Projects
Great Salt Lake Is Not a Luxury
A Fashion Advocacy Project for the Future of Utah
This is a high-fashion advocacy initiative that mobilizes creativity, culture, and conscience to protect the Great Salt Lake, bringing together students, designers, civic leadership, and the arts to frame the lake as an existential priority.
Why the Great Salt Lake Matters
The Great Salt Lake is currently facing a dual ecological and cultural crisis. As the lake collapses, its receding waters expose toxic dust that threatens regional public health. Its loss endangers millions of migratory birds, while the disappearance of our famous snowpack and key industries threatens Utah’s economic future. Despite being an existential priority, the lake remains curiously under-activated as a cultural movement.
Our Approach
Students as Designers of Change. We empower emerging talent from Utah State University and SLC Community College to lead the creative investigation, providing catalytic capital to turn ecological stats into high-fashion advocacy literacy.
The Fall Fashion Show. A high-visibility runway event presents student collections to designers and civic leaders, transforming traditional advocacy into a sophisticated, visceral experience that captures the cultural zeitgeist.
Art Exhibitions. Curated mobile and fixed installations bring the lake's receding textures into the city’s center, making the ecological crisis tangible and reflective through the lens of aesthetic discovery.
Abby Cox as Cultural Champion. Partnering with Utah’s First Lady allows us to bridge civic leadership with artistic conscience, framing the survival of the Great Salt Lake as a unifying existential priority for the state.
The Magazine. A limited-edition editorial publication documenting the project’s creative journey, merging environmental science with high-fashion photography to capture the tension between elegance and emergency.
The Documentary Film. A cinematic exploration of the mobilization effort, following the students and artists as they confront environmental collapse to create a new, visible legacy for Utah’s natural future.
Impact & Outcomes
The Great Salt Lake Is Not a Luxury initiative represents a pivotal shift in environmental advocacy, transforming ecological data into a resonant cultural narrative. Through experiential education, students become architects of change, developing the advocacy literacy necessary to protect Utah's most vital resource. We believe that art possesses the unique power to bridge the gap between awareness and action, directly influencing policy and philanthropy through aesthetic excellence. By framing the lake as an existential priority, the project mobilizes public will and ensures that conservation becomes a shared cultural legacy for the future of our state.
Join Us
We invite you to join us as a donor or partner in this high-fashion advocacy initiative. Your contributions help fund student production, curated art exhibitions, the fall runway show, our project magazine, and the documentary film. By supporting Future Folklore, you mobilize creativity, culture, and conscience to protect the Great Salt Lake and frame it as an existential priority for Utah's future.