SUNDANCE FILM FESTIVAL UTAH WOMEN’S LEADERSHIP CELEBRATION
Sundance Institute and Zions Bank have joined forces to recognize women leaders in the arts. This year’s award celebration fell at the end of the Sundance Film Festival, which hosted discussions and events surrounding the roles of women in the arts, particularly the film industry. The award holds significant weight, occurring at a time when women in the film and television industries are trying to raise awareness and shift paradigms of gender norms.
The event celebrated women onscreen, behind the independent lens, and local role models. As an involved member of the documentary film community and an artist, Susan’s award reads as follows:
For her leadership in the arts, we recognize Susan Swartz, an internationally acclaimed visual artist who explores nature through potent colors and richly layered abstract paintings. Inspired by the intersection of art, nature and spirituality, her distinctive style has earned her a place in the permanent collections of the National Museum of Women in the Arts, the Utah Museum of Fine Arts and the Springville Museum of Art. Susan was the Official Olympic Environmental Artist for the 2002 Olympic Winter Games and is published in the Gibbs Smith collectors book Painters of the Wasatch Mountains. She is a member of the Deans Council of the Harvard Divinity School and a Founder of the Christian Center of Park City and Impact Partners, producing many award winning documentary films.
The award was presented at the Sundance Film Festival Utah Women’s Leadership Celebration, a luncheon and private film event honoring female leaders in the arts. The luncheon included a presentation by Geena Davis, Academy Award-winning actress and founder of the Geena Davis Institute on Gender and Media.
At the end of the celebration, Zions Bank presented Geena Davis with a Susan Swartz original painting in recognition of all the hard work she has done for women in media and the arts. In Susan’s words the painting, Crimson Fog, “symbolizes Geena’s exuberance for life and activist endeavors. The red color of the painting represents Geena and the strength and capabilities that women hold.”
Susan is honored to have participated in this celebration and to have been able to help Zions Bank recognize Geena for her impact on women in the arts. Geena, Susan, and the women in attendance have been and will continue to be trailblazers for women in the arts and media.