West Valley creates arts board to aid efforts of 4 groups

WEST VALLEY CITY — In an effort to bolster the arts here, the city has started an all-encompassing arts board that includes more than 65 volunteers working together on everything from sister-city celebrations to summer concerts.

The Cultural Arts Board will officially be appointed by the City Council on Tuesday, but it already has been meeting and solidifying West Valley's arts scene.

The board will be an umbrella organization for four city groups: the West Valley City Arts Council, the Sister City Committee, the Historical Society and the Utah Cultural Celebration Center. In the past, these groups have had different missions, a different focus and often competing fund-raising goals.

"Because of that, all of those organizations were going out trying to raise money, and they all had very small budgets except for the cultural center," said Cultural Celebration Center executive director Ross Olsen, who will be named executive director of the arts board. "We were all vying for the same money and usually not getting any."

Until a few months ago, each organization was under the supervision of different departments in the city. The board will now be overseen by the "watchful eye" of the city administration and headed by an executive committee of the current heads of the member organizations, Olsen said. All the current volunteers in each group will serve on the board, and Olsen said that manpower has already paid off.

"Some really tremendous things have come out of this," Olsen said, adding that the board's fund-raising efforts have had early success. "All these organizations are working harmoniously together to promote the arts in our city."

As an example, he pointed to Fiesta Olmeca, a cultural festival planned for May 14 that is centered on the 6-ton, 7-foot-tall replica of an ancient Olmec head, which was a gift from West Valley's sister city of Veracruz, Mexico, and is on display at the cultural center, 1355 W. 3100 South.

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