So, about the city’s Arts and Culture District… To be clear, we don’t have one. Putting a sign in the broken asphalt of the area where you razed and eliminated spaces where non-art nonprofits once lived, and the only ethnic market in the community, which was a vibrant gathering place, to make up for pushing the Kimball Art Center off Main Street — well, there are no points for that. And the only authentic art in the area is in the twice-displaced Kimball Art Center, which resides in a rehabbed storage building in the corner of a parking lot with more broken asphalt, behind the Boneyard bar.
When The City lacked the vision to understand what then-Executive Director Robin Rankin of the Kimball Art Center had pulled out of a hat, the planning department just picked all the nits and kept denying modifications to the design code. For those of you new to town, wrap your pastels around this: We could have ended up with a full block on Park City’s Main Street where an amazing multistory but historically respectful, modern, functioning structure would have been created and appreciated. It was a competition created with local and national entries and the winner was the spectacular international architectural (firm of) rock star Bjarke Ingels. (If you want a sense of how powerful and smart his designs are, watch his TED Talk. Any of them.) The Kimball, tired of the ongoing, soul-crushing planning department denial game, took the big fat real estate offer waved in front of them and sold their block.
For years, the Sundance Institute has been the lost tribe looking for permanent space. Rory Murphy, Hank Louis and a host of other big thinkers helped to make room for the organization in the restored old mining spaces up at the Silver Star development decades ago. But over time, Sundance outgrew that. And there were rumblings that maybe all the pieces of Sundance Film history needed more space than the tiny resort over the hill could hold. There were conversations with Park City Institute about moving their offices from inside the theater and other rented spaces around town. The Canyons approached all three organizations, and there was a conversation about donated land there — pretty much where The Pendry now sits. For separate reasons, all three nonprofits knew that wouldn’t be a compatible space for them.
Enter the city, looking to make “a statement “ with the backdoor entrance to Park City. All three groups could come together and share the space. PCI knew that wouldn’t be a fit for them. The Kimball and Sundance hired architects and spent thousands of dollars exploring the possibilities. But the designers/ architects the city brought to the table tried to be too many things to too many people. An outdoor performance space, affordable housing, artist studios, and food trucks (why those come up in every discussion about art spaces still mystifies me). And — wait for it — a new total transportation hub for city buses. It was a Pollock painting done by amateurs.
During Covid, city staff and some community members decided to create “activations” on the space with broken asphalt and no trees, and no barriers to traffic and noise. I felt so bad when I stopped by there one day to watch the young, very talented dancers from Ballet West trying to compete with the end-of-day traffic headed out of town on the busy adjoining road.
I suggested some of this during the start of Covid, but let’s try again.
Move the entire staff out of the city Marsac building and build them a new home. They outgrew that space ages ago. Many, many staffers already work in remote spaces, even outside of the city limits. Take that great historic space in Old Town, where we all love to congregate, and sell it, fairly, to an arts organization and put something with smart art happening inside that building — Sundance or the Kimball. Take over the parking lot space on the top level of China Bridge and put another art home there. Then take any more space you can grab and build affordable housing in the area. First priority should be given to folks who work on Main Street. And down in the no man’s (or creative woman’s) land in Prospector, put as much affordable housing as you can reasonably build. And make room for a Latinx market (again) and a modest transportation exchange and install some terrific outdoor art. Have a competition and encourage big thinkers who want to design for that.
And make certain there are no questions about the soil. We know we are an old mining town and that corner was also a railroad hub. Dirt and mining waste fell into the ground there.
But to keep trying to take this sow’s ear and make it into a designer bag is insulting to the time and energy of all the folks who want to see authentic art have a vibrant home here. Do not continue to waste precious resources on yet another version of an “arts district” on that busy intersection. We already have the museum and the beloved Egyptian Theatre on Main Street and a bunch of art galleries and great restaurants. Make Main Street car-free (keep the Trolley) and let the Prospector/Bonanza Park area develop into its own hip hood. Spend some money on activations there. That neighborhood deserves art and they will genuinely appreciate it.
I look forward to the new leadership in City Hall addressing this with all the creative talent and energy this community deserves. Take all the colors out of the box and see where we can use them any day of the week, including Sunday, in the Park…