Tayer: Sundancing: Collaboration is our secret sauce 

You’d have to be living under a rock (or a boulder, in the relevant local lexicon) not to have already heard the latest milestone economic and cultural news: Boulder has been selected as the new host city for the Sundance Film Festival. 

To be clear, with last week’s announcement, the Sundance Institute committed to move their festival from Park City, Utah, to Boulder in 2027 for an initial contract period of ten years. Of course, once the Sundance Institute leadership experiences Boulder’s hospitality and the opportunities that our state offers to further expand the festival’s reach, I imagine we will earn more permanent placement in our community. 

Regardless, I’m still on a high from last Thursday’s event (“Sundancing,” if you will). Wearing my Boulder Chamber hat, it’s not surprising that I focus on the economic benefits this selection of Boulder to host the Sundance Film Festival will offer our community. Almost as important is the story of yet another successful collaborative effort it took to secure this victory for our economic vitality. It’s our secret sauce.

First, what are those economic benefits? 

As one commentator offered, it’s like having the NFL select your community to host the Super Bowl for the next ten years. By the numbers, the most recent economic impact report for the 2024 Sundance Film Festival found that it generated $132 million in economic activity. This included $13.8 million in tax revenue, $69.7 million in wages, and 1,730 jobs. 

That type of impact isn’t surprising when you consider that the festival attracted 72,840 unique in-person attendees during its 2024 run, with approximately 24,200 individuals coming from out of state. And those out-of-state visitors spend. In total, when considering hotel nights, restaurant meals, and shopping, let alone other tourist activity, visitors accounted for the lion’s share of the film festival’s economic impact at an estimated $106.4 million.

And all this economic activity will occur during the month of January, typically the slowest period of the year for tourism along the Front Range.

Beyond visitor traffic, it takes significant investment to simply produce the Sundance Film Festival. That includes everything from rental equipment to construction activity which transforms retail stores and other facilities into temporary accommodations for festival activities. Finally, there is the chance to expose thousands of film producers, directors, screenplay writers and other artists in the film industry to Colorado. You can be sure it will convince them that our beautiful state is the perfect landscape for the next cinematic story they seek to tell, drawing further economic benefits to Colorado.

With this type of prize on the table, it’s no wonder that hundreds of cities and towns across the country made their pitch to host the Sundance Film Festival. Each of them brought their own unique cultural characteristics to the table, along with testaments to their capacity to handle such a large annual event. But, as Sundance Institute board chair Ebs Burnough said, “There was something about Boulder.” And just as Ebs noted that they intend the film festival’s spirit to carry across the entire state, it can also be said that there’s something about Colorado.

From the very first whisper of a potential that the Sundance Film Festival might consider relocating from Park City, the collaborative instincts of Colorado went to work.

Immediately, we had leadership from the Gov. Jared Polis’ office, the Colorado Film Commission and the Office of Economic Development and International Trade teaming with us to promote Boulder as a potential new host city. That same collaborative spirit extended to the local level, with the City of Boulder, the University of Colorado and Downtown Boulder all bringing their creativity and resources to the table for our bid. Our planning group would later expand to include other regional and statewide partners, offering logistical and financial support.

And I extend a special acknowledgement to our teammates at Visit Boulder. Sometimes you just know when to step aside and let others lead. And lead they did. Their unique flair for telling Boulder’s story and elevating the visitor experience would make any resident proud. We are all indebted to their great efforts!

Most importantly, we did it together, as a team and with a united front. There were innumerous hurdles to overcome and high bars that the Sundance Institute team set for our bid. Through it all, with focused attention on the challenges in front of us, our state, regional and local planning team would lock arms and press forward toward the best solution for the Sundance Institute and Colorado. Yes, the mountain backdrop, our logistical capabilities, and our values alignment sure helped us secure the Sundance Film Festival, but we know why we’re really celebrating today.

Collaboration is the secret sauce that will keep us Sundancing in all our future economic vitality pursuits.

John Tayer is president and CEO of the Boulder Chamber of Commerce. He can be reached at 303-442-1044, ext 110 or john.tayer@boulderchamber.com.

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