Fort Worth Mayor Mattie Parker promises to protect arts in redeveloped city art center

Fort Worth’s creative community came out in force Tuesday to the urge the city council to protect the community arts center in a potential redevelopment of its building.

The council voted to accept a city task force’s recommendation to redevelop 1300 Gendy St. The redevelopment option was picked over an option to pay an estimated $30 million to bring it up to current standards.

While the task force recommendation did not require the redeveloped building include a community arts center, theater and gallery space, Mayor Mattie Parker told the audience she would not approve a request for proposals if it did not include those elements.

Speakers impressed upon the council the importance of supporting spaces for community art.

Carol Acedo, a small business owner and Fort Worth-based painter, recounted how her first exhibit at the Fort Worth Community Art Center led to her first gallery show a year later at the Fort Worth Stock Show and Rodeo.

Rosemont resident Cristina Plascencia Huezo, talking about viewing a friend’s gallery show at the arts center, said she never realized those experiences were available to everyday people.

She argued the city should protect the center so it stays a place accessible to people from all economic backgrounds.

“Remember, we are not Dallas. Please do not widen the gap between the haves and have-nots,” she said.

The redeveloped building should become a, “world-class cultural hub,” that either builds on the current campus or incorporates architectural features into a new design, according to the task force report.

The 16-member panel also recommended creating a space for the 14 nonprofits and studio artists that currently occupy the building.

The building’s current offerings should be a significant portion of any world class cultural hub, said task force member and former Fort Worth city councilmember Ann Zadeh in a text message Monday.

The task force opted to use vague language on what should and shouldn’t be included in a redeveloped building so as to not stymie the creativity of potential developers, she said.

Council member Macy Hill echoed Zadeh’s sentiment saying developers are also artists, and shouldn’t have their creativity dictated by the city.

A responsible developer will work with the community, Hill said.

Accepting the task force report and putting out a request for proposals is just a starting point, said assistant city manager Fernando Costa.

He noted that while the redevelopment option asks for new ideas, the task force report puts a strong preference for having an arts incubator, gallery space and theaters.

The city built what’s now the Community Arts Center in 1954 to serve as a children’s and art museum. Architect Herbert Bayer designed the building.

The nearly 70-year-old building located near the intersection of Camp Bowie Boulevard and West Lancaster Avenue pre-dates the nearby Amon Carter and Kimbell Museums, which opened in 1961 and 1972 respectively.

It’s one of two city owned, two publicly funded arts facilities in Fort Worth. Dallas, by comparison, has seven, with an additional 12 city-owned buildings managed through public-private partnerships.

The redevelopment option could also open up the possibility of using hotel taxes to support the building’s construction and ongoing maintenance.

Hotel taxes are earmarked to support tourism, which has kept Fort Worth from using them to support the arts in the past.

However, a redeveloped building could attract national and international visitors, which would make using those funds more legally defensible.

The city will put out a request for proposals to get developers on board to help with the project. Exactly what will be in that request is unknown, but the city will hold a public forum in October to engage with the community on the finalists for the project.