Since our building application was denied by Park City, the Kimball Art Center has received an outpouring of support and questions from the community. Many of the remarks have centered around how to keep the Kimball on Main Street. We are grateful for such strong interest and appreciate the opportunity to explain the consideration we have put into the project and the Board’s decision to not appeal.

When we began this process in 2010, we believed it was important to include the community in our expansion plans. We spent considerable time surveying people about what they wanted in an enhanced community art center, including inviting residents to weigh in on the proposed designs. We gathered extensive feedback from city and county residents who said the future of Park City is better with the Kimball in Old Town.

We set out with the intention of creating a space that offered more arts opportunities to Utah’s residents and guests. As it became clear that we would not be able to expand in our current location with a space big enough to house all the community’s needs, we were willing to create a second campus while keeping a flagship space on Main Street. This two-campus strategy was a result of what we believed to be putting Park City’s needs first and was integral to the design we submitted earlier this year.

The city’s decision has required us to re-evaluate what is best for the Kimball and the community. Moving to one-campus solution will help to better fulfill our mission, better address the needs of our members, community and students and provide a place where we will have the opportunity to continue to grow our education, exhibits and events in the future. This is a much more financially viable and achievable solution.

We are a non-profit entity fueled by well meaning individuals who care about contributing to the cultural enrichment of this city. We have already spent several years and committed substantial volunteer hours and money to the possibility of staying on Main Street. We simply cannot continue to invest additional time and money to submit another design with no assurances of approval. The fact remains that a smaller square building that fits in with the city’s desires would not solve our space issue, nor properly represent a center for the arts.

It is a tribute to Bill Kimball’s legacy that we have endured and outgrown our space by serving over 120,000 people last year alone. And it is a blessing under serious space constraints we have been able to creatively grow our educational programs in partnership with the Park City Education Foundation, which helps bring art education to Park City’s elementary schools. With our own school tours we expect to serve over 11,000 students throughout the year.

We, with the support of much of Park City, hoped we could stay on Main Street with a unique, valuable piece of architecture that would draw in visitors for years to come while serving as a world-class art center. Regretfully, that is not possible within a small, square structure with minimal design value. It is cost prohibitive, uninspiring and restricts our programming and future expansion, which is where we find ourselves now.

The right thing to do at this point is to unite our energies and use our resources toward creating a place that will be both incredible and compatible with its surroundings. We will still dedicate ourselves to serving the community and attracting visitors, but through a more accessible, state-of-the-art facility that the community can be proud of. This will allow us to keep the money we raise focused on the programs that provide much needed visual art experiences and education to our community.

Thank you so much for your continued belief in the Kimball’s mission and for your support of our future.