Un-ZIPing the arts
Salt Lake County's premier cultural-arts venues may be missing west-siders on their governing boards, but - with a few exceptions - they aren't missing the transparency that comes with receiving public funds.
The Salt Lake Tribune urged nine of the valley's largest arts and entertainment venues this summer to provide the names and home ZIP codes of all of its board members as part of an investigation into the geographic diversity of their leadership.
Hale Centre Theatre got an A+ for transparency, turning over the requested information - plus some - in less than 24 hours with the disclaimer that it gladly would provide more data if needed.
The Utah Symphony/Utah Opera, on the other hand, flunked. The organization's PR guru directed the Tribune to a Web site containing a board roster. But symphony/opera officials repeatedly refused to provide information about their board members' hometowns or even contact numbers so the paper could request the ZIP code from individual members.
But the symphony/opera's secrecy was uncommon among the valley's cultural-arts attractions. Pioneer Theatre, Discovery Gateway and Hogle Zoo all compiled the information within a day or two.
Salt Lake County government was more resistant. Officials provided a board roster for the county-owned Wheeler Farm, Equestrian Center, Center for the Arts and Clark Planetarium, but refused to provide any personal information about those volunteers (including ZIP codes or contact numbers).
The county complied only after the paper appealed directory to County Mayor Peter Corroon, who - with a nod from the District Attorney's Office - directed his staff to release the information.
The Tribune released its analysis of that data Monday, showing that the valley's arts and entertainment community is led overwhelmingly by Salt Lake County's east-siders.
- js
The Salt Lake Tribune urged nine of the valley's largest arts and entertainment venues this summer to provide the names and home ZIP codes of all of its board members as part of an investigation into the geographic diversity of their leadership.
Hale Centre Theatre got an A+ for transparency, turning over the requested information - plus some - in less than 24 hours with the disclaimer that it gladly would provide more data if needed.
The Utah Symphony/Utah Opera, on the other hand, flunked. The organization's PR guru directed the Tribune to a Web site containing a board roster. But symphony/opera officials repeatedly refused to provide information about their board members' hometowns or even contact numbers so the paper could request the ZIP code from individual members.
But the symphony/opera's secrecy was uncommon among the valley's cultural-arts attractions. Pioneer Theatre, Discovery Gateway and Hogle Zoo all compiled the information within a day or two.
Salt Lake County government was more resistant. Officials provided a board roster for the county-owned Wheeler Farm, Equestrian Center, Center for the Arts and Clark Planetarium, but refused to provide any personal information about those volunteers (including ZIP codes or contact numbers).
The county complied only after the paper appealed directory to County Mayor Peter Corroon, who - with a nod from the District Attorney's Office - directed his staff to release the information.
The Tribune released its analysis of that data Monday, showing that the valley's arts and entertainment community is led overwhelmingly by Salt Lake County's east-siders.
- js
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