Fort Worth painter Sarah Bales Losey remembers how special it felt when she had her artwork featured in an exhibition for the first time in March 2024.
She jumped on the opportunity to participate in “Together We Make Art Happen,” a showcase at the Fort Worth Community Arts Center that celebrated diverse disciplines in North Texas.
The show opened doors for her, Losey said. She was optimistic her bright-colored concentric circles would be exhibited within the space again — a dream that never came into fruition.
The Fort Worth Community Arts Center closed its doors to the public at the end of December as the city-owned building is in need of roughly $30 million in repairs. City officials explored options for redeveloping the arts center, but the future of the building remains uncertain.
In the months since its closure, Losey has noticed a lack of centralized space for emerging artists like herself to connect or grow.
“It has definitely felt like something is missing in Fort Worth,” she said.
Established Fort Worth creatives and art leaders are also alarmed about the gap, with some concerned young talent possibly turning to other Texas cities for opportunities.
“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,” Wesley Gentle, executive director of Arts Fort Worth, said. “But without that type of local entry point, without that type of incubator space, artists have to find it somewhere. And if they don’t find it here, they’ll go looking.”
What led to the community arts center closure?
Arts Fort Worth, the organization that oversees the city’s public art and grant programs, managed the 77,000-square-foot community arts center since 2002.
Unlike other major cities — including Dallas, Houston, San Antonio and Austin — Fort Worth does not have an office or department dedicated to arts and culture.
The Fort Worth Community Arts Center, originally known as the Fort Worth Art Center, opened in 1952 at 1300 Gendy St. as a space with nine galleries and two theaters for artists in what is now the city’s Cultural District.
In the two decades Arts Fort Worth oversaw the center, city leaders allocated $200,000 annually for management and repairs of the building. A 2022 assessment found that the structure needed $26 million in repairs — a number that quickly grew to $30 million due to inflation.
A city-appointed task force spent several months in 2023 exploring two proposals that would have redeveloped the arts center, but those plans were ultimately rejected.
By July 2024, Arts Fort Worth leaders determined that repairs were too significant and continuing operations was not financially sustainable. In late June, the organization — the last remaining tenant of the building — temporarily relocated to the first floor of the future home of the downtown library at 512 W. 4th St.
Marilyn Marvin, property management director with Fort Worth, said this summer that the redevelopment process for the community arts center was on hold while the city searched for a new economic development director. That process is ongoing.
“It is essential that both our city manager and the new director have the opportunity to fully assess the project and contribute to the next steps to ensure its long-term success,” Marvin said at that time.
Artists concerned about missing opportunities
Inside SiNaCa Studios, molten glass is manipulated daily at extremely high temperatures to shape it into abstract sculptures, homeware and jewelry. Pedestrians passing the Magnolia Avenue studio often browse its store collection and leave with new art pieces for their homes.
The nonprofit has been a staple in the Near Southside for years, but it didn’t start off that way.
SiNaCa Studios launched as a collective of glass artists in 2008 that attracted supporters through their first exhibitions at the Fort Worth Community Arts Center.
Clifton Crofford, executive director of SiNaCa, said had it not been for the city-owned center, his nonprofit would not have been able to raise the money needed to eventually lease and renovate its current space.
Now he’s worried young artists won’t have that same opportunity to launch their creative ideas.
“We had a path. We had the resources that allowed us to grow,” he said. “Without (the center) being there, there’s no path for a 20-year-old artist who has this brilliant idea or this thing they’re passionate about.”
Fort Worth artist Jay Wilkinson, who exhibited his early works at the arts center in the 2000s, said various Fort Worth galleries offer new opportunities, but those spaces don’t have the capacity to handle as many artists.
William Campbell Gallery and Artspace111 are a few that have opened up for local artists recently, Wilkinson said, but those spaces range between 3,000 and 6,000 square feet and are businesses that need to make a profit to survive. The community arts center provided space to freely experiment, he added.
“A space that doesn’t have a financial obligation to the success of your work is a testing ground for you to be able to figure out who you are as an artist and to be celebrated while you’re in the process,” Wilkinson said.
Crofford is concerned that the longer the city remains without a centralized arts hub, more art groups fear there aren’t local resources available. He hopes city officials soon put forth efforts to revitalize the building and support creatives.
The city of Fort Worth is developing its proposed 2026 bond program, which would allocate roughly $10.8M to future public art projects. Public artworks present opportunities for Fort Worth artists to create interactive installations in their communities.
Coming together to lend a hand
Gentle has seen the fear and concern grow among artists since the center’s closure. Still, he’s optimistic about the future of the arts in Fort Worth due to the ongoing community support and efforts by those smaller venues to fill the gap when possible.
Arts Fort Worth remains committed to serve as a resource for artists and art groups, he said.
“There’s a lot of people who are doing what they can to extend a hand to create some space and to make sure the ladder is still there,” Gentle said.
In recent months, Losey pivoted to find new opportunities throughout businesses and neighborhoods of the Near Southside. Several places have opened “surprising” doors, she added.
She’s hopeful the day will come when the community arts center will again open its doors.
“I truly believe the community arts center was, and could again be, a powerful launchpad for local artists,” Losey said. “I hope a space like it returns, but in the meantime, I am doing my best to grow roots and build momentum in the spaces I can access.”
David Moreno is the arts and culture reporter for the Fort Worth Report. Contact him at david.moreno@fortworthreport.org or @davidmreports.
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