Utah Shakespeare Festival to build new art center after $6M donation


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CEDAR CITY — The Utah Shakespeare Festival and Southern Utah University received a $6 million gift from the Sorenson Legacy Foundation, taking the university and festival one step closer to creating a unique art center that's been in the works for years.

The planned Beverley Taylor Sorenson Center for the Arts will provide theater facilities for the festival and an art museum at SUU.

"We hope to create within this two-block area this art center, this culture mecca if you will, that will incorporate all aspects of art — theater, sculpture, music, dance gardens," said Michael Benson, SUU president.

For Scott Phillips, executive director of the Utah Shakespeare Festival, it's exciting news.

"We've talked about this for over two decades, and it's been (festival founder Fred Adams') dream almost from the day he started the festival," Phillips said. "What a gratifying experience now to see it come to fruition."

The center is named after longtime arts and education champion Beverley Taylor Sorenson.

"We are privileged to name our Center for the Arts in honor of Beverley and her vision of the power of art in improving quality of life, particularly when it touches the lives of children," said Shauna Mendini, SUU's dean of performing and visual arts. "It is essential that her legacy of love for the arts be echoed throughout the entire state of Utah through the Beverley Taylor Sorenson Center for the Arts.

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The Utah Shakespeare Festival will replace the aging Adams Memorial Shakespeare Theatre. The festival has grown over the years, and the organization has sought a larger, more modern facility to attract more than the 150,000 visitors who attend each summer and fall.

The $30 million facility will include an 890-seat theater, a youth education and rehearsal space, elevator and ADA access, dressing rooms and backstage space for artists.

The art center will also have an artistic/production center, which will provide an area for administrative offices, education spaces, rehearsal halls, and various costume, hair and makeup shops.

The Southern Utah Museum of Art will be the first nationally accredited art museum staffed and operated by mentored students, Benson said.

"Not only will they work there, but they'll have their own work displayed there," he said.

More than 60,000 visitors per year are expected to see art exhibitions from around the world.

Benson said a soft groundbreaking is expected in December, with construction getting under way in spring 2014.

In addition to the $6 million contribution from the Sorenson Legacy Foundation, donations to the project include $5 million from the Ralph and Betty Engelstad Family Foundation of Las Vegas, and $3 million from the George S. and Dolores Dore Eccles Foundation.

Video Contribution: Carole Mikita

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