Wake the Great Salt Lake: Of Salt and Sand Brings an Inspiring Art Experience to Broadway in Partnership with Salt Lake City Arts Council
Industry: Art & Design
Highlighting the vital importance and resilience of the Great Salt Lake, this installation will transform the 300 South art corridor with powerful storytelling and art.
Salt Lake City, UT (PRUnderground) January 28th, 2025
The Salt Lake City Arts Council, in collaboration with Of Salt and Sand, is proud to announce “Stay Salty: Lakefacing Stories,” a groundbreaking art installation set to run through February 28, 2025. “Stay Salty: Lakefacing Stories” is a free, multisensory installation that invites the community to engage in an experience that evokes both reflection and action on the unique challenges surrounding the Great Salt Lake. This installation is part of Wake the Great Salt Lake, a temporary public art project that aims to educate and inspire residents and visitors to understand and prevent the further decline of the Great Salt Lake. The project is a partnership of the Salt Lake City Arts Council, the Salt Lake City Mayor’s Office, and Bloomberg Philanthropies’ Public Art Challenge, with support from the John and Marcia Price Family Foundation.
The exhibition is hosted by Craft Lake City’s Local Voices program which shares stories of impactful local organizations on 10 street-level billboards displayed between 200 West and West Temple on Broadway (300 South) in Downtown Salt Lake City. Each piece of “Stay Salty: Lakefacing Stories” features beautiful photography, written word, and a QR code to hear podcast stories from people connected to and impacted by the receding Great Salt Lake.
The multidisciplinary installation is designed to engage visitors in meaningful ways. The initiative features community partnerships and contributions, ensuring a collective effort to advocate for the lake’s preservation.
Jeri Gravlin, the project’s lead photographer, shared her vision: “I’ve always believed in the power of storytelling to create change. This installation is about capturing the stories of the lake—its past, present, and future—and giving voice to a landscape that desperately needs our attention.”
“Our goal is to connect people to the lake’s story,” said Andrew Shaw, the Wake the Great Salt Lake program lead from the Salt Lake City Arts Council. “Through art, we hope to inspire individuals to consider their role in the lake’s future and take meaningful action to care for this vital ecosystem.”
A street-side activation event will take place at the exhibition site on Saturday, February 22, 11:30am-2:30pm, where the public can engage with the artists and storytellers and share their own thoughts about the Great Salt Lake. The media and public are encouraged to attend, and the exhibition is on view 24/7 through the end of February.
This unique installation is part of the Wake the Great Salt Lake program, designed to use temporary public art experiences to drive community action. For more information, visit wakegsl.org. Of Salt and Sand, a collaborative arts collective, brings their innovative approach to creating impactful and thought-provoking works. To learn more about their mission and other projects, visit ofsaltandsand.org. To listen to Season 1 of the Stay Salty Podcast, visit lakefacing.org/podcast.
About Salt Lake City Arts Council: The Salt Lake City Arts Council promotes, presents, and supports artists, arts organizations, and arts activities in order to further the development of the arts community and to benefit the public by expanding awareness, access, and participation.
About Of Salt and Sand: Of Salt and Sand is a collaborative arts collective focused on telling the overlooked stories of people connected to and impacted by the receding Great Salt Lake. Through projects like Stay Salty: Lakefacing Stories podcast and photography exhibitions, Of Salt and Sand amplifies the voices of those most vulnerable to the effects of the Great Salt Lake’s collapse.
About Craft Lake City: Founded in 2009 by Angela H. Brown, Executive Editor of SLUG (Salt Lake UnderGround) Magazine, Craft Lake City® is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization with the mission to educate, promote and inspire local artisans while elevating the creative culture of the Utah arts community through science, technology and art. Craft Lake City strives to further define the term “Craft,” by modernizing the definition for handmade creativity. craftlakecity.com
About the Salt Lake City Mayor’s Office: Salt Lake City is the capital and most populous city in Utah, the fastest-growing state in the country. As the hub of the economy, the arts, and sports for the region, Salt Lake City is committed to fostering an inclusive, innovative, and sustainable community.
With a focus on quality of life, Salt Lake City continues to be a destination for both residents and visitors alike, having hosted the 2002 Winter Olympics and welcoming the world again for the 2034 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. An elected mayor, who serves as the chief executive, and seven part-time City Council members govern the City. For more information, visit slc.gov.
About the Bloomberg Philanthropies Public Art Challenge: The Bloomberg Philanthropies Public Art Challenge brings together mayors, residents, and artists to develop temporary public art projects that address important civic issues in their communities. In 2022, Bloomberg Philanthropies invited mayors of U.S. cities with 30,000 residents or more to apply for up to $1 million in funding to create temporary public art projects that address important civic issues and demonstrate an ability to generate public-private collaborations, celebrate creativity and urban identity, and strengthen local economies. More than 150 cities from 40 U.S. states applied. Bloomberg Philanthropies selected eight winning cities to develop projects focused on challenges related to climate change, equity, food insecurity, gun violence, homelessness, public health, and revitalization. Since launching in 2014, the Bloomberg Philanthropies Public Art Challenge has spurred more than $100 million in economic benefits for participating cities and action across a range of civic issues. For more information, please visit publicartchallenge.bloomberg.org.
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