Mayor Erin Mendenhall is pleased to announce the winners of the 2024 Mayor’s Artists Awards, which will be presented in conjunction with the Utah Arts Festival on Friday, June 28 at 6:45 p.m. at the Festival Stage at Library and Washington Square. The Mayor’s Artists Awards was created in 1992 to honor artists and arts organizations who have deeply enriched the cultural landscape of our city and the lives of our citizens. This year’s recipients include:
Angela H. Brown
Mis Raíces Foundation
The Mis Raíces Foundation, founded by Allan Moreno from Chihuahua, Mexico, is a nonprofit dedicated to nurturing musical talents in children and young individuals facing financial or geographical barriers. Moreno, who studied at the Conservatory of Music in Chihuahua, discovered his passion at 15 and now serves as the Artistic Director of Mis Raíces de Allan Moreno Academy in Utah, teaching music to many Mexican heritage students. Since its inception two years ago, the academy has impacted around 200 students aged 12 and above. In 2022, Moreno launched the foundation to offer Mexican music and Mariachi classes to more children.
Yolanda Stange
Yolanda Stange is a Chicago by way of LA transplant to Salt Lake City who started her acting career right here in Utah, co-starring in films like "High School Musical" and the upcoming indie "Tracing". Her passion lies in stage acting; she recently completed a sold-out run of "Bitter Lemon" by Melissa Leilani Larson with Plan B Theatre and earned praise for her role in Adrienne Dawes’s "Hairy & Sherri" at Salt Lake Acting Company. Outside acting, she enjoys spending time with her husband Chris, a local real estate broker, her lazy pit bull Rocks, and her friends from the water aerobics class at the sports complex.
Day Christensen
Day Christensen was born in 1950 and grew up in Walla Walla, Washington. His schooling and training were in Art and Design and Landscape Architecture. Since 1980, Christensen has lived in Utah and has focused his work primarily on site specific Public Art. These projects range from fabricated metal and cast bronze sculpture, formed glass, murals, paving designs, light sculpture, earthworks, to suspended sculptures. They are located at libraries, light rail stations, airports, state capitol buildings, recreation centers, medical facilities, and public parks in Utah and other western states.
Ballet West
Ballet West, led by Artistic Director Adam Sklute, has become one of America’s leading ballet companies since its founding in 1963 by American dance pioneer Willam Christensen. With an eclectic repertoire, the company produces seven different programs per year and tours nationally and internationally. Based in Salt Lake City, it is home to America’s first and longest-running version of The Nutcracker and the Frederick Q. Lawson Ballet West Academy, with more than 1,000 students. Ballet West operates one of the largest Community Engagement programs in the country, reaching over 130,000 children and adults throughout Utah and the Intermountain Region annually.
