Rocky Mountain Power Foundation announces grants to support arts and cultural organizations
Funding helps organizations foster creative expression and enrich local culture in their communities
SALT LAKE CITY — Local organizations that deliver music, theater, community festivals and connections to local history are essential to their communities. They create beauty, join people together across cultures, generate jobs and nurture the creativity needed to solve complex problems. To support this crucial work, the Rocky Mountain Power Foundation is donating more than $165,000 in new grant funding across the three states it serves.
The grants will help fund a variety of projects, including free arts events and performances at public art installations, community celebrations of cultural heritage, youth theater productions and arts education for Indigenous and rural students.
“Local programs like these are fundamental to the vibrancy and resilience of the communities we serve, and they nourish and inspire all of us,” said Gary Hoogeveen, president and CEO[1] , Rocky Mountain Power. “We honor and appreciate these vitally important organizations.”
This recent round of grants focused on art and culture is one of the foundation’s four annual grant cycles.
The following 50 grants were given to local organizations supporting communities in Utah, Wyoming and Idaho:
Utah
Cache Valley
American West Heritage Center to support hands-on, experiential educational history programs and field trips that serve all ages.
Nibley Children’s Theatre to provide local children ages 5 to 17 the opportunity to perform in a community play based on stories from Cache Valley history.
Eastern Utah
Emery County Community Theatre to stage a production of the musical “Annie.”
Friends of Moab Folk Festival to support the Moab Folk Festival’s school outreach programming in the Grand County School District; the Moab Free Concert Series; and numerous artist residencies, assemblies, camps and workshops.
Richfield City for the creation of a Richfield-themed mural as part of the city’s Main Street Beautification Project to help revitalize the downtown area.
Northern Utah
Clearfield Community Arts Center for installation of mirrors on the end walls of the community center’s rehearsal and dance room.
Heritage Community Theatre for a summer workshop and production featuring children under the age of 14 from all neighboring communities.
On Pitch Performing Arts for educational programs offered through the 2024 Children's Theatre program, which provides access to performing arts education for youth of all experience levels and from various economic backgrounds.
Ziegfeld Theater Arts for staging joint English and American Sign Language productions in Ogden and Park City.
Park City
Arts Council of Park City and Summit County for the Latino Arts Festival, which seeks to preserve, celebrate and share the culture, music, food and art that Hispanics and Latinos bring to the community.
Southern Utah
Center for the Arts at Kayenta for Festival of the Americas, the only Native American festival in Utah, which celebrates Native culture through art, food, dance, music and crafts.
Orchestra of Southern Utah for events aimed at inspiring children and youth through music, including interactive pre-performance activities and a student VIP program that provides free season tickets for fourth and ninth graders.
Tuacahn Center for the Arts to support Tuacahn's 2024 Broadway in the Canyon season, including creation of sets, costumes and props.
Utah Shakespeare Festival to support the production of classical and contemporary plays, musicals and interactive experiences.
Wasatch Front
Alta Community Enrichment to provide arts, cultural and educational programming for the Alta community.
Bad Dog Arts for youth-centered programs in the Bad Dog Arts studio, in-school arts learning focused on underserved children, community outreach, and art classes for adults and seniors.
Ballet West for the free-of-charge Ballet West Educational and Outreach program that serves approximately 100,000 K-12 students, teachers, individuals with disabilities, senior citizens and other community members.
Cultural Arts Society of West Jordan for the annual Art in the Park event that showcases local artists and provides free of charge art activities for the community.
Discovery Gateway Children's Museum to revamp its automobile exhibit, replacing the current auto frame with a new frame from an electric car and solar panels to show the future of transit.
The Grand Theatre to support the production of professional, affordable theater performances for the local community.
Clark Historic Farm to help create a small amphitheater next to the local landmark’s historic granaries, with a concrete stage area, grass seating and staging capabilities.
KRCL to support the community radio station's "Living the Circle of Life" broadcast, one of the longest-running Native American music and interview programs in North America.
The Leonardo for the museum’s SparkTank, a dynamic makerspace that encourages original thought, creation and possibility for visitors of all ages.
