LiveDAYBREAK has helped to create a culture for the arts in Daybreak, but this culture didn’t appear overnight and not without the help of the Daybreak Arts Council. In January 2017, the LiveDAYBREAK Board of Directors created the Daybreak Arts Council, which advocates for public art in Daybreak. About a dozen residents make up the committee, whose goal is to advocate for public art throughout the Daybreak community in an advisory capacity. Public art within Daybreak includes a variety of temporary, semi-temporary, or long-term art installations in and throughout the neighborhood. Daybreak resident and Daybreak Arts Council Board Chair, Karen Sewell, said, “This art program is one of my favorite things about living here!”

The public art program is funded through community enhancement fees from commercial transactions, not residential ones. Additionally, the Zoo, Art, and Parks (ZAP) tax grant through Salt Lake County has allowed the expansion of Art Avenue and the creation of the annual LiveDAYBREAK art festival, Fizz Fest. This grant has allowed LiveDAYBREAK to expand the reach of public art with no additional financial impact to residents.

Truly, art reaches every corner of Daybreak. By the end of 2022, the Arts Council will have commissioned more than 37 permanent art projects and 40 temporary or seasonal installations throughout the community. While many of these pieces are massive in scale, the power of the smaller and simpler pieces, like the unique utility box wraps, matches the impact of the large pieces that dot the community.  

One of the first art projects in Daybreak, now an icon of the community, was a group of bike-riding monsters made from reclaimed bicycles donated by Daybreak residents. The bike monsters, each given a name by the community, were created by Sugarpost and can be found around Oquirrh Lake, pedaling right alongside you and your bike. In more recent projects, Daybreak has featured artwork from local residents. Aelias McHam completed Daybreak’s first tunnel mural, Colorful Connections, and Elizabeth Carter’s Dancing with a Dream, a sculpture previously featured on Art Ave, was recently added to the community’s permanent collection. Artists from across the state of Utah, from Logan to St. George, as well as nationally renowned artists, such as Deedee Morrison, have shared their artistic talents with the Daybreak community.

Extending along Lake Avenue between Kestrel Rise Road and Mountain View Corridor is Daybreak’s Art Ave. This program, established in 2019, is a yearly rotating outdoor public art display. New pieces are submitted to the Arts Council annually, selected with the community in mind, and revealed at the annual Art Avenue Stroll. At the Stroll, participants will interact with the newly installed artwork, meet the artists, and chat with members of the Daybreak Arts Council. Each artwork’s story is featured on LiveDAYBREAK’s website, and plaques installed next to each piece have a scannable QR code that will take participants online to more information about the artwork.

Art Ave pieces are available for purchase and five sculptures have been bought from the program during its first three years.

LiveDAYBREAK is grateful for all the artists – and art lovers – who make Daybreak the vibrant community it is. After all, as Frederich Nietzche said, “The essence of all beautiful art, all great art, is gratitude.”

The 2022 Art Ave Stroll will be held on October 15, 2022, from 3:00 until 5:00 PM at Linear Park (5131 W Lake Ave).