 Scoot up here. Good evening everyone. I'm Leonard firestone. I am the council member for district 7 representing this area, of course, and I want to thank everyone for being here We've got a great crowd and I can tell you that As a committee and as chairman of the committee, we're excited that everybody's here. We're excited to hear from people I want to remind everyone We do have the opportunity for public comments If you would like to make any comments, we are going to limit those comments to about two minutes But if you haven't signed up to make your comments, please do that just outside in the front where you walked in So we can have that list and be ready to go But as I said again, we're excited that you all are here I'll give you just a quick, you know, maybe overview of what we've been working on the last few months and you know, it really started with I Think a an initiative at the city that we identified We have issues to deal with with this building and that's first and foremost What we're concerned about and we're gonna get into that a little bit because it's a marvelous asset of the city located I literally Located of course in the cultural district, which is such a phenomenal asset in and of itself for Fort Worth for so many different reasons So, you know, that's of course what we started to really address was We have to get this building right And we really see it as an opportunity to do something special Because I think when we started to Consider what to do with the facility, which needs a lot of repair and you all may have seen that in the news It's upward of, you know, 27 million roughly That's the the number today and probably going up of course in today's world It is in desperate need of repair so we wanted to tackle that problem first and foremost and Then understand after that After the realization, I should say of, you know, what could this be let's Re-imagine what this could be and reimagine who could be here and make this something special Because at the end of the day, I think in the committee's Identification of that issue won the building to the opportunity We just see that there's great potential here. And again, it's an opportunity Because as we look around us We can see from from Dickies to the Kimball to the Carter to, you know, these amazing Facilities that we have in the area natural science, of course in the cowgirl museum as well these are world-class assets and There's no reason this should not be a world-class asset And so that's kind of what the committee's thinking has really evolved to is To how simply to how it how to make it special. So we can certainly talk further about that We want to do that But before we do it, you know, you'll see here at the dais I'm gonna give everyone the opportunity to introduce themselves and you'll quickly if you don't know them already Quickly realize and hopefully appreciate we have some of the best of the best minds In the city that have worked in all different ways in different capacities to build within the cultural district And certainly Throughout the city. So let's let's get started if we could and Please introduce yourself I'm Zeta and I served on the Fort Worth City Council for seven years representing district nine and I now work for a non-profit called community design for Or we educate and advocate around urban planning issues throughout the city of Fort Worth Good evening. I'm Patrick Newman president and CEO of the Fort Worth Botanic Garden And I am the least important person in the room Fernando Costa assistant city manager William you don't an executive director for artist de la Rosa. I'm Scott Wilcox I'm the COO at the aiming Carter Museum and also the chairman of the cultural district alliance Good evening. I'm Lily begins retired health care executive. My last gig was down at Harris Methodist Fort Worth I'm Matt Carter and I would like to Rival Andrew for the least important person in the room. I'm with the four star show by the way I'm Mike Hyatt. I'm treasurer of the Fort Worth zoo associate association and Have been on that board for a long time Thank you So now I'd like to reintroduce Fernando Fernando of course is with the city and he's gonna explain I think in some detail really the purpose of our task force just to task force to further illuminate my comments and specifically get into a Review of the online comments that we have solicited the last couple weeks Fernando Thank you for some thank you, Mr. Chairman. I'd like to direct your attention to the screen and we'd like to set the stage for public comments by sharing information with you about the work that the 1300 gendi task force has performed During the past several weeks We'd like to thank each of the task force members for the time and effort that they've devoted to this assignment and I think We should also thank the staff of Arts Fort Worth For the splendid way in which they've hosted all of the task force meetings including tonight's event Thank you all for for being here tonight We have a full house here in the Sanders theater and I think we're filling up the overflow room next door So we're very happy that you're here. I'd like to cover four topics with you in short order First some background information about the task force itself then some of the preliminary findings that the task force has made based upon a review of factual data We'd like to share with you The results to date. They're not final but the results to date of an opinion survey That we'd like for any interested Fort Worth resident to complete in fact If you haven't done so already we would encourage you to visit the city's website and you can find the survey On the website it'll only take a few minutes to complete but the the information from that survey we find to be exceedingly valuable and gaining a greater understanding about how Fort Worth residents feel about the Community Arts Center And it's it's future Finally we'd like to describe the issues that Remain to be resolved upon which we'd like to receive comments from the public tonight and So some some background information the task force was created by the Fort Worth City Council By means of a resolution that they adopted at their regular