 Welcome to this episode of Fort Worth Forward. I'm coming to you from Sundance Square, one of our greatest assets here in Fort Worth, Texas. Today, my guests include Chief Ed Kraus, who'll talk to us about the next big idea, artist Ariel Davis in Armando Castellon and Russell Kirkpatrick from the Fort Worth Food and Wine Festival. Let's go. My first guest is Ed Kraus, who's Chief Security Officer for Sundance Square. You may remember him as Chief of Police for the city of Fort Worth, but now he's serving a security role here in Sundance Square, so welcome. Thank you, Michael. I appreciate you having me. You're welcome. I still want to call you Chief, though, so can I? I'm going to call you Chief throughout this. I've been called a lot worse, so you go ahead. Well, I'm excited that we're here in Sundance Square, a beautiful part, a beautiful asset of Fort Worth, to talk about this new thing that you have going on, the next big idea. Tell us a little bit about what that is and how that's going to bring some change here to Sundance Square. So, the next big idea is a call for entrepreneurs. So, we have vacant spaces here in the building on the ground floor throughout the 37 block campus, and we started this as a test phase a little over a year ago. We brought in some entrepreneurs and gave them a creative rent structure, so there wasn't a lot of risk up front. They were able to open the stores. We've added a couple more. We have a total of four operating now. We decided it's time to expand that initiative and get some more fresh blood down here, some more people who are passionate about their dream and give them an opportunity to succeed. That's great. So, what are some of the businesses that are operating now under this structure? So, we have Romy Venegas opened Urban Plantology on Main Street, and it's a plant shop, and that started as she had a cart out at the Clear Fork Farmers Market when the owner went out there and met her, and through their discussions, they decided to give her this opportunity with the brick and mortar store in the heart of downtown, and she took up that opportunity, and she's done a fantastic business. After that, we had Cario Keefe, who owns the jewelry store right behind you on the corner here at Fourth and Main Street, and then Colexio Mexicana, Miguel Martin and Ray Hernandez came in, and they opened that, and it's crafts from Mexico. That they bring in and sell. They bring in, they sell it. They're doing a booming business. I was in there a Saturday night, and they was just packed in there, and then we just opened another one, the record and clothing shop over here, Union Station, also on Main Street. Yeah, it sounds like a very eclectic group of artisans and entrepreneurs. What are the qualifications? What kind of people or businesses are you looking for to fill these other spaces that you have? So, we're not trying to put a square peg into a round hole. We're not saying it has to be this. What we're wanting is people who are passionate about their dream. What we found is with some of the other spaces that haven't succeeded over the past couple years, it's when they're trying to operate a business remotely. We want people that are coming in. They believe in this. This has been their dream for a while. They have a good business plan. Even if they don't have a lot of business sense or savvy, you know, they may not have an idea of how business accounting works. We have a whole staff that can help them out with stuff like that to make them successful, but we want somebody, people that come in here that are really passionate about what they believe in. That's great. And I think a lot of times with small businesses, there are pieces they don't understand and how, you know, maybe spreadsheets work and the bottom line. But I think y'all give a little bit of assistance there. But the leases and what does that look like for a business that wants to be a part of this? So, it's going to be different for everyone. It's going to be depending on what they bring to the table and what they need. So, you know, they have a great idea, but very small resources. We have such a big, diverse community within Sundance Square that we can help them out with just about any of the deficiencies that they have. Yeah, the parts of the admin part of setting up a business or being part of a business. So, where do people find you? How do they submit an application and what's that period look like? Okay. So, we're taking applications through April 18th and the website is bigidea.sundancesquare.com and you apply right there on the website. It tells you how you can submit your business plan, whatever format they like, you know, as we were talking about. So, they may not have an idea about a formal business plan. They want to do a video. That's fine too. Okay. We aren't looking for that polished business person. We're looking for somebody that really has a good idea, really wants to succeed and to date we've gotten 16 applications in less than two weeks. So, we're pretty excited about the opportunities. Yeah, sounds like you just want to bring some unique things to Sundance Square and the area of Fort Worth and maybe highlight some people from Fort Worth and Fort Worth businesses. Yeah, that's the goal. That's the goal. Great. Well, thanks for what you do. Really appreciate it and keep up the great work and just everything down here. I appreciate it, Michael. Thank you. Now, I'm here with Ariel Davis, who is co-owner, manager of Love Texas Art and Armando Castellan, who is an artist and mirror list. Welcome. Thank you. Thanks. I appreciate y'all being here. Yeah, we're