S1, E55: UtahPresents, Exec. Director - Chloe Jones

Chloe Jones, the visionary Executive Director of Utah Presents, takes us on a journey through the vibrant world of performance art at Kingsbury Hall. From her artistic upbringing in Utah to her inspiring time managing a creative space in Martha's Vineyard, Chloe's story is a testament to the power of embracing the unexpected. We explore the centennial legacy of Kingsbury Hall as it approaches its 100th year in 2030 and how Chloe is pioneering efforts to bring innovative and diverse performances that enrich the cultural tapestry of Salt Lake City.

Life's unexpected paths can lead to the most profound discoveries, and Chloe's experiences are no exception. She shares how intimate moments, have shaped her artistic vision and career. Dive into the challenges and joys of choosing a creative path, as Chloe discusses the intricate dance between artistry and entrepreneurship. Through personal anecdotes, she highlights the necessity of stepping outside one's comfort zone to truly experience the magic of live performances and the profound connections they foster within a community.

Salt Lake City, affectionately known as "Small Lake City," serves as a backdrop to our conversation about community bonds and cultural evolution. Chloe reflects on the allure of returning to her roots and the unique sense of belonging that comes from familiar landscapes and shared histories. Discover how Utah Presents is making art accessible to all, from transforming Kingsbury Hall's stage to showcase local talent to offering affordable ticket pricing. This episode is a vibrant celebration of art, community, and the dynamic interplay between creativity and connection.

Please be sure to like, review, follow, subscribe and share the podcast with your friends and family! See you next time 

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Chapters

• 0:00 Utah Presents
• 7:01 Artistic Roots and Passion Journey
• 12:03 [Ad] Rumi.ai
• 12:52 (Cont.) Artistic Roots and Passion Journey
• 13:11 Navigating Artistic Paths and Careers
• 24:38 Cultural Experiences and Career Growth
• 33:36 The Creative Process and Playful Rigor
• 37:50 Utah's Landscape and Community Connection
• 48:07 Diverse Events and Community Engagement
• 54:09 Local Artists and Accessible Shows
• 1:05:58 Community Bonding and Small City Vibes
• 1:08:48 Salt Lake City Community Highlights
• 1:12:42 Community Engagement and Networking

Transcript

Chloe Jones: 0:10

We're University of Utah's Performing Arts Presenter. We're based at Kingsbury Hall, which is an iconic historic theater. It will be 100 years old in 2030. Much of what we're bringing to town are performances that have never been here before, that probably wouldn't be here otherwise. On both sides family members, including parents, who were artists.

Chloe Jones: 0:32

In that moment that I realized I didn't want to move away from it, that I needed to be in the studio, that I wanted to be dancing. So I've thought about that often. What we say yes to opens these doors that then open doors that we can't even imagine, and it just sort of cemented for me that this is what I want to be doing. I also was excited to move home for the landscape. I think I have always felt deeply connected to this place, and family was another big pullback. I loved listening to you talk about your mom earlier in this episode, and I, too, am very, very close to my mom, but really what I want to talk about in response to that question is who's coming next, so that, hopefully, people can come see some stuff.

Erik Nilsson: 1:13

Is that okay? Yeah, who do we have upcoming?

Chloe Jones: 1:16

I'm so glad you brought that up, because I do want to say pretty much every show we start tickets at $10. But you know, I think part of what we can do is to our conversation like try new things, check out this organization, check out that venue, like get around town. There's so much amazing stuff happening in the creative community here.

Erik Nilsson: 1:35

What is up everybody and welcome back to another episode of the Small Lake City Podcast. I'm your host, eric Nielsen, and this week we are joined by Chloe Jones, who is the Executive Director of Utah Presents. Utah Presents is the organization at the University of Utah that manages the schedule and performances at Kingsbury Hall. Now it hosts a diverse amount of different performances, from acapella groups to jazz music to circuses and everything in between. Not only do we talk about Utah Presents, but we also talk to Chloe about growing up in Utah, especially in a very creative-based home, going away for school, finding herself in Martha's Vineyard managing a creative and performance space, to now coming back to Salt Lake about two years ago and what that has meant for her and her appreciation for everything that makes Salt Lake great. So, whether you are a fan of creativity, a fan of what's going on in Salt Lake or anyone else, there's definitely something you're going to love from this episode, so I hope that you enjoy. I mean it's usually never like a. I mean most people are like when do we start? Like we kind of have started, chloe, I'm excited today because I mean kind of like what I was talking to you about, it might be a good open, soft open.

Erik Nilsson: 2:49

But my life has been, I don't want to say plagued by theater, musical theater, shakespeare. But growing up, my like, if there was a play in town that she wanted to see, especially les mis, like she will die on her hill, that les mis is her favorite um musical in the world we would go. My mom and my dad had season passes to capitol theater. Um, I mean, I've been to, I mean pretty much every of, yeah, pretty much every venue in salt lake that could perform something like that, and do so Like when we went to England one summer well, not summer, for spring break once and we went to, I think we saw we were there for two weeks. We saw three Shakespeare plays, two musicals and one other something I can't remember what it was, and then I got back and told people they're like that's different, because I didn't realize that that wasn't how everybody else experienced things.

Chloe Jones: 3:37

Did vacation.

Erik Nilsson: 3:38

Yeah, lots of those, lots of that, and usually when we go somewhere there's some sort of ticket to something involved. But Chloe Jones, the director of Utah, presents.

Chloe Jones: 3:49

We are based at Kingsbury Hall which is on campus. I can share more, but we do sometimes partner with other venues and get outside of Kingsbury Hall.

Erik Nilsson: 4:00

Yeah, it's fun to see when people because again going to what I was talking about before, we started about all like live entertainment who owns what, who promotes what. There is a little overlap sometimes of who does what.

Chloe Jones: 4:10

But I think that's actually great, because I think part of what we're trying to do at Utah Presents is get the word out about what we do, because there's so much happening in town, which is awesome, and I think our community doesn't always know who's putting on what where, how sort of how that ecosystem fits together much of my like experience in salt lake in general, because I'm the guy who it'll be a friday, saturday night.

Erik Nilsson: 4:38

I'll check instagram and there'll be a story filled with people at a show. I'm like I don't even know that show is in town. I would have loved to go um, and especially as concerts and shows have just kept becoming more and more prevalent. So many different places hosting shows, like one example is like garage on back. I mean very much a bar, but now their work with L&E to get performing I mean traveling performers come through town and even talking with my friend Trent, who is the director of marketing for Live Nation, he'll be like I had 12 events this week and that's just one part of everything, and so, yeah, the more that we can know about what's going on, where to prioritize, how to get tickets, I think everybody enjoys that more, because I mean live performances especially.

Erik Nilsson: 5:21

In my opinion, live music is what brings people together, like I've never once been at a show and been like well, I think this person believes this and I don't know if I like that person. I mean everyone's experiencing it all in the moment and that cascades through all sorts of I mean entertainment and what brings people together, and so the more that we can have a community around this understand what's going on, and one of my biggest beliefs is branch out and try new things. Everybody becomes happier, and even this year alone I've been to Rob Zombie and Alice Cooper, blink-182, pierce the Veil Fred again was last night.

Chloe Jones: 5:55

Oh, I'm jealous, I cried. Oh, I'm so jealous, I'm wearing a shirt right now.

Erik Nilsson: 5:59

I actually made a reel about it because, like, long story short, like the past two years have been very hard A lot of transitions, a lot of anxiety, and I found Fred at like the beginning of it and then it's just been like there's been songs throughout the whole thing that have meant so much to me and when I got to the show, like he opened with the song that like is the glue of all that time to me.

Erik Nilsson: 6:22

I found you because I always assumed at the beginning of that time that was going to be about a girl I was going to find and they were going to be this partner. But at the end of the day, it was about me like finding myself and going from who I was to who I needed to be in a transition to who I needed to be for this like next phase of life. And so there was a day where I listened I found it was like no, no, no, this is about like I finally found who I am and it echoed with me. So as that whole show went on, I just like was sobbing, yeah, almost the entire time.

