Since 1992, the Utah Arts Festival in conjunction with the Salt Lake City Arts Council and the Salt Lake City Mayor's Office have recognized contributions to our community through the Mayor's Artist Awards. The 2021 Mayor’s Artist Award recipients have done extensive work to benefit the Salt Lake City community and other communities beyond our own. They have deeply enriched the cultural landscape of our City and the lives of our citizens.
The Mayor’s Artist Awards will be presented on Friday, August 27, at 6pm on the Festival Stage.
2021 Recipients
Mestizo Institute of Culture and Arts (MICA)
Mestizo Institute of Culture and Arts (MICA) is a grassroots cultural organization dedicated to arts, justice, belonging, and community power. MICA was founded in 2003 by Ruby Chacón and Terry Hurst as a platform for underrepresented artists and communities to tell their stories and build together. For almost two decades, our interdisciplinary programs and exhibitions have showcased emerging and established artists and provided hundreds of west side youth with a creative space to engage in activism and art. Previously located inside Mestizo Coffeehouse, MICA now collaborates with Sugar Space Arts Warehouse and other west side partners.
Lisa Sewell
Over her 25-year career with UAF, 14 as its director, Lisa’s work brought people together, supported economic growth and bolstered the creative economy. Lisa developed innovations such as the Urban Arts, Fear No Film, and Art & Technology programs. She is a champion of the arts as well as our city, who ensured audiences saw the best artists the nation and our community have to offer. In 2020 Lisa stepped down from her position with UAF to start a new business as a professional organizer. During her free time, she continues to swim, bike, run, knit, and garden.
Framework Arts
Framework Arts is a local, project-based, non-profit organization founded on the belief that youth should play a vital role in building and engaging in a creative community. Since 2014, Framework Arts has supported arts programming in community and school settings. We assert that through the arts youth should be taught to simultaneously love and critique their everyday existence. Recent projects include Work, Love, The League of Reluctant Bicyclists, the Wisdom of the Water Closet, and Water, which is currently on display at the UMFA as part of Confluence.
Paisley Rekdal
Paisley Rekdal is the author of six books of poetry and four books of prose, most recently Nightingale, published in 2019 by Copper Canyon Press, and Appropriate: A Provocation, published by W.W. Norton in 2021. Her work has received fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Fulbright Foundation, the Amy Lowell Poetry Traveling Scholarship Trust, and various state arts councils. Her poetry has been included in multiple editions of The Best American Poetry series, and she was guest editor for Best American Poetry 2020. She is Utah’s poet laureate, and creator and editor of the web archive projects Mapping Literary Utah and Mapping Salt Lake City, as well as the digital poem West: A Translation, which documents the transcontinental railroad.
Dallas Graham, Red Fred Project Executive Director & Publisher
Dallas Graham is a fortysomething, Salt Lake City creative interested in books, birds, stories, children, kindness, photography, letters, yoga, punctuation marks, giant eggs, compassion, making hummus, collaborations, and hiking with others. He believes there are many ways to approach problem-solving, especially when you’re working with people who care about other people. Dallas is a publisher and the executive director of the Red Fred Project and is currently creating life-legacies, in the form of children’s books, with kids living with critical illnesses and rare diseases. “We are producing the greatest stories ever told.”
Past Recipients
Since 1992, the Utah Arts Festival in conjunction with the Salt Lake City Mayor's Office has recognized contributions to our community through the Mayor's Artist Awards. Listed below are past recipients.
Please contact Claire Taylor, Visual Arts Coordinator at the Salt Lake City Arts Council, with any questions at .
2020
Clever Octopus
Shandra Benito
1520 Arts
Pilar Pobil
Brittany Reese
2019
DesignBuildBLUFF
Margaret Willis
UMFA's ACME
Rock n' Roll Camp for Girls
Ed Napia
2018
ART EDUCATION – Joe Marotta
SERVICE TO THE ARTS BY AN INDIVIDUAL – Kerri Hopkins
