CDEA Mission
The Center for Documentary Expression and Art (CDEA) is dedicated to using the tools of documentary work—oral history, photography, film making, narrative writing, visual art, and music– to help Utahns look inward to better understand our state’s past and present and to gaze outward to discover our multi-faceted connection to the nation and the world. CDEA creates and supports projects that examine and honor the cultural, spiritual, and ethnic identities of our nation’s diverse population in forums wherein we can acknowledge differences, establish common ground, and hence, build community.
Programming Vision
Inspired by the 1960s Civil Rights Movement and the deepening interest in America’s multicultural history, the Center for Documentary Expression and Art (CDEA), an independent, non-profit organization, creates, supports, and promotes documentary expression, documentary art, and documentary studies through programs that honor the cultural, spiritual, and ethnic identities of our nation’s diverse population. CDEA also carries out original, statewide, K-16 education-outreach activities, featuring artists/scholars-in-residence who guide K-16 students to explore Utah’s history, diversity, social life, and environmental/ecological challenges through place-based education programs.