Erik Nilsson: 6:48

And and I had a friend that had never listened to Fred at all and I was like listen, tickets are like 20 bucks, trust me, just go. And he's like okay, whatever. And after he's like I get it. I get it, like thank you, that's all I ask. And so again, like the more that we can do things and branch out and try new things, because I wasn't, when I consider myself, a Rob Zombie fan before I went to Rob Zombie. But like I get it.

Chloe Jones: 7:09

Yeah.

Erik Nilsson: 7:10

And you have these experiences. And I'm a big believer in try new things, because if you try new things, you're more likely to find new things that you do like. And the more things we find that we like, the more enjoyable life will be. And if you stay in your lane, then you're always going to kind of confine yourself to this little bit of happiness. Well, I mean, you can be happy, but new experiences, new people, new times are what bring us all together.

Chloe Jones: 7:36

Yeah, and I would say we're really all about that. At Utah Presents, this ethos of trying new things is very much at the center of what we do, and so much of what we're bringing to town are performances that have never been here before, that probably wouldn't be here otherwise, artists who've never been here before, and every show in our season, one from the next, is really unique and different. There's just tremendous variety in the programming, and part of that is we're trying to cultivate an audience that is curious, that wants to go to a show that's unlike anything they've ever seen before, and they want to come back for a show that's going to be totally different from that experience. And some of those performances they're going to love, some they're not going to love, and that's okay. That I never heard of, actually, I told myself.

Erik Nilsson: 8:36

I'm not going to listen to any of their music before. I'm just going to go in and we'll see how it goes.

Chloe Jones: 8:40

I love that and have that moment of surprise.

Erik Nilsson: 8:43

Yes.

Chloe Jones: 8:43

Yeah, I think I don't know. I wonder if we have less and less surprise in our lives, especially in the digital age where we have so much information at our fingertips all the time, and I think surprise is delightful, and when a live performance can deliver that for you, it's magic.

Erik Nilsson: 9:04

Yeah, yeah, I mean yeah. I couldn't name 50 shows off the top of my head that I mean, for example, the first concert I ever went to, what my mom and my stepdad dragged me to. I was like I don't even know who this is. Like mom, like who is Simon and Garfunkel? Like this is so, like this is old people music.

Chloe Jones: 9:19

Where did you see Simon and Garfunkel? It was at the Delta Center, at the Delta Center.

Erik Nilsson: 9:27

Yeah, this was in. I've probably been 12 or 13. I was like okay, and then after the show I was to a lot of really good shows and introduced me to a lot of really good music, like her claim to fame in music is. I mean, she grew up, I mean during the heyday of like rock music and rushed the stage at a monkey's concert once. Probably kill me for telling you that, but mom's time to tell people.

Chloe Jones: 9:48

Sounds like you need to get her on the podcast.

Erik Nilsson: 9:50

I would love I should have my mom on the podcast. That'd be fun. People should get to know my mother. She's a great woman. But, chloe, I want to kind of understand a little bit how you got to be in the position that you are and especially walk through. I mean the steps that got here, because I know that you I mean born and raised in Salt Lake. I mean what part of the value from, I mean how did this? I mean passion for what you do. Now get started.

Chloe Jones: 10:10

Yeah, I think similarly, I was fortunate to have amazing access to the arts growing up. I'm from a family of artists. I have some deep roots here in Utah and, yeah, like on both sides family members including parents who were artists. My mom is an interior designer now but she started out in textiles and she had a sewing business sewing beautiful contemporary textiles and soft furnishings and her studio, for the most part, was in our home. So I grew up in a funky house over on Princeton Avenue above 1500 East and it was part sewing studio. So some of my earliest memories are waking up to, you know, five industrial sewing machines on a Saturday morning and just watching these beautiful creations come out of her studio. And even the story of that house is sort of interesting.

Chloe Jones: 11:05

She bought that house about 30 years ago now. It had been a grocery store it's in the middle of a block of bungalows but it had been a small market, neighborhood market. It had briefly been a hair salon, so it was commercially zoned and she found it in a very dilapidated state but she could see it. She walked in and she could see, oh, this could be a really amazing live-work space and transformed it into the home that I grew up in that. I lived in until I moved away for college and it was a really creative space. It was a very warm and nurturing home and it was also an artist studio and that was just my mom right. I also have a lot of memories of being in my grandpa's painting studio or in the dark room with my dad and all of those early memories. I think you know they just made art life Like it was just inseparable. My sort of engaging with art was my engaging with life.

Erik Nilsson: 12:44

And I mean being around. I mean I can't imagine growing up around. I mean a painter is your grandfather, a photographer is your father and I mean textilist around that energy because, like, I grew up in a family of like doctors and my mom's a pediatrician, my stepdad's a pediatrician, my dad was a neuropsychologist very, very different energy. But did that I mean make you gravitate towards your own sort of creativity and artists, I mean in artistry, or did you not necessarily gravitate towards that as much?

Chloe Jones: 13:12

I did. I mean also, two of my uncles are visual artists, my aunt's a visual artist I mean really, it's all throughout the family and I chose dance as my artistic practice. That was the discipline, the form that really drew me, not visual art but dance. I took my first dance class at Tanner Dance when I was two and danced at Ballet West and all growing up here, trained with an amazing dancer and educator who still lives in town, sophia Gorder, and so I think you know dance felt like it was different compared to what I was seeing other family members do, other family members do. But I think I just learned from an early age that there was a path forward as an artist, that there was a career in the creative sector and that that could look like a lot of different things, but that my art didn't have to be a hobby, right, it could really be something that I was pursuing very seriously.

Erik Nilsson: 14:19

Yeah, because it's interesting to see the people who I mean. I have a lot of friends who are professional artists. I have friends that are artists that I mean sell things on the side, friends that are artists that don't do anything with it and it's just a hobby. But I mean the hardest part of becoming an artist in a lot of the stories that I've heard is, I mean, trying to make it actually work, and there's always this like grind of making it happen. But it's got to be so comforting to live in this family where it's like, hey, look at all these examples of people who made it work and actually did it, and that's got to alleviate a lot of the anxiety. And this is you're looking at dance and being like, well, can I do this, do that with? I know the exact conversation would be with my mom If I were to go to her and be like I want to be an artist, like she'd probably say something that would be her real reaction Be like, well, how are you going to like live your life?

Erik Nilsson: 15:01

Like oh, just kidding, I'm supportive but like which is normal for a parent to hear something like that? But I mean, have a different reaction from your parents.

Chloe Jones: 15:10

I would assume same thing to me and you know, to be clear, she had a business as a seamstress and making soft furnishings and then segued into interiors. My dad started a business brine tramping on the Great Salt Lake. You know my aunt, who I mentioned, is also a landscape designer. So everybody has sort of found their ways right to make a living in and outside of creative sectors and I've done the same right.

Chloe Jones: 15:40

I'm now working in an administrative capacity as an arts leader. But I think that there's a foundation for me of personal connection to art making and to experiencing art also as an audience member art making and to experiencing art also as an audience member. And yeah, I think that that kind of ecosystem that you're talking about is something I got really interested in as a young adult as I was sort of thinking more and more about all the different roles that people play to make our arts economy work and it is really hard to be a full-time artist in our society. I think there's a whole conversation we could have about artistic labor and whether we even think of it as labor and how we value it and people have to get really creative. But people are doing it right. People are making all kinds of lives for themselves and careers within the arts.

Erik Nilsson: 16:34

Yeah, I mean, and it's interesting to see how that does happen, because I mean even thinking of, like the artists that I know of, like, for example, jeff Hine, who's one of the best portrait artists in the world but also lives here in Salt Lake, has the Hine Atelier, and his way to make a lot of it work was by teaching, so he always has like eight to 12 apprentices under him. He has a digital school that he teaches as well. And then we have people like, I mean, mark Brian Taylor, who's an amazing landscape and still life artist down in Alpine and he created his own kind of like plein air or transportable easels that have blown up as well, not to say that they, like couldn't make it work with their art. But there's also, like these other things that people can do to, I mean, make it more consistent or make it a little bit more substantial, to create that life that they want.

Erik Nilsson: 17:19

Because, again, like it's not just I mean, the creative people are what bring it all together and everything else helps support them and and give that and put people in front of them and give them the platform that they need. But, at the end of the day, other people do have to come in and and and make it all happen, because you can't just be a traveling artist and put up a sign and say, hey, come see me and have it work and have the space that you need. And so you have this experience, growing up in this household, of a lot of creativity, a lot of fun, energy that you can feel, and then you go off to school, to Wesleyan. I mean, what was your thought going into there, or were you still figuring out how you played a role in all of this that you'd experienced growing up?

