In 2013, Salt Lake Community College rolled out the red carpet for its new state-of-the-industry Center for Arts and Media, serving about 9,000 students with 17 programs under one roof as part of the School of Arts and Communication. Located at the school's South City Campus in Salt Lake City, the Center's emphasis is a strong focus in digital arts. Instructors are training students for jobs in animation, illustration, photography, film, TV, video and radio production, web design, visual art and design, virtual technologies, music and digital sound technology, computer graphics, gaming and electronic publishing. "I believe it can change the landscape of how we in higher education nurture our students toward either transferable degrees with our sister Utah System of Higher Education (USHE) institutions or the vibrant industry within the digital disciplines," said SLCC School of Arts, Communication and Media Dean Richard Scott. "A facility like this will enable us to provide world class, industry standard experiences for the state's digital student."
As the Sundance Film Festival became more and more popular, so did a need in the Salt Lake Valley for a large venue, the Grand Theatre was a perfect fit. It’s first year was in 2015. Salt Lake Community College and Sundance Institute have partnered to bring independent filmmaking to more theater goers as the festival grows in popularity. The Grand Theatre is currently the festival’s second largest venue (the largest in the Salt Lake Valley), with a seating capacity of more than 1,100. Movies are shown at the Grand on Friday, Saturday and Sunday for two weekends during the festival, with plenty of free parking on site at South City Campus. The theatre hosts movies that make their world premieres in the Grand, with introductions and riveting Q&A sessions that bring movie stars, directors and celebrities to the stage. Previous years have brought filmmakers and stars like former Vice President Al Gore, Viggo Mortensen, and Daniel Radcliffe to the Grand Theatre stage. The atmosphere for each premiere, as you can imagine, is exciting and electric.
Students and instructor set up electrical equipment as a preliminary set to doing a video shoot. Cinema studio located at Salt Lake Community College South City Campus.
