(uplifting music) - The Utah Museum of Contemporary Arts biggest opening night is January 16th with six new exhibitions, including "Altered States" and "Love & Squalor."

Kaitlin Mills, development strategist is here to tell us more.

Hi, Caitlin.

- Hi.

Thank you for having me.

- Yeah, it's so nice to have you back.

UMOCA is a fantastic museum we have here in Salt Lake City.

And can you tell us, like, what makes this museum different?

What is its purpose?

- We are the largest contemporary art museum in Salt Lake, and we offer exhibits.

We are technically a free museum.

We, there is a $10 suggested donation at the door, but people can come in, it's incredibly accessible, and come in and see truly life changing work.

I know when I first started there, there were a couple of pieces that we had that are just the most beautiful pieces that really impacted me personally.

And I think everybody who walks through our doors has an experience like that.

- That's amazing.

And you have all these new exhibitions coming up.

Why is this content, why does it matter right now?

- I think it matters because it is bringing all sorts of different communities together.

That's the thing that I love about UMOCA the most, is that it is accessible to a lot of different people, and no matter where you come from, no matter what your background is, you're going to find something that you love in these exhibits.

And I think it will speak to the time that we are in now as well.

- So what does the audience need to know before they walk into your museum, really quickly?

- I think you need to know that it's, they need to know that it's a very welcoming space.

I think a lot of people can sometimes feel intimidated by contemporary art, myself included, but we have a very warm and welcoming environment once you get through the doors.

And so I would just encourage people to come and check that out for themselves.

- That's wonderful.

Well, thank you so much for being here.

If you would like to learn more about UMOCA and the exhibitions they have coming up, "Altered States" opens January 16th from 6:00 to 9:00 PM.

That's their grand opening at UMOCA in the main gallery.

Visit Utahmoca.org.

That's Utahmoca.org.

I'm Laura Durham.

Thank you for watching "Contact."

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