Chloe Jones: 17:54

Oh, totally. I always loved school. I feel like I got an amazing education. Growing up here in Salt Lake, I was fortunate to go to Roland Hall and I was really serious about academics and so going into college I was sort of torn if I wanted to pursue dance, if I wanted to go to a conservatory program or if I wanted to focus on other academics. And Wesleyan really felt like it offered both. And I showed up not knowing what that was going to look like, how those four years were going to unfold, and I ended up actually sort of moving away from dance. And it was in that moment that I realized I didn't want to move away from it, that I needed to be in the studio, that I wanted to be dancing, and I ended up majoring in dance at Wesleyan.

Chloe Jones: 18:41

But my experience of dance there was really multidisciplinary, interdisciplinary. Some of my dance classes were my most reading and writing intensive. So my kind of experience of dance really blew open and it became a lens to engage with the world and it just became so much more than a studio practice or an artistic practice. And I also, while I was at Wesleyan I got a job working for the director of the University Center for the Arts and that was an amazing experience and it was an experience of having my eyes opened to the ecosystem of how do we actually make the arts happen in this country, and I got really interested in that. How are the arts funded, how are the arts produced? And I think that was a big part of why I decided to do what I've done since college.

Erik Nilsson: 19:39

Yeah, it's fun to have those experiences where I mean, because you go into this experience of working for this guy and you're like I don't know how this is going to work into what I want to be, and I mean so many people have that experience with being college jobs, internships, there's a lot of different ways that you can get into different forays of things. But to have that come together, be like oh, this makes, and like now we know how the story goes to say, yeah, this did end up becoming more of what you did want to do, but still be connected to this passion, still have time in the studio and also learn to appreciate more of like the art of it, because it's it's interesting talking to people about I mean that study, something creative or like an art, like some form of art, and it's like there's. There's two kinds of experiences they can have. Some people go to like I just want to paint, I just want to create, I don't want to learn about art history and like theory and and kind of a lot of the more traditional ways of learning about it. Um, but it's like I've, I mean, started being more of a creative person myself and learning more about like, I mean the history and studying it as like an actual subject or topic. I enjoy that a lot because I also I mean, I love learning.

Erik Nilsson: 20:41

I did love college. I love just just a sponge of a lot of things, for good or for bad. But to be able to have all of these experience happen in one that really does create such a strong platform and foundation for what you do end up becoming, has got to be a good experience. And I mean especially to to see, like you said, to see these passions that you have, that you almost like it sounds like kind of tried to ignore, try to be like you know dance, you know we're at school now we can't do that. Be like actually come back here, I, I, I, I'm not done with you yet, you are still a part of my life and put together these passions and different avenues into what would look like I mean a career path that you could see and have some sort of structure in front of you for it.

Chloe Jones: 21:21

Yeah, I think a lot of it is about what you say yes to and in that moment you don't necessarily realize that that yes is consequential right. So I remember being offered this internship in college and I wasn't even sure if I should take it. You know, I was like honestly debating if I should take this internship or not and I think that internship really transformed the rest of my life and in some ways it feels like it was a simple yes right. So I've thought about that often, like what we say yes to opens these doors that then open doors that we can't even imagine.

Erik Nilsson: 21:57

Yeah, no, it's fun because, like I've learned to become, I mean a yes person Like, and it's fun when you realize the times you say no, you miss out on an opportunity, like there's so many times and I don't know why my brain keeps going to like concerts and shows, but like there's multiple I mean this is gonna sound so steep in the context we're talking about, but I remember I was in college and drake and lil wayne were playing at usana and someone's like hey, I have a ticket for 25 bucks. And I was like I don't know, it's all the way out there, I don't have 25 bucks. And I'm like you idiot, like why didn't you do that? I mean two of your favorite hours of all time.

Erik Nilsson: 22:35

And then even for the fred show, like I had someone who was supposed to come with me but they couldn't make it. And so it was like literally everybody I texted like, oh, I'm already going, I'm already going. And then one friend, they said they wanted to go. And then he's like listen, I have to travel next week for work. I was like I did stuff all day. I'm tired, I want to want to do it. I'm like no worries, like I'm not going to like beg you to go.

Chloe Jones: 22:55

Saying no is good too. Exactly For sure it's not, it's not, can't always be.

Erik Nilsson: 22:59

Yes, yeah, absolutely.

Chloe Jones: 23:00

But it's so true. You know you never know what show you're going to walk into, even an artist who you know well, you don't know what your experience of that show will be that night, and where there's an artist who you don't know. Back to this sort of element of surprise, I think you just don't know what you're going to get out of it. Right, and you know we're talking a lot about that in the performing arts industry because we are coming out of a pandemic and I think audience habits have changed. All of our habits have changed in terms of what we're going to or when we're staying home, how much we're staying home, and I think it's really good to remember that, like, you just don't know what your experience of the show will be. Maybe it will leave you in tears, maybe it will have you laughing out of your chair, you know, maybe it will feel profound, maybe it won't, but part of what we have to be interested in is that unknown.

Erik Nilsson: 23:52

And yeah, totally agree. Some of the best experiences of my life have been at shows that I didn't even know I was going to have a good time because and like I love this experience Even going back to the show I'm going to, that I haven't listened to a single song of. There was one of the first, like the best musical experiences I had, like the first one I'll never forget. I was in high school and I don't know if you remember the band like Rat-A-Tat, yeah, so Rat-A-Tat was coming into town and I was like I've heard a couple songs here and there, I don't know. So I'm like just come, tickets are like 20, like 18 bucks, let's go. And I just remember being in like the front row, just in the pit and just being like this is like what live music is. This is the emotion.

Erik Nilsson: 24:30

I mean, go watch a youtube video, something, and you can have a good experience, yeah, but listening to someone live and listening and having that experience, especially collectively with other people, it's a completely different thing, totally. And so whenever I have like a friend where I'm like, hey, listen, there's this show, it's going to be great, like it's even like tickets are cheap, whatever, and they're like oh, I don't know, I'm not really like a live music person, I'm not this. I'm like I get you don't like want to be around a lot of people because, like in general I don't like to, but for shows and like where I know there's going to be a lot of good energy, it's only magnified. But like going to something like I mean like the State Fair for example, like yeah, I don't need to be around a lot of people looking at like a bunch of cows and pigs, like that's, that doesn't quite do it the same way for me.

Chloe Jones: 25:10

No, I have the same experience. No-transcript, utah Presents, but it's also part of what's fun about what we do is a lot of the artists who we're presenting because they're not musicians, they're not on Spotify, and so our sort of way of introducing our community to them is often really limited until they get here, and then we're again asking our community to trust us and show up even though they don't know necessarily what they're going to see.

Erik Nilsson: 26:01

Yeah, and it can go so many different ways, cause. And then, like, you have to open up yourself to that experience, cause I mean using, I mean internships, and college experience is an example. Like I did, I mean pretty much like three or four internships during college and all of which were like no, like this is not what I want to do totally, but at the same time, like being able to check something off a list or going to a list and circling, like the right thing, still try to get you towards the same answer. And so, net, net, every experience is going to lead you down one of those paths or the other, so you might as well go do it, but, again, you don't have to say yes to everything.

Erik Nilsson: 26:34

Sometimes it's good to say no is good. Know your boundaries, know your energy.

Chloe Jones: 26:38

But say yes, more Come to more shows.

Erik Nilsson: 26:40

Yes absolutely so cool. So you go, so you're at Wesleyan. You have this experience of kind of seeing the creative side of things and like the infrastructure of it and how I mean performances and shows come to be. I I mean performances and shows come to be. I mean, after graduating. I mean I know you stayed kind of more on the East Coast and some of your experiences there I mean, but what did that, the early part of your career, look like at that point?

