Zoo, Arts & Parks Blog
Destinations to Explore: July 20-27
.png "Explore ZAP- Week 8 Heading")
Wondering where you can get your ZAP Passport stamped this week? Look no further! Earn your stamps at any of these destinations July 20 through July 27.
Just getting started and having trouble finding remaining Passports at your nearest Salt Lake County Library location? You can download your own here.
Destinations are free unless otherwise noted.
Improv with Youth Theatre at the U
Thursday, July 20 | 4:30 PM Herriman Library
Join
Youth Theatre at the U
and their KAZUM JACKSON'S HILARIOUS PLAGUE improvisation troupe for creative and imaginative games at the library.
Sounds of Summer Concert
Friday, July 21 | 6:30 PM Midvale City Park
Enjoy free summer concerts on Friday evenings in the park this summer with Midvale Arts Council! Activities provided by the Boys & Girls Club, Copperview Community Center and the local library. This week enjoy classic rock and pop hits with the band, Assembly 6.0.
Make Your Own Pinata
Saturday, July 22 | 11 AM West Jordan Library
Wednesday, July 26 | 4:30 PM South Jordan Library
Create your own mini piñata and learn about its origins with Artes de México en Utah! Supplies will be provided for these bilingual visual arts workshops.
Tomato Garden Tour
July 26 | 4 PM Wasatch Community Gardens
Explore the Wasatch Community Gardens Tomato Garden and then learn what it's like to grow your own food in the city. Go on a tour of the gardens, meet our chickens, taste some fresh garden produce and make a take a seed pot while supplies last. Located at 800 S. 600 E. in Salt Lake City.
OBT Presents: A Night at the Imperial
Friday & Saturday through July 29 | 7:30 PM The Off Broadway Theatre
The Off Broadway Theatre offers original family-friendly comedies and musical parodies for parents and kids alike. Present the ZAP Kids Summer Passport, and each member of the family will receive a $2 discount off the regular (Adult, Student/Senior, or Child) price.
Destinations you can visit all summer long
Earn stamps at any of these locations throughout the summer.
Explore the Conservation Gardens
Stroll through the gardens, walk through a water pipe, learn to make compost or identify plants at the Conservation Garden Park in West Jordan. Explore the Garden any day of the summer and get a stamp in your passport! Garden hours are from 8 AM to 8 PM, Monday through Saturday.
Piano Lessons in Glendale
Drop in for hands-on piano instruction in a group setting with Mundi Project. Open to beginners of all ages at the Salt Lake Public Library-Glendale Branch, Saturdays from 11 AM to 12 PM.
Memory Grove Park Scavenger Hunt
Go on a scavenger hunt courtesty
Preservation Utah
and discover the art and architecture of Memory Grove Park! Get your passport stamp and scavenger hunt guide at the Memorial House (375 North Canyon Road in Downtown Salt Lake City), Monday through Friday, 9 AM to 5 PM).
Save $2 off the price of admission with your ZAP Passport at these destinations
Discovery Gateway Children's Museum
Visit Discovery Gateway and explore educational workshops, programs and exhibits that inspire the whole family to discover the power of play together.
The Leonardo
The Leonardo is a museum of creativity! Inside, you can discover the wonder of FLIGHT in their newest exhibit, delve into the mind-bending wonder of our exhibit on PERCEPTION, unleash your inner artist, scientist or engineer in one of our three hands-on laboratories, and even be moved by the exhibits in our Human Rights Gallery. Whatever you're interested in, The Leonardo will spark creativity and help you discover a whole new way to see the world.
Tracy Aviary
Tracy Aviary has more than 135 species and 400 individual birds on display. Guests are encouraged to wander its 8 acres and appreciate the different colors, sizes and sounds of our feathered friends.
Ticket Tuesday with the Flynnstones
Destinations to Explore: July 12-19
.png "Explore Your World- Week 7")
Let's keep the summer fun going! Earn stamps in your ZAP Kids Summer Passport at any of these destinations July 12-19. Don't forget, you need at least 5 stamps from different destinations to attend the Final Destination Celebration at the Clark Planetarium on August 30!
Just getting started and having trouble finding remaining Passports at your nearest Salt Lake County Library location? You can download your own here.
Destinations are FREE unless otherwise noted.
Discover Something New in Your Own Backyard
BioBlitz with NHMU
Stop by Whitmore
Library anytime during the time frame and learn more about the natural
world with the Natural History Museum of Utah! Bioblitz is an interactive
citizen-science program where you can learn how to participate in scientific
research.
Line Monster Game
Learn to create funny
monsters in the Line Monster Game with Visual Art Institute! Using only
pencils and sharpies, kids will create their own unique and colorful monsters
all while playing an immersive game.
Backstage Tour
More tours added by popular demand! Join
Salt
Lake County Center for the Arts for a backstage tour of the new Eccles
Theater. Meet in the lobby by the ticket office, and present your passport for a
stamp.
.png "Explore ZAP- U Youth Theatre")
Improv Theatre Fun
Experience Youth
Theatre at the U will
bring their KAZUM JACKSON'S HILARIOUS PLAGUE improvisation troupe to play
creative and imaginative games with the audience.
