FORT WORTH -- Arts patrons are pressing the City Council and staff -- scheduling meetings, sending letters and taking to social media -- looking for traction in their campaign to avert a proposed 25 percent cut in funding to the Arts Council of Fort Worth and Tarrant County.
Incoming: a letter from Tommy Tune, a Tony-winning choreographer from Texas."Mr. Broadway is writing a letter," Gracey Tune, Tune's sister and founder of Arts Fifth Avenue, the near-south-side performing arts organization that gets 14 to 15 percent of its annual budget from the arts council.Council members have two more budget hearings -- the next is at 7 p.m. Tuesday at City Hall -- on the proposed $1.4 billion budget, and arts supporters are organizing speakers."The council is listening," said arts council President Jody Ulich, whose pitches to council members highlight arts organizations and patrons in their districts. "They aren't making any decisions yet."The budget, which would keep the same property tax rate, would cut $266,564 from the arts council's general support, leaving $799,691. The arts council made grants to 43 organizations last year.Council members Sal Espino and Joel Burns have spoken in favor of reviewing the cut. Mayor Betsy Price has told council members that they must recommend spending cuts for any new items they propose, but no specific proposals have emerged."I think everybody is very sympathetic and very supportive," Price said. "But it goes back to we have a very limited pot of money. We have to get back to basics: police, fire, transportations, code."Price also stressed that the city has made significant investments in the arts. The city has provided more than $40 million since 2003, including $5.5 million to the arts council in general support, $9.5 million to other organizations and $20 million to public art, according to a staff report.The city has also paid $5.34 million to run and maintain its Fort Worth Community Arts Center, half in a contract to the arts council to operate the facility and the rest in major maintenance.The arts council gets the center rent-free and keeps revenue it makes from facility rentals."We have a lot of money in this," Price said.The arts council cuts will force grant recipients to scale back programs or look for money elsewhere, diminish the city's "Cowboys and Culture" profile, and reduce Fort Worth's quality of life and visitor draw, supporters say.At Arts Fifth Avenue, which received $23,500 of its $165,000 budget last year from the arts council, Gracey Tune said she'll boost grant applications and other fundraising.The proposed cut is "less than a half of a percent of the whole city budget, and yet the arts bring in $84 million" annually for the city, Tune said, citing a national study released in July by Americans for the Arts in Washington, D.C."I'm not going to cut an artist that brings people into this space when my revenue would be three to four times greater," said Tune, who has signed a petition, reached out to the 4,000 people on her e-mail list, and asked her students and board members to write letters.At 619 Productions, a 10-year-old southeast Fort Worth nonprofit that is renovating the old Grand Theater off Rosedale Street, founder Cinetrea Grace is using this year's $7,750 arts council grant for children's programs and the removal of an out-of-code loft.The group has received more than $36,000 from the arts council in the last four years.Grace said she has a meeting with Councilman Frank Moss next week and is working on scheduling a meeting with Councilwoman Kelly Allen Gray."We're just trying to make people aware we're bringing money to the city and we're helping Fort Worth," Grace said. "You're cutting from the hand that's feeding you. You've already cut the recreation centers. Now you're hitting the arts programs. What are you doing with the kids? That's going to cause more crime."Grace is trying to raise $50,000 to pay for two 24-ton air-conditioning units and a related electrical upgrade, which she said is the last big piece of the renovation. The theater, a popular movie spot for blacks during segregation, will show films in addition to hosting youth programs, Grace said.Symphony supportThe Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, one of the largest organizations funded by the arts council, and its musicians have been using their Facebook pages to rally support."Arts make better people, period," said the music director, Miguel Harth-Bedoya. "It makes better citizens. Better citizens make better cities."Harth-Bedoya spoke to the City Council in August, noting that he's had opportunities to leave Fort Worth but stayed because of the city's lifestyle and strong cultural scene."My kids go to Tanglewood Elementary School," Harth-Bedoya said in an interview. "We decided that this is where we want to be. If things are the way they are or better, this is where we want our kids to grow."Travis Baugh, CEO of Healthpoint, a Fort Worth pharmaceuticals company, has written letters to the mayor and City Council. He said his firm uses arts as a recruiting tool, and he cited research showing a strong link between the arts and growth in tax revenue."It's unfortunate," he said. "I know everybody's saying, 'Don't cut mine,' but the reality is there's a big payback on investments made in the arts."The arts council has suggested that it could be funded again by hotel taxes, which pay for improvements at the Will Rogers Memorial Center and the Fort Worth Convention Center."Is arts funding a core function of the city?" Espino said. "The arts council argument is fairly standard. It think it's a fairly powerful argument."Councilman Dennis Shingleton, whose district includes the Cultural District, noted the total amount of funding to the arts."The arts are important," Shingleton said. "I donate to the city. But we can't support the arts at the expense of major necessities of the city."Scott Nishimura,817-390-7808Have more to add? News tip? Tell us
