Please join the board and staff of Utah Cultural Alliance at our Annual Meeting and Luncheon!

This event is a wonderful opportunity to get together with other lovers of the arts & humanities. Proceeds from this luncheon support our 501(c)3 programs to amplify Utah's humanities and arts, collect economic and other data indicating the benefits of culture, as well as boost the Cultural Asset Map.

Event Travel Directions and Parking Info:

DIRECTIONS

From Southbound I-15:

Exit on the Salt Lake City 400 South Exit.
Turn left onto 400 South.
Continue straight on 400 South until you reach West Temple. Caffe Molise is on the Corner of 400 South and West Temple on the south side of the road.

From Northbound I-15:

Exit on the Salt Lake City 600 South Exit (one way street).
Continue straight on 600 South until you reach West Temple.
Turn left on West Temple.
Continue straight on West Temple until you reach 400 South.
Caffe Molise is on the Corner of 400 South and West Temple on the south side of the road.

PARKING

We suggest that you park at the Sheraton ($5) or across the street in the lot ($8).

Awardees: Linda C. Smith and Cynthia Buckingham

 

Linda C. Smith- She is a founder and current artistic/executive director of Repertory Dance Theater. She oversees a company of ten dancers and a distinguished repertory of classical to contemporary dance works. Professor Smith teaches repertory class and dance history. She has served on the dance panel of the National Endowment for the Arts.

 

Cynthia Buckingham- Originally from Minneapolis, Minnesota, Cynthia Buckingham moved to Utah in 1983 to join the Utah Humanities staff. As Executive Director from 1997 to 2017, she championed Utah Humanities’ mission of empowering Utahns to improve their communities through active engagement in the humanities. She has been a long-term member of the Alliance for Unity, a group of Utah business, education, religious, political, and philanthropic leaders that promotes civility and civic engagement in order to bridge divides, the Utah Women’s Forum, and the Utah Civility and Community Initiative. She has served as chair of the Utah Nonprofits Association and vice chair of the national Federation of State Humanities Councils, and was a founding board member and past president of the Utah Cultural Alliance. She is a strong supporter of UCA as a voice and advocate for Utah’s diverse collaborative cultural sector.

Utahns for Culture Special Honorees: Larry Cesspooch-Suhspuech, Max Chang, and Jean Tokuda Irwin

Larry Cesspooch-Suhspuech: 

Ute Storyteller/Spiritual Leader uses film, music, and storytelling to covey his stories. He grew up on the Uintah & Ouray Ute Reservation in Northeastern Utah. He is a Vietnam Veterans. After the service he attended the Institute of American Indian Arts for his AA, then went to the Anthropology Film Center for his BA, both in Santa Fe, N.M.

Larry maintains a Sweat Lodge holding bi-weekly ceremonies and is one of the Spiritual Leaders for his Noohchew, Ute people. Larry has been involved with the protection of Bear Ears National Monument. Cesspooch is often called by his Native Community to give invocations for many public activities.

He served over twelve years as a Utah Humanities Public Square Speaker, presenting “Utah History Through Native Eyes,” as one of his many topics. He is often called on by his tribe to represent their history and view point. Cesspooch has served as a Board Member for the Center for Documentary Arts & Expression in Salt Lake City since the early 90’s.

Larry created the "Ute Tribe Audio-Visual Department," one of the first tribal production groups in the states in ‘79. They produced over 600 films for the Ute Indian Tribe on the culture, language and history. During his 23-year tenure, Cesspooch also served as the Editor for the "Ute Bulletin" tribal newspaper, and was Public Relations Director for the tribe 90-2002.

The filmmaker left the tribe in 2002 to create his own production company, "Through Native Eyes Productions." His present film project, “Mat Warriors” is about the Ute Tribe’s Co-Ed Wrestling Club. He had a short Claymation film in the 1994 and been a member of the Sundance Institute Family since conducting Blessing Ceremonies each summer for the various film and theater labs.

Cesspooch continues to preserve Ute history through UTETUBE.xyz, the Ute Tribe’s Photo & Video Digital Archive on line. Eventually the website will have 250 of the videos produced for the tribe and over 500 of the tribe’s Photo Archive.

