In concluding the eight days of covering the Utah Arts Festival, several points come to mind. First, the festival ran very smoothly; whatever glitches or hiccups occurred were dispatched quickly. Second, festival coordinators clearly have learned to manage and plan the Library Square/Washington Square venue in downtown as effectively as possible in accommodating the swarms of people who visited the activities. Third, the revived Art Partners Program — with this year’s contingent coming from the Uintah Basin — is just one of the crucial gateway signals in sustaining the energy of the last few days into the larger, ubiquitous presence of the arts not only in Salt Lake City but also in communities throughout the state.

There also were other encouraging signs. The festival’s vibrancy was propelled, in solid representation, by young people as event coordinators, spectators and as participants. Throughout the weekend, there were constant prominent signs that festival coordinators are listening and taking notes with regard to young people who will comprise the future base of supporters, artists, patrons, musicians, filmmakers, and writers. As I indicated at the outset last week, the festival has arrived at a transformative point where it will not only be a draw for residents in and near Salt Lake City but for tourists thorughout Utah and in other states.

In particular, I was impressed with the prospects of a longer-term cultural vision as expressed by various individuals throughout the weekend and by visual, creative, and performing artists through their work that suggests the potential for the creative statement to be simultaneously edifying, enlightening, empowering, and engaging for individuals to celebrate and ponder as they face the complex challenges in our public arenas. Indeed, as I have reported not only during the week of the festival but throughout the existence of this blog, there is plenty of solid evidence that Salt Lake City has a budding infrastructure for the youth to participate in the arts and there should be no reason to limit or eliminate any programs whatsoever. To the contrary, we should be expanding this enterprise.

I’ve spoken frequently in progressive and optimistic tones about what the 21st Century will bring in terms of the individual artist, the individual entrepreneur, and the public intellectual. In no small irony, the digital age has become the technological spark for an unfettered mindset, especially for young people who persistently challenge the conventional perceptions of the passivity of digital multi-media platforms. In fact, there were plenty of participants this past weekend who demonstrated, often with impressive results, that they have learned to marshal these immersive digital technologies into a wholly different realm of creative expression. Indeed, we are not the cold-spirited, cold-hearted amateurish cultural bores that some cyber critics have characterized.

This is our collective charge as advocates for the arts. And, in the afterglow of a definitively successful arts festival, we can look forward to future Utah Arts Festivals where the 21st Century voice inspires and compels us to work for the collective good of our community.