Founded 2009 Headquarters Salt Lake City, Utah | Founder Angela H. Brown | |
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Craft Lake City is a free outdoor alternative arts festival in Salt Lake City, Utah, held in August every year. The festival features Do It Yourself (DIY) items like silk-screened posters, reconstructed clothing, knitted items, jewelry and other arts and crafts along with live entertainment that includes craft demonstrations, street performers and musical acts, and local food vendors. Craft Lake City is currently in the process of becoming a nonprofit 501 c-3.
History and concept
Craft Lake City was started in 2009 by Angela H. Brown, editor and publisher of SLUG Magazine as a way to showcase local DIY culture. Brown was inspired by craft festivals she had attended in larger cities such as The Renegade Craft Fair and Bazaar Bizarre, thinking a similar event would fit well with Utah’s crafting history and cultural background.
The first Craft Lake City festival was held in Salt Lake City at the Gallivan Center on August 8, 2009. It featured over 65 crafters and artists along with live entertainment provided by local Salt Lake bands like the Coyote Hoods, Mad Max and the Wild Ones, Aye Aye, Casey James Prestwood & The Burning Angels, Cub Country, Subrosa, the Tiny Lights and Mammoth. There were over 3,000 attendees. The festival was also awarded an "Arty" by the staff of Salt Lake City Weekly for "Best DIY Arts Fair" in 2009.
The second annual Craft Lake City was held August 14, 2010 again at the Gallivan Center. This time, 130 artists were selected to participate and over 7,000 people attended. Musical performers included Salt Lake locals Joshua Payne Orchestra, the Boomsticks, Red Bennies, Hello Amsterdam, Mad Max and the Wild Ones, Spell Talk and Muscle Hawk. That year also featured a belly dance showcase with the Hathor Dance Collective, Trisha McBride and Blue Lotus dance troupe performing. The festival partnered with the Salt Lake Film Festival to continue festivities a second day, August 15, with a screening of Faythe Levine’s film “Handmade Nation” followed by a question and answer session with some Craft Lake City artists.
In 2011, Craft Lake City festivities began with an exhibit at the Utah Art Alliance’s Main Street Gallery in Salt Lake City called “Art vs. Craft.” The show ran July 5 through July 30 and featured the work of fourteen Craft Lake City artists. The festival expanded to over 180 vendors, once again held at the Gallivan Center on August 13 with about 12,000 attendees. This year, the festival set up two stages for musical performances, which included a variety of local bands, The Mooks, the 3 2 1's, Muscle Hawk, It Foot It Ears, Subrosa, S.L.F.M., Dances With Wolves, Dark Seas, Kenshin Taiko, Birthquake!, Joshua Payne Orchestra, Ann-Britt Kennedy, No Nation Orchestra, Rifamos, Mad Max and the Wild Ones, Max Pain and the Groovies and Spell Talk. More entertainment was provided with a belly dance showcase by Blue Lotus, Hathor and the Lunar Collective, as well as ongoing breakdancing routines by Ensoul Collaboration.
The festival began hosting the Craft Lake City Artist Workshop Series as an extension of the festival on December 12, 2011. The series is held every other month and features a Craft Lake City Festival alum leading attendees through a simple, two-hour craft project. Hosted at a variety of local venues, the second event in the new workshop series was held at the Utah Museum of Contemporary Art (formerly the Salt Lake Art Center) on February 6, 2012, where attendees were given a tour of the museum, after which Craft Lake City alum Holly Jones of the Say Hello Creative Art Studio taught the group how to make cardboard chandeliers.