We offer our Individual Artist Advancement Grants to support the professional development and career advancement of individual artists, including designers, folk artists, performing artists, visual artists, and writers. These grants are specifically designed to help artists take advantage of timely external professional opportunities and to provide access to resources to advance their artistic careers. Grant closes Friday, Aug. 14, 2026 at 5 p.m. MT (applications submitted after this time will not be accepted). 

Our agency partners with Art Access to bring you the Breaking Barriers Conference. This conference is for past participants of the Breaking Barriers program and their peers, as well as for anyone interested in advancing accessibility within their organization. The conference is free and will take place on Monday, Aug. 24 over Zoom. We hope to see you there! 

We are thrilled to announce the return of Poetry Out Loud competition for Utah 9th- through 12th-graders this school year. This annual nationwide poetry reciting competition offers students the chance to dig deep into great works of poetry while competing for cash prizes and the chance to represent our state at the national finals in Washington, D.C. next spring. This year’s competition will feature a completely new and expanded anthology of poems. The new anthology will be unveiled in September. Registration is opening soon! Keep an eye on our POL webpage, where you can sign up to receive notifications as we unroll the new season. 

Our amazing neighbor agency, Arts Idaho, is offering another year of their Arts Learning Lab series. This monthly virtual series is for educators interested in increasing access to arts education and is directly relevant to arts educators and teaching artists in the Intermountain West. This professional learning community is committed to building connections, providing the tools to deepen arts instruction, and exploring ways to support sustainable arts programs. Sessions are recorded and made available through an online resource library. All sessions begin at 4:30 p.m. MST. Check out the slate of classes and sign up!

Our Arts Education program is accepting applications from Utah educators for our Teacher-Initiated Project awards. In a Teacher-Initiated Project, an artist works one-on-one with a K-12 teacher to instruct the teacher in a specific art form. The emphasis is on the teacher’s personal growth in knowledge and skills in an art form of his/her choice. To apply, review the guidelines on our website, then reach out to a teaching artist on our roster with whom you'd like to work.

ArtsAccess at Utah State University is seeking an Artist-in-Residence to support the growth in arts inclusion programming at Union Middle School in Canyons School District in Sandy. Canyons has an arts inclusion initiative that utilizes the arts to support social engagement and social learning in and through the arts. The Artist-in-Residence will work in collaboration with the visual art teacher at Union Middle School to support the existing arts inclusion programming that partners peer tutors with special education students, working directly at Union Middle School for 20 hours per week for the first quarter, and then remotely through the duration of the 2026-27 school year.

Are you interested in a reading or workshop with Utah Poet Laureate Lisa Bickmore for your school or community group? Learn more at the link about booking an appearance. Lisa is also conducting a “mobile micropress” project. She’ll work with writers and writers’ groups in communities around the state to help them publish micro-editions of chapbooks, broadsides, and other publications, collaboratively planned and devised.

Our friends at Utah State Poetry Society are hosting an afternoon of poetry at the Tracy Aviary Chase Mill Amphitheater on Wednesday, Sept. 2 from 3 to 4:30 p.m. Past Utah Poet Laureate Lance Larsen will read from his latest work, followed by an open mic event. All poetry should be nature-themed and family-friendly. To be added to the open mic list, contact mtshoemak1@gmail.com.