Utah Cultural Advocacy Alliance Grade: AB+ (87.50%)

  • Candidate Name: Wendy Nicholson
  • Your Municipality: Roosevelt City
  • Elected office for which you are running: City Council

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.
Being in choir all through high school taught me life lessons I learned nowhere else! Performing in the community has taught me to grow and appreciate the courage of artists everywhere.

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.
I currently serve on the Basin Arts Council and love to be able to support art and performing groups in our community.

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.
I'd love if it went to local artists in particular. Also, I think 1% of a multi-million dollar building can add up to a lot.

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.
I do personally at perhaps a smaller percentage, but that is something the citizens of the municipality would have to decide, since they would be funding it through bonding or taxes.

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

6b // Optional, explain why or why not.
What would Salt Lake City be without the theatres or symphony? Or Cedar City without the Shakespeare Festival? It is absolutely a driver and would love to see it improve the economy in my community

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.
The Basin Arts Council on which I serve benefits from the RAP tax.

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. 
I would love to see Roosevelt have a cultural district that would draw in tourism, as we currently rely on oil which has devastated our economy in recent years.