meeting on February 14th and The council gave the task force certain specific responsibilities including a review of the Building condition assessment that was conducted last summer By the firm of the Bennett partners Michael Bennett a prominent local architect To assess existing potential uses of this building and to assess potential funding sources for necessary repairs any future renovations and ongoing maintenance To conduct one or more public hearings, which we're doing tonight To recommend future uses of the building recommend funding sources For the necessary repairs innovations and maintenance and finally to present a report to the city council no later than the first Tuesday in May Which of course precedes the city council election so that the current council may be able to Act upon recommendations from the task force if they wish to do so The task force is comprised of 16 members and you can see the names on the screen all of them have been participating Not all of them are here yet tonight, but they've all been involved in the process and they represent a distinguished Cross-section of Fort Worth leadership. We've also involved a total of eight different city departments Which are represented here tonight? providing support To the task force from the city manager's office of communications development services and historic preservation Economic development the law department planning and data analytics which overseas our budget Property management and public events which manages the will Rogers Memorial Center The task force so far has held a total of three meetings Three consecutive Thursdays We're having the public meeting tonight And they have scheduled two more meetings on April 13th and 27th before they deliver their report to the council in May and So some of the preliminary findings that the task force has made this building Goes back to 1954 and it was designed and constructed in three separate phases Which gives this building its own eclectic flavor 1954 the the main art gallery designed by Herbert there 1966 the Scott Theater in Tolerium by Joseph Pellick in 1976 the Art Museum important to share addition by only a forward associates so the the building by by every assessment is Historically and architecturally significant and a valued Asset for the city of Fort Worth The the building encompasses some 96,000 square feet of space 77,000 square feet of which is classified as usable floor space The city has Leased this building to arts Fort Worth Otherwise known as the arts council of Fort Worth in five-year lease agreements going back to 2005 When we first entered into a five-year agreement that was renewed in nine in 2010 There was an amendment in 2011 whereby the city agreed to pay a management fee of $200,000 a year to arts Fort Worth Plus electricity costs up to a hundred thousand dollars per year There is a second renewal of that original agreement in 2015 for five years There is also an amendment allowing Five-year renewal terms to increase from two to four and so the third renewal occurred in 2020 and the current lease agreement runs through the end of October 2025 Now in the lease agreement there is language about the responsibility for maintaining the building There are at least three pertinent clauses In the the lease agreement that dates back to the 2005 With respect to the condition of the building at the time it was accepted By arts Fort Worth the lease agreement says that arts Fort Worth agrees to accept the building In its present condition at that time At that time it found the building to be suitable and in good condition for the purposes that were intended Arts Fort Worth also agreed to use its grant writing and fundraising abilities to secure funding to enhance the condition of the building and Finally arts were worth the greed at its sole expense to perform all upkeep maintenance and repair necessary to keep the lease premises And it's operating systems in good condition and compliance with all applicable codes and regulations Now this building has been heavily used over the years It had a peak of use in in fiscal year 2019 before the pandemic The community arts center like virtually every institution around the world was hit hard by COVID And attendance went down and it's going back up and we understand that it should reach the pre-pandemic levels again By fiscal year 2024 by next year but at the most recent figures before the Pandemic indicate that we had here almost 90,000 visitors during that year With the two theaters of Scott and the Sanders hosting 54 clients for a total of 330 days During that year. So the building has been heavily used And the gallery served over 900 visual artists During that year. So it's a great gateway For emerging as well as established artists Current occupants of the building include the nine different nonprofit organizations that you see listed on the screen I think most prominently kids who care KWC performing arts along with communist delinca which is Associated with the conducting Institute Miguel hearth Padoia and other organizations that that most of us will recognize Along with five studio artists Who are at home here at the community arts center? now the last summers Building condition assessment determined that the building at that time required some $26.1 million repairs To bring it up to acceptable standards The greatest components of that 26 million dollars as you can see on the table eight million eight and a half million dollars for mechanical electrical and plumbing repairs 6.2 million dollars for water infiltration Because the building floods And you can see some of the other repairs that are necessary 19 million of the 26 million are classified as required repairs that we need to make as soon as possible To keep the building safe another almost seven million dollars were classified as recommended Which is not just nice to have but something that we ought to do As soon as we can get around to it. So 26 million dollars repairs bear in mind. These are 2022 construction dollars Construction costs have risen since then and by the time we're able to borrow funds to make the necessary repairs The bill could be in the ballpark or 30 million dollars. It's