excited too. So, you, we just talked about Love Texas Art. It's a new art gallery here. Yes. Tell me a little bit about that. So, Love Texas Art is the newest gallery in Fort Worth and I'm proud to say it's the sister gallery of Art Space 111. Yeah. So, I'm co-owner. Beautiful space. That's a beautiful place. Yeah. It's, yeah. Art Space has been here for 40 years and Marjorie Gossett, who's the owner of Art Space is my partner in Love Texas Art. So, we are kind of continuing to celebrate what Art Space 111 has been doing for a really long time, which is to show works by contemporary Texas artists and to create an accessible space for people to come visit. Oh, that's great. So, tell me a little bit about, you're a Fort Worth native. Yeah. Tell me a little bit about your background. So, I grew up in the near South side, actually, on Willing and I, you know, I studied art kind of from an early age and began to make work and then went off to UT and got a degree in studio art and then moved back to Fort Worth about 2010, which was, you know, kind of a horrible time. Horrible time. The city was changing and transitioning during that time. Yeah, for sure. And at that time, there were a lot of artists, there weren't a lot of art spaces to show in, and there were a lot of artists in the city. And so, I became part of a big group of artists that were doing a DIY kind of projects and shows and became part of the Fort Worth Art Collective. And, you know, we were cleaning out spaces to put on shows together and then met all of the people that, you know, started ArtTooth and all the while working in different galleries. And so, I've been, you know, doing that for about 12 years and started with Art Space in 2019. Okay. So, long history. Long history, a long history there, yeah. Well, short history, you've been a Fort Worth citizen for three weeks, I think. Three weeks tomorrow. Yeah, three weeks tomorrow. Well, congratulations. Welcome to Fort Worth. Thank you. Thank you so much. Where did you come from and why did you come to Fort Worth? So, I'm coming from Houston. Okay. I was here in November as part of the mural project that Ariel was organizing along with Sundance Square. And I painted a mural, fell in love with the city, met a lot of artists, a lot of cool people here, and the opportunity came up to be part of the artist residency program. And it's a great opportunity and I just couldn't pass it That's awesome. You have a mural you have painted. It's a few blocks from here. Tell us a little bit about that mural, the heart mural. Yes. So, that was, that's my first mural here and it took about two weeks to complete. I had my design here. I brought my design and then Ariel and Sundance Square loved it. And so, yeah, it was a great opportunity to to do a public piece and just to showcase what I do. That's great. For our audience that doesn't know, tell us exactly where it is, what building, what streets. You know, I'm not that familiar yet. So, I'll let Ariel. I'll do it. Ariel, you do it. Yes, yes. So, it's in the Cummins Building, which is located at 500 East 1st Street. Okay. It's actually on, it's actually on 2nd, but the address location is on 1st. Okay. So, okay. Well, you and I sort of talked about a little bit about you coming back, the art scene, what it looked like, merging, art scene that was happening. Give us some thoughts about that sort of creative class, because I think we're attracting people like Armando to Fort Worth because we're doing that. What are your thoughts on that? I think it's really incredible that artists like Armando are moving to Fort Worth, because for a really long time, there wasn't the kind of support there to keep our artists here. So, to be able to keep our artists here and then attract artists to Fort Worth is, I mean, that just tells you what kind of change is happening in the city to attract those kind of people, which by the way is, I mean, having artists in the city and having them come into different developments is a huge economic driver, by the way. Yes. So, you know, that, I think it's, I think it's something really great. And just your presence here is a testament to that. Yeah. Now that you're here, we want to keep you here. And what goals do you have of being here? You know, one of the main ones is just to, to deliver on what they, they expect from me, which is just quality artwork. You know, so, for the past four years, I've been painting murals full-time, but I think being here, I want to get back to painting on canvas. Okay. So, that's, that's also something that, that I plan to do is just painting more. And do you think you have a space here? I mean, not physical space, but the space to do that here? I think so. I think so. Yeah. And there's a lot of support from Sundance Square and just some of the artists that I've met. So, super, super happy to be here. That's great. Well, I'm a, I'm a big supporter. And I, as you said, from the economic driver, that the creative class can, can create for us. And we've got to do what we can as a city to keep helping. Do you have any thoughts on that and what the city can do and what, as a part, not to help encourage in this burgeoning creative class? Well, I think that, you know, looking at, at two different things. I mean, if you, if you're talking about the city and if like, as far as government goes. So, the government has some really great. It could be government. It could be non-private. Right. I mean, the city is a very broad umbrella. But if you're talking about the city government, you know, the city has some great programs in place, you know, the arts Fort Worth, it just got