Join the Utah Arts Council on May 8 and 9 for the Second Annual Mountain West Conference on the Arts. This two day event features 16 workshops designed for artists, arts organizations, and arts professionals. Workshop topics include: negotiating Second Life and other social networking sites, locating and programming alternative performance sites, and how to pitch stories to the media, among many others. The Conference also features two speakers, documentary filmmaker Dodge Billingsley and poet, author, and lecturer David Whyte, as well as numerous opportunities to network with other artists, nonprofit and arts professionals.
Billingsley is a documentary filmmaker who has curated the Utah Cultural Celebration Center’s upcoming exhibition “From the Masses to the Masses: Art of the Yan'an Cave Artists Group.” Billingsley will speak on artistic repression and censorship in China. The second speaker and keynote, is poet, author, and lecturer David Whyte. Whyte is known internationally for his eloquent and inspiring talks drawn from poetry and prose that introduce an insightful and enlightened approach to daily living. He has given lectures in front of a wide array of audiences from multi-national corporations, to national government agencies, to non-profit organizations. Whyte will lead a workshop on communication skills for those in leadership roles. In his keynote speech, titled “Crossing the Unknown Sea: Work as a Pilgrimage of Identity,” Whyte will touch on how work is of enormous consequence to human beings. Through it we provide for the self and family, but also, unknowingly, shape our society and our future as we do it. While it can be a joy or a burden, at best it is an intimate conversation between what you perceive to be your identity and who you really are. Through the insights of great poets and their poetry this should be a time to re-imagine and re-dedicate ourselves to a deeper understanding of our life’s work.
Registration and further information can be found online at arts.utah.gov or by calling Jason Bowcutt at 801.236.7554.
The Mountain West Conference on the Arts is brought to you by the Utah Arts Council, part of the Division of Arts and Museums in the Utah Department of Community and Culture.
The 2008 Mountain West Conference on the Arts is presented by NowPlayingUtah.com.
