County approves nearly $10M in ZAP funding for arts,
culture
ZAP tax •
Funding approved by voters in 1997 funnels resources to large nonprofits.
For its 30th
anniversary of bringing art to people who are usually ignored, Art Access/VSA
Utah received a welcome gift Tuesday — membership in 2014’s group of large
cultural organizations that will divide the lion’s share of revenue from Salt
Lake County’s Zoo, Arts and Parks (ZAP) tax.
“Happy anniversary to
us. Happy anniversary to us,” sang Art Access Executive Director Sheryl
Gillilan after the County Council approved an advisory committee’s
recommendation that included her nonprofit as one of 23 recipients of top-tier
ZAP funding.
Based on projected tax
collection trends, those large cultural groups will split about $9.8 million
next year, a slight increase over what was available in 2013. In addition, Utah
Zoological Society will receive $2.3 million to help operate Utah’s Hogle Zoo
and Friends of Tracy Aviary will get $134,000 for its facility in Liberty Park.
Art Access’s share of
the ZAP tax is likely to be $63,000 next year. That’s not a lot of money, but
for Gillilan, being included among the large cultural organizations means “we
have a chance for more stable contributions annually from the county ZAP tax.”
And that stability, she
added, probably will translate into more favorable responses from other
philanthropic groups Art Access approaches to help underwrite its programs for
people with disabilities, refugees, the elderly, homeless and members of the
lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community.
“We have a veterans
program,” Gillilan noted, in which military veterans are charged only $10 for
six-week art workshops “because we want it to be accessible to vets who don’t
have a lot of money.”
Art Access also goes
into special-education classes in schools and to centers for adults with
disabilities to give people in those institutions a chance to be creative.
“Our philosophy is that
art belongs to everyone, everyone can create it and everyone can view it,” she
added. “We make art extra accessible to people so we don’t charge much and we
need to subsidize that with ZAP-tax money and foundation support.”
The advisory committee
received 25 requests for funding, said its chairwoman, Stephanie Probst, who
outlined a points system used to grade each application.
Art Access accumulated
more points than Kingsbury Hall at the University of Utah, which fell out of
the top group after having received $202,000 last year, she said.
The Leonardo, a science
and technology-oriented museum in Salt Lake City, did not qualify as a top-tier
ZAP tax recipient because it did not have three years of audited financial
statements, Probst said. To be considered a large cultural organization, a
group also has to have an annual budget of at least $319,000 for the past three
years.
As usual, Utah Symphony
& Opera was the largest individual recipient of ZAP tax funding, projected
to receive $2.25 million next year. Ballet West will get the next largest share
of the arts and culture share of funding ($950,000), followed closely by Hale
Center Theatre ($928,000), Red Butte Garden and Arboretum ($867,000) and the
Natural History Museum of Utah ($838,000).
In 1997, county voters
approved ZAP, a sales tax of one penny on every $10 spent, to support arts,
cultural and zoological organizations and park projects.
Large cultural
organizations split almost 49 percent of the annual proceeds, parks and
recreation gets 30 percent, Hogle Zoo and Tracy Aviary divide 12 percent, and a
hundred-plus small arts groups subdivide the remaining 9 percent.
mikeg@sltrib.com
Twitter: @sltribmikeg
—
2014 ZAP Funding
Utah Symphony &
Opera • $2,254,344
Ballet West • $951,266
Hale Center Theatre •
$927,681
Red Butte Garden •
$866,753
Natural History Museum
of Utah • $838,254
Pioneer Theatre Co. •
$681,020
Living Planet Aquarium
• $557,198
Utah Museum of Fine
Arts • $377,362
Discovery Gateway •
$286,952
Salt Lake Film Society
• $278,108
Salt Lake City Arts
Council • $236,834
Utah Arts Festival •
$218,162
Salt Lake Acting Co. •
$195,560
Tanner Dance Program •
$193,594
Spy Hop Productions •
$174,923
Utah Museum of
Contemporary Art • $141,511
Ririe-Woodbury Dance
Co. • $125,787
Utah Film Center •
$115,960
Utah Humanities Council
• $107,116
Repertory Dance Theatre
• $93,358
Utah Heritage
Foundation • $79,600
Grand Theatre
Foundation • $62,894
Arts Access/VSA Utah •
$62,894
Source: Salt Lake
County
No comments:
Post a Comment