WEST VALLEY CITY, Utah — One month after the city announced the West Valley Performing Arts Center's closing, the City Council unanimously voted to save the building.
At Tuesday's meeting, the council approved a partnership where the city will transfer building ownership to an independent nonprofit. It'll then be up to the newly restructured organization to oversee operations and financial oversight.
"I give Mr. Pili and the Council a lot of credit for saying, 'We'll hear you out.' Then from the 'We'll hear you out' to actually, 'Hey, we can work with that,'" said Kate Rufener, a team lead with the #KeepWestValleyPerforming group.
"This resolution will mark that commitment by both the city and the performing arts theater to work together toward that solution," said city manager Ifo Pili.
Weeks ago, the local theater community felt hopeless after Pili said the building was "bleeding money" from the general fund.
"There's 25 years of memories there," said Rufener. "It was devastating. It was utterly, completely out-of-the-blue devastating."
For weeks, performers, employees, and local businesses pleaded with the council to hear them out.
"It's an essential piece to the puzzle of immigration that keeps me here and the only country I've ever known," said Armando Serrano, a performer and DACA recipient.
"Our best days are the days when cities have chosen to find reasons for their communities to gather for events such as the West Valley Performing Arts Center," said Jeff Stinson, the chief technology officer for Holiday Oil Company.
The city will provide an initial subsidy for the arts center in a "yet to be determined amount."
Pili said it'll take a couple of months to sort out those details.