hard to say, but it's definitely a large bill That we need to pay to repair this building Now the most promising funding sources for repairs and renovations Are led by the the next general obligation bond program? Roughly every four years The forward city council goes to the voters of Fort Worth to ask for authorization to borrow funds through the issuance of bonds for various capital improvements and in this case the next Available round the funding would occur with the May 2026 Bond election that's not been formally set, but we anticipate that we'll have the next bond election in May of 2026 We could also consider other funding sources such as certificates of obligation and tax notes But the the task force upon the advice of our staff is leaning toward the the 2026 bond program For ongoing maintenance, we could look at a variety of options. We could Require the tenant arts for arts worth to pay for all maintenance, which is now contemplated in the lease agreement We could the city could allocate funds on a pay-as-you-go basis as part of the annual operating budget And if we were to do so we would probably need to allocate about a million dollars a year as a rule of thumb To maintain the building in suitable operating condition or we could go with some combination of those two approaches We want to take advantage of existing models for managing city-owned cultural facilities We actually have at least three Exceptional success stories From which we can draw some lessons now not any one of these three is directly Replicable in the context of the community arts center. They're very different But we can still draw lessons from each of these three that are applicable to the community arts center So the zoo the Botanic Garden And Dickey's arena all three represent public-private partnerships that have been financially successful economically successful In culturally successful There are sources of pride in for residents of Fort Worth and we want to see what we can learn from their experiences That might be applicable to the community arts center We also want to explore a wide range of potential uses for the building including Several existing uses the community arts center kids who care the conducting Institute The Fort Worth African-American Museum and cultural center has expressed interest in occupying space within this building That is another possibility And then we looked at the models from other cities We've received a briefing about similar cultural facilities and places as diverse as Lubbock, Texas Tulsa, Oklahoma, Ketsum, Idaho, Berlin And many others that we could list literally dozens of Facilities around the world from which we can draw valuable lessons applicable to the community arts center We've received some interesting Results from the the current opinion server that we'd like to share with you As of Monday of this week, we had received a total of 381 responses I think by today, it's probably over 500 and we hope to increase that number Significantly, but these are the preliminary findings from the first 381 responses to the survey We find that most of the survey respondents are relatively frequent users of The community arts center 61% had visited the community arts center three times or more During the past 12 months. So these are folks who are generally familiar with the building We found that only 14% Had not visited the community arts center in the past year So these are folks who at least visited once most of whom had visited three or more times In fact, as you can see 25% had visited the building 10 times or more during the past 12 months so bear that in mind when you View the results. These are folks who are frequent users knowledgeable about the community arts center We asked about the main purpose of their visit 80% visited this building to See what's being displayed at the art galleries 80% and 41% Obviously some folks come here for more than one purpose, but 41% come to See the performing arts here at the Sanders theater or at the Scott theater So those are the two main purposes for people to come Other folks came for classes and workshops or catered events Meetings and a whole host of other purposes We asked folks to let us know about the degree of satisfaction that they had with their visit to community arts center and this is one of the most impressive findings of the survey 92% the overwhelming majority of Respondents to survey said that they were satisfied or very satisfied with their overall experience here Very few people expressed any kind of dissatisfaction With their visit when we asked folks if they had not visited the community arts center as often as they might have liked What were the main reasons that kept them from doing so and you can see that for 44% of the respondents the lack of free parking Onside and nearby the lack of free parking has been a deterrent And I think I can assure you that we are aware of this problem Another 40% Have indicated that they simply they would like to visit but they'd like to know more about what's been happening here So we need to do a better job of spreading the word about the good activities that are here Because if more people were to know about it more people would be visiting So those are the two main reasons by far That people gave their host of miscellaneous reasons. They live too far away to visit more often COVID may have prevented them from coming Busy schedules etc. We asked them and this is an open-ended question So it defies easy categorization, but we asked them and would display the results here in this word cloud What do you like the most? about the community art center we got 342 comments and The most common thread throughout those comments is that they welcome the opportunity for local artists to Engage in their craft and to display their works That was the that if you look at the words that came out those are the most common space available for local artists to perform visual and performing arts You can see some of the other words that Appeared most often. We also asked what would you change? And there you go No surprise another pleasant surprise Was that the age distribution was almost uniform across the board with It's hard to draw