Chloe Jones: 27:02

So I went to Martha's Vineyard. I had never been growing up in Utah, I had really no concept of the place it was like a mythical island and I went for what I thought would be a summer internship at a really amazing organization called the Yard. It's a 50-year-old organization, primarily an artist residency for choreographers and dance makers, but also a performance center with a lot of educational programming. And I went out there thinking it would be my one summer on the vineyard and I had the best summer of my life. I got to meet and work with artists from all over an incredible team at the yard, and in August of that summer I got offered a full-time job, and so I ended up staying at the yard for almost eight years. I did eight summers total.

Erik Nilsson: 27:48

So did you stay in Martha's Vineyard in the off season as well? I?

Chloe Jones: 27:51

did initially and it was hard, to be honest. Honest, it's very rural there in the winter and also, you know, the island really empties out. The population shrinks dramatically, um, so I I did a couple winters there year-round, and then I sort of gradually started spending more and more time in New York City, um, and I would be on the vineyard for our summer seasons, which was incredible for an arts non-profit career to lead me to a New York City Martha's Vineyard gig. It was sweet so and I just yeah, it was a really a very formative time for me. For sure. I had a lot of opportunity to grow with that organization and and it just sort of cemented for me that this is what I want to be doing.

Erik Nilsson: 28:33

Yeah, and it's. I mean it's so fun to get those great experiences I mean especially away from Utah, because I love, like I love, this place. I mean this podcast has more or less been like my love letter to Utah and Salt Lake but at the same time, like the getting away have been great experiences of themselves. It's not to say this is the best, everything sucks, like I never think that binary about anything. But also to be able to go I mean, in your case, to go to, like I mean, a place very, very different than Salt Lake, but then also have this experience in New York doing and being in the heart of what you wanted to do and getting that experience and quick side tangent on Martha's Vineyard so my high school girlfriend.

Erik Nilsson: 29:10

She, her family, has a house on Chappie in Martha's Vineyard, and it was always this joke in high school. She's like, oh, you should come visit. You should come visit.

Chloe Jones: 29:18

Like, okay, okay, like my high school kid, I can't just get on a plane and go, and it's not easy to get there, especially in Chappaquiddick, which is an island off the island.

Erik Nilsson: 29:26

And again, this is like pre iPhones. I had a flip graduate go on a mission sometime in the fall, and sayonara, and so I do. So I make it out there, which is wild because you fly into Boston and then you get on your Peter Pan bus.

Chloe Jones: 29:47

Yes, you do.

Erik Nilsson: 29:56

And you get all your car ferry to get to chappy, yep, yep and so, and in that time, like I had never traveled alone like that. The only time I traveled alone was like for summer camp, where you have like your delta person like carrying you, putting you on the flight and taking you where you need to go. And so I go to martha's vineyard for a week. I mean it was amazing. I love small beach towns. I mean doing it on the east coast was fun. I mean mean I went to Cape Cod two years ago and like that was super fun. Very, very similar vibes.

Erik Nilsson: 30:19

But I love that East Coast small town, coastal towns like Rhode Island, connecticut, all those areas. Brothers were there and yeah, yeah, we just had like a kind of a full house of fun people and everyone was young. But coming back, things got interesting. So I get my way back to the airport and I get there and they're like oh, your flight's canceled, there's a hurricane coming in. This is in 2009. And I'm like and again, I don't have a phone, I don't have like, oh, like a credit card, there's no service anyway.

Erik Nilsson: 30:51

Exactly, and so I call my mom and I'm and I'm again crying. I think this is the episode I've admitted to crying the most, but it's okay, let it out.

Chloe Jones: 30:59

The hearts, they draw it out.

Erik Nilsson: 31:00

Oh, don't get me started. Um, and I'm calling my mom, like hold on, give me 15 minutes. So she hangs up, I'm wiping away my tears and she calls me back. She's like okay, there's going to be a shuttle that's going to pick you up in 10 minutes. It's going to take you to a hotel. Your flight is rebooked for 8 in the morning. There will be a shuttle to pick you up at 7.

Chloe Jones: 31:20

Go mom.

Erik Nilsson: 31:31

Like are you okay? But it was just one of those like I'm an adult, just kidding, no, I need to call my mom, but but martha's vineyard itself, I mean unreal. I mean I totally I can't imagine having never been there before being like so this is my. It sounds like the ultimate, like rom-com setting meet cute down.

Chloe Jones: 31:42

Yeah 100, 100. We had a lot of fun that summer and we were all living on the organization's campus. You know so it's like staff and artists are all living on the organization's campus. You know so it's like staff and artists are all living together. And yeah, I mean I had never experienced island life. It was just so different from anything that I knew growing up here. But I do think for me there's always been this pull towards landscape, towards landscape that I find inspiring, and I think that is also partly a product of growing up in Utah with several river guides for family members, artists and river guides.

Erik Nilsson: 32:20

That's really a good combo.

Chloe Jones: 32:25

Yeah, it's an amazing combo and landscape that can meet the sort of inspiration that I'm finding in art is something that I've wanted and that I found on the vineyard in a very different way than I find here in Salt Lake.

Erik Nilsson: 32:38

Yeah, because I mean Utah is there's a reason we have so many landscape artists in Utah? Because, literally, look any way and you're like, oh, that's beautiful. Oh, that's beautiful, but at the same time like the Utah beauty is one thing and when you experience other places like when I lived in I mean Washington, being like, oh, mount Rainier is super cool, oh, the sound is really cool, look at Olympic National Parks, the San Juan Islands, I mean North Cascades, and just being taken back by it all, but then at the same time you start driving through the Midwest and I'm like I'm good, like I don't like corner soybean nearly this much.

Erik Nilsson: 33:10

But to be able to go to again like a East Coast coastal island town is about as far opposite of the pendulum swing of Salt Lake could be. So it's got to be such a great experience to get away from it all, even after having gone away to school and having, I mean, those kind of experiences kind of like leading to each other and like these different stepping stones. But I mean thinking about your time in Martha, mean in Martha's Vineyard, and then in New York. I mean what were some of those highlights? I mean whether it be shows you did or people you worked with, that made it all worth it.

Chloe Jones: 33:39

Well, I think part of what was so magical about my experience at the yard, both my time on Martha's Vineyard and also in New York City, is that we were really focused on supporting artists in making work and as a residency center. You know we were paying artists to come for creation residencies, to be there for one week, two weeks, three weeks, to be in the studio making.

Erik Nilsson: 34:07

And that's really different.

Chloe Jones: 34:08

Yeah, and it's really different from bringing in a show that's been made, that's touring and it goes back to that sort of, you know, getting to be a part of the creative process but also investing in the creative process. It's a different kind of investment insight into many different artists, primarily choreographers, how they made, how they approached making and how their approach changed. You know, we'd have artists who would be with us one summer and they'd come back two summers later and that opportunity to sort of stay with artists as well through process was really just very rich, very rich.

Erik Nilsson: 34:50

Yeah, it's such an energy of, I mean, the creation part of things and like, I mean even in my medium of painting, like I can watch someone paint.

Erik Nilsson: 34:57

I mean I mean they're good at it, but yeah, I mean a good relative, but anyway, um, it's such an interesting process to look at someone, see them take in what they're looking at, go through this black box and then change something, make a mark, make them like, and to see this process come to life. Because, again, like most of us experience this, creativity is the form of, like its final version. We see the painting hang on the wall, we see the choreography, we see the show. But to see the process of being creative is a whole different energy. I mean especially to see people who it's like, oh, like, I find Martha's Vineyard to be an inspiring place, I want to go create there and then be like, oh, this was the right place for me to create, I'm going to go back and to be able to, I mean, enable that and be a part of that creative process has got to be such a different experience, but such like a validating experience as well.

Chloe Jones: 35:43

Totally, and I think as a society in America, we put a lot more emphasis on the product than the process. Right, we tend to value what is created more than the actual process of creating the show, the painting, and I think it's good for us to challenge that. It was really fun to get to welcome community into the process. All of our residencies had shows, so people would come and they would see something that is in the middle of being made, and I love that. I think you know I, listening to you, was also thinking about a combination that I often think about, which is play and rigor, and that was something that I learned a lot about through my time at the yard. There's so much play and experimentation in the process of making a performance, making a dance, and there's this real rigor around dedication to practice, to an artistic discipline striving to sort of, you know, up the ante, to be better, and I think there's.

