Utah has a festival celebrating just about every aspect of the state, from extreme sports and Native American culture to theater and railroads. Even if groups can’t visit during a particular festival, there are festival-related venues and attractions groups can experience year-round.
Sundance Film Festival, Park City
The famous festival celebrating “risk-taking storytellers” will once again draw flocks of celebrities and film buffs to Park City and environs for 10 days in January 2014.
Groups looking for a taste of the spotlight can visit the local theaters that serve as screening locations, or host an off-site at Robert Redford’s Sundance Resort to participate in workshops and programs that help foster group creativity.
Utah Shakespeare Festival, Cedar City
Running from late June through early October, the Shakespeare Festival celebrates the Bard and contemporaries with the production of eight shows per season. Southern Utah University, which hosts the festival, recently received a $6 million gift from the Sorenson Foundation that will go toward new facilities for the school and festival and be named after Beverly Sorenson, a long-time benefactor of the arts in Utah. The new Sorenson Center for the Arts is projected to cost around $30 million and is aiming for completion sometime in 2015. The new center will replace the Adams Memorial Theater, a replica of the Shakespeare Globe Theater on the university’s campus.
Moab Music Festival, Moab
The 2013 festival will be the 21st iteration of this unique musical gathering, where visitors discover that the region’s iconic red rocks aren’t just good for mountain biking, but offer surprisingly good acoustics as well. Held over Labor Day, the festival showcases a variety of musical genres, from jazz to chamber music, and the headliner Grotto Concerts are held 30 miles down the Colorado River and lead into a 4-day musical rafting trip for attendees.