SERVICE TO THE ARTS BY AN ORGANIZATION – The Utah Arts Alliance (UAA)
LITERARY ARTS – Ann Poore
2017
VISUAL ARTS – Geri Cordova
ARTS EDUCATION – Lynn Hoffman-Brouse
SERVICE TO THE ARTS BY AN INDIVIDUAL – Shawn Kane
SERVICE TO THE ARTS BY AN ORGANIZATION – Gifted Music School
PERFORMING ARTS – Susan Memmott Allred
2016
VISUAL ARTS – Kathryn Stats
SERVICE TO THE ARTS BY AN INDIVIDUAL – Betsy Burton
SERVICE TO THE ARTS BY AN ORGANIZATION – Utah Symphony | Utah Opera
SERVICE TO THE ARTS BY AN ORGANIZATION – Utah Tibetan Association
PERFORMING ARTS – Jason Hardink
SPECIAL RECOGNTION FOR ITS 40TH ANNIVERSARY – The Utah Arts Festival
2015
VISUAL ARTS - Tony Smith and Claudia Sisemore
LITERARY ARTS - Jeff Metcalf
SERVICE TO THE ARTS BY AN INDIVIDUAL - Kent Miles
SERVICE TO THE ARTS BY AN ORGANIZATION - Plan-B Theatre Company
2014
VISUAL ARTS – Ken Baxter
PERFORMING ARTS – Ashley Anderson
LITERARY ARTS - Utah Humanities Council Book Festival
SERVICE TO THE ARTS BY AN INDIVIDUAL - Craig Miller
SERVICE TO THE ARTS BY AN ORGANIZATION - Artists of Utah
2013
VISUAL ARTS - Karen Horne
PERFORMING ARTS - Mary Ann Lee
LITERARY ARTS - Bryan Young
SERVICE TO THE ARTS BY AN INDIVIDUAL - Frank McEntire
SERVICE TO THE ARTS BY AN ORGANIZATION - RadioWest
2012
VISUAL ARTS - Cara Despain
PERFORMING ARTS - Madeleine Choir School
LITERARY ARTS - Pat Bagley
SERVICE TO THE ARTS BY AN INDIVIDUAL - Jean Irwin
SERVICE TO THE ARTS BY AN ORGANIZATION - SLCC Community Writing Center
2011
PERFORMING ARTS - Charles Frost
VISUAL ARTS - Trent Alvey
SERVICE TO THE ARTS BY AN INDIVIDUAL - Carol Edison
SERVICE TO THE ARTS BY AN INDIVIDUAL - Ruth Lubbers
SERVICE TO THE ARTS BY AN ORGANIZATION - Book Arts Program
2010
VISUAL ARTS - Teresa Flowers
PERFORMING ARTS - Richard Scott
SERVICE TO THE ARTS BY AN INDIVIDUAL - Dan Miller
SERVICE TO THE ARTS BY AN INDIVIDUAL - Jeff Lambson
SERVICE TO THE ARTS BY AN ORGANIZATION - Saltgrass Printmakers
2009
PERFORMING ARTS – Keven Myhre
VISUAL ARTS – Sam Wilson
LITERARY ARTS – Joel Long
SERVICE TO THE ARTS BY AN ORGANIZATION – Heart & Soul
SERVICE TO THE ARTS BY AN ORGANIZATION – Project 337
2008
PERFORMING ARTS - Jerry Rapier
VISUAL ARTS - Edward Bateman
LITERARY ARTS - Lisa Bickmore
SERVICE TO THE ARTS BY AN ORGANIZATION - Utah Cultural Alliance
SERVICE TO THE ARTS BY AN INDIVIDUAL - Maria Garciaz
2007
PERFORMING ARTS – Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company
VISUAL ARTS – Ruby Chacon
LITERARY ARTS – Alex Caldiero
SERVICE TO THE ARTS BY AN ORGANIZATION – Salt Lake Art Center
SERVICE TO THE ARTS BY AN INDIVIDUAL – Daryl Drage
2006
SERVICE TO THE ARTS – Jerry & Jean LaSarre Gardner
VISUAL ARTS – Bonnie Sucec
SERVICE TO THE ARTS – Ken Sanders
2004
PERFORMING ARTS – Stephen Brown
VISUAL ARTS – Valerie Parker Price
VISUAL ARTS – Shawn Rossiter
SERVICE TO THE ARTS – Walt Hunter
2003
PERFORMING ARTS - Herschel Bullen
VISUAL ARTS - V. Kim Martinez
LITERARY ARTS - Eileen Hallett Stone
SERVICE TO THE ARTS - Spy Hop Productions
2002
VISUAL ARTS - Susan Makov
LITERARY ARTS - Melissa Bond
SERVICE TO THE ARTS - DeWayne Sessions
SERVICE TO THE ARTS - Cordell Taylor
2001
PERFORMING ARTS - Carolyn Wood
VISUAL ARTS - Michael Moonbird & Victoria Lyons
SERVICE TO THE ARTS - Art Access/VSA arts of Utah
SERVICE TO THE ARTS - Marian Iwasaki & I.J. “Izzy” Wagner
2000
PERFORMING ARTS - Jim Moreno
VISUAL ARTS - Kent Rigby
LITERARY ARTS - Jeffrey Berke
SERVICE TO THE ARTS - Victoria Panella Bourns
1999
PERFORMING ARTS - Nancy Borgenicht & Allen Nevins
VISUAL ARTS - Brent Herridge
LITERARY ARTS - Stephen Ruffus
SERVICE TO THE ARTS - Cary Stevens Jones
1998
PERFORMING ARTS - Linda Call Smith
VISUAL ARTS - Ed Dolinger
LITERARY ARTS - Neil Hollands
SERVICE TO THE ARTS - Bonnie Phillips
1997
PERFORMING ARTS - Rita Bankhead
VISUAL ARTS - Paul Heath
LITERARY ARTS - Sandy Anderson
SERVICE TO THE ARTS - KRCL 91FM
1996
PERFORMING ARTS - Tina Misaka
VISUAL ARTS - Carleen Jimenez
LITERARY ARTS - Hector Ahumada
SERVICE TO THE ARTS - Kathy Wilson
1995
PERFORMING ARTS - Jimmy & Beth Miklavcic
VISUAL ARTS - Willy Littig
LITERARY ARTS - Francois Camoin
1994
PERFORMING ARTS - Joe Pitti
VISUAL ARTS - Elaine Harding
LITERARY ARTS - Katharine Coles
1993
PERFORMING ARTS - Frances Pruyn
VISUAL ARTS - John Schaefer
LITERARY ARTS - Terry Tempest Williams
1992
PERFORMING ARTS - Barbara Scowcroft
VISUAL ARTS - Stephen Goldsmith
LITERARY ARTS - Aden Ross
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