Utah Arts Festival ‘postpones’ 2020 event

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah, March 31, 2020  — Utah Arts Festival officials have announced they will postpone the June 2020 event, and will plan to hold it in June of 2021.

“The staff has been carefully monitoring local and national guidelines and recommendations for large-gatherings over the last couple of weeks,” said a press release from organizers. “Taking into consideration the health and safety of the community, artists and all those involved with putting on the Festival, a decision was made to postpone the event until June 2021.”

A Utah Arts Festival spokesman clarified to Gephardt Daily that the word “postponed” was used because most of scheduled 2020 artists contacted so far have agreed to come back for the 2021 festival.

Lisa Sewell, executive director of the Utah Arts Festival said in a prepared statement that delaying the scheduled festival by a few months is harder than it might seem.

“There are many moving parts, many people and many factors to consider,” Sewell said. “The option was evaluated thoroughly, but ultimately uncertainty about availability of artists, vendors, partners and volunteers, as well as the developing situation with the COVID-19 pandemic raised more concerns than solutions. For that reason, we believe it is in the best interest of all involved to postpone the event to 2021.”

In the coming weeks, the staff will be working with their artistic coordinators to identify opportunities that will allow the Utah Arts Festival to maintain its connection with the community and continue to support and promote art and artists as well as their other non-profit partners, the press release said. An announcement will made shortly relating to those future plans.