IVINS – The Kayenta Arts Foundation is proud to announce the official groundbreaking ceremony for the Kayenta Center for the Arts on May 31.
The ceremony will be held at 10:30 a.m. at the center’s construction site, located in the Coyote Gulch Art Village in the Kayenta community. The public is invited to join Ivins Mayor Chris Hart, members of the Ivins City Council, city officials, members of the local business community, the developer of Kayenta, Kayenta residents and patrons of the Kayenta Arts Foundation for remarks, refreshments and the official project groundbreaking.
The 9,400-square-foot Kayenta Center for the Arts will house a 3,200-square-foot black box theater designed to accommodate a variety of events and suitable for both proscenium and theatre-in-the-round productions. The building design also includes dressing rooms for talent, ladies’ and men’s lounges, rehearsal space, lobby, concessions, backstage areas for props, costumes and sets, a shop, offices, box office and garden courtyard. It is scheduled to be complete May 1, 2014, and will be the only independently-owned arts center of its kind in Southern Utah.
“We will have a season of theatrical productions that will be subscription-based for our local Southern Utah audiences, but we will also be bringing in performance events from outside the area, as well, for audiences to enjoy. The subscription-based season will include both musical and non-musical theatrical productions,” Garry Morris, co-artistic director of the Kayenta Arts Foundation, said. “The outside events that will be brought in will include musical concerts, dance troupes, traveling musical and nonmusical productions and much more. Wedding reception rentals, lectures, seminars, and other event rentals, not specifically performance-based, will be scheduled in between the theatrical events. The plan is to make the Arts Center available to the community-at-large as a multi-purpose events center.”
The Kayenta Arts Foundation is a tax-exempt charitable organization incorporated in Utah in February 2011. The center will be consistent with the foundation’s mission “to develop and create an environment that fosters diverse artistic endeavors for educational and enrichment purposes” and its vision “to be the premier venue in the greater Southern Utah area for awareness, appreciation, education and enjoyment of diverse artistic endeavors.”
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Video courtesy of Kayenta Arts Foundation
The foundation will develop and expand a core educational outreach program through the Student Matinée Series (student post-show discussions with the artists), the Saturday Scene (productions specifically designed for children and their parents to enjoy together), Kayenta Center for the Arts Tours (interactive, hands-on tours of the backstage areas of the theatre), various classes and seminars (acting, dance, stagecraft, lighting design, music appreciation and other arts-related classes offered to the community-at-large) and the Connection Program (bringing arts directly to those who might otherwise not be able to experience the arts firsthand, with performances at veteran, nursing and assisted-living homes and adult and juvenile correction facilities.) A principal goal of all these programs is to make live theatre, concert, and dance events accessible to residents of all economic levels and diverse cultural backgrounds.
Since 2011, the Kayenta Arts Foundation has produced a number of events, including two highly successful street painting festivals, two evenings of performance poetry, classical, country and rock music concerts, dance performances, variety shows, an original play reading, and coming in October 2013, the 14th annual Art in Kayenta Festival. The festival was originally a private endeavor, but starting in 2013 it will be a charitable event sponsored by the Kayenta Arts Foundation.
The Kayenta Arts Foundation will continue to produce its own events at the center, but the Kayenta Center for the Arts will be available for rental to other public and private groups as well. Outside production companies, organizations or private parties will be able to rent the space for their own arts productions, as well as events like wedding receptions, lectures and seminars, corporate retreats, city functions, meetings, special exhibits, etc.
“The more we know and understand the experiences, similarities, and differences that comprise the human condition, the more capable we are of accepting and appreciating others. The arts give us a path to such knowledge and understanding; they are a major component of our cultural heritage, a statement of our present condition, and a vision for the future,” Kayenta Arts Foundation Chair Judith Kapuscinski said. “All of us involved with Kayenta Arts Foundation invite our audiences to join us and ‘Be a Part of the Art!’”
Event details and contact information
Date: May 31
Time: 10:30 a.m.
Location: Kayenta Center for the Arts construction site, Coyote Gulch Art Village, Kayenta
Admission: Free
Contact: Garry Morris, Kayenta Arts Foundation – 818- 809-6676
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Submitted by: Kayenta Arts Foundation
Email: [email protected]
