Last spring, the Salt Lake Organizing Committee and the Utah Office of Museum Services joined forces to create the Cultural Olympiad on Tour Grant Program.

Officially announced earlier this month, this is the first in a series of grant programs to be provided by the 2002 Cultural Olympiad, according to SLOC and Dan E. Burke, director of the Utah Office of Museum Services."One purpose of this grant is to encourage museums from all over the state to participate in the Cultural Olympiad," said Burke. "It is one way the outlying communities and cities of Utah can be a part of this event."

A total of 15 grants are being offered to museums and other organizations that have the space and security requirements to display one of the 18 travelling exhibitions.

Some of those exhibits include Artists of the American West, Miracles of Mexican Folk Art, Photography of the Old West and What Does a Woman Athlete Look Like, just to name a few.

The exhibits will be on display for four to six weeks to coincide with the 2002 Winter Games and the Paralympic Winter Games, said Burke.

"One of the guidelines was to bring some of the exhibits from outside of Utah," Burke said. "That will give the rural Utah museums an opportunity to show out-of-state displays they wouldn't otherwise have."

The grants -- ranging between $3,000 and $8,000 -- will be matched on a one-to-one basis in cash or value-in-kind, said Burke. "We focused on the midsize exhibits so the rural museums can have a chance to participate. Also, there were security and rental fees to consider."

Burke and his assistant, Judy Terry, recently attended the Utah Museum Association conference in St. George, where they handed out applications.

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Museums interested in filling out an application can call his office at (801) 533-3247. The deadline is Jan. 28, 2000.

"On the application, we made sure to have the museums list their top five priorities," Burke explained. "And then we'll choose and try to match up the exhibit with the museum. We hope to have all the decisions made by the end of February. We wanted to do this as quickly as possible so we could have the exhibits locked in."

Between then and the opening date of the displays, the Utah Office of Museum Services -- in keeping with its mission to provide grant programs and technical assistance to all Utah museums -- will hold various workshops to help those that haven't had a chance to curate and host a traveling exhibit before.

"We were so pleased that the Cultural Olympiad wanted to work with us on this project," Burke said.

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