A&E Christmas Gift Guide 

• BW Productions
• Salt Lake Film Society Broadway Centre Cinemas

I'll go out on a limb and do a little profiling: If you're reading this column, you're someone who cares about the arts, and who cares about supporting the local community. While other folks are ordering from The Online Monolith, you realize there are better ways to spend your holiday dollars while still getting the folks on your list things that are meaningful.

The good news is that there are many ways to make that possible. Here are just some of the options for you as you head into your final week of Christmas shopping to keep those gifts artsy and local:

Buy Books from Local Bookstores: It's wonderful to see options for buying books locally not just survive, but continue to thrive and grow. Whether it's a bestselling beach read, literary fiction, non-fiction about hot-button topics, biographies, cookbooks or anything in between, there's a Utah-based spot where you can get it. For general-interest titles, head to The King's English (1511 S. 1500 East, kingsenglish.com), Marissa's Bookstore (3302 S. 900 East, marissasbooks.com), The Printed Garden (9445 S. Union Square, Sandy, theprintedgarden.com) or Weller Book Works (607 Trolley Square, wellerbookworks.com). Specialty titles, especially those focused on the Mountain West, are available at Ken Sanders Rare Books (209 E. 500 South in The Leonardo building, kensandersrarebooks.com). For the lover of romance fiction, there's Lovebound Library (145 E. 900 South, Instagram: @loveboundlibrary); fantasy, science-fiction and horror at Legendarium (349 E. 900 South, legendariumbooks.com); and LGBTQ titles at Under the Umbrella (511 W. 200 South, Suite 120, undertheumbrellabookstore.com). And to really level up in your support of the local literary world, buy books by local authors, including those in the League of Utah Writers (leagueofutahwriters.com).

Support Local Visual Artists: From paintings to drawings and from sculptures to mixed media, someone's personal space could always get a boost from original visual art. No list of individual artists to consider supporting from could possibly be complete; the community is simply too full of amazing talent. However, a good place to start is with the local galleries that participated in the December holiday Gallery Stroll (gallerystroll.org/current.htm), many of which are featuring group holiday shows with work by multiple represented artists.

If your budget is a bit more limited, consider perusing the gift shop at the Utah Museum of Fine Arts (410 Campus Center Dr., University of Utah, umfa.utah.edu). You can also find work from independent artisans on the shelves at The Hive Market in Trolley Square (602 E. 500 South #D109, thehivemarketslc.com), including clothing, personal care items, jewelry and more. An additional way to connect folks with the wide variety of options in the local arts scene is to send them to the 2025 Utah Arts Festival (uaf.org) by purchasing gift tickets at a special reduced rate.

Give Arts Experiences: If the person you're buying for doesn't necessarily need any more "stuff" in their lives, you can give them something that's always the right size, fits in a stocking and will leave great memories. Whether it's theater at venues like Pioneer Theatre Company (300 S. 1400 East, pioneertheatre.org) and Salt Lake Acting Company (168 W. 500 North, saltlakeactingcompany.org), a comedy performance at one of Wiseguys Comedy's three Utah locations (wiseguyscomedy.com) or the small organization of your choice, you help keep the community's artistic heart beating with your purchases.

If you're not quite sure what your gift-ee might be most interested in seeing, there are options there as well. ArtTix (saltlakecountyarts.org)—the ticketing agency for Salt Lake County arts venues including Abravanel Hall, the Capitol Theatre, Rose Wagner Center and Eccles Theater—offers gift cards in any denomination, allowing users to consider from a wide range of options including touring Broadway shows, concerts by national acts, Utah Symphony and Opera performances, Ballet West and much more.

Send Them to the Movies: Plenty of people have turned entirely to streaming and digital viewing for movies, but you could give folks a date night that also connects them with some of the greatest new work in cinema. The Salt Lake Film Society (slfs.org) allows you to purchase both individual screening tickets and annual memberships for movies at the Broadway Centre Cinemas; you can also get gift cards from Megaplex Theatres (megaplextheatres.com) for more mainstream releases. And while the long-term location of the Sundance Film Festival (festival.sundance.org) remains up in the air as of press time, you can still get festival passes or branded festival swag for your favorite cinephiles.