Every year since 1989, on or around World AIDS Day (December 1), art museums and galleries close their doors, turn off their lights, or shroud works of art while offering information about HIV/AIDS and safer sex. This International Day of Action and mourning in response to the AIDS crisis is called Day With(out) Art. It honors individual legacies, commemorates personal loss, and increases awareness and action to combat the worldwide AIDS epidemic.  

In partnership with the Gender-Based Violence Consortium at the U of U, local artist Lilian Agar, and the Salt Lake City Public Library, the UMFA will host a dynamic panel discussion with community partners, art-making, and personal story collection that provides a safe space for participants to discuss and heal from the trauma of domestic violence. Offering an inclusive, safe space that fosters dialogue among community members of all ages, we hope to engage with students and faculty, artists, advocates, and families of all types.   

Hear from community leaders from Utah Community Action, The Road Home, and Volunteers of America about housing issues in our city, how local organizations support people who are unhoused, and what strategies there are for improving the housing situation in our community.

What is the West to you? What’s your story? How do those stories intertwine? Join us as we celebrate the original caretakers, memory makers, and boundary breakers and uplift the voices in our community who stake a claim in the West.  

How would you fix Utah’s bad air quality? In this ACME Session we’ll explore Utah’s air quality through art making and discussions inspired by the Utah Museum of Fine Art’s latest exhibition Air.  Hear about air quality and air justice from University of Utah faculty and students, local artists, and your community members. Explore current research and creative approaches to understand the air around us—and make your own work of art that combines data collection and artistic expression.

Inspired by the current Transcending Time and Space exhibition in the UMFA's ACME Lab, this virtual ACME Session brings together artists David Rios Ferreira and Denae Shanidiin with, University of Utah assistant professor of English, Dr. Crystal Rudds. Can merging science fiction with cultural and spiritual traditions help us rethink and reimagine our relationship to care, work, healing, justice, and each other?

Imagine you have the ability to create a gateway that transcends time and space allowing you to reach a person you miss. This could be someone who has passed on or a person you have been distant from during the COVID-19 pandemic. The UMFA invites you to create a gateway to these people through art with guidance from artist David Rios Ferreira.

This summer, Sugar Space Arts Warehouse, Mestizo Institute of Culture and Arts (MICA), and various community partners joined together to provide a platform for artists to engage with the present while reimagining tomorrow, and contributing to collective healing and action through public art. 

Stagnated efforts to address air quality in the Salt Lake Valley have sparked a number of active citizens to call for action from our state government to tighten regulations, address the health impacts of bad air days, and encourage public behavioral change. 

Through interactive presentations, art making, and community dialogue, we will talk about the importance of keeping ancient ceramic traditions alive. We’ll explore the common ground between art, design, and folk art, and how elevating the symbolic, cultural, and commercial value of pottery can help strengthen communities through social connections and by building cultural bridges.

Sexual violence is often perceived as an incident that occurs between two or more individuals at a specific time and location. In reality, sexual violence occurs within the context of our community, our culture, our attitudes, and our beliefs. How do each of us play a part in maintaining or dismantling the factors that allow sexual violence to continue?

Transform your trash into a public art piece with the Utah Museum of Fine Arts and local artist Emily Quinn Loughlin at this year’s Craft Lake City ACME Session. Festival goers are encouraged to bring their clean trash and recyclables, drop in to the ACME session to participate in the creation of a community art project, and watch it grow throughout the day.

In recognition of increasing mental health crises and social issues, the UMFA has brought together a panel of arts practitioners, art therapists, and community leaders to discuss arts-based practice as a method of providing healing opportunities for individuals and communities. This session will present the therapeutic value of the arts in three parts, art in response to global crises, art therapy in clinical practice, and community-centered art as therapy experiences.

The story of America’s railroad is complicated and dynamic because it isn’t a single story: it’s many stories. These narratives—including those from our own communities—are personal and significant in ways that aren’t always reflected in how we talk about this shared history.

In acknowledgement of the 46th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, all are invited to gather for a conversation with local organizers who uphold reproductive justice values in their activism work in Utah. These leaders will explain the herstory of the reproductive justice movement and how it can function as a framework for organizing local efforts.

UMFA brings together community members, visiting artist Jose Torres-Tama, and community leaders to spark dialogue regarding themes of immigration, belonging, and culture.

As a part of the University of Utah 2018 Pride week, the Utah Museum of Fine Arts and partners invite the community, and especially members of the LGBTQ+ community, to participate in an interactive discussion about art as a medium for activism and the need for artists to be accountable to folx they seek to represent.

In partnership with Emerald Project, the UMFA is hosting a panel discussion and audience activity that explores the separation of culture, religion, and politics. The diverse panel will answer questions from a moderator about the most pressing problems facing the Muslim community and will then welcome open dialogue from the audience.

In fall 2019, Meadowlark Elementary students will start the school year in a brand new building. At this ACME Session, attendees will contribute to a larger artwork that will be installed in the new building. Meadowlark Arts Committee envisions a quilt to line the halls—with each square representing Meadowlark’s collective hopes and dreams. This session will engage Meadowlark families and the community at large in the creative process, providing  the space and time for them to speak with educators and decision makers about their hopes and wishes for the students.

In conjunction with Women’s History Month, everyone is invited to participate in this community dialogue around gender, activism, and art. Engage in empowering art making and story sharing while offering ideas for a community mural that will be created in April. Learn about resources in the community and ways to incorporate feminism in all aspects of life.

This ACME Session is part of the UMFA’s Now West! programming in conjunction with Go West! Art of the American Frontier from the Buffalo Bill Center of the West.

In our fast-paced society filled with cell phones, screens, and endless distractions, it can be difficult to find a moment of time to think, let alone connect with another person.

Through guided meditation, art-based exercise, and group dialogue, this ACME meditation session will teach you how to slow down, be present, and observe the world around you. A growing body of neuroscience research confirms that contemplative practices such as meditation and traditional yoga have measurably positive effects on memory, attention, and empathy, while lowering levels of stress and anxiety.