Blog
About the Kids Summer Passport
May 23, 2017
What is the ZAP Kids Summer Passport?
The passport will challenge you to visit new places. We know you like to explore. And we know exploring the world around you can help you build a better world. That's why we hope you'll join our journey to explore some of the best places in our own backyards. So, grab a passport -- and a friend -- and discover the superb destinations around you.
How does it work?
- Pick up a passport at your local Salt Lake County Library (while supplies last).*
- Visit the destinations listed in the passport between June 2 and August 20. Ask the destination to "stamp" your passport.
- Get "stamps" from five different destinations.
- Bring your passport back to the library to reserve your spot at the Final Destination Celebration at Clark Planetarium. It will be out of this world.
*While you're at the Library, take the Summer Reading Challenge for even more chances to win!
Do I need a passport for each child?
No. One passport works for the entire family. However, if each child wants their own passport, they are welcome to have their own. Just tell your librarian that you want one passport per child.
Who can participate?
The ZAP Kids Summer Passport is open to youth ages 17 and under.
How do I document my journey?
While you're getting "stamps" in your passport, you can document your journey online. Take pictures of your trip, so you can remember the new places you visited. If you post your picture online, use #exploreZAP for a chance to have your journey highlighted on ZAP's Instagram.
Can I keep my passport?
Yes. When you take your passport to the library, the librarians will check that you have five stamps and will give you the instructions for how to RSVP to the Final Destination Celebration. You can keep your passport as a souvenir.
What is the Final Destination Celebration?
If you visit five different destinations, take your passport back to your County library. You'll get instructions on how to reserve your spot for the Final Destination Celebration at Clark Planetarium on August 30 from 3 PM to 7 PM. If you attend the celebration, you'll be entered to win amazing journeys to even more cool places:
Winners will be chosen at random and must attend the Final Destination Celebration in order to win.
Do I need to pay to get in to the Final Destination Celebration?
No. Children and parents are invited to attend for free. In fact, Clark Planetarium is free to attend at any time. Movies and light shows are usually an extra cost that will be free for our final destination celebration.
What if I visited a Destination this summer before I had a passport?
Feel free to have your parent sign that you attended. We run on the honor system, and we're glad you visited a Destination!
Learn more about the Kids Summer Passport.
Passport Cover Design Contest
May 22, 2017
We asked you what zoo, arts and parks mean to you. Children from across the county submitted designs through their local library. We got a lot of great designs, and the competition to choose the winning design was so close. Each of the designs was so good.
We are happy to announce that Adventure is right outside your front door, by Sophia, got the most votes. This design will be printed on the front of our Kids Summer Passport this year! Congratulations, Sophia!
Finalists
#1. Elephant by Hailey, Age 6, Taylorsville
Medium: Crayon
#2. Adventure is right outside your front door by Sophia, Age 14, Draper
Medium: Pen & Colored Pencil
#3. The Wolf of the Moon by Ella, Age 11, West Valley City
Medium: Pen, Colored Pencil & Marker
Children of Hangzhou: Connecting with China is the newest exhibit at Discovery Gateway, opening to the public on May 19. Children of Hangzhou: Connecting with China presents four children from Hangzhou in several environments, including at home, at school, and in the countryside. The Chinese children will introduce themselves through media and the activities of their daily lives. Visitors will discover that Chinese life today mixes ancient traditions with modern lifestyles. This exhibit is a bridge to learn about China and build cross-cultural understanding. It features original artwork created to present a unique Chinese aesthetic that delivers an immediate and unmistakable impression: You are in China.
Through this exhibit, Discovery Gateway Children’s Museum strives to increase awareness around China. In distinctively Chinese settings, visitors will “meet” children with different interests and in different environments. The exhibit will dispel stereotypes and demystify the nation of China. It is organized into several components with lessons and activities woven throughout.
Discovery Gateway membership holders are invited to preview the exhibit on Thursday, May 18 from 1 – 3 pm. The grand opening of Children of Hangzhou: Connecting with China will be Friday, May 19 from 11 am – 2 pm. Discovery Gateway Children’s Museum will also host several Chinese Dual Immersion school groups and encourage them to put their studies to practice by engaging with the exhibit in their secondary language. The grand opening will kick off with a Lion Dance performed by Calvin Smith Elementary students, and several performances by artists from Utah’s Chinese community will follow. The University of Utah’s Confucius Institute will provide hands-on activities for children and families including Chinese paper cutting, origami, and calligraphy.
