Summit County pulls funding as Sundance prepares for its last hurrah in Utah

SUMMIT COUNTY, Utah (ABC4) — As Sundance Film Festival prepares to bid adieu to Park City, its home for over 40 years, county leaders are pulling back funding allocated to promote the festival.

During a Summit County council meeting on Wednesday, county leaders came to the decision that none of the $4.37 million from restaurant sales tax is going to be granted to the festival’s advertising costs.

Summit County has been a staunch supporter of Sundance in past years. Records show that in the last five years, Summit County granted a range of $112,500 to $225,000 to promote Sundance, which covered a sizable chunk of the festival’s advertising costs. However, with the festival’s exit from Utah planned on the horizon, council members are no longer seeing the merit of using taxpayer dollars to promote the festival.

“If this is the swan song, I’m not sure that reinvesting the money at this point in that particular entity is maybe the right way to go,” council member Roger Armstrong said.

This year, Sundance Institute requested $225,000 from Summit County for marketing purposes — in line with their requests from years past. The Restaurant Tax Advisory Committee suggested $85,000 instead, less than half of the institute’s initial request. However, the Summit County council unanimously agreed to not grant any.

“If it’s just being used to advertise in the Wasatch Front for an organization that’s leaving the Wasatch, I’d rather take that money and invest it into a local organization,” said council member Canice Hart.

The meeting adjourned with the Restaurant Tax Advisory Committee saying that they’d come up with other recommendations for the $85,000 they previously allocated for Sundance.

Sundance Film Festival has one last hurrah left in Utah before it relocates to a new home — Boulder, Colorado, in 2027.

It’s yet unclear how this decision will affect the festival’s final days in the Beehive State.