The nationally renowned Utah Folk Arts program remains alive, one year after its close call with administrative death.
For now, at least.
Last year, a combination of federal stimulus money and state legislative funding kept the 30-plus year-old program on life support.
This year, the program needs $85,000 in one-time state money until officials decide how, and in what form, it should reorganize, as recommended by its parent agency, the Utah Arts Council.
Clearing its first legislative hurdle for funding looks likely. On Tuesday, Sen. Ralph Okerlund, R-Monroe, who chairs the Appropriations Subcommittee on Economic Development and Revenue with Rep. Sheryl Allen, R-Bountiful, said he was planning to recommend funding the program to the Executive Appropriations Committee.
"We cut it pretty sufficiently last year," Okerlund said. "It seems like this is the year to put the program back together in a feasible way."
Overseeing the program through the financial turbulence is Palmer De Paulis, executive director of the Utah Department of Community and Culture, which oversees the Utah Arts Council. Following the Utah Arts Council decision to cut the program's funding and reorganize it, he stepped in to calm the waters after many in the arts community protested.
"Because this [Folk Arts] is such an important part of the arts community, we want to work on doing this carefully and thoughtfully so we can get a good outcome," De Paulis said. "I'm working legislatively right now to secure that one-time funding to continue this process just a little while longer."
Meanwhile, both Carol Edison and Craig Miller, program manager and program director, carry on. "I cannot tell you how much better life is this year compared to last," Edison said.
Last week, the program announced 17 grants for $50,000, including funding for classes in DiDinga music, and Myanmar and Sudanese native dances.
All reorganizing options for the program are on the table, from bringing the program back under the Utah Arts Council fold, to intermittent contracts for programming, to a complete split for independence with a possible Folk Arts program that maintains its own board and fund-raising.
De Paulis said the offer of free consulting from an anonymous donor, who also serves on the Folk Arts Program's transition board, has extended the timeline. "We're half-way through that process now," De Paulis said.
Although the program hosted its traditional "Mondays in the Park" concerts and performances last year, it cut its annual Utah State Fair programming.
"It's still tenuous," Miller said. "If De Paulis doesn't get more transitional money from the Legislature, we don't know really know what will happen. We've got our fingers crossed."
