Gov. Spencer Cox Presents 2025 Governor's Mansion Arts Award to Fry Street Quartet

Utah State University’s Fry Street Quartet was recently honored with the 2025 Governor’s Mansion Arts Award (GMAA). Presented by Governor Spencer J. Cox and First Lady Abby Cox at a formal ceremony in the historic Governor’s Mansion, the award recognizes artists who have made a lasting impact on the state’s cultural life.

The GMAA awards were first established in the 1930s, under Governor Henry H. Blood, to highlight both artistic excellence and arts advocacy at the civic level while acting as a fundraiser to preserve and maintain the historic Governor’s Mansion.

Fry Street Quartet violinist Rebecca McFaul said the night was a fantastic opportunity to connect the arts with public leadership and civic life.

“It was a really elegant and lovely evening. It also offered a great platform to make the case for arts advocacy and share our vision of how it supports the fabric of our civic life,” McFaul said.

The evening featured remarks and performances by the Fry Street Quartet alongside visual artist Douglas Fryer, whose work was on display throughout the mansion.

The quartet performed a program reflecting their artistic values and long-standing commitment to both new and canonical works, including music written for the quartet by contemporary composer Laura Kaminsky, Beethoven, and Debussy.

The award adds the Fry Street Quartet to a celebrated roster of past recipients, a distinction McFaul said they are honored to be part of.

“It’s a really illustrious list of past recipients that we’re humbled and honored to be added to,” McFaul said. “The evening itself was a beautiful celebration of music, emphasizing the unique strengths of the string quartet as an art form.”

She described the recognition as “a generous and appreciated bit of validation for 23 years of efforts,” and a moment to reflect on the impact of community engagement.

The Fry Street Quartet holds the Dan C. and Manon Caine Russell Endowed String Quartet Residency at USU, making them the only resident professional string quartet in Utah. In their role, the quartet serves as primary faculty for string students, providing intensive mentorship while engaging in performance, recording, commissioning new works, and community outreach across the state.

“There is something to being in a place over time where your impact grows and emanates out in myriad ways,” McFaul said. “The art form itself, the music-making process, sharing it with audiences, mentoring students of all ages, and moving into projects that are cross-disciplinary are all present and working in synergy. You can’t really imagine any of it without the other.”

Nicholas Morrison, director of the Caine School of the Arts, says this recognition is a strong reflection of the quartet’s artistic excellence and their impact on USU.

“Receiving the Governor’s Mansion Performing Arts Award is a much-deserved honor for the Fry Street Quartet and an important recognition of the quality of the music program at Utah State University,” said Morrison. “As USU’s quartet-in-residence and as the string performance faculty in the Department of Music, the Fry Street Quartet has elevated the art of chamber music for their students and enhanced Utah State’s reputation for excellence in music performance, education, and community outreach for over two decades.”

McFaul also noted that the visibility of this award could have lasting implications for students.

“What I hope it means for the students is that at the governmental level, we’re just a little more seen and appreciated,” she said. “The way the system works depends on support and funding, and so the more that we can make that case directly through experience and connection, the more that the work here can flourish.”

For more information about the Fry Street Quartet, visit the website.