Ever since the Sundance Institute announced the film festival would move to Boulder, Colorado, starting in 2027, Park City Special Event Manager Chris Finney has been bombarded with phone calls from event organizers.
“Everyone’s calling me saying, ‘I’m here to save Park City (with a new January event),’” Finney said during a panel about local arts and culture at the Wasatch Back Economic Summit on Monday. “They’re talking about tens of thousands of people they want to bring in on day one.”
While Finney said the economic boon the festival brought to the Wasatch Back will be missed — particularly by local businesses like Park City Lock & Key, which always raked in cash from festivalgoers locking themselves out of their Airbnbs — it also put a strain on year-round residents and city resources.
“If you think about everything that happens during Sundance, there’s someone standing out in the cold, directing traffic or working a crosswalk or loading people into cars or standing in an intersection,” Finney said.
Jocelyn Scudder, executive director of the Arts Council of Park City & Summit County, said residents of the Wasatch Back should focus on establishing the next Sundance Institute instead of the next Sundance Film Festival. In other words, she sees greater potential in the creation of spaces for artists than events to draw in tourists.
“We are very heavily reliant on these big events: Sundance, Kimball Arts Festival, Savor the Summit,” she said. “If we’re able to have these really amazing spaces for arts and culture and activity and experiences to happen, then we will see 12-month, year-round activity act more as kindling for the local community, rather than these high-impact events that are great for our economy, but they’re hard on our community.”
One of those spaces could be the Heber Valley Arts Center planned for east of the Utah Valley University Wasatch campus, encompassing an outdoor amphitheater, indoor theater and rehearsal, community and gallery spaces. The Wasatch County Arts Council hopes to build the arts center by the 2034 Winter Olympics.
Phil Jordan, co-chair of the Heber City Arts Advisory Committee and an executive at entertainment company Next Level Ops, said the Wasatch Back’s greatest need is rehearsal space for artists.
“It is, generally, across the United States, the debit that is always identified first and generally supported last because it doesn’t generate a return on investment,” he said.
He added that the Heber Valley Arts Center will bring a “rising tide” for Wasatch Back residents, who will be able to express themselves authentically in the new space. That, he said, will attract new residents to both counties.
Scudder said Summit County residents are excited about the Heber Valley Arts Center.
“I’ve heard from a lot of artists who’ve caught wind of that and (are) like, ‘Well, maybe I’ll go down there and exhibit,’ or ‘Maybe I’ll go down there and perform,’” she said.
While the Heber Valley Arts Center is a long way from breaking ground, Heber City’s arts and culture scene is growing rapidly, explained Rachel Kahler, executive director of nonprofit Community Alliance for Main Street.
Kahler has a contract with Heber City to organize at least 50 local events in Main Street Park annually. The city’s goal is to build up to 250 events annually.
Kahler has taken the advice of Park Silly Sunday Market Executive Director Kate McChesney: “Be mindful of what you’re doing and don’t grow too fast.”
Park City Councilor Tana Toly provided Savor the Summit as an example of an event that has grown into a tourist event rather than one for locals.
“We can’t afford to go do that, and so, we’re looking at other events during the summer,” she said.
Kahler said organizers need to recognize the pressures events can put on local communities. She provided Ice Castles — which she was previously marketing manager of — as an example.
Ice Castles started in Midway’s town square in 2011.
“If you remember back then, they basically took over downtown,” she said. “Every neighborhood was angry because, instead of Swiss Days, which takes over for two days, they had seven weeks of lines and people and parking.”
Ice Castles then moved to the Homestead Resort and later Soldier Hollow Nordic Center in response to resident feedback. The attraction became beloved and brought an influx of economic activity for small business owners, like David Medina, owner of Lola’s Street Kitchen.
“David told me those first couple years, he had such a small restaurant. But because of the Ice Castles, it kept him in business to (the point) where he now is a destination restaurant,” Kahler said. “These are factors that you can’t often gauge with data, but you can with relationships.”
Kahler’s example represents how arts and cultural events can provide economic spillover for local businesses. But the benefits of the arts aren’t purely economic, Scudder said.
“Creating art and experiencing art is what makes us distinctly human, and it allows us to connect,” she said. “It not only supports our community, but it supports our well being as people. I hope that people think of arts as a social investment.”
Ciara Steele from the Utah Arts Collective said the organization’s Nutcracker Tea Party demonstrates that. Every year, the Utah Arts Collective collaborates with local businesses — for example, Midway’s Dandelion Gelato — and donates all proceeds to the Wasatch County Children’s Justice Center, which provides services to children undergoing the child abuse investigative process.
“We’re all working together, and there’s a local benefit,” Steele said. “We educate our dancers about what the (Children’s Justice Center) provides, so they understand what they’re serving with their talent. The parents get behind that, and the community does, (too).”