There's a whole world for kids at the Utah Arts Festival. Introduce art to your children with the Art Yard, Target's Mad Hatter, facepainting, the Toddler Zone, Kids Films and the SLCC Community Writing Center’s children’s literary programs and more. 

PB & J and ice cold milk are also available for kid appetites with all proceeds benefitting the Visual Arts Institute.

Art Yard: “Art is Elemental”

Daily, noon-9pm

In the Art Yard, art is elemental, and you, the artist, are the fifth element. Explore the realms of earth, fire, wind and water as you and your children paint, draw, and sculpt. Some kid-friendly art installations: create colorful flags to blow in the wind, decorate wacky rain-making trees, paint the fire dragon, create your own globe.

The Mad Hatter presented by Target

Turn an ordinary brown paper bag into an outrageous hat. A small materials fee applies.

Summerhays Music Center Instrument Petting Zoo

Come see what it is like to play a real band orchestra instrument! Music teachers will show you how. Instruments are well sanitized before they are played. (See Utah Arts Festival webisode about the Summerhays Music Center Instrument Petting Zoo.)

More info about Summerhays Music Center at www.summerhaysmusic.com.

Make-and-Take Projects presented by:


Art Access/VSA Utah

Art Access/VSA Utah provides equal opportunities to inclusive arts programming for Utahns with disabilities and those with limited access to the arts. Please join us in creating mixed media sculptures with elements of active movement.

More info on Access Art at www.accessart.org.

Red Butte Garden

Join Red Butte Garden and Arboretum for a fun and creative garden-themed project. 

More info on Red Butte Garden www.redbuttegarden.org.

Salt Lake Art Center

To celebrate our latest exhibition "Fallen Fruit of Utah" running June 11th- September 23rd, the Salt Lake Art Center activity will include fruit seed plantings in your own take home DIY decorated Peat Pot. Using fruit as a lens, the artist collective Fallen Fruit investigates urban space, ideas of neighborhood and new forms of located citizenship and community. Salt Lake Art Center is Utah's premiere venue for contemporary art. Founded in 1931 and now located in the heart of Salt Lake City, the Art Center exhibits groundbreaking work by leading local and international artists. Want more? Join us for our FREE Family Art Saturday program the 2nd Saturday of each month for more family friendly activities.

More info on Salt Lake Center at www.slartcenter.org.

Tracy Aviary

Come build your own owl for a hooting good time at Tracy Aviary's booth! Choose between a mystical owl mask and an amusing owl puppet. Unless you're a small rodent, you'd be wise to stop by.

More info on Tracy Aviary at www.tracyaviary.org.

Utah Museum of Fine Arts

Charcoal Drawings with the Utah Museum of Fine Arts: Did you know that one of the most common artistic tools is created using fire? Spark your creativity and ignite your imagination as we learn about charcoal and make daring drawings of your own. The Utah Museum of Fine Arts (UMFA) is Utah's premier visual art museum, and serves as a bridge from campus to the broader community. The UMFA's permanent collection features some 18,000 works from antiquity to contemporary art. Special exhibitions make each visit a new experience, and a variety of public programs are scheduled year-round to encourage dialogue and discovery.

More info on the Utah Museum of Fine Arts at www.umfa.utah.edu.
 
 

Visual Art Institute

Using colorful paints and beads create your own PinWheel. Watching a pinwheel spin can be mesmerizing for children & adults. When wind catches in the spaces of the wheel it spins around and around. With the addition of your personal touches of color and patterns makes them just that more interesting.

More info on the Viaul Art Institute at www.visualartinstitute.org.

Fear No Film

Short comedy films for kids 3 and up outdoors in the Art Yard. Program runs every hour.

• Deux Petits Bateaux, 3 min, Illinois
• For a Fistful of Snow, 6 min, Switzerland
• Das Tub, 4 min, New Zealand
• When They Were Little, 6 min, Canada
• How the Coyote got his Cunning, 3 min, Pennsylvania
• Countdown, 4 min, California
• Nature's Library, 3 min, Canada

Literary Workshops for Kids

All workshops are held at the SLCC Community Writing Center located in the crescent wall of the City Library. Parents are encouraged to participate with their younger children.

• Graphic Classics: Create your own Comic Book: Join Richard Jenkins, illustrator of Sky Ape comic book series, for an interactive workshop that will get you started on creating your own comic book. Thurs, Fri & Sun, 2–3 pm, SLCC Community Writing Center
• Kids’ Mini-Workshop: Rockin’ Words: Stone Poetry: What better way to mark your place in the world than with a poem written on a colored rock and placed somewhere special at the Utah Arts Festival grounds or in your own neighborhood. Thurs, 3:30–4:30 pm, SLCC Community Writing Center
• Kids' Mini-Workshop: Banana Haikus: Based on favorite fruits, children of all ages will learn to write a Haiku and decorate in theme. Frozen Bananas available for first 15 participants. Fri, 3:30–4:30 pm, SLCC Community Writing Center
• Community Reading: Youth Voices: Join the CWC’s young voices as teens share writing from a fresh perspective. Fri, 7–8 pm, SLCC Community Writing Center
• Kids' Mini-Workshop: Fractured Fairytales: Kids create their own fractured fairytales using familiar fairytales and changing the characters, point of view, settings and plot. It’s an imaginative and fun experience. Sat, 3:30–4:30 pm, SLCC Community Writing Center
• Kids’ Mini-Workshop: DaDa Poetry: Learn about reading and writing by playing with randomly selected words and phrases from magazines and newspapers to create your own Dada poetry masterpiece. Sun, 3:30–4:30 pm, SLCC Community Writing Center

Art Yard Coordinator: Margaret Willis

Assistant Coordinators: Rachael Benoit, Kim Gallegos, Annastasia Kaessner, Adam Kaessner, James Yeats, Tanya Richardson, Whitney Olausen