednesday, Nov. 8, 7 p.m.

Where: Thorley Recital Hall in the Music Building at Southern Utah University 

Why: Celebrate our local arts community

by Sara Penny

Cedar City: The Final Friday Art Walk on June 30 from 5 to 8 p.m. is designed to showcase our local artists and musicians. Art exhibits and musicians are from Artisans Gallery to SUMA. Many of the artists set up on the lawn at the corner of Center and 100 West and along the sidewalk to the Johnson Center. The Cedar City Arts Council coordinates the Final Friday Art Walks from June through September and there is no vendor fee. This is a family event and is free to the public.

We have several returning musicians as well as a new band scheduled for the SUMA Plaza. Black Cat Parade is an alternative rock band from Cedar City, Utah. They have a four-piece line up including Ethan Bulloch on vocals and guitar, Porter Burt on drums, Jon Wright on bass, and Ike Petersen on lead guitar. They combine roaring rock sounds with gentle melodies to create their own exciting sound. Follow them on Instagram @black.cat_parade.

New at Stone Path is Addison Love. He is a singer/songwriter with heavy influences from classic acts like the Beatles & The Beach Boys as well as some more contemporary acts like Madison Cunningham, and Jacob Jeffries. He has a background in music production and education that keeps him ever invested in engaging performances and songs. The two things you can expect at an Addison Love show are familiar favorites and absolute left-field surprises.

Returning art exhibits and demonstrations include the Sagebrush Fiber Artisans complete with spinning wheels, Hanna Dawson, Larry Laskowski, Joey Favino, and many more. 

“We appreciate everyone who makes these art and music evenings possible,” said Roger Gold, Cedar City Arts Council President. For more information contact cedarcityartscouncil@gmail.com

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Musicians scheduled
The Green, lawn at the corner of 100 South Center

5 to 6 Coyote Bluegrass

6 to 7 Roice Nelson (vocal and guitar)

7 to 8 Southern Utah Strings

Stone Path, 150 West Center

5 to 7 Addison Love (guitar and vocal)

Southern Utah Museum of Art Plaza

5 to 7 p.m. Black Cat Parade 

IG Winery 

6 to 7:00 p.m. Peter Buis, guitar

7 to 8 p.m. Jon Yerby, guitar

Johnson Center: Lilian Vandaam, guitar

Arts Council Presents Music and Art for Spring Social on March 7

by Sara Penny

Cedar City – Music and art presentations are set for the Spring Social sponsored by the Cedar City Arts Council (CCAC) on Tuesday, March 7, at 7 p.m. upstairs at the Heritage Center in the large conference room. Easiest entrance is from the 2nd floor of the parking garage at the sign that says Festival Hall. This is a free event and the public is invited.

Mountaintop Sound recently released a new CD with help from an Arts Council mini-grant.  They will be playing their unique Americana folk music. Steven Swift and April McPherson lead the band.

Birgit Wudenka McMullen will present her artwork from Africa, where she served in the Peace Corps. “Southern Utah is the home of my choice. Before living here, I lived in East Germany, the UK, in Las Vegas, and Florida. After moving here and raising children I lived in Malawi, Africa, and in Germany again…However, I keep coming back to “my” red rocks, the landscape that fuels my spirit,” she says. Her mini-grant helped with the cost of framing the paintings which have already been exhibited at the Sears Gallery in St. George.

McKell Callister will lead the Fiddler’s Elementary choir. The students are in third to five grade and rehearse before school. A mini-grant helped them purchase a digital piano.  They are currently preparing for an April performance.

The Socials give the community an opportunity to meet active artists and to showcase the projects funded by the mini-grant program. Funds for the mini-grants come from membership dues and grants. CCAC appreciates support from the RAP (Recreation, Arts, and Parks) fund through Cedar City, the Utah Division of Arts and Museums is funded through the Utah Legislature and the National Endowment for the Arts.

CCAC Membership Director Sally Hunter Jensen has updated the discounts offered to Arts Council members and that information will be available at the Social. 

Refreshments by Ala Chelle Catering. You are invited to this free event.

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More information:

Who: Cedar City Arts Council

What: Spring Social

Where: Heritage Center upstairs Conference Room

Why: Contact Arts Community

By Sara Penny

The Cedar City Arts Council awards up to 20 mini-grants each year. The next deadline is Feb. 28 and the application is on the website under support or directly at https://www.cedarcityartscouncil.org/support/quick-grants/.

Cedar City Arts Council Artists’ Mini-Grants are awarded semi-annually to individuals, groups, or organizations in the visual, performing, and literary arts to support creative endeavors that will strengthen communication between artists and the community. Grant funds may be used to purchase supplies or equipment; rent display or performance venues; support mileage or registration costs to educational or training sessions; purchase promotional advertising; or other needs as demonstrated in the grant application. Our goal is to broaden our cultural landscape through unusual, unique, and innovative ideas, events, and projects.

Preference is given to art projects that engage the community.

In analyzing the grants from 2008 through 2022 the committee tried to spread the joy among many artistic disciplines. Some are counted as art medium plus education. Several of the groups we helped in the beginning are now non-profits. 