Sounds of Summer Concert
July 14 | 6:30 PM Midvale City Park
Enjoy free summer concerts on Friday evenings in the
park this summer with Midvale Arts
Council! Activities
provided by the Boys & Girls Club, Copperview Community Center and the
local library. This week’s performance group: City Jazz Big Band.
.png "Explore ZAP- Fiddlers")
Utah Old Time Fiddlers Concert
July 17 | 3 PM
Experience lively old-time
fiddle music with theUtah Old Time
Fiddlers! They
sing traditional country music and use a variety of acoustic instruments including
fiddle, banjo, guitar, mandolin and harmonica.
Book-inspired Art Workshop
Create art
inspired by your favorite children’s books with Bad Dog Arts!
July 19 | 4:30 PM
Kazum Jackson’s Hilarious Plague Improv at
Youth
Theatre at the U will
bring their KAZUM JACKSON'S HILARIOUS PLAGUE improvisation troupe to play
creative and imaginative games with the audience.
Find more destinations you can visit all summer here
Enjoy your experience or learn something new? Share it with us on Instagram using #exploreZAP!
Art Programs for Adults with Disabilities Fill a Community Need
Register
for a
Tanner Dance
class for
adults today.
Since
the 90s, Tanner Dance has
been holding classes at
their University of Utah studios for children with disabilities, and in recent
years, many of these students have reached adulthood. For example, Nathan, a
Salt Lake County resident with Down syndrome, recently graduated from high
school at age 22. Nathan began dancing at Tanner when he was eight years old,
and according to his mother Ann, those classes were influential in helping
Nathan develop skills like motor ability and social interaction. Now that
Nathan is 22, he is too old to participate in post-high activities through Salt
Lake City School District and he was finding himself with plenty of free time.
His mother Ann said, “There’s nothing for these kids to do during the day, so
they spend the bulk of their time watching television and browsing social
media.” After conversations with families like Nathan’s about the need for more
opportunities for learning and growth for adults with disabilities in this
community, Tanner Dance launched two new arts programs for Nathan and his peers
in 2016.
This first
program, Elevate Theater Company,
began in January 2016 for participants like David, who enjoys his job as a mail
courier at the Salt Lake County office building. Because of David’s cognitive
disability, his mother Joan has advocated throughout David’s life to get him
access to the best programs that will increase his activity levels and opportunities
for friendships. Joan and Tanner Dance worked together to model Elevate Theater
Company after Detour Company Theatre
in Phoenix that facilitates the production of multiple musicals each year performed
by hundreds of participants with physical and/or cognitive disabilities.
In
Salt Lake City, Elevate Theater Company began with thirteen participants between
the ages of fifteen and 65 who learned music, dance, and narration from various
Broadway hits like “Oh The Thinks You Can Think!” from Seussical the Musical, which they performed for friends and family in
April 2016. The company reconvened in August 2016 on Saturday mornings to learn
and rehearse a full-length production titled Press Start, which they performed in Tanner Dance’s Black Box
Theater to over 300 members of the community. Press Start is a musical about classic video game characters (think
Pac Man and Mario) who decide to hold a musical fundraiser earn gold coins and
get more lives. This performance, which took place on May 6, 2017, included
professional sound and lighting, costumes created by the participants, and
speaking lines for every participant who had the ability to speak. As of spring
2017, twenty adults participated in Elevate Theater Company with a waiting list
of ten more potential participants.
The
second program Tanner Dance created is titled LEADD
(Learning and Engaging through Arts Discipline and Development), and it
launched in August 2017 to provide afternoon art classes to adults ages 22 and
up with physical and/or cognitive disabilities. This program took place on
Thursday afternoons during the 2016-2017 school year, and students worked with
experienced arts specialists and therapists to learn music, dance, and visual
art. Through arts experiences, these ten students enhanced skills like
communicating verbally, increasing spatial awareness, interpreting directions,
working with someone else toward a common goal, recognizing themes and
patterns, and asking for help. They ended the year with an art gallery and
performance titled Self-Portrait, where
the exuberance and joy of the performers left the audience in tears.
Both
LEADD and Elevate Theater Company will grow in capacity for the 2017-2018
school year, and they are currently taking new registrations through Tanner
Dance. Tuition is subsidized by ZAP, and Tanner Dance also offers needs-based
scholarships and is a provider for the Utah Division of Services for People
with Disabilities, making these programs possible for all. LEADD and Elevate
would also not exist without the tireless help of dozens of community
volunteers, including university and high school students, who participate
alongside students and assist in their learning.
Nathan
participates in both the LEADD and Elevate programs, and his mother Ann says
they have helped him be creative, strengthen his mind, improve his conversational
skills, and provide him with continuing education on a university campus.
Providing an engaging and joyous life for adults with disabilities is a
community effort, and Tanner Dance is grateful for the support that makes this
possible.
- Lyndsi Pace
Lyndsi Pace has worked in dance
company management for five years. She serves as Program Manager for the
University of Utah Tanner Dance Program, specializing in marketing and
development. One of her favorite projects at Tanner has been helping to develop
arts programs for people with disabilities. Lyndsi holds a bachelor’s degree in
Entrepreneurship from Brigham Young University and a master’s in Arts
Administration from Boston University.
Ticket Tuesday with Empress Youth Theatre
.png "Empress Youth Theatre Ticket Tuesday")
Winners have been chosen for this Ticket Tuesday courtesy The Empress Theatre. Stay tuned for future giveaways!