rebranded. There's the Fort Worth Public Art Program, which has an on-ramp. But, so there are, you know, those things in place that can help. I think, you know, I think where we really could do better at is probably private, you know, like the private individuals or corporations coming in to do more similar to what Sundance is doing. So, and I think, I think they're a really great example of, of how to push forward with that. You know, of course, there's the, you have the museums here, which get tons of support, not only from, you know, our, our big kind of families here. But also through, you know, like the NEA and grants like that. So, you have that, and then you have, you know, patrons for galleries. But I think that there could be more to help kind of, like your nonprofits and maybe your independent artists as well. So, I think that there, there's room for some improvement in that area. And then in general, for people that can't necessarily afford to add to their collections, I think that, you know, just people, just sharing what's happening or being, you know, interested or, I mean, for the general public, just showing up. Just showing up, yeah. A lot of times it is just showing up, right? Well, great. Well, thanks for what you're doing. Welcome to Fort Worth. Thank you so much. Thank you. And appreciate all you're doing to encourage just making Fort Worth more beautiful. Right? Thanks. Thanks. It's been a long, it's been a long fight, but yeah. We'll get there and encourage it. So, thank you. I'm now here with my good friend, Russell Kirkpatrick, who is co-founder of the Fort Worth Food and Wine Festival. Welcome, Russell. Thanks for having me. Yeah, thanks. For those that don't know about the Fort Worth Food and Wine Festival, tell us a little bit about its history, how it got started, why you started it. Yeah, absolutely. Started in 2014. I'm the general manager at Riata. So, we had been invited for several years to participate in the Buffalo Gap Wine and Food Summit. Yeah. And really, the lineage, the participation out there was majority Fort Worth chefs, John Bunnell, Tim Love, Michael Thompson, Riata, Grady Spears. And, you know, the idea really came around sitting around the campfire after one of those and realizing that there's a huge demand for the talent in Fort Worth. So, why don't we try to put something in our own backyard instead of three and a half hours west of here. And it took off. You know, we were extremely... What year was that? Well, 2012 is really the infancy. And then took about 18 months of planning to pull it off in March of 2014. And it really hit. It stuck. Timing was perfect. LRB had just kind of opened. Clay Pigeon was on the verge of opening. The palette of Fort Worth was changing. You know, we'd been known as Steak and Potatoes for a long time, which for me is great. It pays my bills. But, you know, you started seeing... There's a bigger world out there. Absolutely, yeah. Yeah, you started to see an influx. You saw the population growth in Fort Worth. And I think that brought a little bit more of a demand for some of the cuisine that Fort Worth was missing. And so, we had a chance to highlight that. And in turn, it really drove the population to the festival that we were very blessed to have. Well, it's interesting you bring that part up because I know I've told you this before that, you know, Jay and I, when we were looking around, deciding if we were going to come back to Texas with our daughters or go somewhere else, when we left in 2000, we were not going to come back. It was a sleepy little town. But in about 2010 or so, we started looking 2012, and you saw more restaurants, more excitement, more things happening. And we're like, this is a town we could come back to. And so, one of the first things I looked at and kind of came up was the Food and Wine Festival. Right. And so, we were supporters even before, you know, the other roles that I've played. Absolutely, yeah. Because it was great. So, tell us a little about the festival itself, how many days it runs, and what people can expect. Sure. Yeah, you know, we're super excited about this year. It's been a two-year hiatus. You know, COVID kind of got ramped up right before the festival. So, we had a great year planned and really disappointed we missed out. But it's four days, six events, kicks off tomorrow night. We're doing our first ever sit-down dinner that's actually part of the festival. Chris Shepherd is coming up from Houston. James Beard Award winner, he's joining four sisters. Four sisters, and they're doing a great Vietnamese dinner. So, that's exciting to have that on the calendar, that we've never done something like that. Then it runs, tacos and tequila that night as well. Friday, we roll into the showcase event, the main event, which is going to be a lot of the restaurants that are pretty familiar around town. And then that night, we wrap it up with Night Bites, which is going to be the only one that's not going to be at heart of the ranch. They're in Clear Fork. This one's going to be at Whiskey Ranch. They're at TX. That's going to be a great partner from year one. Saturday is Culinary Corral, which is more of our brunch type event. You'll see those types of cuisines highlighted there. And then Saturday afternoon is, it's always been our most widely popular one, Burgers, Brews and Blues, which is three of everybody's favorite. Then we wrap it up with Ring of Fire, which is more of a barbecue-centric event there on Sunday. Kind of put a nice little bow on the weekend. Yeah, so there's, sounds like a lot. I mean, different things for different