Editor's note: This story is part of an ongoing series for Arts Access examining the health and well-being of our North Texas arts economy.
Standing before the Dallas City Council, Chris Heinbaugh waved blue-and-red labeled Band-Aids in the air.
“What is proposed? Another Band-Aid,” Heinbaugh said at a May meeting, wearing a large button pinned to his suit with “ARTS” written across a red heart.
Heinbaugh, with the AT&T Performing Arts Center, used Band-Aids as a visual representation of the city’s funding of cultural institutions.
Arts leaders say the city is treating the needs of cultural institutions like paper cuts, when the issues they’re facing are more like bleeding, gaping wounds.
That bleeding is the rat-bitten carpet in the Winspear Opera House. The rooftop HVAC units that need to be replaced at the South Dallas Cultural Center. The electrical upgrades needed at The Latino Cultural Center. The new roof needed at theBath House Cultural Center.
Most of the cultural organizations aren’t asking for glamorous concert halls or state-of-the-art facilities. They need funding for basic upkeep.
“So you probably know the saying Dallas is really good at building things, but not very good at taking care of them,” Heinbaugh said. “And that is a paradigm we believe has to change.”
The original proposal allocates $15 million of the upcoming bond package to cultural facilities. However, Heinbaugh and other leaders at city-funded arts institutions are advocating for at least 6% of the total $1 billion bond package, or about $60 million.
In Heinbaugh’s mind, that’s fair given the documented needs for cultural facilities, which is projected to reach $133.2 million in 2024, according to the city’s needs inventory.
Six cultural centers are fully funded and managed by the city. While Benjamin Espino, assistant director of the city of Dallas Office of Arts and Culture, said those groups have an annual maintenance budget, repairs needed far exceed that budget. Espino said most of those repairs will not get done without bond funding.
“The cultural centers were built specifically to reach a certain demographic that otherwise may not have access to art,” Espino said.
But it’s not just the city-managed cultural centers that need help. The city owns other facilities such as the Sammons Center for the Arts and AT&T Performing Arts Center’s Winspear Opera House and Wyly Theatre.
Both the Sammons Center and ATTPAC are partner-managed institutions that receive some of their funding from the city. Leaders at both organizations say it’s the city’s responsibility to maintain the buildings they own.
The Sammons Center, which is used by over 100 small and medium-size arts organizations, needs to replace almost all of its windows. That work, in addition to other maintenance like masonry repairs, is expected to cost about $2.6 million.
Joanna St. Angelo, executive director of the Sammons Center, has been one of the arts leaders spearheading bond funding advocacy efforts with Heinbaugh. Most of the century-old building’s brick facade hasn’t been updated since it was built in 1909 and also needs to be replaced.
“A lot of it is pollution because we're landlocked between the tollway, Harry Hines and Oak Lawn,” St. Angelo said. “A lot of it is age. A lot of it was just the neglect that actually occurred before we took the building over because the city had just let it sit there.”
Why are these partially-funded organizations lobbying for city money instead of relying on philanthropic support? Getting that money from donors for maintenance isn’t so easy, they said.
Katie Robbins is the president and CEO of the Hoblitzelle Foundation, a charitable organization that has provided $25 million in grants to arts and culture organizations in North Texas and across the state. [KERA has received funding from the foundation.] She thinks philanthropic organizations across North Texas would be more willing to make investments in arts organizations once they see the city addressing some of the deferred maintenance issues.
“We wouldn't feel comfortable stepping in and doing something that we feel like the city really should be doing,” Robbins said.
Jennifer Nicewander, interim director of the Office of Bond and Construction Management, agrees that city-owned buildings are the responsibility of the city of Dallas to maintain, and said the city is trying to address ongoing issues.
“I think we've been working closely with Benjamin [Espino] and his office to identify the priorities for the various cultural facilities that we do partner with to make sure that those priorities are in front of the council and that we address them.”
Robbins said arts organizations need the city’s support now more than ever because many are still struggling with issues brought on by the pandemic.
“It's hard for an arts group to balance their budget when attendance is at 70% of what it used to be with these expensive maintenance items. So really, if the city owns the facilities, it's their responsibility to provide the upkeep.”
Robbins said when budgets are tight, it’s easier to delay maintenance work than to cut staff or benefits. But she said the city has continued to defer maintenance costs in the last decade and those needs have piled up.
“We're at that point now where it's caught up with us,” she said.
‘A Return on Investment’
Heinbaugh said the arts have provided a huge economic boon to the city.
“You have to keep those investments up or they're not going to continue to give you the remarkable return on investment that you get from your cultural facilities,” he said.
That “remarkable return on investment” includes about $891.2 million in total economic activity from arts and culture organizations in Dallas and roughly $259.7 million in event-related spending from audiences, according to the latest Americans for the Arts survey data from 2015. The arts in Dallas also support over 33,554 full-time jobs.
Heinbaugh points out that cultural facilities immediately generate revenue and value with tax revenue, ticket sales and a boost in property value.
He said continuing to defer maintenance on the city’s cultural facilities will jeopardize existing investments into the arts.
“If your lights are falling down from the light rack, no artists are going to go in there to work. If the roof is leaking on an audience, audiences aren't going to go in there. If you're risking your art collection because the city can't keep that up, you're not going to get any major collections that want to come here,” he said.
It seems the outcry of local arts leaders have caught some Council members’ attention. A June 21 City Council briefing on the bond package shows that on average, Council members are suggesting an allocation of $48 million to cultural facilities, and that there’s a possible scenario of cultural facilities receiving $50 million. However, these numbers are subject to change until the City Council approves allocations in January or February next year.
St. Angelo would like to see numbers closer to $60 million. She said the center has already invested over $5 million in privately raised funds for building maintenance. But she said the higher possible scenario is promising.
“I think they're also sensitive to the fact that these are very public-facing facilities that play a really vital role in the economic well-being of the city,” she said.
Like with any bond package, there’s more need than money to go around. But St. Angelo and Heinbaugh are adamant that funding for streets, parks, housing, transportation and other needs can be met along with arts and culture.
“Why does it have to be either-or? You should be able to do both, right? All of those things are worthy, but so is this,” Heinbaugh said.
Arts Access is an arts journalism collaboration powered by The Dallas Morning News and KERA.
This community-funded journalism initiative is funded by the Better Together Fund, Carol & Don Glendenning, City of Dallas OAC, Communities Foundation of Texas, The Dallas Foundation, Eugene McDermott Foundation, James & Gayle Halperin Foundation, Jennifer & Peter Altabef and The Meadows Foundation. The News and KERA retain full editorial control of Arts Access’ journalism.