Erik Nilsson: 36:48

So it's such a generative combination when you put play and rigor together, and that's what I see happen often in the arts that I that I love and I try to carry into other parts of my life oh, I love that because one of my favorite people that I've studied a lot over the past few years is Rick Rubin, and I mean in his book, the creative act and I mean most people who talk about the creative process there's usually some sort of statement around being like a childlike state of play. Yeah, because when you're in a childlike state of play, there is no responsibility, there is no worry, there's no anxiety, there is no thought or external expectations. It's just you doing what you love. And then I mean they kind of dovetail together with this play and this rigor where I mean, if you're in a childlike state of play and having fun, it doesn't feel like work anymore and you are willing to put in the extra effort, you are willing to stay longer because, again, you're like you're having fun, you were playing and doing it. And that's when some of the most special things are created, wherever it might be.

Erik Nilsson: 37:43

And I like what you were saying about kind of letting people into the process. I mean especially because it's a performance center as well. They're not just creating there with the closed doors, but I mean letting people in on the process and trying things out, because some of my favorite I mean I love standup comedy. That's one of my favorite kind of shows to go to. That's non-musical, and I always love shows where I mean it's a workshop. They have their notes in hand, they're trying out different things, they'll try something and crickets. We're like like all right, well, it's done. But then you'll hear something.

Erik Nilsson: 38:09

You're like genius yeah, and then, like this, I, when I was living in seattle, I lived right across from, uh, this really, oh my gosh, I can't even think of the name. It's this really famous theater that has been there forever. We'll have to look it up. But, um, and it would be fun because I would just walk home from work and I'd walk past it and they'd have like big on the marquee sign of who was there. And there was one time it was Dimitri Martin, one of my favorite. He's actually just here a couple months ago. But I was like, oh, I want to go. So we went to the show and it was fun because, like, we saw half of what then later became like his Netflix special, and so it's fun to be like, oh, here's what made the cut, here's what didn't, and kind of be involved in part of that creative process.

Chloe Jones: 38:52

Yeah, and I think with live performance, audiences is key, right, it's? It's only a live performance with an audience there, and so for artists to have the opportunity to have an audience while they're making a work whether it's for feedback on what's funny or just sort of feedback on what are people seeing, what are people experiencing that kind of feedback is so important.

Erik Nilsson: 39:09

And it's it, it's really, it's an amazing experience to sort of get to facilitate that yeah for community and for artists I mean like in both ways too, because it's not like you're just looking at the audience and seeing this like wonder in their eye, but you also get to see the creator put on the show that you've seen them create, and see the reaction in the audience and see how they iterate on this and kind of just see this like whirlwind and like almost this like flywheel, start to create and then next thing you know it's the final version's done, they're thanking you and then you get to see I mean, whether you do or don't get to see the final act, if it goes on tour, if it goes into production or whatever it might be.

Erik Nilsson: 39:44

You get to see how it goes from an idea to what it is, yeah, idea to what it is, and so, yeah, I love that. You kind of get to see both sides of that. I never thought of it on that side of seeing the creative part. So you spend a lot of time on the East Coast, new York, a split between New York and Martha's Vineyard. I mean, at what point did making your way back West come?

Chloe Jones: 40:01

into the picture. The pendulum swing back Exactly. It's been almost two years since I moved home, and I moved home for a combination of factors. This job that I have now at Utah Presents was a big factor. I was just incredibly excited to step into this role and work for this organization that had really transformed in the last 10 years in really exciting ways. I also was excited to move home for the landscape. I think I have always felt deeply connected to this place, and not just Salt Lake City, but also the surrounding area, southern Utah all of the really the diversity of landscape that we have access to by living in Salt Lake and family was another big pullback. I loved listening to you talk about your mom earlier in this episode, and I, too, am very, very close to my mom and wanted to be geographically close to her and my stepdad and other family.

Erik Nilsson: 40:58

Yeah, I talked about it before, but it's funny when you grow up here, because I would always see people grow up, go to high school, maybe college, and then move away. Be like you did it, you got out of. Utah, and then all of a sudden, they'd be be back like what are you doing?

Erik Nilsson: 41:10

Like why are you back. You got out and then I mean I ended up becoming one of those people Because, again, like I mean, when you live away from family, you realize how hard life can be with family, and I mean especially if people are thinking about I mean I mean kids and what that support looks like. That's hard. But then also, like no one knows you, like your family. Like one good kind of parallel is kind of this group of high school friends I have, where it would always used to, we would get together, especially when I didn't live in town. I'd see them and we'd just talk about high school. I'm like I don't want to talk about high school. I'm not that person anymore. I don't like want to go back to that.

Erik Nilsson: 41:40

But little by little I realized, as I made other friends, that no one knows that time of life than them.

Erik Nilsson: 41:46

Like I could meet someone and tell them about it, but they weren't there, they don't know. And so there's so few people that know all of this content and context and history and who you were and who you've become and and know so much of your story, and I mean family is the ultimate example of that. And so once you, I mean have like an adult relationship with your family, instead of going from like parent, child to like friend, friend and like kind of the parent. I mean it's always there to some extent or another, but to have that is, I mean, monumental. But then also I mean I agree, like the landscapes and the beauty of Utah is unmatched. I remember when I came back from the van trip, when I went down I think I was going to Thanksgiving or something in St George and it was funny doing that drive after because I was like leaning over the steering wheel, just like this is so pretty, like why don't I ever take, like why did I take this for granted?

Chloe Jones: 42:34

Yeah, and it's so fun to see how that goes Still astonishing, I mean. I remember the first time I drove down to southern Utah my godmother is Blake Spalding. She owns Hell's Backbone Grill in Boulder and so I spent quite a bit of time down there.

Erik Nilsson: 42:47

I was messaging her on Instagram just recently.

Chloe Jones: 42:49

She's incredible, but I go down to see her as much as I can. And I remember the first time I drove down there after I had moved home and I was giddy. I mean I'm like totally giddy. I was driving down by myself and just so full of awe and wonder and giddiness over this place that was suddenly home again. You know that this was not going to be a once in a blue moon trip because I was living on the East Coast, but it was like I could go down all the time.

Chloe Jones: 43:18

And you know, I think that just speaks to the power of this landscape that it can continue to be awe-inspiring, even if you've grown up here. I also love taking friends to Southern Utah or really so many places in Utah for the first time. Remember, in college I have a dear friend, rachel, who grew up in Singapore and lives there now again, but she came with me to Southern Utah, to Boulder, and sort of seeing the place through her eyes. You know, it's just there's so much wonder and awe and magic in this place. It's like really real magic.

Erik Nilsson: 43:54

And it's so unique it is and there's few places like it and you can go north, south, east or west, running into something completely different. Yeah, and even if you have been there before, there's always some new place. There's like some different level of granularity you can expose yourself to. Because I never really grew up we just never did a ton of outside stuff like we went. We had like our two trips we'd try to do every year. We'd go to lake powell for a summer sorry, not for a summer, that'd be nice for a week in the summer and then we'd do like a weekend camping up in the uintas, but like we never really did like zion trips or never really went to like moab or anything like that or like really even like hiked around the Valley. I mean mostly because, like I mean either my mom was in a failing relationship or she was single or um, kind of like that time had passed of like kind of showing your kids the side of things. And so as I came back, especially from Seattle, I'm like all right, like yeah.

Erik Nilsson: 44:43

I get it now, I do want to do that. And then that's what you see in so much of the energy of people that move here or move back. I mean there's so so many strong communities around. I mean mountain biking, road biking, bouldering, skiing, snowboarding, I mean everything. And because you have these people who move from all over the country and world who are like this place is unreal, how do you not know that, like I can be in the middle of nowhere in 15 minutes on a trailhead after work, and so it's, it's fun to see that and especially to re-experience it when you do come back. Yeah, but yeah, I mean I want to talk about, I mean Utah Presents itself and the work that you do, and a little bit more for people who may not be familiar. So maybe, I mean maybe start off with what it is.