Children of Hangzhou: Connecting with China was produced by Boston Children’s Museum as part of the Freeman Foundation Asian Culture Exhibit Series, funded by The Freeman Foundation and administered by Association of Children’s museums. All underlying materials, including all artwork and the use of Children of Hangzhou: Connecting with China characters are used with permission of Boston Children’s Museum.
-Kristin Jahne
Kristin Jahneis the Marketing Coordinator at Discovery Gateway Children's Museum. When she’s not fixing member issues or analyzing data, you can find her interacting with patrons around the museum or helping plan events for DG members.
Ticket Tuesday with Pinnacle Acting Company
May 16, 2017
The weather is warming up, bulbs are blooming, and for Tracy Aviary, it means its hatching season. In March, Tracy Aviary welcomed the hatching of five Edwards’s Pheasant chicks! Edwards’s Pheasants are found in only three provinces in central Vietnam and are thought to be extinct in the wild, which makes this hatching all the more exciting! Tracy Aviary participates in a Species Survival Plan to breed this beautiful bird, increase their numbers in captivity, and ensure they have a future. The chicks are currently being raised by their mom and dad in the lush Treasures of the Rainforest exhibit and getting accustomed to finding food on their own, flying, and exploring their habitat. Edwards’s Pheasants are very secretive and prefer to spend their time hiding under dense foliage while foraging on the ground for food. The keepers are providing mealworms, crickets, and specially formulated pheasant pellets for the family to eat. Sometimes it is difficult to see the chicks, as mom can be very protective, but if you listen closely you can hear the family chirping to each other as they explore their habitat.
The chicks should reach their adult weight by the time they are 6 months old. Males weigh about 900 grams where females weigh about 600 grams. We will be able to tell if they are male or female by the time they are 3 months old based on their feather coloration. Exposing them to important husbandry tools like scales will help us monitor their growth and overall health throughout their life without being too invasive in their daily behaviors. Waxworms, which we also refer to as “bird candy”, are a great way to reward these brave little birds for their curiosity in stepping up on the scale! These precious little chicks are vital to the future of their species, so to see them growing so well is very exciting.
Visitors will have fun searching for these little chicks inside Treasures of the Rainforest and will be thrilled when they catch sight of them! As an open air exhibit, Treasures of the Rainforest is a unique experience where guests get to see birds free-flying around them.
Guests should plan a visit to Tracy Aviary soon, for these chicks won’t be chicks for long! Along with exploring Treasures of the Rainforest, guests will be able to participate in fun summer programming. Our busy summer schedule includes something for everyone - daily bird shows, nature play for the kids, daily feeding opportunities, nose-to-beak encounters, and concerts the second Sunday of the month (June-September). Tracy Aviary is open Monday-Sunday, 9am-5pm, with later hours on Monday nights (open till 8pm June-August). For more information visit www.tracyaviary.org.
-Julie Roehner
Julie Roehner is the Marketing & Events Coordinator at Tracy Aviary. New to the Aviary, she is enjoying learning about all of the species on grounds from the rest of Tracy Aviary staff.
Ticket Tuesday with Tracy Aviary
May 08, 2017
A winner has been chosen for this Ticket Tuesday giveaway courtesy Tracy Aviary.
Congrats to Robert M. in Taylorsville!
Justice-Seeking Super Robot Takes on Arts Education
May 02, 2017
Or, How I Switched From a Deficit Mindset to an Asset-based Approach
Editor's note: This blog originally appeared on Americans for the Arts' ArtsBlog.
Let’s get something out of the way at the beginning. For me, art is about connection.
Now, a story.
I remember it distinctly. I was dressed like a robot. It was Halloween, and I was at recess when I heard it. Name calling! As a machine, I was brave enough to stand up and say that wasn’t okay with me. Even as a preschooler, I was obsessed with inclusion. I found power in fighting the good fight. I wasn’t just a regular robot that day. I was a justice-seeking super robot.
Fast forward.
I found the arts. I took piano lessons, went to Shakespeare camp, and sang poorly in high school musicals. Arts education was a big part of my childhood. It was so ingrained in my experience that I felt every child must have had these same opportunities.
But that isn’t the case.
Fast forward to my first jobs outside college.
As a teacher, and former justice-seeking super robot, I saw a need. Low-income children of color weren’t in my Shakespeare classes. If art is about connection, why wasn’t I seeing that reflected in my classes?
I went back to school. I was going to learn how to save the world by connecting art to low-income children of color.
