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Park City told to ‘find a place’ for Sundance, Kimball Art Center

Officials receive another round of disparate input about future of municipal land

Approximately 120 people attended an event at the Park City Library on Tuesday that offered an opportunity to provide input about the future of the Bonanza Park district. The input was wide ranging.
Jay Hamburger/Park Record

There were Kimball Art Center supporters in attendance at the Park City Library on Tuesday evening as City Hall continued to gather input about the future of a swath of land that has long been seen as having significant redevelopment potential.

And people who back the community’s wider cultural scene were there, too.

City Hall officials and a consultant retained by the municipal government received another round of disparate opinions during a well-attended session meant to provide further opportunity for Parkites to consider the possibilities for Bonanza Park.



The land within the Bonanza Park district covers 200 acres east of Park Avenue and on both sides of sections of Kearns Boulevard and Bonanza Drive. City Hall itself owns five acres within the larger Bonanza Park district. That ground stretches inward from the southwest corner of the Bonanza Drive-Kearns Boulevard intersection.

The municipal land, where an arts district anchored by the Kimball Art Center and the Utah offices of the Sundance Institute has been envisioned, has received much of the attention, but the event on Tuesday was centered on the full 200 acres.



Many people, though, continued to provide input about the possibilities for the Kimball Art Center, Sundance and the arts and culture community. The Kimball Art Center in recent months has been especially vocal in its interest in developing a permanent location on the land now owned by City Hall, arguing that was part of the original concept when the municipal government acquired the acreage. Sundance, meanwhile, is conducting a broad review of the film festival and it is not clear how it will proceed regarding a location on the municipal land. It could be months before Sundance is prepared to make decisions about a role in an arts district.

There are expected to eventually be high-stakes talks as Park City’s leadership decides whether to embrace the concept of an arts district like the one that was desired by an earlier set of elected officials or craft a new idea for the land.

The event drew a crowd of 120 people, including supporters of the arts. City Hall is conducting extensive outreach as leaders prepare to make long-term decisions regarding the land. The municipal government will ultimately decide the future of the acreage it controls, but the private-sector owners of the individual parcels in Bonanza Park will consider their options amid any changes to municipal development rules that may result from the discussions that are underway.

One of the exercises at the library on Tuesday involved the attendees anonymously addressing a series of issues about the land using sticky notes for messages. There was a cache of messages regarding the Kimball Art Center, Sundance and the general topic of arts and culture. The messages by late in the event seemed to trend heavily in favor of an arts district and in support of the Kimball Art Center.

Messages on the sticky notes about the Kimball Art Center or Sundance included:

People at an event at the Park City Library on Tuesday left numerous messages on sticky notes about their hopes for the future of the Bonanza Park district. Some addressed possibilities involving the Kimball Art Center and the Utah offices of the Sundance Institute.
Jay Hamburger/Park Record
  • “Find a place for the KAC,” using an acronym for the Kimball Art Center
  • “Find a place for Sundance Film Festival”
  • “Make sure Kimball Arts Center is part of the plan!!”
  • “Sundance + Kimball have overlapping business (models). Figure out how they work together”
  • “If this is an arts district KAC should have priority”
  • “Make room for KAC if they want to be there”

The people who left sticky notes also addressed arts and culture more generally. The topic is notable even without mentioning the Kimball Art Center or Sundance since an arts district would physically extend beyond the footprint of the two potential anchors. It has also seemed a district would serve an array of creative endeavors that may not necessarily be linked directly to either of the two. Some of the people hoped for artist studios to be included while others want to ensure there is space for Park City-area artists.

Some of the generalized messages about arts and culture left on sticky notes:

  • “Art spaces! Studios, theatre creative spaces for local artists”
  • Performing arts space
  • Outdoor movies
  • “Pop up local art exhibits”
  • “With climate change and uncertain snowpack, art is going to be super important! I want dense art! All over the place. All kinds everywhere!”
  • “Yes to art installations and playful, creative space”
  • “Please please please find places for local artists to create, teach, live, sell. We have almost none now”
  • “Culinary art is art + commerce”
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