Chloe Jones: 45:19

What is Utah Presents? Yeah, exactly, yeah. So we are University of Utah's performing arts presenter. We're based at Kingsbury Hall, which is an iconic historic theater it will be 100 years old in 2030. And we bring artists from all over the world and all over the country here to perform. They represent lots of different artistic disciplines, cultural forms. Their work delves into myriad issues. There's really a lot of variety in the season Music, dance, theater, storytelling, film. We have some special projects that we get to do, often in collaboration with other folks on campus, like we host Banff Mountain Film Festival every February, and all of the artists who we bring in we also bring out into the community for educational work. Some of that is on campus, some of it is off campus, but that's a really important part of our mission is it's not just the public performances, it's also connecting the artists who made those shows to Utahns of all ages in lots of different settings.

Erik Nilsson: 46:24

That's awesome Because I grew up going there Again. My mother would take me to these places and also there was one. So in high school I took as part of musical theater, I took voice lessons and sang semi-competitively which sounds weird to say, but really just like my voice teacher.

Chloe Jones: 46:40

We're in a karaoke room right now. Oh and cute.

Erik Nilsson: 46:44

But I remember there because I love the acoustics of Kingsbury Hall.

Chloe Jones: 46:49

Yeah.

Erik Nilsson: 46:49

Because I remember the first time I walked in I'm like, oh, this is what one of these places is like. Yeah, because it's small enough that you can tell the difference, and then you are there for performance or are performing and it makes a lot of sense. But I also do love the part of Utah Presents where it's not just okay, here's a venue, we'll promote it, we'll bring people in. But it's also the second step of things of the educational part, where I mean, obviously, if you're on University of Utah campus, you can find a place to teach someone and someone willing to learn.

Erik Nilsson: 47:16

But I think there's so much beauty in like the I mean that's like each one teach one mentality of someone who is a creator, someone who has done it professionally, to say, here's how, here's my process, here's what I've learned, here's what inspires me, and really pass that on to other people. Yeah, because if we keep it all to ourselves, then no one knows and no one, no one can, can share in that, in that process and that joy. But I mean, what are some of the performers that have come since you started in the past two years that have been some of your favorites, that you've either learned the most from or been the most inspired by, favorites that you've either learned the most from or been the most inspired by, oh so many.

Chloe Jones: 47:55

But really what I want to talk about in response to that question is who's coming next, so that hopefully, people can come see some stuff, is that okay?

Erik Nilsson: 47:58

Yeah, who do we have upcoming? Because I'm curious.

Chloe Jones: 48:00

Partly I went there because one of the groups that's coming in October was with us last fall and the show was so wonderful. We all walked out of the theater and I had multiple patrons come up to me, multiple audience members come up to me and say they're coming back, not like, will you bring them back, but they're coming back. And so indeed they are coming back. This is a group called Circa. They're one of the world's leading contemporary circus groups. They're based in Australia and we have a different piece this October. They're bringing Duck Pond, which is their mashup of Swan Lake and the Ugly Duckling. But visualize mind-blowing acrobatics, just so seamless, like incredible physicality. That's happening in October. We have a new jazz series this year. I don't know if you ever went to any jazz SLC concerts. This was Salt Lake's flagship jazz presenter for 30 years and it closed sort of soon after the pandemic started.

Chloe Jones: 49:01

And we are working with the folks who started Jazz SLC Gordon and Connie Hanks to start a new jazz series at Utah Presents. It's called Jazz at Kingsbury Hall. We have Delphio Marsalis and the Uptown Jazz Orchestra coming from New Orleans. Christian McBride coming in February. He's a nine-time Grammy Award-winning jazz bassist. Again, it's a lot of variety. We have the King Singers coming with a holiday show in December that will actually be next door to us at the Libby Gardner Concert Hall. They're a group from England, one of the world's most famous a cappella groups out of the King's College. We have a couple of dance groups that are performing in Utah for the first time Malpaso Dance Company, which is Cuba's premier dance group. They're coming in April. It's actually a group that I got to work with quite a bit at the yard. They were there for a residency my first summer at the yard in 2015.

Chloe Jones: 49:55

Rubber band dance they're a Montreal based group melding hip hop and different street forms with ballet and a sort of like ballet composition. Yeah, it's a real mix and that's the fun of it.

Erik Nilsson: 50:11

Yeah, I was going to say there's something for everyone, exactly Because I think a lot of people would hear.

Erik Nilsson: 50:17

I mean, you can kind of look at different venues and have your own assumption of what it's going to be like at Sky and someone performing at a Bravino Hall and be like, oh, like, probably going to be pretty similar or some sort of similarities in different performances are there, but even just in the people you've named, I mean so much diversity, so much background and like things that I'd be surprised if there wasn't at least one of those that someone would hear and be like oh, that sounds interesting.

Erik Nilsson: 50:46

Like I do want to go, yeah, I mean especially like the jazz jet. Like one thing, one issue I have with salt lake and I don't know why this is this way, but we need a jazz bar, like because I know we have like I mean keys on main and like piano bars, blah, blah, blah, but like I want to be able to go sit down and have, like my la la land experience of having like like a martini at a jazz bar and have fun. So don't know how this fits into the big picture of things, but that's one thing I need.

Chloe Jones: 51:12

Yeah, I love that. We're definitely not that kind of a venue over at Kingsbury, as you know, but we are excited to keep alive this tradition of world-class jazz coming to Salt Lake and I think when Jazz SLC closed, you know, there was a real sort of hole in the ecosystem and it's just been really fun to work on this new series. But, yeah, I think there's something for everyone. We're also really aspiring for everyone to see themselves in our programming. Right, we want, with the richness of cultural forms and people up on stage, for everyone to see themselves at some point in our programming and that feels that cultural representation feels really important to us.

Erik Nilsson: 51:53

Definitely, and it's a building or, sorry, it's a venue that is. I mean, like you said, I mean to be 100 years old in 2030. There's so. Those walls have seen so many different shows and felt so many different emotions, and there's only more to come.

Chloe Jones: 52:07

Yeah, and I've loved that moving back and stepping into this role and talking to people about their memories in Kingsbury Hall, because so many people, especially those who've been in Utah for a while, have some memory there and often they're really personal memories. I graduated on that stage, my kids' first dance show was on that stage. I saw my first major concert in that venue. I saw my first major concert in that venue and you know the place itself has a lot more going on than the Utah Presents program. So we talked earlier about Live Nation. We've got comedians coming in, we have different campus and community events and our staff at Utah Presents helps to facilitate all of those events. So we sort of support them all and the Utah Presents program our season is one piece of what's happening at Kingsbury.

Erik Nilsson: 52:53

Yeah, so much going on and I mean I love the shows that you've mentioned and so many great performances and things that the community can get involved with, that we felt like we're lacking. I mean, like you said, jazz SLC unfortunately not making it through the pandemic, but then being able to be an organization that can pick up that loose slack and fill that void for people who are feeling it and just the community in general is feeling it. But I guess, as you have been in this role for two years, I would assume you know I mean the newness of it's probably fading. But I mean, as you step into this new role and the shoes are starting to fit her on, I mean where do you see yourself taking it personally compared to what's been done in the past?

Chloe Jones: 53:33

Well, I was drawn to this organization in part because I think it underwent a transformation over the last 10 years. That's really exciting and I think the direction of the organization that I saw two years ago was the direction I could get on board with. That I said, yeah, this organization is doing something really right and there's a lot of opportunity to grow awareness around it, to bring more people into the fold. I think there are some exciting ways that we can innovate within our programming. So, in addition to the jazz series, this year we have one other new series and it's really a reimagining of an existing series called Stage Door and sort of. The backstory here is you know, kingsbury is almost 2,000 seats. It's a grand proscenium theater. It's not particularly intimate. A lot of work translates really well on that stage.

Chloe Jones: 54:23

Some work wants a more intimate space, needs a more flexible space, and so a number of years ago Utah Presents created a series called Stage Door where we take the audience in through the backstage door of Kingsbury Hall and we seat the audience on the stage for the show. And the stage is so big that, depending on the seating configuration, we can get 150, 200 people up there for a show. We've also done more intimate. You know, 50 people in the round.

Chloe Jones: 54:50

We've kind of configured it all sorts of different ways Saw that platform and I thought, you know this would be a great way, a great format for us to use to support Utah based artists who are making new work. So in the 2024-2025 season that we're in now, the Stage Door series is all Utah based artists and we're trying to use this as an engine to commission local folks. We have so many incredible artists living right here in our backyard and Utah Presents has always been about bringing artists here and we'll continue to do that. I think we can do that and do more to support the creatives who are here. So that's one way that we sort of, you know, took what was a brilliant use of the venue and said how might we put this to use in a way that's of even greater value to our community here in Utah?

