Utah Cultural Advocacy Alliance Grade: D (56.25%)

  • Candidate Name: Ben Stanley
  • Your Municipality: Pleasant Grove
  • Elected office for which you are running: City Council (incumbent; running for re-election)

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

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.
My wife serves on the Utah County Arts Board, plays in the Pleasant Grove City Orchestra, and one of my college degrees is in the humanities. I have always loved art galleries around the globe, concerts. symphonies, plays, musicals, and art and culture in all its forms.

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?
Depends (explain in the next question)

3b // Optional, explain why or why not.
It depends on the specifics of the mechanisms, whether the funding avenues have had full disclosure and true transparency to the public, support for the proposals at the ballot box, and buy in from stake holders.

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.
Depends (explain in the next question)

4b // Optional, explain why or why not.
It depends on the specifics of the mechanisms, whether the funding avenues have had full disclosure and true transparency to the public, support for the proposals at the ballot box, and buy in from stake holders. It is superior to have private donations rather than public funds used, especially if a municipality has not covered essential functions of government first.

Question 5: Do you support having a Percent-for-Art program in your own municipality?
Depends (explain in the next question)

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

Question 6: Do you consider the arts and cultural sector an economic driver in Utah?
Depends (explain in the next question)

6b // Optional, explain why or why not.
It depends on the operating definition one employs as to what qualifies as an economic driver. Arts and culture certainly have an economic impact and should be promoted and an appreciated aspect of a local economy.

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.
Depends (explain in the next question)

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.
I strongly support cooperation, communication, partnerships, and government facilitating organizations working together for the greater good of a community.

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?
Depends (explain in the next question)

9b // Optional, explain why or why not.