University of Utah alumni are not only planning and organizing Queer Spectra Arts Festival (QSAF) 2022, but sharing work their work as well. The fourth annual festival, “Tell It Like It Is” will take place this coming Saturday, May 21 2022 from 12p - 9p at Sunset Studios and online.
The festival showcases art from “a diverse array of voices, backgrounds, experiences, cultures, mediums, and artistic disciplines in order to celebrate queer artistic expressions.” As stated in the group’s mission: “Queer Spectra Arts Festival challenges and contributes to contemporary understanding of queer discourse while promoting nuanced conversations between artists and audiences about queer identity and art.”
In addition to a day packed with work from its featured artists, events also include public workshops by Rogelio Peña in videography and Rachael Jenkins in songwriting, and a keynote address from poet and published author Wynter Storm.
This year, organizers and participants reflect on how current events continue to shape and shift the artistic landscape. The QSAF site states, “As the art world dives into another year of the pandemic, we as artists and audiences are at a crossroads, ready to strip off the inauthentic and become vulnerable as we encounter feelings of isolation. Art makes space for dreams, whimsy, imagination, desire, and change. Art teaches us to be hopeful while calling on us to examine pain and what we’ve left behind.”
Here are the alumni from the College of Fine Arts working to fuel this compelling event.
ORGANIZING TEAM
Max Barnewitz (BA ‘13 French, MA ‘16 Comparative Literary & Cultural Studies)
Aileen Norris (HBFA ‘19 Dance, BA ‘19 English)
Emma Sargent (BFA ‘19 Dance, BA ‘19 Gender Studies)
Arin Lynn (BA ‘20 Dance)
Jayde Chase (BFA ‘22 Dance)
FEATURED ARTISTS
Ariella Cohen (current student, Department of Film & Media Arts)
Rae Luebbert (HBFA ‘18 Dance, BA ‘18 Spanish)
Nick Weaver (BFA ‘22, Dance)
Hunter Hazard (BFA ‘21, Dance)
Eliza Kitchens (BFA ‘20, Dance)
Tori Meyer (HBFA ‘21, Dance)
Nora Lang (BFA ‘19, Dance)
Becca Speechley (BFA '20, Dance)
For more on "Tell It Like It Is," visit www.queerspectra.com.