Center Virtual Festival 2025

6:00 pm CDT

Conversation Lounges Open

6:30pm-7:00pm

7:00 pm CDT

Featured Presentations

20th-anniversary Screening of New York Doll

7:00pm-8:30pm

View Description

Description

Kick off the festival with an exclusive Friday night feature— a special 20th-anniversary screening of New York Doll with its director Greg Whiteley, the Emmy-winning director behind Cheer, Last Chance U, and Mitt. Known for his gripping, human-centered storytelling, Greg will take viewers behind the scenes of the 2005 documentary that first put him on the map. The raw, real, and heartfelt New York Doll follows Arthur "Killer" Kane, the former bassist of the legendary punk band The New York Dolls, as he grapples with addiction recovery, newfound faith, and an unexpected chance to reunite with his band after 30 years.

Tune in at 6pm MT for a warm welcome from the Center's executive director Mykal Urbina before the film begins at 6:15pm MT. Then, stick around for an audience Q&A with Greg Whiteley. Expect a night of storytelling, behind-the-scenes commentary, and a look at how documentary filmmaking shapes the way we see the world. Settle in, grab your popcorn, and join us for this can't-miss festival kickoff!

Presenters

Mykal Urbina

Executive Director for the Center

Jeff Parkin

Filmmaker/Film Professor

Greg Whiteley

Filmmaker

8:00 pm CDT

Featured Presentations

Live Q&A with Director Greg Whiteley

8:30pm-9:00pm

View Description

Description

Presenters

Jeff Parkin

Filmmaker/Film Professor

Greg Whiteley

Filmmaker

9:00 pm CDT

Conversation Lounges Close

9:00pm-10:00pm

All Day

Painting the Festival: A Livestream Painting-in-Progress

10:00am-6:00pm

View Description

Description

Throughout the entire festival, acclaimed artist Justin Wheatley will be live streaming as he creates a large-scale mixed media artwork right before your eyes. But this isn’t just any painting. Inspired by the energy, conversations, and moments unfolding in real time, Justin will weave elements of the day's event into his evolving masterpiece, capturing the Center Virtual Festival in real time.

Drop in anytime to see how the piece transforms throughout the day, and engage with Justin as he answers questions, shares insights, and lets the audience influence the final work. Watch creativity in motion as the festival itself becomes part of the art! By the end, this will be more than a painting—it will be a one-of-a-kind visual snapshot of the entire festival experience.

Presenters

Justin Wheatley

Visual Artist

10:00 am CDT

Conversation Lounges Open

10:00am-10:45am

Plenary

Curiouser and Curiouser–Welcome to the World of LDS Artists

10:45am-11:00am

View Description

Description

What would it take to capture your curiosity about art made by Latter-day Saints? In these opening remarks, Glen Nelson—author, librettist, and co-founder of the Center for Latter-day Saint Arts—invites you to look again and notice the people who are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints that have already achieved the hallmarks of artistic greatness.

With characteristic wit and a deep knowledge of the field, Glen explores the surprising achievements of Latter-day Saint artists across disciplines—yes, even the Pulitzer Prize and Oscar-winning ones. Whether you're an art world insider or just beginning to explore this space, this is an eye-opening entry into a rich and varied cultural landscape. Come curious, leave inspired—and maybe even a little bit astonished.

Presenters

Glen Nelson

Director of Special Projects and Co-founder of the Center

Keynote 11:00 am CDT

Plenary

Opening Plenary: Cultural Relevance – Welcome to Schmigadoon! A Musical Talk-back

11:00am-11:55am

View Description

Description

We’re kicking off the festival's main day with a blockbuster moment you won’t want to miss! Emmy-winning writer, producer, and songwriter Cinco Paul—the creative genius behind Despicable Me, The Secret Life of Pets, and The Lorax—is taking center stage for an exclusive deep dive into his hit series Schmigadoon! from Apple TV+, which recently debuted a stage version at the Kennedy Center to sold out shows and rave reviews.

