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Park City Summit County Arts Council director embarks on a new adventure

Hadley Dynak is stepping down from her post as executive director of the Park City Summit County Arts Council. She and her famliy are moving to the San Francisco Bay Area.
Photo by Trevor Hooper

Hadley Dynak enjoyed heading the nonprofit

The Park City and Summit County community will lose one of its most active arts and culture supporters when Park City Summit County Arts Council Executive Director Hadley Dynak steps down from her post and moves to the San Francisco Bay area.

Dynak is leaving after two years helming the Arts Council, a nonprofit that promotes, supports and strengthens arts and culture.

She will move with her family — husband Kent Strader and two daughters — in a few days.



“We have been grateful to have played a role in culture in Park City and Summit County,” Dynak said. “We’ll miss the mountains, but we’re excited for the next chapter.”

We have worked to tell the story of arts, culture and the local people who keep the cultural heartbeat going…”Hadley Dynak,Park City Summit CountyArts Council exectuive drector

The decision to move after living in Park City for the past five years was reached as a family, she said.



“My husband has kept his job there so he’s been commuting back and forth from San Francisco,” Dynak said. “So it’s a bit like we’re going back to our roots.”

The family will return to the mountains often, she said.

“We are keeping our house here and my parents still live here, so we will be back to visit,” said Dynak.

While she’s excited for the future, Dynak has fond memories of her two years with the council.

In June 2016, Dynak became the nonprofit’s executive director,replacing Kathy Hunter, who had the job since 2009.

Dynak knew she was taking on a major responsibility, because the arts council is one of the oldest arts and culture organizations in the community.

“The Arts Council has been around since 1986, and it incubated and launched other arts organizations such as Mountain Town Music and the Park City Film Series,” she said.

When she came onboard, Dynak knew she wanted to build on the nonprofit’s legacy and chart a course for the community’s creative future.

One of the programs Dynak helped pull into the spotlight is Project ABC: Arts Beauty and Culture, a community-driven initiative that was created to forge a plan for supporting arts and culture in the county.

“This was a gigantic accomplishment for our community,” she said. “It is seen as a model across the state by the Utah Cultural Alliance and Utah Division of Arts and Museums. And it is one indication of how the arts council is a convener, facilitator and supporter of community-wide arts and culture efforts.”

Project ABC will continue under the management of Jake McIntyre, who was its lead consultant during the planning process, according to Dynak.

“He will make sure the plan maintains momentum and track (its) progress during this transitional period,” she said.

Project ABC is just one program that will help the Park City Summit County Arts Council support arts and culture in the area, Dynak said.

While it has filled the planning niche, the arts council has developed and launched new programs in partnership with other organizations, featuring unique content and offerings, she said.

“Those include Branded PC and the Monster Drawing Rally we did with the Kimball Art Center to the Latino Arts Festival that we were involved in with the Christian Center of Park City,” Dynak said. “These are also examples of growth and the telling of stories about our local creatives.”

Over the past two years, the arts council has broadened its reach through social media.

“The arts are historically a huge part of the identity of Park City and Summit County,” she said. “We have worked to tell the story of arts, culture and the local people who keep the cultural heartbeat going.”

Dynak said one of the challenges she faced in the role was the accounting for the variety of organizations and artists in the commmunity.

“One of the beauties of running an umbrella arts organization like ours is that we represent all the different forms of arts and culture in the community,” she said.

Those art forms range from public art to the Summit County Fair to live performances, concerts and festivals, Dynak said.

“Our reach is broad, and it’s exciting to support the creative sector, but it’s also a challenge to make sure we reflect the ideas and needs of everyone, including the very small arts organizations,” she said. “We’re building the organizational infrastructure as we go.”

Adding to the challenge is the nature of the Park City and Summit County community, because it is, first and foremost, a resort destination, Dynak said.

“The amenities we have are not only designed to serve the visitor, but also designed to serve the local residents,” she said. “Our community wants world-class performances and art, but it also wants a local focus. We have a long list of creative entrepreneurs that will continue to grow. So as we move into the future, we need to focus on how to balance that.”

To keep up the demands and needs of these organizations and creative minds, the Park City Summit County Arts Council has increased its fundraising efforts and staff.

Jocelyn Scudder, who was the Park City Summit County Arts Council community manager, has been promoted to director of programs and engagement, and members of the board of directors are stepping in to fill various roles while the nonprofit goes through the process of hiring its next executive director.

“We’re hoping to find someone who has a passion for arts and culture,” Dynak said. “We’re excited to find a new executive director to take this momentum forward in a sustainable way.”

Moving, while exciting, will be hard for Dynak.

“I’ll miss the people and the partnerships,” she said. “And (I’ll miss) helping create the future of arts and culture in Summit County. I think the arts really have the potential to bring the community together. Arts can serve as a tool to help the community reach goals and priorities.”

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