‘Think Sundance meets Coachella’: A new first-of-its-kind festival plans to take root in Utah

SALT LAKE CITY — It’s called the Eden Arts Festival, and it starts Tuesday.

“This will be the first festival in the world to combine film, music, immersive technology, and gaming into a single, family-friendly event,” said founder and CEO Julia Levitan. “Think Sundance meets Coachella meets TEDx meets Aspen Ideas Festival, reimagined for a new era.”

Levitan said the three-day festival’s “micro-launch” starts on June 10 at the Tracy Aviary in Liberty Park — and it’s already sold out. The second concert at the aviary takes place on June 12, with a third concert later this summer at Thanksgiving Point.

Guest artists include Grammy-nominated composer Clarice Assad; pianist and NPR host Lara Downes, honored as Performance Today’s Woman of the Year in 2022; a string quartet made up of doctoral graduates from the University of Utah; and the founder of ROCO, oboist Alecia Lawyer.

Vision of Eden Arts and Film Festival

Levitan said ultimately, the festival could run for as long as eight weeks in different seasons.  The 2026 Eden Festival will be about two weeks long.

Once the Eden Arts Festival ramps up to its full capacity, it will have “age appropriate activities for everyone, including for the dog,” Levitan said. “We’re planning to have a doggy day care company pair up with us, so attendees don’t need to keep their dogs in kennels while they have all the fun.”

Starting in 2026, not only will there be standard concerts but round-table discussions, panels, speakers and interactive workshops will be on tap.

“One of our guest artists from this year, Assad, has already agreed to lead a hike for festival attendees. The end of the trek culminates with the hikers writing a piece together with the composer; even if they’ve never written any music before,” Levitan said.

This year’s festival will be held outdoors and Levitan has long-term goals to build a permanent facility on top of a mountain.

“Our ultimate dream is to create a permanent, state-of-the-art venue that is built into the mountain. Merging architecture with the mountain to honor the natural environment,”  Levitan said.

The space would include an artist village. Levitan said modern takes on the ‘arts colony’ are already being tested in Springville and Helper. 

A spotlight on young local artists

It isn’t just national and international support Levitan is after — featuring Utah artists in the event is a big deal for her.

“The idea of combining futuristic tech and encompassing a natural environment has lived inside of me for a long time, but I never knew when or where it would take shape,” she said. “When I discovered Utah, it became very clear the time is now and this is the place.”

Levitan said the festival will have local roots with an international reach.  Festival leaders are investing in local schools and artists and bringing together a host of nonprofits that already exist in the Utah arts ecosystem.

Levitan already has plans to implement local artists in future iterations of the festival. She touted a newly-formed collaboration for the 2026 festival with Caleb Chapman’s Soundhouse — a youth music school based in American Fork.

“The Soundhouse is an internationally renowned program for young musicians,” she said, adding that it’s expected to bring many young faces to the festival.

Levitan said focusing on young people was of so much importance, the festival is also planning to launch a youth institute that’s focused on film, music, entrepreneurship, and immersive AI/AR technologies.

“We are finalizing a partnership between a California-based university with top level film and music programs (alongside) several Utah universities (and) the Sundance Resort,” she said. 

Economic impact

Levitan expects to spend about $30 million each year to produce the Eden Arts Festival, but said the economic return for Utah will be sevenfold in a few years time. She even expects it to compare similarly with the $132 million impact of the Sundance Film Festival, which is leaving Utah after a 44-year run in the state.

“We are projecting a budget of $20-30 million per year with a statewide economic impact being between $120-150 million after our fifth year,”  Levitan said.

We honor the cultural component of Sundance and are sad to see them go, however “with their departure it is time to reevaluate what is possible.” Levitan said. “Instead of recreating a 50 year old legacy festival, we have a chance to start fresh and to build a family-friendly festival that reflects Utah’s innovative, entrepreneurial spirit, technological preeminence, and artistic talents.”

“Eventually,” Levitan said, “the Eden Arts Festival will become the Eden International Arts and Film Festival as we incorporate movies, AI technologies and music.”

Although there is room to grow, Levitan stated the festival is already making an economic impact, and its reinforced by the partnerships the festival has already created.

“We’ve partnered with the League of American Orchestras Conference which is the largest convening of orchestra professionals in the world,” Levitan said, “with a vision of putting Utah on the international stage as a cultural destination and a leader in the global creative-tech sector.”

To reinforce the state’s collaboration with the league, the league’s 80th National Conference is scheduled to start Wednesday in Utah, in partnership with the Utah Symphony and the Utah Opera.

A festival for the community

After three years of planning, Levitan is excited to start rooting the festival into Utah’s community — something she holds as the most important part of it all.

“(We’re going to have) local roots with international reach — not a corporate structure,” Levitan said. “Rather than coming in from the outside to leverage Utah’s resources for profit, we will invest in local schools, local artists and unite Utah’s existing arts nonprofits.”

She credited Steve Brosvik, president and CEO of the Utah Symphony and Utah Opera, as a “tremendous mentor” in the process of planning the festival. Plus, she thanked several other cultural leaders along the Wasatch Front for embracing her vision of a larger-scale festival next year.

Her full attention, though, is currently set on this week’s concerts at Tracy Aviary in Liberty Park. She said it’s been a true “joy and a privilege” working with Tracy Aviary and its team to make the concerts “magical.”

Editor’s note: This article has been edited to reflect a more accurate description of possible permanent venues for the Eden Arts Festival.

 

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