2026 Adjudication Committee

Emma Sargent - Adjudication Committee Chair

Emma Sargent (they/she) is a mental health professional and artist based in Salt Lake City, Utah. Emma completed their B.F.A. in Modern Dance and a B.A. in Gender Studies at the University of Utah. In 2019, she had the honor of co-founding Queer Spectra Arts Festival, where she worked for four years as a grant writer and fanboi for the artists of Utah and beyond. Emma has performed with several project-based dance companies, including Cat + Fish Dances and Deseret Experimental Opera Company. Emma is currently completing a psychotherapy practicum at the University of Utah as part of an M.Ed. in Clinical Mental Health Counseling. Emma’s artistic philosophy can be summed up in the following phrases: connecting with vulnerability; imagining futures worth living; catharsis; holding paradoxical truths; compassionate witnessing; exercising our right to joy. When they’re not reading textbooks, Emma can be found amateurishly playing guitar and creating whimsical fiber art wearables.

Bea Colon

Bea Colon is a nonbinary, queer, Latinx illustrator based out of Utah county. As a self taught artist with over a decade of experience, their work centers around fantasy, queer experiences, and the reimagining of classic art through a modern lens. They strive to create art which celebrates underrepresented voices such as the LGBTQIA+ community and BIPOC.

Elliott Donaldson

Elliott Donaldson (they/he) is a writer and therapist living in Salt Lake City. In their free time, they enjoy reading (while cuddling their cats), weightlifting, martial arts, and are involved with local mutual aid efforts. He also runs a horror book club - Scream Queers - at Under the Umbrella bookstore. (All queer horror lovers are welcome to join!) Having previously performed poetry at Queer Spectra Arts Festival, they look forward to engaging with the art others have shared for this year’s event.

Essie Soul

Essie Soul is a mixed media artist, photographer and curator. Essie channels her creativity into thought-provoking pieces that invite viewers to engage with and reflect upon themes of sensuality, love, self-exploration, mental health, and intersectional issues. She incorporates her lived experiences as a first generation African American into her work, and her art is a dynamic blend of vibrant colors, intricate details, and symbolism, all woven together to convey messages of empowerment, equality, and justice.

Jordan Danielle

My work and artistry is deeply rooted in collective care and guided by spirit - shaped by and for Black, queer, and trans communities, where art is inseparable from living, surviving, and celebrating. Through a lens of collective care I enjoy creating experiences that explore what opens, what softens, what releases, what reconnects us to ourselves and each other; weaving sound, rhythm, text, visuals and texture. I create from intuition, guided by what can be felt but not always named; staying open and curious of the abundance that is present physically and ancestrally. My artistry lives in the in between, where multitudes of nourishment - sound, and rhythm become memory, where community builds, where presence becomes offering. I am always listening, for the rhythms beneath the surface, for moments of shift, to gather, to heal, and to collaborate, toward liberation.

J. Attridge

J. Attridge (They/Them) is an trans/nonbinary artist based in Salt Lake City, Utah (USA). They are drawn to queer and religious themes and love to work with textiles and recycled materials.

Lewis Figun Westbrook

Lewis Figun Westbrook (all pronouns/no genders) will always prefer their bio be a joke but apparently that isn’t professional. They are a queer writer of too many genres and artist of too many things. Find them on most social media @lewisrllw

Scix Madix

Scix is an author, performer and producer, specializing in giving voices to underrepresented artists in Utah.