Katy Owens // Democrat // State Senate-District 19
1. How have the arts, culture, and/or humanities impacted your life?
Listening to live music is one of my favorite things to do and I spend all summer with my family seeking out different outdoor music venues and different types of music. I used to go to galleries and art museums as a stress reliever before having kids. Now that I have children it's rare that I get to quietly browse a gallery, but it's also a whole new experience of exposing them to the arts. My 6-year-old daughter, in particular, is a little artist. She enjoys visual arts but is also a dancer and singer. She loves songs from Broadway musicals and can tell you all about Van Gogh. She wears her feelings on her sleeves so I think the arts are an outlet for her - a productive way to express herself. I support educational programs that foster the arts because I've seen how important they've been for her social and emotional development.
2. Utah's humanities and arts employ 123,000 Utahns, provide $4.4 billion in earnings, and $13.2 billion in sales. This is a larger economic impact than agriculture, mining, and real estate. Do you consider the arts and cultural sector an economic driver in Utah?
Yes
3. I support...
-Grants to be used for operations (jobs) as soon as possible
-Keeping emergency loans open to nonprofits
-Protecting the RAP taxes so that money granted to cultural organizations doesn't get repurposed
-Increasing availability of loans to cultural businesses (nonprofit and for-profit)
-Fiscally responsible government investment in arts and humanities organizations
-Cultural Districts
-Facilitating partnerships between tourism and culture
-Reducing regulations of creative businesses
-Capital investment (in museums, performance/concert halls, studios, galleries, nonprofit office space, etc.)
-The RAP tax
-Existing fund balances that will be preserved for recreation, cultural organizations, and parks
-Percent for public art programs, which optionally designate 1% of government capital costs for public art
-Allowing municipalities to set design standards
-K-6 Students should have increased exposure to arts and humanities education
-7-12 Students should have increased exposure to arts and humanities education
-The Beverley Taylor Sorenson Arts Learning Program which puts one arts specialist in most elementary schools
-The POPS (Professional Outreach Program in the Schools) which sends 13 professional arts organizations to all UT school districts
-The iSEE (Informal Science Educational Enhancement) which sends 10 professional science, zoological, and natural history organizations to all UT school districts
4. Fiscally responsible government investment in the arts and humanities (including humanities and arts education) means to me:
Allocating funds is always a balancing act as there are so many competing priorities, but the arts and humanities are a big economic driver in Utah and improve our quality of life. Investing in the arts pays dividends in measurable ways and is something that should be supported.
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