February 2018 | Vol. 18 Iss. 02
FREE THAT’S A WRAP. MURRAY’S FIRST CULTURAL ARTS MANAGER CALLS IT A CAREER By Shaun Delliskave | s.delliskave@mycityjournals.com
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ix weeks before Mary Ann Kirk became a volunteer for the Murray Arts Advisory Board in 1992, she gave birth to her son Ben; many remember her pushing him in a stroller around the Murray Amphitheatre. Twenty-five years later, Ben watched his mother receive a resolution from the city recognizing her for a quarter century of service as its cultural arts manager. “I do 100 percent believe that the arts and history are the city’s heart and soul because that’s what connects us together,” said Kirk. When serving on the first Murray Arts Advisory Board in 1992, she was expected to volunteer 10 hours a month, merely overseeing grants to local arts agencies and use of the amphitheater. That volunteer stint lead to Kirk being appointed to cultural arts manager, and, by the time of her retirement, she had overseen nearly 200 annual events and projects, invited 2,500 amateur and professional artists to participate, and hosted 35,000 to 40,000 patrons from Murray and throughout the Wasatch Front. “You can’t think of any of the arts and history programs without thinking of Mary Ann,” remarked Mayor Blair Camp. “She has so much passion and love for this city, for the arts and for its history.” Murray’s active art scene indeed owes much to her influence. She worked to strengthen relationships with local art organizations by coordinating grant funding and city support for critical facility needs, provided professional training for non-profit administration and developed shared winter and summer seasons, including the Murray Arts in the Park series. She also designed and implemented many programs for
Mary Ann Kirk sat on many panels regarding Utah’s arts. (Photo Utah Division of Arts and Museums)
school-age youth for both large and small numbers of students in a variety of educational and performance opportunities.
Murray youth worked with professional artists in after-school musicals; film festivals; school residencies in storytelling, dance, theater, music, secondary school art shows; and touring performances and residencies, such as the Missoula Children’s Theater. In 2017, Kirk accepted the Governor’s Leadership in the Arts Award on behalf of Murray City Cultural Arts. The award recognized that “Mary Ann’s vision and dedication, paired with tremendous support from the city, elected officials, local art organizations, school personnel, and a contingency of dedicated volunteers, have allowed the arts to thrive in Murray City.” Kirk expanded the vision of her office by incorporating the preservation and promotion of Murray’s history. This included the development of the Murray City Museum. In conjunction with the museum, she added historical programming that included annual cemetery tours, bus and walking tours, Halloween history events and storytelling. Seeking to preserve Murray’s history, she coordinated efforts to provide public access to the museum’s large photo collection and created a searchable catalog of other history resources, including family histories and documents. Along with others, she personally interviewed and recorded oral histories of seniors to capture Murray’s story. With the vast collection of history she acquired, she supervised eight history publications and created a mobile app for touring historic downtown. “The coolest thing about this is that it allowed me to use my talents to create and think of fun things to do for people to enjoy,” she said. Continued on Page 5...
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