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It’s always a little sad when good things come to an end, even when that end signals new beginnings.

Last weekend, Salt Lake City’s Dark Arts Festival celebrated a decade of operation with its final installment, the three-day Alumni Festival that featured performers who’ve appeared at the event over the past ten years. Clint Catalyst, a good friend and man of many hats, hosted the DAF back in 2002 and was invited to join the party. He recruited goth-rock veteran Paris Sadonis [Premature Ejaculation, EXP, etc.] and me along for the ride. We cooked up a very special, butoh-inspired performance piece, piled into Clint’s hatchback, and set out for the land of goths and mormons to help The Dark Arts festival commemorate ten years of all things dark and arty.

And what a brilliant ten years it’s been, with appearances by everyone from cult comics favorite Dame Darcy to underground bands like Human Drama and Stolen Babies to a medley of local talent like Tragic Black to that guy who wrote a book on Goth and had the cheekiness to call himself “Voltaire”. And lets not forget the fiery spoken word and dance performances, the colorful vendors and the attendees themselves, dressing up and coming out to support the event that’s helped the SLC underground community thrive all these years.

A strong sense of community is the heart of the Dark Arts Festival. From the Festival’s website: “Over the course of the year, people make individual contributions and we hold various fund-raising events. 100% of the funds raised are used to benefit the festivals.” Event co-organizer Alanja DeKay was both sad and relieved about The Alumni Festival being the last, and who can blame her – after all that fundraising, conceptualizing, and booking she and the rest of the Dark Arts Committee could really use a break. “I hope that with the Festival’s end, new events will finally have a chance to grow” she mused on Saturday night.

The 2010 Dark Arts Festival featured three themed nights: Friday’s “Ancient Egypt”, Saturday’s “The French Revolution” and, yes, “Rocky Horror Picture Show” on Sunday. Unfortunately Clint, Paris and I had to zoom out of town before Sunday’s festivities, but check out the introductory gallery below and stay tuned for more documentation of event highlights plus our hare-brained, red-eyed driving adventure, and impromptu thrift store fashion show, and the general scandalizing of Middle America as only rabid, sleep-deprived arteests can do.

Words and photos by Zoetica Ebb

 

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