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Council Approves Clark Planetarium Dynamic-pricing Pilot to Test Ticket Demand
Summary
Salt Lake County Council approved a pilot allowing the Clark Planetarium to test different price points, including higher and lower fares and IMAX pricing, to measure demand elasticity and increase earned revenue while keeping public access goals in mind.
Robin Shelley, community services director, and Duke Johnson, director of Clark Planetarium, asked the council for permission to run a short pilot of variable pricing for planetarium and IMAX tickets ahead of the 2027 budget cycle. Johnson said the goal is to "be really fiscally responsible" while balancing access, and that roughly 45–48% of the planetarium's funding comes from county support.
Shelley and Johnson described a testing window of roughly a month to adjust ticket prices, including experimenting with kid and adult price ranges around $6–$12 for regular theaters and higher amounts for IMAX, which they said had market comparable prices in the $14–$16 range. Council members discussed legal limits for fee ranges and the operational goal of converting increased attendance into earned revenue; one councilor recommended using fee ranges to avoid setting thousands of discrete fees.
Council Member Johnson moved to approve the pilot and Council Member Harrison seconded; the motion carried on a voice vote. Planetarium staff said they will track measurable outcomes—time savings, turnaround, adoption rates and usage—to evaluate whether the pricing approach should be adopted in the 2027 budget.
