Utah Cultural Advocacy Alliance Grade: A+ (100%)

  • Candidate Name: Ave Smith
  • Your Municipality: Salt Lake City
  • Elected office for which you are running: City Council District 7

Question 1: Should government be involved in funding the arts and humanities?
Yes

Question 2: Have you had a personal experience with arts, culture, or humanities that have had an impact on your life?
Yes

3b // Optional, explain your experience.
In every city I've been in, arts, especially outdoor arts, have been places of inspiration, defined neighborhoods, and been anchors of experience...when I lived in Washington DC, of course the monuments downtown were places of inspiration and anchors of experience...especially in the days before cell phone ubiquity, we would always get to gather as a group by saying - "we'll meet at the Lincoln Monument" or "I'll see you just next to the tulip library". I will definitely bring those positive experiences with arts and culture onto the City Council with me.

Question 3: Do you support public funding for city and county arts councils who then re-grant that money to local arts and humanities organizations?
Yes

3b // Optional, explain why or why not.

Question 4: Do you support Percent for Art programs, which designate 1% of public building costs for public art that are included within that building? Currently, only 8 Utah municipalities have such a program.
Yes

4b // Optional, explain why or why not.

Question 5: Do you support having a Percent-for-Art program in your own municipality?
Yes

5b // Optional, explain why or why not.

Question 6: Do you consider the arts and cultural sector an economic driver in Utah?
Yes

6b // Optional, explain why or why not.
It is evident that the arts and cultural sector is an economic driver in Utah. The recent Downtown Alliance report underscores that. I look forward to seeing what ways we can help make the arts and culture sector an economic driver in Sugar House.

Question 7: 32 municipalities have a RAP (recreation, arts, and parks) type tax to help support cultural organizations in their communities. Would you support a RAP type tax such as this in your own municipality? If your municipality already has such a local option sales RAP-type sales tax and you support it, answer yes.
Yes

7b // Optional, explain your experience.

Question 8: Municipalities can facilitate partnerships between cultural organizations and the local tourism sector to boost the local economy. Do you support this? Optional, explain why or why not. 
Yes

8b // Optional, explain why or why not. 

Question 9: Municipal governments can create Cultural Districts - with or without tax incentives. Governments sometimes fund these via bed or tourism taxes within the Cultural District boundaries, but it can be done within municipal budgets fairly cheaply. Is this something you would support?
Yes

9b // Optional, explain why or why not. 
One of the benefits I see, is that when you are able to concentrate some types of cultural facilities in a Cultural District, it makes it easy for residents to have multiple experiences in one place.