Erik Nilsson: 55:47

Yeah, I like how that's kind of focused back on Utah itself Because, to your point, there are so many amazing creators, artists, I mean among so many different disciplines, I mean among so many different disciplines, and to give them a platform, to highlight them, I mean such a unique and creative way, only helps, I mean, bolster our creative community and highlight so many of these people that do, and it will eventually be something of it because we do have, I mean, so many great creators. But sometimes I feel like it gets so lost in the kerfuffle of like the bigger picture or like bigger I, I mean performances and shows that people are more gravitated to, that we miss out on the details because some of my um, I mean even when I went and saw uh Glass Animals at USANA it was interesting because he opened up Dave can't think his last name right now, but he's like.

Erik Nilsson: 56:33

I remember the first time I came to Salt Lake I played at Kilby Court yeah and now here I am, sold out at USANA and so it's like, yeah, like people, not only like them come through, but there's also, I mean, all of the typical Utah music we think about of, I mean Imagine Dragons and the Used and Neon Trees and yada, yada, yada, Like we know of those people. But what's next?

Chloe Jones: 56:56

Totally. I mean, there's an amazing jazz band in Salt Lake called Hot House West. Have you ever heard of?

Erik Nilsson: 57:02

them.

Chloe Jones: 57:03

They're. I mean they're starting a jazz and swing renaissance is sort of how they talk about it, but they're on our jazz lineup this year and they are leading in sales of all 21 Utah Presents productions this season. Hot House West is out front and I love to see that. I mean they have got over 600 tickets sold for a show that's in January. Wow, so to your point, you know, I think it's really exciting to have this mix of local artists and visiting artists again coming from Australia, cuba, england, canada, all across the country on a season with performers who are based here, right here in Utah.

Erik Nilsson: 57:42

Totally, and I think and I'm curious what this trend is going to play out, because I think there's been a lot of changes generally in music and shows and concerts. Because A everything's more expensive, everybody wants to go see music, like I. Some of the tickets I paid for this year I just laughed because of how much it was and tried to forget about it as quickly as possible.

Chloe Jones: 58:02

I'm so glad you brought that up, because I do want to say our tickets at Utah Presents are affordable. We're really intentional about that. So for pretty much every show we start tickets at $10. They're limited but if you buy early you can get a $10 ticket. And I think last year we've got other like University of Utah students get a $5 ticket to any of our shows. But again, we try to make these accessible and when we did the math at the end of our last season, I forget the exact dollar amount, but our average ticket price was under $20. Wow, so you know, it's a scale. Like we also have tickets that are $45, $55, 55, 65, and that's a great way to support our programming. Um, but it's a range in part so that hopefully everyone can come and not feel like oh, it was, it had to be this big decision, like it was really a splurge. It's like, no, this can be something that that you can incorporate into your life a lot without feeling it financially is our hope.

Erik Nilsson: 59:03

Yeah, because I love going to shows and, again, like going to shows you've never seen before, experiencing something new, such an easy way to do it. Because I mean, if you spent $500 on Post Malone tickets, that's one thing and like let's say it wasn't a great show, it was a great show, you're probably like bummed. But then I mean, if you go spend $10, you could find your favorite new artist or go see someone that you know semi well or at least know something of them, and it can be a great time. And it can be, I mean, an easy date night. It can be something. If you're bored at home and see something going on, why not do it?

Erik Nilsson: 59:41

Because I have, I mean, see a great show yeah and like a more intimate show and get to see someone in a different way and in a new experience. I think there's going to be a lot more of that, because even looking at um kind of so I live on, I'm not going to say that so I drive past delta center almost every day.

Chloe Jones: 59:59

Okay.

Erik Nilsson: 1:00:00

And I always look and see who's on the blinking sign, whether or like if people are going to a show. I'm like, what show is this? And there's been like two things. I've noticed One there's a lot more country shows, there's a lot more Latin music shows and there's a lot less hip hop and rap shows, and so it's interesting to see like I mean what I would call like the peak of hip hop and rap was like between 2010 and 2016. And now is more of an ebb than a flow. But then we see, and I think kind of like I mean EDM will always be a big part of things, but I mean country music is back.

Erik Nilsson: 1:00:32

People have leaned into a lot of like Latin music, with, I mean, the proliferation of like Bad Bunny and such. But at the same time, too, people don't want to spend a lot of money to go see a good show and you don't have to make this trade off and be like, well, I guess I could see a bad show for a low price, but instead you're like you can go see a good show for a low price. Yeah, you're gonna be surprised, and so I think it's it's cool to see what you perfectly with how people want to spend their time and their money.

Chloe Jones: 1:01:00

I hope so.

Erik Nilsson: 1:01:01

I consider me a part of the fold.

Chloe Jones: 1:01:03

Okay, great, we're going to get you some shows this year.

Erik Nilsson: 1:01:05

Oh, please, because I yeah again, I'm trying to do better about saying yes, I'm doing better about new experiences, and the last time I was at Kingsbury was it was in 2015, 2016. It was when Mitt Romney announced that he, like, wasn't going to be supporting Trump in the election and I was in college then, but and then I moved away and came back and blah, blah, blah. But I I saw I solemnly getting close to winter solemnly swear that it is going to be part of my new process of going through what I want to see and how I want to experience and spend my money on shows.

Chloe Jones: 1:01:41

I love it. I mean, I think we're busy, right, we're living in busy times and we can't say yes to everything. And I think we know that my partner has started calling me a closet extrovert because, truthfully, I'm often like, oh, I don't want to go to whatever it is right the show, the opening, the party I'm like, oh, and then I go and I have an amazing time, like I meet someone or many people who are incredible. I end up being emotionally moved by the show, like it's so often, I think, or maybe for some of us, it's clearing that hurdle of actually getting there. And then you have this experience that you're so happy that you had and also you know pacing yourself.

Chloe Jones: 1:02:20

We've got 21 productions this year, so there are opportunities from now until April and we would love to see people at lots of those shows. But you know, I think part of what we can do is to our conversation like, try new things, check out this organization, check out that venue. Like, get around town. There's so much amazing stuff happening in the creative community here. It's awesome, it's inspiring to be a part of it.

Erik Nilsson: 1:02:46

You got to look in the nooks and crannies. You can't just see what's right in front of you, and you'll be pleasantly surprised.

Chloe Jones: 1:02:51

And the city has changed so much. I mean again, it sounds like we both had a lot of exposure to the arts growing up here, but A lot of exposure to the arts growing up here. But also the city has grown and changed so much just in the last 10 years and that to me makes it all the more exciting. We have this incredible foundation of the arts here in Utah and it's just getting richer, it's just getting more vibrant.

Erik Nilsson: 1:03:12

Yeah, and it's, I mean, with Salt Lake becoming a bigger dot on the map. It's interesting to see how many more shows, because it's always been a place that a lot of traveling shows would come through. Like when I was sitting down with uh kevin kirk, founder and owner of heavy metal shop, he loved moving from uh boise to here because he's like so many places, like so many more shows would stop by and it was so much better and but it's only becoming bigger and people like, well, if I'm going to denver and I have to go to, I mean, san Francisco or Vegas or whatever it is, or Seattle, might as well stop through Salt Lake. And it went from like might as well to like oh yeah, this is a, this is a dot on the map it's a destination, yeah, yeah.

Erik Nilsson: 1:03:48

And so, yeah, I think there's so much optimism in the air for I mean performing arts. However you want to think about and look at it, like even and I was looking at like just as like the top of the capacity scale I was looking at shows in LA because I was going to go for a weekend and ended up not, but I was like there's like 20 venues that are big, everything has like a great show, and so I'm so excited to see more of that. Like it makes me a little anxious because of my decision paralysis and analysis. Paralysis but at the same time, like the more that we can have come through, the more that the city can embrace, not only um the shows that come through, but also support our local artists and everything that they're doing for the community and support our own. I mean, everybody wins what? How are you thinking about it?