Thankfully, I learned that I was fighting the wrong fight. Access to arts education wasn’t a bad goal, but simply having access to arts education wouldn’t bring real connection or equity. Simply put, traditional arts education often does not value low-income communities of color.
For example, I read about a public, arts-focused charter school. Students of color interviewed in the article explained that their dance class spent one “token” week on hip-hop as a break from “foundational” ballet.
Or there are the myriad stories about low-income students of color who weren’t deemed “talented” enough to be placed in the elite youth orchestra because they hadn’t had the opportunity to take lessons as a young child. These cases are real and common. And they demonstrate that communities of color are consistently undervalued by traditional arts education.
In these situations, arts education was not the road to connection. Structures like this perpetuate inequity. I had to learn that. I needed to recognize that by saying this community needed Shakespeare, I was saying I had the power to define what art is. This happens a lot. And it usually favors Eurocentric art.
I don’t have anything against Shakespeare, but I didn’t need to bring Shakespeare or Bach or Monet to low-income students of color that needed art. What I needed to do was recognize that art is already in every community, and that students have their own power to create art. I needed to shift my approach.
So instead of entering a community as a teacher and bringing a prescribed text or curriculum, I would enter as a learner. I needed to value the community and learn from them. I needed to connect with my students—to see their stories and experiences as equal to my own. To see my students for more than their perceived needs.
I needed a new approach to arts education. So, I scanned the literature, and I found an approach that works with, and values, oppressed groups. It’s called an asset-based arts education.
An asset-based arts education works in solidarity with the community. It is mutually beneficial and builds social capital. The programming must be multicultural and value a diversity of stories and voices. And, finally, the work and environment must be empowering and participant-led. (I wonder how this approach might work beyond the classroom.)
I got a chance to put this method to the test. I worked with a group of amazing students at an afterschool program, and the biggest thing I learned seemed simple. I learned hope. There is reason to hope for a better, more equitable, world.
And it isn’t going to be me that saves it.
It’s going to be my students.
In a world that oppresses my students and tells them no (loudly and often), they practiced a playful resistance and claimed their power. They even wrote this line for our play:
“I am equal. Life is equal. No life is higher than another.”
This line was more beautiful and meaningful to us than Shakespeare ever could have been.
A more connected world is possible. And I didn’t need to be a justice-fighting super robot. I just needed to be human. To shut my mouth. To connect. To listen. To learn. And, because I focused on the assets of my students, they (thankfully!) saw some good in me, too. That’s real connection.
And who doesn’t want to live in a world like that?
-Megan Attermann
Megan Noyce Attermann is the Grant and Communication Program Manager for the Salt Lake County Zoo, Arts and Parks (ZAP) Program. She has a Master of Arts in Community Leadership, with an emphasis in Arts and Cultural Leadership, from Westminster College, and a BA in Theatre Arts and English from the University of Puget Sound. She sits on the advisory committee for the Salt Lake Emerging Arts Professionals and loves to teach afterschool classes.
Editor's note: This blog was originally posted on Americans for the Arts' ArtsBlog.
Let’s get something out of the way at the beginning. For me, art is about connection.
Now, a story.
I remember it distinctly. I was dressed like a robot. It was Halloween, and I was at recess when I heard it. Name calling! As a machine, I was brave enough to stand up and say that wasn’t okay with me. Even as a preschooler, I was obsessed with inclusion. I found power in fighting the good fight. I wasn’t just a regular robot that day. I was a justice-seeking super robot.
Fast forward.
I found the arts. I took piano lessons, went to Shakespeare camp, and sang poorly in high school musicals. Arts education was a big part of my childhood. It was so ingrained in my experience that I felt every child must have had these same opportunities.
But that isn’t the case.
Fast forward to my first jobs outside college.
As a teacher, and former justice-seeking super robot, I saw a need. Low-income children of color weren’t in my Shakespeare classes. If art is about connection, why wasn’t I seeing that reflected in my classes?
I went back to school. I was going to learn how to save the world by connecting art to low-income children of color.
Thankfully, I learned that I was fighting the wrong fight. Access to arts education wasn’t a bad goal, but simply having access to arts education wouldn’t bring real connection or equity. Simply put, traditional arts education often does not value low-income communities of color.
For example, I read about a public, arts-focused charter school. Students of color interviewed in the article explained that their dance class spent one “token” week on hip-hop as a break from “foundational” ballet.