In this unfiltered, no-question-is-off-limits conversation, acclaimed journalist McKay Coppins (The Atlantic) will sit down with Cinco to talk Hollywood, musicals, and the magic of Schmigadoon! Expect behind-the-scenes stories and hilarious moments from the show’s production. He'll even take a seat at the piano for a few performances of his songs with some help from special guests Ann Harada, McKenzie Kurtz, and Phoenix Best.

This is your chance to get up close and personal with one of the most brilliant and beloved voices in entertainment today. Whether you’re manic for minions, love a good showtune, or just can't resist a good Hollywood story, you're in the right place. This is THE session to start your festival experience off with a bang.

Presenters

Cinco Paul

Writer/Producer

McKay Coppins

Journalist & Author

Movement Break: Rockette Kicklines & Soldier Walks

11:55am-12:10pm

View Description

Description

You're sure to get a "kick" out of this movement break with Radio City Rockette and former Cougarette Emry Wride! Learn a few steps of iconic Rockette choreography, including walking like a wooden soldier and prepping for a kickline. After this break, you could fit right in at Radio City Music Hall.

Presenters

Emry Wride

Radio City Rockette

12:00 pm CDT

Featured Presentations

Player One Press Start: The Art and Tech of Video Game Music

12:00pm-12:55pm

View Description

Description

Epic battles, sweeping melodies, pulse-pounding chases—video game music shapes the way we play. Now, some of the industry’s most accomplished composers are pulling back the curtain on how they craft the unforgettable soundscapes behind Call of Duty, Assassin’s Creed, Resident Evil, Lord of the Rings, X-Men, and more.

Led by composer Benjamin Dean Taylor, this all-star panel of award-winning music creators—whose work spans film, TV, and the biggest gaming franchises in the world—will take you deep into the art, science, and tech of scoring video games. These industry pioneers will show you how soundtracks come to life, adapt to gameplay, and make gaming more immersive than ever through live, coded-as-you-watch demonstrations.

With music demos, exclusive insights, and plenty of nerdy fun, it's a total must-see for music lovers, creators, gamers, and tech heads alike. This is your backstage pass to the magic behind the music.

Presenters

Lance Montgomery

Composer

Chance Thomas

Composer

Ben Taylor

Composer

Jeff Broadbent

Composer

Global Studio Tours

Inside the Studio: Global Artist Studio Tours Hosted by Brian Kershisnik Nigeria & Angola

12:10pm-1:00pm

View Description

Description

Artist and host Brian Kershisnik takes you along with him on a virtual journey to the rich cultural landscapes of West and Central Africa through the eyes of two extraordinary artists.

In Lagos, Nigeria, hear from Richard Olagunju, whose vibrant beadwork carries on the tradition of Yoruban artistry with deeply personal and spiritual dimensions. A university teacher and thoughtful creator, Richard uses intricate patterns and symbolic figures to reflect African heritage, faith, and the layered truths embedded in visual storytelling.

Then travel to Luanda, Angola, where Hildebrando de Melo transforms raw experience into painterly expression. Raised in Portugal but rooted in Angola’s royal lineage, Hildebrando’s powerful works speak of conflict, survival, and divinity. Working without brushes, he applies paint with a palette, creating intense, evocative images he describes as “hungry”—works that consume suffering and transcend it.

Available only to Virtual Festival attendees, these exclusive pre-recorded studio tours offer rare insight into artists whose work bridge history, faith, and personal conversion.

Presenters

Hildebrando de Melo

Visual Artist

Richard Olagunju

Visual Artist

Brian Kershisnik

Visual Artist

1:00 pm CDT

Featured Presentations

Inside The Investigator / The Observer

1:00pm-1:55pm

View Description

Description

In this genre-bending session, father-daughter duo author Todd Robert Petersen and illustrator Zoë Petersen will take you inside a post-apocolyptic dual narrative, limited-edition artist’s book The Investigator / The Observer.

First imagined as a short story, The Investigator is a tale follows a lone survivor in a collapsed world who stumbles upon the abandoned home of a Latter-day Saint family. As he uncovers their food storage and scriptures, their faith and foresight sustain him—and even lead him to the ruins of the St. Louis Temple.

