Agency: Heritage and Arts

Line Item: Arts and Museums

Function

The Division of Arts and Museums was established in 1899 and was the first state arts agency in the nation. The division broadens the availability of and increases involvement in the arts by securing and distributing funds, providing training and development, and education programs throughout the state.

Statutory Authority

Statutory authority for the Utah Division of Fine Arts and Museums is provided in UCA 9-6. The statute authorizes the Utah Arts Council to "advance the interests of the arts, in all their phases, within the state of Utah." Responsibilities include developing arts in education, involving the private sector, and cooperating with other governmental organizations to promote the arts in the state.

Performance

The creative vitality index measures a selected set of economic inputs related to the arts and creativity in a given geographic area, with measurements of both for-profit and nonprofit arts-related activities. The index has two major components: measurements of community participation based on per capita revenues of arts-related goods and services and measurements of per capita occupational employment in the arts. The creative vitality index for Utah is shown below.

In order to measure service provided the division tracks the number of individual artists served. The most recent data related to this measure is shown below.

The Division of Arts and Museums tracks the number of website visits to assess the level of interest in the division. Data is shown below.

Funding Detail

The Division of Arts and Museums utilizes funding from both the General Fund and federal funds. Federal funding comes from the National Endowment for the Arts and is used for staff support, programs NEA initiatives, programs and arts grants.

Program: Administration

Function

The Arts and Museums Administration budget provides for 5-staff members, and the travel costs for advisory panels and the Arts Council Board of Directors meetings. This program covers current expense costs and provides operating supplies and maintenance to the various Utah Arts Council (UAC) and Office of Museum Services facilities including the Rio Grande Depot, Art House, Chase Home, and Glendinning Office.

Administration works with the UAC board and the OMS board and staff to develop and respond to department and division goals. Through a collaborative partnership with Zoo, Arts and Parks Program and Visit Salt Lake, the Division of Arts and Museums a state-wide marketing and calendaring program called NowPlayingUtah (NPU) was established. NPU leverages this information by providing data feeds for arts, museums and cultural activities to the Salt Lake Tribune, (nowsaltlake.com), Downtown Alliance and Visit Salt Lake.

Funding Detail

Administration uses its funding for staff support and other administrative operations. The program history is detailed below.

Program: Grants to Non-profits

Function

The Grants program provides funding to more than 200 non-profit arts organizations and to about 40 of Utah's 250 museums. Activities are planned and carried out by grantees and state money is always fully matched. The Grants program assures the availability of quality, affordable arts and museums experiences for all Utahns and acts as a catalyst for fundraising opportunities.

Funding Detail

Grant funding is passed through to local arts, museums and community organizations. Funding comes from both federal funds and General Fund revenues.

Program: Community Arts Outreach

Function

The Outreach Program provides professional development opportunities, workshops, conferences, networking and competitions to support artists, arts organizations, museums, volunteers, schools, school districts and teachers. Programs within Community Outreach include: arts education, museums, community partnerships, folk arts, visual arts, traveling exhibits, literary arts, and public art. Program staff also administers the one-percent for the arts program and coordinates the public arts projects funded by the Division of Facilities Construction and Management. There are long-running state programs in this area such as the annual Original Writing Competion (1958) and the Statewide Annual Art Exhibit (1899). They also direct special attention toward ethnic and rural communities, as well as underserved populations.

There are currently eight outreach programs within the Division of Arts and Museums.

1. Arts Education

The Arts Education program awards grants to schools and community groups throughout the state to provide hands-on learning to Utahns of all ages. The program maintains a roster of teaching artists who have been peer-reviewed for artistic excellence and teaching proficiency.

Arts Education is housed in the Chase Home Museum of Utah Folk Arts and provides tours and learning experiences about Utah's traditional arts and ethnic heritage.

2. Community Partnerships

The Community Partnerships program provides resources to nonprofit and civic organizations for community development through arts, museums and culture. Under Community Partnerships the Change Leader Program conducts a leadership development seminar and mentoring network, as well as other nonprofit training in community collaboration. The Creative Communities Initiative provides resources for collaborative projects that foster pride and contribute to a community's economic health. The Mountain West Conference on the Arts is also a networking and professional development resource for Utah's arts and cultural leaders. The conference is a forum to annually recognize the significant achievements of selected artists and leaders through the Governor's Leadership in the Arts Awards. The Performing Arts Program provides resources to performing artists and presenting organizations in Utah through professional development opportunities, collaboration and block booking incentives, and general promotion.

3. Folk Arts

The Folk Arts Program exists to document, preserve, publicly present and help perpetuate the traditional arts of Utah's cultural communities. This is accomplished through grants and technical assistance that encourage the preservation of folk arts skills for future generations. The program is administered through the arts education and visual arts program of the division. The Folk Arts Collection is exhibited at the Chase Home Museum, the Governor's Mansion, the State Capitol, and digitally online through the division website.

4. Visual Arts

The purpose of the Visual Arts Program is to support visual artists statewide through fellowships, exhibitions, competitions, professional development workshops. The fellowship competition awards two fellowships per year to visual artists of exceptional ability. Two exhibit spaces (the Alice and Rio galleries) display artwork by Utah artists. The State Fine Art Collection consists of over 1,400 works of art that have been collected since the late 1800's. These works are recorded, conserved and displayed by the Visual Arts Program in state owned buildings and digitally online through the Division website.

5. Traveling Exhibition

The Traveling Exhibition Program makes available professionally produced and presented art exhibits to non-profit educational institutions around the State of Utah. Each year twenty-one different exhibits are taken to approximately eighty locations throughout the state. Each exhibit has an educational component to help teachers explain various art forms. This program is especially useful in rural communities. Exhibits are delivered and installed and remain on location for an average of four weeks. Many communities around the state do not have access to museums or galleries and this is the only opportunity to view professional art. The program also provides Utah artists with a chance to market themselves and exhibit their work.

6. Literary Arts

The Literary Arts Program provides support and services to Utah's creative writing community. Literature is one of the artistic disciplines specified in the original legislation authorizing the Utah Arts Council in 1899. The program sponsors contests, readings, workshops, and the publication of works by Utah authors. It also manages Utah's Poet Laureate program and provides high school students with an annual poetry recitation competition through its Poetry Out Loud program.

7. Public Art

Utah's Public Art Program came into existence in 1985 with passage of the Utah Percent-for-Art Act (Senate Bill 73). This legislation allocates 1 percent of construction costs for new or remodeled State buildings with sufficient public use, for the commissioning of public art specific to the facility and the agency housed in that facility. The legislation defines the mission of the Public Art Program to administer the appropriation set aside for public art, enhance the quality of life for Utahns by placing art of the highest quality in public spaces to be seen by the general public, promote and preserve appreciation for and exposure to the arts, foster cultural development in the State, and encourage the creativity and talents of Utah's artists and craftspeople. Utah's public art includes a variety of media, from architectural enhancing elements or landscape design to sculptures or paintings. Since the inception of the program and with the support of the Utah State Legislature for over 25 years, the Public Art Program has commissioned over 200 works of art in, on or around seventy facilities throughout the State.

8. Individual Artist Endowment

The Individual Artist Endowment was funded in 1991 by the National Endowment for the Arts "with earned interest being paid to the Utah Arts Council to provide grants, to individual artists through a competitive application process." Due to low interest rates, the Endowment has not been able to provide grants through this program since 2009. When the economy recovers and interest rates rise, this program will continue its grants awards.

Funding Detail

The Outreach Program is the largest component of the Utah Arts Council budget. Historical funding is split between the General Fund, federal funds, and dedicated credit revenues.