For the past decade, the society has striven to increase public education about the world of cinema by showing historic or avant-garde films at the Broadway and Tower theaters, holding workshops for screenwriters and digital directors, and taking programs to schoolchildren.
Its budget is now large enough, with $1.4 million in expenditures, to qualify for the larger pots of ZAP-tax money that "Tier 1" institutions, such as Ballet West and the Utah Symphony & Opera, split based on
a formula in the law. For the Salt Lake Film Society, that share is projected to be about $254,000 next year.
For a second consecutive year, an improving economy has boosted the amount of the ZAP money available to Tier 1 institutions. They will divvy up a projected $9.6 million next year, 14 percent more than the $8.4 million available in 2012. The 2013 revenue estimate is based on projections for the economic recovery.
Like the Salt Lake Film Society, other recipients were excited to see bigger grants.
Maria Farrington, CEO of Discovery Gateway, said much of her ZAP funding will go to programs geared toward autistic children, a sizable segment of the population often ignored in the past. “We couldn’t do it without ZAP funding,” she said.
The $92,310 received by the Utah Film Center will help pay 10 staff members so they can deliver its programs, 90 percent of which are free to the public, said development manager Nancy Eaves.
Those programs include the “Through the Lens” discussions with filmmakers, science movie nights at the Natural History Museum of Utah, a children’s film festival and weekly film programs for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community. Salt Lake Tribune