For the expanded work, Petersen added a companion story—The Observer—about a pregnant woman navigating the same crisis, keeping a sketchbook and illustrated journal for the unborn child she carries. The result is a haunting, hopeful portrait of spiritual inheritance, memory, and resilience.

The two stories unfold through hand-drawn pages, trompe l'oeil ephemera, and immersive book design—brought vividly to life by Zoë’s award-winning illustration work. At the Festival, the artists will read from both narratives, share the creative and spiritual process behind the project, and reflect on where Latter-day Saint storytelling can go—even to the end of the world and back again.

Presenters

Todd Robert Petersen

Author

Zoë Petersen

Illustrator

Featured Presentations

Table Read with Melissa Leilani Larson

1:00pm-1:55pm

View Description

Description

Known for her thoughtful, character-driven stories that explore faith, identity, and the human experience, Melissa is a celebrated voice in contemporary theater and Latter-day Saint literature. Step inside an excerpt of one of her hand-selected scripts in this live virtual table read.

A table read is an intimate part of a play’s development, where actors read through the script aloud—often for the first time—bringing the words to life in real time. It’s raw, minimally rehearsed, and electrifying. As an audience member, you’ll get a special look at how a script breathes, moves, and takes shape through the actors' interpretations.

Melissa’s work has been produced across the country and recognized with numerous awards, including the AML Smith-Pettit Award for Outstanding Contribution to Mormon Letters. Whether you’re a theater lover, a writer, or simply curious about how a story comes to life, this session is your backstage pass to the art of playwriting—and a front-row seat to the unfolding of something powerful.

For the festival, Melissa will unveil a new work in progress, an adaptation of Elizabeth Gaskell’s novel “North and South".

Presenters

Melissa Leilani Larson

Playwright

2:00 pm CDT

Featured Presentations

This Will Only Happen Once: Improv and Sketch Comedy with Ty Turley & Friends

2:00pm-2:50pm

View Description

Description

Get ready for nonstop laughs and on-the-spot genius. Comedian Ty Turley is teaming up with fellow improv comedians Mike Brown, Josh Hurley, Katie Barbaro, Billy Succo, and Tova Tencer (hailing from the likes of Second City & Upright Citizens Brigade) for a live-streamed improv & sketch comedy show like no other! This fast-paced, off-the-cuff performance will be completely shaped by YOU—the audience. Don’t just watch, chime in and shape the show! Throw out your best prompts and see what these comedy pros do with them.

Gear up for a show that is a total mashup of your favorite comedy hits – there will be sketches like SNL, improv games like Whose Line Is It Anyway?, and plenty of spontaneous jokes that will only ever happen once. This show promises surprises, belly laughs, and moments you’ll be quoting long after the festival ends. This is live entertainment at its most electric, and you won’t want to miss a second.

Presenters

Ty Turley

Comedian

Global Studio Tours

Inside the Studio: Global Artist Studio Tours Hosted by Brian Kershisnik Switzerland & Argentina

2:00pm-3:00pm

View Description

Description

Join painter Brian Kershisnik as he guides us through two extraordinary studios on opposite sides of the world. In this Virtual Festival exclusive, pre-recorded segment, you’ll step into an alpine village in Switzerland, and then then bustling city of Buenos Aires, Argentina.

First, journey to Klosters, Switzerland, where classical sculptor and painter Christian Bolt carves and paints surrounded by the breathtaking Swiss Alps. In a studio filled with marble from the same quarry Michelangelo used, Christian shares how he shapes his materials with his philosophy of continual learning.

Then, you'll be transported to Buenos Aires, Argentina, where artist Susana Silva reveals a world made entirely of intricate paper cutouts. Her delicate creations —both sweeping and intimate—are formed from paper and shaped by scripture, nature, and the interconnectedness of human experience.

These behind-the-scenes tours offer a rare glimpse not only into the creative spaces of these remarkable artistx, but into how culture, location, and faith shape their practice.

Presenters

Christian Bolt

Visual Artist

Susana Silva

Visual Artist

Brian Kershisnik

Visual Artist

Movement Break: Body to Earth to Body

2:50pm-3:05pm

View Description

Description

Join Keely Song, choreographer & professor of dance for a movement-based break in between your sessions in front of your screen. Reconnect with your body & mind before moving along to your next virtual session!

