by Sarah Bales Losey, a painter from Fort Worth, recalls the moment her work was first seen at an exhibition in March 2024.
She seized the chance to take part in the Fort Worth Community Arts Center’s presentation, Together We Make Art Happen, which honored a variety of disciplines in North Texas.
According to Losey, the show helped her get a job. She hoped that her vivid concentric rings would be displayed in the room once more, but her desire was never realized.
The city-owned Fort Worth Community Arts Center needs about $30 million in repairs, so it closed to the public at the end of December. Although city officials looked at ways to renovate the arts center, the structure’s future is still up in the air.
Losey has observed a dearth of a concentrated area for up-and-coming artists like herself to interact or develop in the months following its demise.
According to her, Fort Worth has undoubtedly felt lacking something.
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The disparity has also unsettled long-standing Fort Worth artists and art leaders, with some worried new talent potentially looking for work in neighboring Texas cities.
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According to Wesley Gentle, executive director of Arts Fort Worth, “we’re fortunate to be in a really super dynamic metroplex here where artists can live in Fort Worth and have opportunities in Dallas and vice versa.” However, in the absence of such a local entrance point or incubator space, artists must find another place to work. And they’ll go looking if they can’t find it here.
What led to the community arts center closure?
Since 2002, the 77,000-square-foot community arts complex has been run by Arts Fort Worth, the city’s grant and public art agency.
Fort Worth lacks an arts and culture department or office, in contrast to other big cities like Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, and Austin.
Originally called the Fort Worth Art Center, the Fort Worth Community Arts Center opened in 1952 at 1300 Gendy St. as a venue for artists, with two theaters and nine galleries in what is now the city’s Cultural District.
During the two decades that Arts Fort Worth managed the facility, municipal officials set aside $200,000 a year for building maintenance and repairs. The structure required $26 million in repairs, according to a 2022 assessment; this amount rapidly increased to $30 million as a result of inflation.
Two plans to renovate the arts center were investigated for several months in 2023 by a task team created by the city, but they were eventually turned down.
Leaders of Arts Fort Worth concluded in July 2024 that maintaining operations was not financially viable and that repairs were too extensive. The organization, which was the building’s last occupant, temporarily moved to the first floor of the proposed downtown library facility at 512 W. 4th St. in late June.
This summer, Marilyn Marvin, Fort Worth’s property management director, announced that the community arts center’s redevelopment was put on pause while the city looked for a new director of economic development. It’s a continuous process.
At the time, Marvin stated that in order to guarantee the project’s long-term success, it is crucial that both our city manager and the incoming director have the chance to thoroughly evaluate it and participate in the following stages.
Artists concerned about missing opportunities
Every day at SiNaCa Studios, molten glass is worked at extraordinarily high temperatures to create jewelry, home goods, and abstract sculptures. When passing the Magnolia Avenue studio, passersby frequently peruse the store’s inventory and take home fresh artwork.
Although it didn’t begin that way, the organization has long been a mainstay in the Near Southside.
SiNaCa Studios began as a group of glass artists in 2008, and their initial shows at the Fort Worth Community Arts Center helped them get followers.
According to Clifton Crofford, executive director of SiNaCa, his group would not have been able to acquire the funds necessary to eventually lease and remodel its current space if it weren’t for the city-owned center.
He is now concerned that upcoming artists won’t have the same chance to introduce their innovative concepts.
We had a route. He said that we have the resources necessary to expand. For a 20-year-old artist with a great concept or a passion, there would be no way forward without (the center).
Many Fort Worth galleries provide new options, but those venues can’t accommodate as many artists, according to Jay Wilkinson, a Fort Worth artist who displayed his early works at the arts center in the 2000s.
“A few that have recently opened for local artists are William Campbell Gallery and Artspace111,” Wilkinson said, “but those spaces are between 3,000 and 6,000 square feet and are businesses that need to make a profit to survive.” He said that there was room to experiment freely at the community arts center.
According to Wilkinson, a place that doesn’t have a monetary stake in the success of your work serves as a testing ground for you to discover your identity as an artist and to be recognized while you’re doing it.
Crofford is worried that more art groups will worry that there aren’t any local resources available the longer the city is without a centralized arts hub. He expects that city officials will soon work to encourage artists and revitalize the building.
The proposed 2026 million bond package, which would provide around $10.8 million for future public art projects, is being developed by the city of Fort Worth. Fort Worth artists have the chance to produce interactive installations in their communities through public artworks.
Coming together to lend a hand
Since the center’s closing, Gentle has witnessed an increase in artists’ anxiety and worry. Nevertheless, he remains hopeful about Fort Worth’s artistic future because of the community’s continued support and the smaller venues’ attempts to bridge the gap when they can.
According to him, Arts Fort Worth is still dedicated to being a resource for artists and art organizations.
Many individuals are making every effort to provide a helping hand in order to clear some space and ensure that the ladder remains in place, Gentle stated.
Losey changed course in recent months to look for fresh prospects in the Near Southside’s businesses and neighborhoods. She said that unexpected doors had opened in a number of locations.
She’s looking forward to the day when the community arts center reopens.
According to Losey, the community arts center was and still could be a potent platform for up-and-coming artists. I’m working hard to establish myself and get momentum in the locations I can access in the interim, but I hope a place like it will reappear.
The Fort Worth Report’s arts and culture reporter is David Moreno. Reach him at @davidmreports or [email protected].
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