THE BLOCKS Annual Update

At a glance

• What: The annual update on THE BLOCKS (formerly the Cultural Core initiative), required by the interlocal agreement between Salt Lake City and Salt Lake County to develop, improve and market arts and cultural activities in downtown. The briefing covered an executive summary of year nine and the budget plan for year ten.
• Where it stands: Informational briefing on May 14, 2026; no action required.

Detail

Sylvia Richards introduced the item. Lucas Horns (THE BLOCKS Program Manager) and Dee Brewer (Downtown Alliance Executive Director) presented organizational goals, programming metrics, marketing, economic impacts, regional and national arts visitation trends, public art, partnerships and planned 2026 activations.

Council Members discussed the mission of promoting downtown as a regional arts and cultural destination; metrics for events, public art commissions, artists and performers hired and regional visitation; arts programming as an economic driver for downtown businesses and tourism; newsletter and social media reach; clarification that THE BLOCKS metrics are separate from Arts Council-produced programming with limited overlap; partnerships with arts organizations, businesses and property owners; plans to expand public art and activations with added funding; and appreciation for how much was done with existing funds.

Sources

• City Council Work Session minutes, May 14, 2026 (approved August 18, 2026): https://slc.primegov.com/Public/CompiledDocument/44799

Log

2026-05-14 - City Council Work Session

Year-nine update and year-ten budget plan presented; the same session briefed the Arts Council Division budget (see Fiscal Year 2026-27 Department Budget Briefings). The minutes spell the program manager's surname once as "Lucus".