Max Chang:

Chang was born and raised in Millcreek, Utah. He received a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of California, Berkeley and an MBA from The Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania with a dual major in Marketing and Entrepreneurial Management. Currently, he is the Chief Operating Officer and partner of American Estate Management Corporation.

Max is a board member of the Golden Spike Foundation, also known as Spike 150. Max’s primary charge was to ensure the recognition and appreciation of the contributions of the Chinese railroad worker to not only to the Transcontinental Railroad but also Utah and America’s history during this year’s sesquicentennial celebration. Max emphasized using the arts as a vehicle to tell the untold story of the Chinese railroad workers and many others who contributed to the greatest engineering achievement of the 19^th Century.

Over the past ten years, Max has served on numerous arts and cultural related boards. He is currently the Board Chair of the Salt Lake County Zoo Arts and Parks Tier 1 Advisory Board and on the Governor’s Mansion Artist Awards Committee. He is a past board member of Natural History Museum of Utah, Salt Lake County Center for the Arts (now Arts and Culture), and Salt Lake County Cultural Facilities Support Program. He also has served on the boards of Karl Malone Foundation for Kids, Holladay Preschool and is currently the Treasurer of the Oakridge Elementary Parent Teachers.

Max believes that the arts, culture and humanities can help communities to better lead for the present and future. More importantly, they evoke empathy, inspire ingenuity and enable multi-dimensional vision, all of which will promote critical thinking, problem solving and creation in a multiple of fields.

Max lives in Millcreek with his wife, Edee, and their two daughters, Genevieve and Gisele.

Jean Tokuda Irwin:

Jean holds a B.A. and M.A. from the University of Texas (UTMB).  Since 1991, she has served as the Arts Education Program Manager for the Utah Division of Arts and Museums and now, also as Accessibility Coordinator.

She serves on NASAA/AE’s Diversity, Equity, Access & Inclusion Group & NEA/POL Accessibility Working Group, Spy Hop Advisory Board.

Past professional service includes panelist for 13 NEA panels, 6 sister SAAs, and 8 years as reviewer for the President’s Committee for Arts and Humanities Education; reviewer for Institute of Museum & Library Services Museum Assessment Program; NASAA/AE Advisory Group & Leadership Taskforce, Coalition for Minorities Advisory Committee to the Utah State Board of Education; the Utah Indian Education Taskforce; National PTA Board of Directors (added dance & film to national Reflections Program); adjunct faculty for Odessa College, Galveston College. Western Texas College and Director of Museums (History & Art); director of Lyon County Historical Society & Museum and Assoc. Dir. of Center for Transportation & Commerce Museum/Art & History.

In 2018, given the Mestizo Institute of Culture & Arts Ruby Chacon Award for Arts and Social Justice and recently, the Sorensen Legacy Foundation Award for Lifetime Achievement in Arts Education. Her mixed media work appeared in the 2002 Cultural Olympiad featuring 20 works by Utah women and the Year of the Rabbit exhibition and most recently a work in the Clay, Paper, Scissors Gallery in Laramie, WY. (Photo by: Kent Miles)

Donate an item for the silent auction or opportunity drawing. All proceeds from the silent auction items and the online donations will go towards Utah Cultural Alliance (our 501c4).

BUY TICKETS>>

Tickets are $45 for members; $55 for non-members (All tickets include one opportunity drawing entry!)

100 and 40 Club members receive TWO free tickets to the lunch. Please contact Crystal at [email protected] to arrange your tickets.

All proceeds from ticket sales will go towards Utahns for Culture (our 501c3).

SPONSORSHIP OPPORTUNITIES

$5,000 // Cultural Champion sponsorship. Includes:

*For those purchasing a sponsorship, please select 8 tickets to bring your total to the sponsorship total amount ($5,000 or $2,500). You can put your name for all 8 tickets for now, we don't need to know your guests' names until December 1st.

Questions, email: [email protected] | 801.652.0737

If you want to pay via check, please select the check "free" ticket type, and mail your check to UCA // 254 W 400 S #302 SLC UT 84101. Check payments are also $45 for UCA Member and $55 for UCA Non-members.