Presenters

Keely Song Glenn

Dance Professor & Choreographer

3:00 pm CDT

Global Studio Tours

Inside the Studio: Global Artist Studio Tours Hosted by Brian Kershisnik Mexico

3:00pm-3:45pm

View Description

Description

In this Virtual Festival exclusive pre-recorded studio tour, artist and host Brian Kershisnik takes us deep into the creative worlds of three artists whose work is as layered and textured as the places they call home.

In the heart of Mexico City, meet Ricardo Rendón and Georgina Bringas, the husband-and-wife artists who are shaping contemporary art in distinct yet deeply thoughtful ways. Ricardo’s kinetic sculptures explore transformation and balance, combining handcrafted elements with mechanical motion to create artworks that feel alive. Georgina’s work, by contrast, contemplates the passage of time and the vastness of space, often weaving spiritual themes into precise, conceptual installations. Step into their worlds where boundaries blur: between sculpture and movement, concept and space, art and spirit.

This segment captures the vibrancy of Latin American art today—rooted in faith, experimentation, and cultural identity—and offers rare insight into how artists transform their surroundings into powerful expressions of belief and imagination.

Presenters

Georgina Bringas

Visual Artist

Ricardo Rendón

Visual Artist

Brian Kershisnik

Visual Artist

Figure Drawing with Walter Rane

3:45pm-4:05pm

View Description

Description

Step into art class —virtually!— and try your hand at figure drawing with world-renowned oil painter Walter Rane for an immersive, hands-on sketching experience. Using a pencil and paper (included in your festival art kit!), you'll follow along as he demonstrates how to bring figures to life with movement, depth, and expression.

Whether you’re a passionate artist or picking up a pencil for the first time, this is a rare chance to learn from a master whose work has shaped contemporary Latter-day Saint art. Don’t just watch—draw along, experiment, and learn a thing or two under Walter’s expert guidance.

Presenters

Walter Rane

Visual Artist

4:00 pm CDT

Featured Presentations

Closing Plenary: Divine Creativity

4:05pm-4:45pm

View Description

Description

In this heartfelt and thoughtful closing session, esteemed historian, author, and co-founder of the Center for Latter-day Saint Arts, Richard Bushman, reflects on the nature of divine creativity—how it shapes our lives, our faith, and the art we make. Recently retired as Chairman of the Center’s board, Richard brings a deeply personal lens to the conversation, sharing images of works that have moved him—including pieces from his own home collection. This plenary invites us to consider how the divine and the artistic intertwine, and how creativity itself might be a sacred act.

Presenters

Richard Bushman

Author/historian and Co-founder of the Center

Featured Presentations

Closing Remarks from the Center: The Arts Saved My Soul

4:45pm-5:00pm

View Description

Description

The Center Virtual Festival comes to a close with remarks by Stanley Hainsworth, Center chairman and founder of Tether.

Presenters

Stanley Hainsworth

Chairman of the Center, Founder and Chief Creative Officer of Tether

Agenda

20th-anniversary Screening of New York Doll

Live Q&A with Director Greg Whiteley

Painting the Festival: A Livestream Painting-in-Progress

Curiouser and Curiouser–Welcome to the World of LDS Artists

Opening Plenary: Cultural Relevance – Welcome to Schmigadoon! A Musical Talk-back

Movement Break: Rockette Kicklines & Soldier Walks

Player One Press Start: The Art and Tech of Video Game Music

Inside the Studio: Global Artist Studio Tours Hosted by Brian Kershisnik Nigeria & Angola

Inside The Investigator / The Observer

Table Read with Melissa Leilani Larson

This Will Only Happen Once: Improv and Sketch Comedy with Ty Turley & Friends

Inside the Studio: Global Artist Studio Tours Hosted by Brian Kershisnik Switzerland & Argentina

Movement Break: Body to Earth to Body

Inside the Studio: Global Artist Studio Tours Hosted by Brian Kershisnik Mexico

Figure Drawing with Walter Rane

Closing Plenary: Divine Creativity

Closing Remarks from the Center: The Arts Saved My Soul