people. Yeah, yeah, you know, we, I've coined the phrase party for every palate. Yeah, that's right. Okay. I don't think anybody else on the committee or board has jumped, has jumped on the tagline. But that's the first time I've heard it, but I like it. Yeah, I get shut down pretty quick when we go to the drawing board for taglines every year. But it's true. It's really, there's really something for everyone, absolutely. It is true. What can people expect that is a little bit different this year, that maybe we haven't done? I think you talked about the dinner. Yeah, the dinner, I think heart of the ranch, you're going to see a lot more activations, a lot more different areas than just one general tasting tent. Okay. We've partnered up with K&M. Matt Pittman of Meat Church BBQ has an area that's highlighting some of North Texas top pit masters. Okay. Obviously, City of Fort Worth has had huge accolades in the barbecue game in the last two, three years. And so he's invited some of his guys over Thursday, Friday and Saturday to highlight that cuisine that's really kind of put North Texas and Fort Worth specifically on the map. Well, and one of the parts I want to highlight is we talk about the festival, it's three days long, etc. But you also have the connoisseur's program. Sure. And you're doing programming throughout the year with dinners and other things. Absolutely. The festival is really just one small part of the Fort Worth Food and Wine Foundation, which is a year-round program. We raise funds for culinary grants and scholarships. One of our big pushes over the last 18 months obviously. The wind is not our friend today. No, no, it's not. That's okay. It's not. One of the last pushes was our restaurant employee relief fund. For years, we'd really kind of focused on the future of the culinary scene in Fort Worth. And obviously with COVID, we were able to help out some restaurant employees kind of meet the ends that needed to be met for them to stay in their apartments and so on and so forth. So the foundation is a 12-month-a-year project that does stuff, you know, not just that last weekend in March. So with that, the foundation, you talk about these grants. How much did the foundation give out during that period? So the restaurant employee relief fund was a little bit over $115,000 that was given out in $500 increments to employees all over Fort Worth and North Texas. So yeah, it was very, it was awesome to see those young men and women be able to use that money when it was really needed the most. So how can people find you if they want to participate in the festival or with the foundation itself and how can they find you? You can go to Fort Worth Food and Wine Festival.com or www.fwf.com. All the content for the foundation for the festival can be found there. There's a donate button. You know, some people I've actually had, hey, I don't like going to stuff with large crowds, but I want to know how I can help these young people. There's a donate button that you can click anytime 24-7. So yeah, you can find anything there. And our social media pages, Instagram and Facebook, obviously we have a wide variety of information on those two platforms as well. Well, you're hitting on one thing, and I do, before we close out, talk about that. The program we have, the festival has and the foundation has with culinary arts students in high schools, et cetera. You want to talk a little bit about that? Yeah, it's our culinary career conference. And I think, you know, we started off by giving out scholarships one at a time, and we wanted to find a way that we could kind of hit a few more students in one fail swoop. So every year we get together on the campus of TCU, and we invite about 20 or so chefs to really give those students a true, honest opinion on what they're going to see. I think the advent of food television has been great for viewing pleasure, but I think it kind of set the bar a little different for those young people that they're going to get out of culinary school at 22, first restaurant by 25, you know, book deal by 30. And the John Bonnells and the Blaine Stanifords and the Marcus Paisley spend a day with them and kind of break it down that it's going to be a little bit more washing dishes by 22, peeling potatoes by 24. You might be on the grill by 25 and let them set those expectations so these young men and women are fully prepared when they get into the workforce. And I think talk them through to running a business. Absolutely. That it is a business. Absolutely. It's only part about the cooking part, but you've got a business right on the other side. And we've been able to, you know, such great small business entrepreneurs. Carrie Crow is a great one that, you know, it's not necessarily a giant restaurant that they're running, but they're running these small businesses, whether it be food trucks or ice cream shops, that it really shows that there's a tangible use for these student skills and it's obtainable. It's not something that they have, you know, two million dollars in the bank before they get into a huge restaurant. They can do stuff, you know, on their own pretty quickly. That's all. That's all great work. I appreciate you being here today. Good luck with the festival and good luck with the rest of the year. Appreciate it. Thank you. I hope you've enjoyed this episode of Fort Worth Forward, learning a little bit more how Sundance Square is supporting entrepreneurs and artists, as well as the Fort Worth Food and Wine Festival. If you have ideas for us that people you'd like to spotlight or other ideas, email us at district3 at fortworthtexas.gov. Thank you.