Spy Hop
At the end of the day, we are here for young people. To see them. To believe in them. And to give them a space where their voices are not just heard but celebrated.” That is how Larissa Trout, Executive Director of Spy Hop, summed up the heart of an organization that has been quietly and powerfully transforming the lives of Utah’s youth for over twenty-five years. “I don’t know if I’ve ever worked anywhere else that centers young people as intentionally and as fully as this place does.”
Originally from rural Appalachia - Athens, Ohio - Larissa was the second person in her family to attend college. “My dad was the first. I was hell-bent on leaving,” she said. “I was serious about dance, and the University of Utah had one of the best and most affordable programs in the country.” She arrived in Salt Lake in 1998 and graduated in 2002 with a degree in modern dance.
After college, feeling frustrated and uncertain about her voice in Salt Lake City’s culture at the time, she left on a whim for Lake Tahoe. “I didn’t know what I was doing, I just knew I needed something else,” she said. She ended up staying for three years, becoming part of a grassroots community drum and dance group that performed everywhere from farmers markets to festivals. “It was scrappy, spontaneous, and joyful. I was still dancing, just in a very different way. And I loved it.”
Eventually, Larissa returned to Ohio to take over the nonprofit dance studio where she had trained as a child. “It was called Factory Street Studio, and I had no idea what I was doing, but I figured it out,” she laughed. “That was my introduction to the nonprofit world and to my surprise, I loved it. It was my first experience running something and seeing what the arts could do in a community.”
Still, Larissa missed the West. In 2007, she moved back to Salt Lake City, this time with a clearer sense of what she wanted: community, art, and sustainability. “There was suddenly a lot more dance happening here. I was teaching everywhere I could - McGillis School, community centers, freelancing, collaborating, waiting tables, nannying - anything to get by.” But by the time she turned twenty-nine, the grind had worn her down. “I was living paycheck to paycheck, without health insurance. The Top Ramen and PBR lifestyle just wasn’t cutting it anymore.”
It was while Larissa was teaching at McGillis that a conversation with the head of school changed everything. He pointed her to the Utah Nonprofits Association website, where she saw a job posting for a development coordinator at Spy Hop - a name she remembered from her college years, though she had not known exactly what it was. She applied, was hired in 2008, and quickly rose to development director. “I had written grants for dance projects before. I didn’t even realize it could be a full-time job.”
Larissa stayed until 2014, married, had a child, and realized she could no longer sustain the demands of development work. After a few years in other roles including Rowland Hall, Kimball Art Center, and the University of Utah, she got a call from her former Spy Hop colleague Kassandra Ver Bruggen, then executive director. They were looking for a marketing person. Larissa did not hesitate. “I just asked, ‘Can that be me?’” And it was.
In 2018, Larissa returned as Director of Marketing and Community Engagement. She became Associate Director during COVID, and in early 2025, stepped into the role of Executive Director, when Kassandra moved on. “It feels like home,” she said. “I’ve been part of this family for a long time.”
Spy Hop itself began in 1999 when Rick Ray and Eric Dodd were working at Higher Ground Learning and experimenting with alternative teaching methods. With access to a camera and a group of twelve students, they created a documentary about the turn of the century. The students stayed engaged for an entire year - an uncommon feat for teenagers. “That’s when they knew they were on to something,” Larissa said. Spy Hop became a nonprofit, dedicated to empowering young people through the media arts.
The name “Spy Hop” is a metaphor borrowed from the natural world. “Spy hopping is what whales and dolphins do,” Larissa explained. “They rise up, spin in place, take stock of their surroundings, and make decisions about where to go next with their pod. That’s what we want to help kids do—tune in, reflect, and figure out how to take hold of the world.”
Over the years, Spy Hop expanded from film to include music, audio production, radio, game design, and more. “We were pioneers,” Larissa said. “There were similar programs in larger cities like New York and Chicago, but nothing like this in Salt Lake. We were early, and we’re still leading.”
In 2015, Spy Hop realized it was time to put down permanent roots. “If we didn’t put a stake in the ground, we’d get priced out,” Larissa said. A decade-long capital campaign raised $10 million to build their permanent home. Completed in 2020, the Kahlert Center includes classroom spaces, an art lab, a student lounge, editing bays, sound stages, a recording studio, and a snack shack. “It’s designed entirely with students in mind, and it shows.”
The Spy Hop Rooftop, housed in the same building but with a separate entrance, is an event space available for rent. “Weddings, rehearsals, gallery shows, corporate events - it brings in revenue and opens our doors to the wider community.”
Today, Spy Hop offers a wide range of free programming to youth ages twelve to nineteen through its year-round classes at the Kahlert Youth Media Arts Center, a modern, beautifully curated, 20,000-square-foot facility downtown. “It’s the only program of its kind in Utah and one of the few in the country offering this much, at this quality, at no cost to students.”
Courses are scaffolded: entry-level drop-ins, six-week foundational classes, paid apprenticeships, and intensive, year-long capstone programs. “They can start by learning how to make a beat or use a camera - and go all the way to releasing an album, producing a radio show, or premiering a film,” she said.
Capstone students create full productions in film, hip-hop, indie rock, game design, and radio. Their show, Loud and Clear Youth Radio, airs every Saturday night from 9–10 p.m. on KRCL 90.9 FM. “It’s their voice, their show. And it’s one of the most powerful platforms we offer.”
Not every young person can travel to Spy Hop’s building, so the organization brings the programs to them. “We travel the state,” Larissa said. “We go into schools, rural communities, Indigenous communities- everywhere.” A team of dedicated educators teaches week-long boot camps and one-day workshops, often in spaces they have never seen before. “We’re unloading gear into a gym, a library, wherever we’re invited. And by the end of the week, the kids have made a short film.”
Their in-school outreach also includes assemblies and intensives through Utah’s P.O.P.S. program (Professional Outreach Programs in Schools), bringing Spy Hop to classrooms statewide, reaching every district over a five-year cycle.
Younger kids are welcomed through summer camps for ages eight to twelve - the only programs Spy Hop charges for. “They’re four-hour sessions, hands-on, and packed with learning. It’s the one exception, because full-day care is expensive to run, but even here, we keep it as accessible as possible.”
Another deeply impactful initiative is Sending Messages, a podcasting program for incarcerated youth. “We work inside secure care facilities, teaching storytelling through audio,” Larissa explained. “The stories aren’t always uplifting, but they’re honest. And they matter.” The show is available on all major podcast platforms.
Spy Hop continues to adapt and evolve. “We’re always evaluating - what’s working, what’s not, what do kids need now? Our teaching staff is in constant conversation about how to better support our students. Mentorship is a huge protective factor in a young person’s life, and we train our artists to meet that responsibility with care.”
“Not every kid who comes through Spy Hop will become a filmmaker or sound engineer,” she added. “Some will go on to do completely different things. But they’ll carry what they learned here - the confidence, the collaboration, the belief that their voice matters.” Spy Hop is more than an arts school. It is a third space. “For many kids, this is their second home. This is where they find their voice, their friends, and their confidence,” Larissa said. “This is why we exist.”
And some do come back. “We have former students now on staff. They say, ‘I thought I came here to learn how to make a movie. But I learned so much more.’ It takes time and reflection to realize the impact. But when they do, it’s beautiful.”
