Twice this month, Sundance has been passed over for grants from Summit County. May 14, the film festival lost out on a share of nearly $2 million in cultural RAP tax funds. Last week, it missed out on a restaurant tax grant.
In its recommendations to the council, the volunteer resident committee that considers cultural RAP tax requests said Sundance didn’t meet the grant criteria in large part because it’s not staying in the community.
“The Zoom interview that we did with the Sundance representative was vague as to what Sundance was actually committing to,” Committee Chair Sharon Hanson told the county council May 14. “And at one point, when we were told that the directors’ events would be held down in Salt Lake City, our jaws dropped.”
The Recreation, Arts & Parks tax is a type of sales tax the county splits between cultural and recreation initiatives.
In past years the cultural grant has funded Sundance’s free year-round panel discussions and film screenings for locals. With the festival moving to Boulder, Colorado, after the 2026 edition, it’s unclear how it would have spent the money if it got it.
Summit County’s denial marks somewhat of a reversal from last year. The festival missed the 2024 cultural RAP tax grant deadline, but the county council made an exception, and awarded the institute the $130,000 it wanted in a 3-2 vote.
Hanson said the festival requested a similar amount of money this year.
Thirty-one organizations applied for the cultural grant, asking for a total of $2,493,740. The county only had $1,656,000 to spread around and announced the list of recipients at the May 14 council meeting.
Like Sundance, four other organizations also didn’t make the cut this year, including the Historic Park City Alliance and the Park City Song Summit.
The committee says it disqualified the Song Summit because the committee says it issues scholarships; it says HPCA falls under the restaurant tax grant instead.
That’s the other grant that Sundance didn’t get this year. A separate committee had recommended the council give them $85,000 for marketing, which is a lower recommendation than usual.
The council voted not to do that, and at its May 14 meeting, decided to add those funds to the pot of money for next year’s restaurant tax grant.
The Salt Lake Tribune reported in April that the Salt Lake County Council also decided not to give the 2026 Sundance Film Festival money from the county general fund. Sundance will still receive Zoo, Arts & Parks tax money from Salt Lake County.
Sundance didn’t respond to a request for comment from KPCW May 15. It previously told The Tribune it appreciates the funding it has received from Salt Lake County in the past.
KPCW receives a cultural RAP tax grant from Summit County. This year, the station requested $219,900 and received $145,000 for general operating expenses, bilingual reporting, its Back Alley Bash community event and its new Friday morning show, The Community Campfire. For a full list of underwriters, click here.