Sixty three grants have gone to music for instruments, sound systems, concert venue rental, recordings, and even the lights that are used by the Iron County Acoustic Association for their shows. A student needed a case for his string bass and a cellist needed repairs on his cello. A student quartet needed printed music and a composer needed upgrades to his computer system.

Arts education programs have received 39 grants from mask making to providing choir music for special programs.

Three of the local arts groups used their grants to get nonprofit status and now receive RAP (Recreation, Arts, and Parks) funding through Cedar City.

Photographers have received seven grants for exhibits and materials.

Visual artists have received 44 grants, including lighting systems for public exhibits. 

Dancers have received seven grants and there have been eight theater production grants.

The Arts Council has helped the Sagebrush Fiber Artisans get established as well as the Southern Utah Woodturners. Grants for Off the Cuff Comedy and the Red Rock Film Festival have helped them get established.

There was one grant for culinary arts which has developed into cooking classes at the Senior Center.

Twelve local artists have attended conferences and workshops with their grants to help us raise our local artistic standards and bring new ideas.

Clay and sculpture classes have received a grant for equipment and supplies as have the fabric art classes. Both metal and rock arts are represented among recipients.

There have been three art therapy projects that were made possible with the mini-grants.

Literary grants have included publishing poems and hosting public literary readings.

Apply for your art projects before Feb. 28. “Sometimes it takes a couple of applications to be funded, but we are working to develop more community art. We appreciate all of the innovative and exciting projects funded by the mini-grants,” said Roger Gold, Cedar City Arts Council President.

A committee led by Mary Anne Andersen reviews the applications and makes awards. Some of the recipients perform at the Arts Council Socials. The next one will be Tuesday, March 7, at 7 p.m. at Festival Hall, upstairs at the Heritage Center. The Social is free and the public is invited. Follow the @CedarCityArts social media for updates.

Funds for the mini-grants come from membership fees and grants. To join the Arts Council go to the website under Support or directly to https://www.cedarcityartscouncil.org/support/membership/. Several local businesses offer discounts to CCAC members.

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More information: cedarcityartscouncil@gmail.com

Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter: CedarCityArts

Application for grants: https://www.cedarcityartscouncil.org/support/quick-grants/

The Cedar City Arts Council  promotes local arts events and provides opportunities for area artists. We appreciate support from the local RAP tax, as well as Utah Division of Museums and Arts. Memberships and other sponsors are also crucial to our mission. Let us know about your arts events and we will help share.

You are invited to participate in Cedar City Arts Council events

* Final Friday Art Walk on the last Friday of the month from June through September from 5 to 8 p.m. from Artisans Gallery along University Blvd and continuing to the Southern Utah Museum of Art. Free art displays and live music. The public is invited.

* Literary group book discussions

* Public socials to connect the community with local artists, arts organizations, and arts educators.

* Mini-grants to build our arts community, applications due August and February, on website under support

* Promoting local artists of all ages and in all mediums

Receive a monthly arts newsletter with membership, on this website under Support

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You are invited to the CCAC Summer Social, Wed., July 20

Park Place Eatery, 23 West Center, 7 p.m.

Music by Ellyn and Jennilyn Rock

Photography Display by Rheana Gardner-Reeves

Introduction to the Southwestern Heritage Center by Roice Nelson

Dance Presentation by Christy Johnson

Free public event and refreshments will be served

It is that time of year to submit mini-grant applications.

Application and more information at https://www.cedarcityartscouncil.org/support/quick-grants/

Grants up to $500 for organizations and individual artists. Preference to projects that engage the community in the arts.

The Cedar City Arts Council has been awarding mini-grants since 2008. As of 2021 the Arts Council has given over $63,000 and awarded over 158 mini-grants since starting the mini-grant program in amounts from $100 to $500 per project. The Cedar City Arts Council is a nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing the arts in Iron County. Our mission is to foster a thriving arts community in Iron County through advocacy, appreciation, education, and support.

Thanks to everyone who participated. Entry forms and more info at https://cedarcityartscouncil.blogspot.com/2024/08/art-and-photography-contest-for-2024.html In conjunction with the Cedar Livestock & Heritage Festival we encourage entries from Kindergarten through 12 grade. Additional questions: cedarcityartscouncil@gmail.com

EXTENDED Deadline to Oct. 12, 2024
Submit entries to Artisans

As you may know the previous deadline for art submissions for this year’s Livestock Heritage Art Contest was set for September 27th. Part of the reason for the early deadline this year is because SUMA needed to close their museum on this date in order to prepare for their next major exhibit installation. Each year we average about 60 submissions to put on display for the contest. After collecting artwork last Friday, we only have about 20 submissions in total. We desperately need more submissions and have our community see the artistic talent of our Iron County students!

