Local officials called vital to arts councils

EAGLE MOUNTAIN — Funding and facilities may be keys to making local arts councils work, but support from elected officials, especially in smaller towns, ultimately determine whether such councils succeed or fail.

Anna Boulton, Utah Arts Council program manager for community councils, says that if local elected officials snub the arts, it's difficult, if not impossible, for those programs to go forward.

That perspective appears accurate for at least two north Utah County cities.

Rebecca Loper was a charter arts council members in Eagle Mountain. She worked for four years until the entire council resigned in frustration last month.

Nine years ago, Judy Noziska started the Youth Theater program as part of the Pleasant Grove Arts Advisory Board. That council was disbanded in March.

Both women say unsupportive councils and mayors made their jobs that much harder. Budgets were cut. More demands were made, often without input from the council, demands that outstripped resources and the ability of the council members to keep up.

"One of the biggest make-or-break factors is the relationship with a mayor and a city council," said Boulton, who oversees the 120 community councils in Utah and who has written a primer for new arts councils that is available online at: arts.utah.gov/csp/. "If the mayor and the city council care, it makes a huge difference. It doesn't have to show up in funding. It's really an advocacy problem. The best arts councils have a really good relationship with their mayor and council."

Commenting on the Eagle Mountain problem, City Councilman Brigham Morgan noted, "In the last two years, with the new mayor and council, support declined and resident participation dropped significantly."

Morgan said he thinks that is a sad situation.

Loper said city leaders cut the arts council budget from $9,000 to $3,000 with the expectation the council would continue an annual musical production keep other arts-related events intact.

"There were six of us, then four, with three pages of assignments," Loper said. "Three of us are young mothers with babies and when we call people to help, they tell us they're too busy or they have no money. We're busy too. The difference is we're invested."

Loper said when she and her husband joined the arts council, a couple thousand people usually came out either to be involved in an event or to watch. She said city council members and the mayor rarely attended any of the arts activities.