City of South Salt Lake Arts Council Inc

The mission of the South Salt Lake Arts Council is to unite our community through art.  We strive to support local artists, provide engaging opportunities for our diverse residents to participate in the arts, contribute to our city’s economic development by generating awareness about our existing cultural assets., and allow create approaches to innovative growth that will remain true to the craftsman and industrial character of South Salt Lake

 

Part of our goal is to support our creative economy and raise awareness about the diverse community of artists, makers, entrepreneurs, and innovators in SSL. Last May, we created the Inside South Salt Lake Mural Project. This project brought together over 50 unique creatives who were photographed by SSL professional photographer Lars Call in his state of the art Cre8 Studios. The photos featuring the artist or creative alongside their craft or artistic medium were enlarged to 6 ft. by 8 ft. black and white posters, which were wheat pasted on the sides of various creative businesses in SSL’s Downtown. The murals were unveiled during our Night on Commonwealth and were part of May Gallery Stroll.  The project was impactful in many ways. During the wheat pasting process, passersby would stop to see what we were doing, and ask and comment about the project. The participating businesses were happy to have attention. And the posters received a great deal of attention by pedestrians and motorists in the area throughout the following months. But the most significant impact from the project was how it brought together our creative community. We spent a week doing photoshoots of the artists and creatives. During the photoshoots, it became evident how enthused the participants were about the attention being given to them as artists and the SSL creative community as a whole. The word began to spread, and soon other makers and creatives were emerging to participate and have their photo taken as well. It was wonderful to see their eyes light up as they had their photos taken, and see their excitement when they saw their photo in larger than life form. This gave them an opportunity to network and form partnerships. The project also received media attention and was an engaging part of Night on Commonwealth and Gallery Stroll. We have received a great deal of positive feedback on the project and the impact it had in promoting SSL’s unique creative community.