TAYLORSVILLE — Salt Lake County Mayor Ben McAdams believes everyone deserves access to the arts, and as the county continues to grow, the Mid-Valley Performing Arts Center will help fill that need.
County officials, along with representatives from Taylorsville and other groups involved in the center's construction and use, broke ground on land next to city hall Thursday morning.
While the $45 million venue, expected to open in fall 2020, will have some touring performances, its main purpose is to provide a space for local performing artists to rehearse and perform.
"Utah loves the arts, and to give our local communities a chance to have a venue where they can also perform is so important," McAdams said.
The building will also give a new home to the Taylorsville Arts Council, which Taylorsville Mayor Kristie Overson said has been meeting, rehearsing and performing in City Council chambers, Taylorsville High School, the Taylorsville Senior Center and other locations.
"The Mid-Valley Performing Arts Center will be a cultural hub for generations to come," Overson said.
There will be no tax increase for the project, McAdams added. Funding comes from existing budgets funded by tourism, restaurant and car rental taxes.
The Salt Lake County Center for the Arts will operate the venue once Jacobsen Construction and Method Studios have finished it.
Although the opening is nearly two years away, Sarah Pearce, division director of Salt Lake County's Center for the Arts, said they will begin booking spaces in the beginning of 2019.
"We have been overwhelmed by the interest," Pearce said. "Small music groups to dance groups, theater groups … all kinds of groups that are just desperate for a state-of-the-art venue out here."
"This theater will be one of Salt Lake County's excellent cultural venues, making the arts available to all of our county residents," McAdams said, adding that the southwest and midwest portions of the valley are becoming the county's "center of gravity."
McAdams expects support for the local arts to continue to flourish.
"As the population continues to grow, probably 10 years from now you'll see a similar facility in the south end of Salt Lake County," he said.