Cache Valley Arts District

The creation of a Cache Valley Arts District will be celebrated Monday, June 4, at 11:30 a.m. on the steps of the Logan Tabernacle, 50 North Main, Logan with a ribbon cutting, performance from the Cache Children’s Choir and remarks from dignitaries, including Logan City Mayor Randy Watts, Cache County Council member Craig Petersen and Logan City Council member Tami Pyfer. Immediately following the events, the Utah Festival Opera Youth Symphony will perform in the first free daily Noon Music at the Tabernacle concert, a series that runs Mondays through Saturdays throughout the summer.

The arts district acknowledges the wealth of artistic and cultural activities that already happen in the space of a few short blocks in the heart of Cache Valley, practically radiating outward from the zero coordinates at Main and Center. There are free concerts in the Logan Tabernacle, Summerfest, performances in front of the historic Cache County Courthouse, hands-on arts activities and live performances at the Gardener’s Market, Friday Night Gallery Walks and  Pillow Theatre at the Bullen Center. Cultural opportunities continue with local and touring performances in the Ellen Eccles Theatre, the Caine Lyric Theatre and, possibly one day, at the Utah Theatre, which now features older movies often cleverly timed to coincide with local events (American Graffiti during the Cruise In, for example). Arts instruction in this area offers everything from African dance to the visual arts. 

 

Artistic expression has been woven throughout Cache Valley history, and so it is appropriate that the arts district is being created just days after Cache County celebrates its sesquicentennial. Old timers report accounts of Shakespearean performances shortly after settlement, an opera house was built on the corner of Center and Main in the late 1800s and Logan was included in the vaudeville circuit during the early 20th century.

 

One of the purposes of the arts district is to draw attention to the wealth of activities that are already happening. But some artists have a more ambitious vision. 

 

“The unveiling of the arts district is just the beginning of what we hope to see happen in this critical area at the heart of the valley,” says Wendi Hassan, education and outreach coordinator for the Cache Valley Center for the Arts. “Now we hope to find ways to bring businesses and arts organizations together in ways that will benefit both. Many wonderful things are already happening, and by working together to generate excitement, it will become more vibrant and more people will come out to engage with others, experience the arts, meet friends on the sidewalk, shop, dine or even just go out walking.”

 

The grassroots organization behind the launch of the arts district is a loose coalition of individuals from several arts organizations who meet quarterly to brainstorm, discuss issues and learn about important issues facing the arts. (The meetings are open to anyone with an interest in the arts). Participants in the Arts Summit include representatives from the Alliance for the Varied Arts, American West Heritage Center, Bridger Folk Music Society, Cache Children’s Choir, Cache Regional Theatre Company, Cache Valley Center for the Arts, Cache Valley Civic Ballet, Celebrate America Show, Chamber Music Society of Logan, Concert and Lecture Series at the Tabernacle, Nora Eccles Harrison Museum of Art at Utah State University, Old Barn Community Theatre, Utah State University’s Old Lyric Repertory Company, Summerfest, USU music and theatre departments, Utah Festival Opera, Valley Dance Ensemble and several others.   The Arts Summit, as the organization calls itself, received funding from the Utah Arts Council through a Creative Communities Grant to form the arts district and support the return of Summerfest to historic downtown Logan. The Logan Downtown Alliance, Cache Chamber of Commerce, Cache Valley Visitor’s Bureau and Logan City joined in the Arts Summit’s request for funding from the Utah Arts Council.

 

Cache Valley is bursting with artistic activity, Hassan says. During the summer months tourists flock to Utah Festival Opera, Old Lyric Repertory Company and Summerfest events and fill hotel rooms. Less well known, perhaps, are the year-round opportunities to experience the arts. Although the arts district is being unveiled at the beginning of the summer arts season, directly before the first Noon Music at the Tabernacle, many local artists hope that the excitement and energy of the arts district will spill over into the winter months.

 

Individuals in any community have plenty to disagree about, and we are good at telling those stories, but the laundry list of organizations that have worked together on the Cache Valley Arts District, is a reminder that there are also lots of good things to agree on — vibrant communities where companies want to locate because they can attract a good workforce, the honoring of tradition and the celebration of diversity and, most importantly, something to do tonight and tomorrow night and the day after that.