Next city manager must steward Dallas’ arts resources

City manager candidates doing their homework should know Dallas’ identity is informed by the arts. Our Dallas Arts District is the nation’s largest, just voted Best Arts District by USA Today readers. The city owns 19 cultural facilities: iconic performance halls, museums, 100-year-old spaces and neighborhood cultural centers. Dallas’ nonprofit arts community is talented, diverse and fueling a dynamic creative economy that produces $853 million of annual economic impact, supports almost 14,000 jobs and generates $20.5 million in local tax revenue, according to a 2022 report from Americans for the Arts. It also attracts cultural tourism as well as corporate relocations and talent, and makes Dallas a great place to live.
This did not happen by accident. It’s the outcome of visionary leaders and sustained investment through city funding, philanthropy and patron support — a true public-private partnership. It’s a critical part of our city’s soul that demands ongoing support.
Yes, this means continued funding. This community is still recovering from the financial devastation of COVID-19 and the dramatic changes in audience behavior that it accelerated. It also means exploring bold and innovative ideas to help make the city’s support sustainable.
Here are four ways the city manager should work with the arts community.
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The city must rethink how it cares for its arts venues. Voters overwhelmingly passed a historic bond program this year, including $75.2 million in funding for major maintenance and repairs at city-owned venues. But jumping bond-to-bond to maintain these highly specialized venues is not sustainable. We must be smarter.
Every city-owned cultural facility should maintain a 10-year capitalization plan with timelines for fixing, updating and replacing everything from electrical panels to roofs. This fundamental element of building maintenance should also factor inflation, track warranties and ensure the city’s needs inventory is current. This must be coupled with disciplined annual budgeting to get the work done.
Get out of the business of maintaining and repairing major, specialized arts facilities. It’s not what the city does best. The Building Services Department is already overwhelmed. Pursuant to its own 2018 Cultural Plan, the city should find qualified partner organizations who can maintain, repair and operate these venues.
Dallas already has great stewardship partners: The Dallas Zoo, Dallas Arboretum, Parks for Downtown Dallas, AT&T Performing Arts Center, Sammons Center for the Arts and the Dallas Symphony. Each has a unique arrangement allowing them to care for the venues they use every day. These agreements include some city support which each group supplements through revenue generation and private fundraising. In these organizations’ capable hands, their facilities have thrived and continue to be sources of pride for Dallas.
The city owns the iconic Kalita Humphreys Theater, a historic space designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. But the venue continues to slide into disrepair. Let’s re-activate the city council’s 2019 approved steering committee, with guidance from the council and city manager, to engage stakeholders, right-size the site’s master plan, consider phasing, develop a funding strategy and create a timeline to get this done. This can’t wait.
Artists are being priced out of Dallas. The city should use economic development tools to inspire developers to provide affordable work, rehearsal, performance and exhibition space for artists. These might include tax breaks for developers, especially in challenged neighborhoods.
In the 2000s, developer Jack Matthews used the arts to help transform the Cedars neighborhood with his development of South Side on Lamar. Matthews ensured South Side included low-cost creative space, galleries and housing for artists. That created a Bohemian vibe that attracted new residents and businesses.
Not all developers are as visionary as Matthews, but some incentives may provide inspiration to leverage the arts to transform communities. Artists are intrepid and will go where others won’t. Their patrons follow.
Those are some ideas to consider, but nothing is more important than this: Showing up is half the battle.
We need our next city manager, whoever you are, to be accessible, listening and engaged. Go to performances, see exhibitions, tour arts spaces. When the arts thrive, Dallas thrives. Show your creative partners and our city you care. You’ll not only feel pride, but you’ll quickly recognize the great value of what you’ve been handed. Make the most of it.
Chris Luna, a former Dallas City Council member, is board president of the Dallas Theater Center and board vice chair of The Dallas Foundation.
Part of our opinion series Leading Dallas, this essay describes opportunities for the next city manager to support the arts in Dallas.
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