The Utah Division of Arts and Museums is dishing out $195,000 to museums across Utah, including Hill Aerospace Museum, Clark Planetarium and Thanksgiving Point.
More than 40 museums will receive a different dollar amount, but the vast majority of handouts are for $3,000 to $6,000.
Arts and Museums director Lynnette Hiskey said the grant amounts are comparable to those in the past few years.
“We have dropped as a result of the recession and those kind of things from years past," Hiskey said. "We’re hoping that we’ll gradually get some of that funding back, but I think it’s going to take some time to do that."
Hiskey said the arts are important to Utah culture on several levels, including a better quality of life and personal enjoyment.
“The arts are the creative culture, or the creative industry I should say, creates a lot of jobs within the state of Utah. They attract visitors to Utah, we had about 7 million people who visited museums in Utah in 2012,” she said.
In the past, the grants have not been specified for any purpose, but have gone toward helping with software updates, operating expenses and even sometimes building repair.
Tavin Stucki is a senior in Utah State University's journalism program, and works as a news reporting intern at UPR. He lives for sports, and is the current editor in chief at The Utah Statesman.