Wendy Hassan, the director at Cache Valley Center for the Arts, will be speaking to the Cache Valley Historical Society about the history of the performing arts in Cache Valley, which — she explains — is extensive.
Hassan began researching the topic in 2008, when she worked for the Utah Arts Council.
“It was really inspiring to me to see that Cache Valley was such a rich landscape of the performing arts with historic offerings,” she said. “We’re sitting on generations of investment in performing arts — decades of it.”
Hassan has given speeches on the history of Cache Valley performing arts many times before. She was one of nine speakers scheduled to present to the Cache Valley Historical Society from September to June. Scott Bushman, the president of the society, said during the meetings in the summer, the group throws out a bunch of ideas for topics they’d like to hear more about, and Bushman invites experts on those topics to speak.
“All the topics are on local history,” he said. “We cover just about everything you could ever imagine.”
This year, topics include women and poetry, the history of Cache Valley skiing and inventions of 19th century Utah women.
Bushman said he has heard Hassan speak before and he is looking forward to her presentation.
“We have a surprisingly rich history in performing arts, back since it was first settled,” he said. “All the wealthiest people here were patrons of the arts.”
As part of Hassan’s role as director of the center for the arts, she invites performers to come to Cache Valley. This, Hassan said, is not very difficult. Performers are often eager to visit the valley and perform in unique venues.
When Hassan was grateful for the opportunity to come to Cache Valley. It has three musical performance groups, one performing arts center, a ballet studio, modern dance — in short, a uniquely well-rounded performing arts community, Hassan said.
“All the history — that’s really what inspires me,” she said.
No comments:
Post a Comment