By Erin Dixon | [email protected]

Main Street is about to be covered in paint.

The Midvale Main Street redevelopment project is now fully funded. One of the first goals of the project is to showcase Midvale as an area for art and artists to flourish.

Midvale City has started bringing attention to Main Street and the surrounding area as the improvements progress with a car show, holiday festivals, and soon an art conference and festival.

A local art gallery, ALL CAPS (7706 Union Park Ave.) is partnering with local artists Trekell Art Supplies, Cutthroat Barbershop, Not Real Art, PresoTea and Midvale City to host an artist conference and mural festival.

Why Midvale and why now?

ALL CAPS co-founders, Aelias McHam and Brigham Stewart, want to show that it is possible to make a living as an artist and are eager to share their knowledge.

“We’re trying to bring highly motivated artists…to be leaders and bring other people,” Stewart said.

“The art conference, that’s the main attraction, for the beginning of the arts district. Famous artists coming to inspire the next generation in Utah,” McHam said. 

Networking and training are crucial to building a life for an artist.

The conference is a one-day event on April 30 with 14 speakers—eight local, six nonlocal artists and two panel discussions.

The mural festival is scheduled for the end of June. The event will start with giving the selected artists a portion of wall to cover in a pre-approved design. The Midvale RDA (Redevelopment Agency) has rules to prevent commercial, explicit or religious references in the murals. Artists will have a few days to work privately. The last day of the festival is when the public is invited to view the new murals and talk to artists. There will also be food and music. 

Ten percent of the proceeds from these events will go to Hillcrest High School. “Art budgets get cut first,” McHam said. “We want to give back to get the next generation moving along.”

The Midvale RDA is providing over $119,000 for the conference and the festival, in hopes that the event will bring attention to Main Street and fuel its revitalization with $49,660 dedicated to the conference and $70,000 to the mural festival.

ALL CAPS Gallery is required to keep track of all their spending and report to the RDA.

“When you think about what we’re getting out of this, the bang for our buck is incredible,” Nate Rockwood, Midvale Community Development director said. “For this (the art conference and festival) to be the first flash: ‘Midvale is the center of arts and culture in the valley, and Main street is the center of that.’”

For background information on the Main Street project, see:

www.midvalejournal.com/2021/06/14/359555/who-is-funding-midvale-s-main-street-updates-.