Or there are the myriad stories about low-income students of color who weren’t deemed “talented” enough to be placed in the elite youth orchestra because they hadn’t had the opportunity to take lessons as a young child. These cases are real and common. And they demonstrate that communities of color are consistently undervalued by traditional arts education.
In these situations, arts education was not the road to connection. Structures like this perpetuate inequity. I had to learn that. I needed to recognize that by saying this community needed Shakespeare, I was saying I had the power to define what art is. This happens a lot. And it usually favors Eurocentric art.
I don’t have anything against Shakespeare, but I didn’t need to bring Shakespeare or Bach or Monet to low-income students of color that needed art. What I needed to do was recognize that art is already in every community, and that students have their own power to create art. I needed to shift my approach.
So instead of entering a community as a teacher and bringing a prescribed text or curriculum, I would enter as a learner. I needed to value the community and learn from them. I needed to connect with my students—to see their stories and experiences as equal to my own. To see my students for more than their perceived needs.
I needed a new approach to arts education. So, I scanned the literature, and I found an approach that works with, and values, oppressed groups. It’s called an asset-based arts education.
An asset-based arts education works in solidarity with the community. It is mutually beneficial and builds social capital. The programming must be multicultural and value a diversity of stories and voices. And, finally, the work and environment must be empowering and participant-led. (I wonder how this approach might work beyond the classroom.)
I got a chance to put this method to the test. I worked with a group of amazing students at an afterschool program, and the biggest thing I learned seemed simple. I learned hope. There is reason to hope for a better, more equitable, world.
And it isn’t going to be me that saves it.
It’s going to be my students.
In a world that oppresses my students and tells them no (loudly and often), they practiced a playful resistance and claimed their power. They even wrote this line for our play:
“I am equal. Life is equal. No life is higher than another.”
This line was more beautiful and meaningful to us than Shakespeare ever could have been.
A more connected world is possible. And I didn’t need to be a justice-fighting super robot. I just needed to be human. To shut my mouth. To connect. To listen. To learn. And, because I focused on the assets of my students, they (thankfully!) saw some good in me, too. That’s real connection.
And who doesn’t want to live in a world like that?
-Megan Attermann
Megan is the Grant & Communications Program Manager at Salt Lake County Zoo, Arts & Parks. She has a Master of Arts in Community Leadership, with an emphasis in Arts and Cultural Leadership, from Westminster College, and a BA in Theatre Arts and English from the University of Puget Sound. She sits on the advisory committee for the Salt Lake Emerging Arts Professionals and loves teaching afterschool classes.
Ticket Tuesday to Footloose
May 02, 2017
Congratulations to the winners of this Ticket Tuesday giveaway from The Empress Theater:
Francisco in Draper and Christy S. in Salt Lake City!
Ciao: A Note from Vicki Bourns
April 27, 2017
Today, Friday, April 21, 2017, is bittersweet. My last day working for the ZAP Program. Salt Lake County has been very good to me, and I am grateful for the opportunity to work with so many talented, dedicated and passionate arts professionals and volunteers.
I am grateful for this journey.
I am grateful for every ZAP advisory board member – you have taught me so much.
I am grateful to the ZAP grantees that use their best efforts to provide thought-provoking, engaging and entertaining activities in architecture, dance, arts education, theatre, folk arts, natural history, literature, visual arts, media arts, botanical gardens, music, history, humanities, interdisciplinary & multidisciplinary arts, and zoology.
I am grateful for the citizens of Salt Lake County for recognizing and supporting these arts and cultural organizations and activities. Their support of the 1/10th of 1% sales tax initiative is concrete evidence that they value arts, culture, our natural environment, and recreation opportunities for all. And most important they put their money where their values are!
I am grateful to the Salt Lake County Mayor and Council. Our elected officials have supported ZAP in many ways. They have personally endorsed the ZAP Proposition on the ballot, they have approved funding, ordinance and policies recommendations. They have recognized and acknowledged ZAP volunteer advisory board members.
I am grateful to the many Salt Lake County employees that have contributed to our work over the years. You know who you are – you clean our offices, you help process our contracts, you help us follow all the rules, you process our invoices, you take our calls and welcome our visitors, you provide crucial support and leadership, you make us look good!
I am grateful that it will be difficult for me to not say “we” when thinking and speaking of Zoo, Arts and Parks.
Ciao and love always,
Vicki
Vicki Bourns is the outgoing Director of the Zoo, Arts & Parks Program. She is the new Director of the Utah Division of Arts & Museums.