The top staffer at the Kimball Art Center on Thursday continued to press the organization’s interest in working with City Hall as the not-for-profit organization considers the long-term future.
Aldy Milliken, the executive director of the art center, briefly addressed Mayor Nann Worel and the Park City Council during a March 7 meeting at the Marsac Building. The elected officials were not scheduled to address the Kimball Art Center and did not respond in any depth. Milliken has regularly appeared before the elected officials to address the same topic.
City Hall, the Kimball Art Center and the Sundance Institute in the summer of 2017 announced a partnership with the intent to develop an arts and culture district on land the municipal government later acquired stretching inward from the intersection of Kearns Boulevard and Bonanza Drive.
In the nearly seven years since the announcement of the partnership, though, there has been limited progress. A different set of Park City leaders from the one that was seated in 2017 is considering options for the land, but the details of eventual development is not clear. A timeline for decisions is not clear.
Milliken did not speak in detailed terms during his comments to the elected officials on Thursday.
“I want to remind the council that the arts and culture sector is going through a very ambitious master-planning process, which the council actually helped fund along with Summit County and the chamber of commerce, and hope that we can connect the dots between the ambitious goals that we have for the growth of our cultural sector and these initiatives to really highlight arts and culture as a core value for Park City,” he said.
Milliken said organizations are “looking to bring everyone to the table in our region to really elevate arts and culture.” The appearance on Thursday was a “thank you and a reminder of these ongoing things that are happening,” he told the mayor and City Council.
The Kimball Art Center sold its longtime property along Main Street after a high-profile dispute with City Hall about plans to expand the facility. The organization has been housed in temporary quarters on Kearns Boulevard since 2015 as it continues to consider options for a permanent location. The organization has been seen as an anchor of an arts and culture district. The Kimball Art Center’s interests in a permanent location have centered on a district even as the desires of the municipal government and Sundance regarding a district like the one initially envisioned have appeared to fluctuate over time.
In an interview after the Thursday appearance at City Hall, Milliken said he wants to ensure the elected officials continue to be aware of the significance of the 2017 partnership to the Kimball Art Center.
“That’s an important guiding document I can refer to,” Milliken said.
He said a decision about the ultimate location of the Kimball Art Center is also key.
“The Kimball needs a sustainable home,” Milliken said, addressing the temporary quarters. “This is not our forever home.”
He added: “Unless I have a signed contract, I worry we’re not going to realize that goal.”