To help extend our deadline for additional art submissions Steve Yates at Artisans Gallery has offered to be a drop off location for the next couple of weeks with an extended submission deadline of October 12th. If artwork is framed, GREAT! However, not everyone can afford a frame. Just submit your students’ artwork with the submission form and we will cut a nice black poster backing frame for it to be hung and on display. If it’s a 3D sculpture, we will have a pedestal to display it. All artwork whether they receive awards or not will be hung, labeled and on display at the Heritage Livestock Festival event at the Diamonds Z arena.

Artisans Gallery is located at 94 W Center St, Cedar City, UT 84720 just east of Southern Utah Museum of Art. Artisans Gallery hours are Wednesday and Thursday from 12:-4 pm and Friday and Saturday from 12 – 5pm. If any art teachers can not deliver their students’ artwork to the Artisans Gallery during those days and times, then I will personally come out to your school and pick up the submission for you. 

If you have further questions about the contest, submissions instruction, or gallery exhibit display at the Heritage Festival Please let me know care of cedarcityartscouncil@gmail.com.

Randy Lawrence Seely

CVHS Visual Arts Instructor/Tech Theatre Coach

“Ready to  Venture Out?  Here are Two Good Ideas”

by Mary Anne Andersen for Iron County Today

I’ve got a couple of suggestions for things that you can do as the weather warms up and we cautiously start thinking about places to go and things to see.

After a long winter hiatus, the Cedar City Arts Council is presenting another arts social.  The previous one was in October as we sat outdoors on one of the last warm days of last year.  This one will also be outdoors on what we hope will be the warmest day of this year so far.  We will gather at the Lions Pavilion in Main Street Park on Saturday, May 8th, at 2:00 in the afternoon.  Now, I’m going to say this several times:  bring a lawn chair.

The program will feature Elaine Vickers discussing her newly-published book, Fadeaway.   Elaine is a local author whose newest work has garnered some national attention.  Besides discussing the book itself, Elaine will talk about the process of writing and how she manages to balance all the demands in her life.  It sounds like it will be another addition to my books-to-read shelf.  

Sarah Bearnson, a past recipient of an Arts Council mini-grant, will sing and play her guitar.  Sarah is the proprietor of a music studio called Cedar Melody Music, where she gives music lessons to students of all ages.  After she played for us once before, I received a request to have her return.  Here is that encore.

Other music will be provided by Derek Wood, a rather shy young friend of mine.  Derek is a very good violinist whom I have accompanied many times in the genre of classical music.  (He is also a high school freshman taking a piano class at SUU!)   So I asked him if he could fiddle, and he said yes.  I wonder if he will actually tap his foot…..

Bring a lawn chair.

Mona Woolsey will be there to promote the show of women artists that is currently up in the Cedar City Offices hallway and Council chambers.  That is the second suggestion I have for something to do as you get out and about.  We went to the opening night reception of the show and we 1) were surprised at the number of people there, and 2) are going back when there are fewer people.  We wear masks when we leave home, but most of those at the reception apparently don’t practice that habit.  So we didn’t stay long, just long enough to put a couple of giant cookies on a plate and sneak away.
But we will go back, and you’ll want to go also.  Many of the names of the artists we recognized:  Woolsey, Marchant, Robb, Braithwaite, but there are others I was unable to get close enough to read.  There was a real variety of media and styles, and some sculpture-like pieces as well.  The piece titled Main Street Nocturne stood out from a lot of landscape work.   

Go see that show.  Come to the social.  And bring a lawn chair.  

The Cedar City Arts Council Sponsors Multiple Business Display of Student Artwork

By: Shaylene Baruffi-Jensen

The Cedar City Arts Council is sponsoring an exciting event involving several businesses in Cedar City’s Historic Downtown Main Street & Center Street. These businesses will partner with local elementary, junior, and high schools: Gateway Preparatory Academy, North Elementary, Canyon View High, Canyon View Middle, South Elementary, Crimson Counseling, Enoch Elementary, Cedar Middle, and Escalante Valley. The McHale family will exhibit at Ellsworth Staffing. Students will exhibit their beautiful works of art in business storefront windows. This window front Art Walk will run for two weeks and provide a walkable venue for everyone in our community to observe and appreciate.

Cedar City businesses displaying student artwork include Whittlesticks, Color Country Art Supply, Clark & Linford Jewelers, Jensen’s Vacuum & Sewing Machines, Leavitt Insurance, Bombay Café, Inwest Title Co, Cardon’s, Firehouse Subs, Hunter Cowan, Sheer D’Lite, Gunjah the Bead Forest, Main Street Books, Palette Bakery, Platinum Salon & Beauty, Artisans Art Gallery, Swan Photography, Park Place Eatery, Cedar Sports, Celebrate the Occasions, Ellsworth Staffing, and Bristlecone Coffee. 

Get outside and support your local art students and small businesses! The student art show dates will be from Saturday, April 10^th through Saturday, April 24^th 2021.  Cedar City Arts Council Board member Susan Wooten has organized this event.

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Full exhibits at https://cedarcityartscouncil.blogspot.com/2021/04/businessart-student-art-walk-april-2021.html

More information: cedarcityartscouncil@gmail.com

Artwork from Canyon View High Park of the community exhibit