On May 14, 2026, the Salt Lake Art Museum (SLAM) hosted a launch event for X5, a new convergence platform, inside the historic B'nai Israel Temple in Salt Lake City. The event featured an interactive moment where attendees drew on the museum's bare walls before they are painted over. The following day, the Salt Lake Art Show opened at the Mountain America Expo Center in Sandy, serving as X5's first public activation. X5 Vice Chair Joe Ross outlined the platform's three clusters—industry/STEM, culture, and capital/workforce—positioning it as a successor to Sundance's economic impact in Utah.
This matters because X5 aims to fill the economic and cultural void left by Sundance's departure from Utah, which had generated over $130 million annually. By creating a multi-sector platform connecting creators, technologists, entrepreneurs, and capital, X5 seeks to build a durable, larger-scale alternative that exceeds Sundance's legacy. The collaboration with SLAM, a new museum housed in a historic temple, underscores a broader effort to anchor Utah's creative future in both innovation and community heritage.