Songfest thanks funders

The upcoming Mountain West Songfest & Symposium, a three-day festival focusing on sacred music from many traditions, is a collaborative effort of many. The Songfest is sponsored by Utah State University’s Mountain West Center for Regional Studies and Music Department, in cooperation with the Cache Valley Center for the Arts.

The three-day Songfest is June 26-28 and owes its existence to several agencies that have provided funding assistance, said Songfest director Elaine Thatcher.

“A grant of $20,000 from the National Endowment for the Arts provided the jump-start we needed,” Thatcher said. “Because the Songfest includes music and chants performed by people from many religious traditions, the Endowment’s Folk Arts Program saw it as worthy of funding.”

The Songfest includes representatives of Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism and more, all of which have vocal music or chant traditions.

Additional grants of $5,000 each were provided by American Express and the Utah Humanities Council. The UHC grant supports funding to bring for scholars to the symposium to deliver lectures and workshops on aspects of religious music. The American Express funds will go toward costs of presenting multiple musicians who must travel to Logan from all across the western United States and from as far away as England.

For information on the Songfest and its multiple activities and events, visit the Web site (www.usu.edu/mountainwest) or call (435) 797-3630.