Chloe Jones: 1:04:28

Everybody wins. Yeah, I love the city. I mean, I think this is so much of what drew me back. We have this incredible access to the arts. We have this incredible access to landscape. You know, those of us who are here know the quality of life in Salt Lake is pretty good, pretty magical.

Erik Nilsson: 1:04:43

Pretty magical. I can sign my name on that one.

Chloe Jones: 1:04:46

Yeah, I love that you're doing this. I think it's awesome that you are playing a part in unearthing all of these stories and just sort of what is happening in this changing, rapidly changing, growing, dynamic city and place.

Erik Nilsson: 1:05:00

Thank you, it's been a journey.

Erik Nilsson: 1:05:02

It's not been easy, it's been a lot of hard work, but it's been so rewarding, and especially now where I mean, like I said, I mean this week I'll be releasing episode 52.

Erik Nilsson: 1:05:15

And it's been fun to go from, like I mean obviously everybody I can learn something from and there's a story to be told and something to learn and something to be exposed to. But at the same time, there's been so many now that, like anecdotes are starting to turn into data and it's so, it's so fun just to be like, oh, like there are these common trends in people and kind of like how they got to do what they want to do, or this is what everybody loves about solid, or like this is this unique experience that people have. So it's it's been fun to to learn so much about it Because, again, like it's grown so much, there's so many different things and once you realize how much it's changed, in the direction it's going in, it opens up this whole new world of possibilities that you didn't even think was possible. Like I never thought Salt Lake was going to be this cool when I was even in college.

Chloe Jones: 1:05:50

Totally. I also love that you call it Small Lake City Podcast, because I have to say I have been surprised moving back. Most people I meet my age did not grow up here. I feel like I'm in the minority on that, which I was not expecting. I knew there had been a big influx of people, but you know there'll be six of us at dinner and I'm the only one, or there will be 10 of us at a party, like I'm the only one who grew up here. People are coming from all over the country and yet there are. I still feel like I have these small Lake city moments all the time and I love that, like it still has, for me at least, and maybe it's because I grew up here, but a sort of small city, small town feel, even as it grows.

Erik Nilsson: 1:06:30

Totally. Like in pretty much every guest I've had there's been some sort of like oh you know, so. Like like your family member owns Hell's Backbone Kitchen, like I'm like, yeah, of course, so it's. And it's also wild the more you chase the small, like city energy, it's almost insulting sometimes to see how much it just like layers on top of itself and I'll be like, oh you know so-and-so that did this with that person and that person married this person and now we're talking today like Totally. And part of that is the thing that I think has made Salt Lake such an amazing community is the community Because people do, and I mean it all stems from, like the LDS roots that it was started by and the communities that they had. And then, as I mean, there's a lot of change broadly in the world of like perception of religion and people wanting it or not wanting it, and seeing how that sense of community that stemmed from that still stays true, and especially looking across all of the different facets that I've covered in the podcast from, I mean, nightlife and art and business and food, it's interesting to see how all of that is still such a community focus.

Erik Nilsson: 1:07:40

Like I've talked to CEOs, it's like I was working with the other CEO of another company that's my competitor and helping me.

Erik Nilsson: 1:07:46

I mean, the guys at Baby's Bagels were making bagels out of the Arlo kitchen when they were getting started.

Erik Nilsson: 1:07:52

The Black Void guys were talking about how, when they would try to go to LA and have people collaborate, they're like no, not unless you're cutting me a check, but they would try to go to LA and have people collaborate, they're like no, not unless you're cutting me a check, but then people here would help them all the time. The artist community is so tight knit I mean they have the artist nosh every month that you can go and talk with artists and get feedback and collect on it. And so it's just like all of these different ways of like this, like Deseret, that we all grew up hearing about in action and industry, and it's so unique that we have it because you go a lot of other places and people don't look out for each other in the same way. And as long as we can keep that energy, as people keep moving here, as things change, I think is going to be the biggest determination of our future success, because everything works better when we work better together.

Chloe Jones: 1:08:33

Yes, like word amen. Yes, mic drop, mic drop.

Erik Nilsson: 1:08:40

Well, chloe, I want to end with two questions. I always ask every guest at the end of the episode. First, if you could have someone on the Small Inc City podcast and hear more about what they're up to and their story. Who would you want to hear from?

Chloe Jones: 1:08:52

I don't know. My mind is turning to all these places that I feel like have been important to me, like the King's English Bookstore pops into my head that would be a good one you know, like places that I just they feel like salt lake to me, um, and I think it would be. Yeah, I'd love to hear from the people who are making those spaces happen, like making them continue to be I don't know. Another one that comes to mind Do you ever go to Takashi downtown?

Erik Nilsson: 1:09:28

Oh, absolutely.

Chloe Jones: 1:09:29

So I used to go to Shogun when Takashi was the chef there and my mom likes to joke. You know like Takashi has been feeding me second longest to her. My mom likes to joke. You know like Takashi has been feeding me second longest to her. You know, it's like that kind of I don't know, just these gems of places where I feel deep attachment and it's you know, it's people making them happen.

Erik Nilsson: 1:09:52

Yeah, People that have been feeding us for so long and have been these like staples and honestly carry so much of the soul of Salt Lake like King's English.

Erik Nilsson: 1:10:00

I remember buying books there in elementary school, middle school, high school for book reports and I think I bought one of the Harry Potters from there when it came out once. But anyway, like yeah, there are these long standing places that have so much history and like there's places that people I mean I think King's English is one where it's like most people if you're from here and at least and especially grew up near the east bench, like you know, of king's english but like another one that I was re-exposed to was actually it's one of the bartenders here because sometimes I'll just like if I'm on my way home from dinner or I've been at home all day, I'll just come and sit at the bar and have a drink because I there's, I have a lot of friends here, but then I also have a lot of and he's like, well, and he kind of paused for a second, I was like go on.

Erik Nilsson: 1:10:42

He's like, well, I'm a luthier and I was like that's a new word. He's like I make stringed instruments. I'm like, oh my God, like one of my childhood, like my first childhood friends. His parents were both in the Utah Symphony and so I would go into the garage and do like violin parts and it was always just like unique and interesting. But then there is the um, the violin school on third south, and so that's where he goes to to learn how to, I mean, create string instruments, yeah, and so it's those places similar to like Anthony's fine arts and antiques that have been there for so long, yeah, but you're like I've never been inside, like what's going on, and so I think that's uh, there's a lot of those ones that we need to highlight, both the known and the unknown, because even if you're not from here and you're one of these transplants, so I mean we welcome, they need to there's we welcome you.

Chloe Jones: 1:11:31

no, it's true there's such history, but and then there's all these great new spaces. I mean two other people who popped into my mind, who are dear friends, jorge Rojas and Color Mesh, who have a relatively new gallery space called Material, and they're doing incredible work. So I love this sort of thinking about like what are these places that have been around for 10, 20, 30 years, 40 years? What are these places that just open but feel like they're already really integral to the fabric of the city?

Erik Nilsson: 1:12:03

Yeah, I love both of those and thankfully I've been lucky enough to talk to a lot of the people that made both of those experiences happen. And, yeah, there's room for both Well. I guess we can't have more old businesses, but we can have the new ones come. And then, lastly, if people want to find out more about the shows that are coming up and about the organization itself, what's the best place to find information?

Chloe Jones: 1:12:24

UtahPresentsorg, you can find all of our events. You can get your tickets. You can also follow us on social media at Utah Presents. So we're on Instagram, we're on Facebook. Through the website, you can sign up for our e-news and we try hard not to, you know, block, you know spam you with too much communication. So sign up for the, for the email deal.

Erik Nilsson: 1:12:51

I will sign up for the newsletter, cause I again don't want to see the Instagram stories of the shows I want to go to and that we talked about on someone else's so well, we're just we'll.

Chloe Jones: 1:12:56

we will be personally inviting you now, so keep an eye out for that as well.

Erik Nilsson: 1:12:59

Hey, love it, love it. Thank you so much. You know, chloe, it's been, it's been an honor, so great to learn more about all that you've done and then all that you're continuing to do for the community, excited to see where and what happens more with you to represent. Thank you, eric.

Chloe Jones: 1:13:11

Really a pleasure.

Erik Nilsson: 1:13:12

Pleasure is mine.