Lyrical Opera Theater for the production of three full operatic productions engaging local Utah artists.
Rise Up School of Dance to continue providing need-based, noncompetitive tuition scholarships for youth who would not otherwise be able to enroll.
South Salt Lake Arts Council for the annual Mural Fest, which features 10 artists creating public murals in South Salt Lake’s Creative Industries Zone.
Spy Hop to bring digital media arts outreach education to Utah youth in targeted rural and Native American communities, and to incarcerated youth.
Tooele Valley Theatre to help construct a stable and safe temporary set for the company’s outdoor amphitheater stage in the mountains of Tooele and to provide actors with weather-resistant costumes.
Utah Film Center for the Tumbleweeds Film Festival for Kids, which highlights international, cross-cultural and local filmmakers of all ages. Arts programming includes festival field trips, workshops and a kids’ film competition.
Utah Humanities to support its 26th annual book festival, a month-long event that brings together people with diverse perspectives and experiences to read and discuss books while allowing authors to expand their audiences.
Utah Symphony and Utah Opera for educational programs, including concerts in the schools, coaching of student musicians, the Fifth Grade Concert Series at Maurice Abravanel Hall, opera presentations for K-12 audiences and support for classroom opera composition projects.
Venture Out to support programming for cultural heritage festivals and events aimed at strengthening the community while reaching underrepresented populations.
Visual Art Institute for scholarships and art programs to serve marginalized and at-risk students, as well as therapeutic art activities for individuals needing wellness therapy, including children undergoing medical treatment and seniors with disabilities and dementia.
Wyoming
Eastern Wyoming
Art 321 to defray the cost of instruction, equipment, glazes and supplies for an inclusive and adaptive ceramics studio that provides programs for children, older adults and adults with disabilities.
Artcore for support of its concert series and student outreach, which includes music, dance, a literary conference and a music and poetry series.
Laramie Public Art Coalition to support free and low-cost community workshops led by artists.
National Historic Trails Center Foundation to support special maintenance practices required to mediate wear and tear in an environment where visitors are encouraged to interact with the tactile exhibits.
Wyoming Community Foundation for the Russin Restoration Project to restore and reimagine the decommissioned 1981 fountain and sculpture entitled “The Fountainhead'' and reinstate its place as the iconic entryway to Casper’s City Hall.
Wyoming Symphony Orchestra for the Music on the Move education and outreach program, which brings live orchestral performances directly to schools and senior centers.
Western Wyoming
The Bossert Collective to create a public art mural in Lander along an alley between the city's highly trafficked and touristed Main Street and a lower-income neighborhood just a few blocks away, making the wall available to all.
Johnson County Emergency Management for a project to install Automatic External Defibrillators within high-traffic community buildings.
Oyster Ridge Music Festival to help provide high-quality sound technicians and equipment for the two-day event, which is free of charge for the entire community.
Pinedale Fine Arts Council to help expand the Fringe Age Groups program that provides art activities, including a ukulele program, for seniors, patients with dementia and pre-kindergarten students.
Rock Springs Main Street/Urban Renewal Agency to continue expanding offerings at the historic Broadway Theater, a downtown Rock Springs landmark that was restored and reopened as a performing arts venue after being shuttered for over a decade.
Roundhouse Restoration Incorporated for the Music in the Air at Depot Square project that will bring a summer concert series to Evanston.
Washakie Museum and Cultural Center for the second annual Big Horn Basin Talent Show, which provides opportunities for residents of Wyoming’s Big Horn Basin to enjoy and participate in the performing arts.
Idaho
Bright Star Productions to procure portable stage platforms, risers and staircases for rehearsal and production of Disney’s “Beauty and the Beast JR.,” with a cast of area youth.
Butte County High School to remove and replace the sound system in the school gym.
Idaho Falls Symphony to expand the reach of its Ambassadors Program that brings live classical music presentations into elementary schools, creating a residency program that would allow ambassador ensembles to travel to schools in rural areas.
Oxford Peak Arts Council for the purchase of script, licensing and music rights for a youth production of Disney's “Beauty and the Beast.”