Collective Arts Festival Set For August 10 in Downtown Sheridan

On June 19, Ucross announced that local arts organizations are joining forces to present Collective Arts Festival, a day-long celebration of the arts, on Saturday, August 10, at Whitney Commons in downtown Sheridan, Wyoming.

The free, family-friendly event will include music and dance performances, art demos, literary and poetry readings, children’s arts activities, and artisan booths, as well as food trucks and a beer garden.

Previously known as “Celebrate the Arts,” Collective Arts Festival is presented by the Bighorn Arts Collective, a new organization committed to enriching the arts and growing the creative economy in Sheridan County and across the region. Through meaningful collaboration with the community’s art entities and artists, Bighorn Arts Collective seeks to leverage the impact of all endeavors, ensuring that the arts thrive and remain an integral part of our community’s identity.

Bighorn Arts Collective comprises The Brinton Museum, Neltje Center for Excellence in Creativity and the Arts, SAGE Community Arts, Sheridan Public Arts Committee, Ucross Foundation, Whitney Center for the Arts at Sheridan College, and the WYO Performing Arts and Education Center.

From 2018 to 2023, many of these arts organizations presented Celebrate the Arts, an annual summer arts celebration consisting of multiple events spread over multiple days across the community.

“We are all energized by the impact of the Bighorn Arts Collective on the arts and culture scene in the greater Sheridan area,” said Kendra Heimbuck, Chair of the Bighorn Arts Collective and Executive Director of The Brinton Museum. “And we are excited for this next evolution of Celebrate the Arts.”

The schedule of events on the main stage:

10-11:30 a.m. Neltje Center will present various performing artists from the area.

12-1:30 p.m. The WYO Theater & WYO PLAY will offer a presentation of musical numbers from recent productions by local performers.

2-3:30 p.m. Ucross Foundation will present artists-in-residence, including Brandon Welch, a choreographer and dancer from Boulder, Colorado; Eleni Sikelianos, a poet from Providence, Rhode Island; and Vienna Carroll, a singer and storyteller from New York, New York.

4-6 p.m. Whitney Center for the Arts will present “Trout Goggles,” a local band.

The schedule of events in the arts tent:

10-11:30 a.m. The Brinton Museum will present demonstrations by ceramicist and staff member Will Lopez and painter Robert Martinez.

12-1:30 p.m. Ucross Foundation will present demonstrations by visual artists, former artists-in-residence and staff members Tawni Shuler and Brittney Denham-Whisonant

2-3:30 p.m. SAGE Community Arts will present demonstrations by local artists

4-6 p.m. Neltje Center will present demonstrations by additional artists from the area

Throughout the Collective Arts Festival, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., there will be free family arts activities, coordinated by SAGE Community Arts and The Brinton Museum, and an artisan fair, featuring arts and crafts by makers from across the region.

There will also be onsite food trucks, including Colombian Guy CoffeeVan, Pete’s Za, Zaza Tacos, Kettle Krazy, Kona Ice and others, as well as a beer garden with Black Tooth Brewing Co.

Collective Arts Festival is presented by the Bighorn Arts Collective presenting organizations. The event is also supported in part by a grant from the Wyoming Cultural Trust Fund, a program of the Department of State Parks and Cultural Resources, as well as the Homer A. & Mildred S. Scott Foundation and Peak Consulting.

To learn how to participate in or support the Collective Arts Festival, email Caitlin Addlesperger at caddlesperger@ucross.org.

Learn more at artinsheridan.com/caf.