any sharp conclusions aside from the fact that it's it's it's a quite diverse Visitor base with respect to age. So whether you're in your 20s or Senior citizen, you're equally likely to visit the community arts center Now with respect to race of the respondents we found that 80% were white showing a need to engage more folks of color In Fort Worth, you can see African-American only 4% Hispanics 11% figures that are well below The representation of those groups in the general population again These are the respondents to the survey not necessarily the visitors themselves, but I think there's a rough correlation between the respondents and the visitors Over 70% of the visitors are female and then when we asked about place of residence The the greatest concentration of Fort Worth residents visiting the community arts center came from three council districts nine Seven and three. So that's downtown and near south side in the near west side those parts of Fort Worth represented the lion's share of those who happen to know their council district About a quarter of the respondents know that they live in Fort Worth, but don't know the district And we'll say reside and Another quarter or so Did not happen to live in Fort Worth And so here's the hard part What are the issues that that remain to be resolved and here we want to hear from you? The task force has been Discussing loosely at this stage at least three broad development strategies for this building Now we'd like to describe them in very general terms Please understand that these descriptions are highly conceptual in nature and they can be modified however We wish the task force has not formally adopted any of these descriptions. That's a topic for a future meeting Discussion, but they have begun to discuss at least three broad options. One is restoration. We're calling it option a To make all necessary repairs and retain existing uses of this building option b which we're calling renovation Is the variation of option a? it also Constitutes it consists of making all necessary repairs But also renovating the building incrementally To attract and accommodate complementary uses so the idea for example of Accommodating the African-American museum in this building would fall under option b So that it may entail some renovation some remodeling of the space to accommodate such a use We might want to attract a coffee shop for example I know that Z's cafe was very popular here Until we started charging to park and it became more costly to park than it was to buy a chicken salad sandwich and so That had a significant impact on on the on the cafe's business The third option is the most open-ended of all and we're calling it redevelopment We're describing as reimagining 1300 again D as a world-class cultural hub and Redeveloping the property accordingly exactly what form that would take would be subject to further Exploration and discussion It is clear to the task force I think that all three options will require a new management model to be sustainable the the current way of doing business has not been working From a financial standpoint, so something needs to occur to prevent us from getting 26 million dollars in the hole in the future and We've described The three options with respect to different characteristics future uses repair costs renovation costs annual maintenance costs Whether or not it would be appropriate the issue of requests for proposals Terms of the lease agreement and finally whether or not formal historic designation Would be appropriate for the building And in the interest of time, I'd like to move on but we'd be happy to describe any of these characteristics and whatever depth you would like It's a vitally important to have a common understanding about what we're trying to achieve and That is to say what are the criteria by which we should evaluate these three development strategies And so among the criteria that the task force has been loosely discussing which they have not yet formally adopted But we'll want to discuss at a future meeting would be the ones that appear on the screen obviously health and safety Preservation of Fort Worth's history as reflected in this building architectural character Impact upon the city's overall cultural vitality Impact upon the size and diversity of the building's visitor base impact upon economic activity in the cultural district and in the city as a whole and Impact on the city's capital operating budgets the financial impact This is a list of seven Possible evaluation criteria that the task force may wish to consider in evaluating the different Possible strategies for future use of this building The task force may also wish to assign different weights to the criteria not all the criteria may be equally important So they may wish to have a one two three waiting system. It could be one five ten It could be whatever the task force wants it to be To reflect the relative importance that we assign to each of those evaluation criteria The task force could then assign scores to the different strategies with respect to each Criterion as to the extent to which The development strategy creates a favorable impact Upon the criteria in question So if it has an exceptionally favorable impact you would give it the maximum number of points The exact scoring system remains to be discussed by the task force, but this is an approach that we believe that they will want to take and Here is a blank table that the task force would populate with weighted scores based upon whatever weights they assign and This is essentially a way to facilitate a Constructive discussion about the options. This is not to say that the task force is going to be bound by whatever numerical results Emerge from this exercise, but it is a way to facilitate discussion based upon values based upon the importance that we assign to various criteria and And so that's the process that the 1300 Gundy task force has been following We'd be happy to entertain any questions, but more important. We'd like to hear from you So if you haven't already had a chance to do so And want to speak please be sure that you enter your name into the sign-in sheet We've got quite a few names already and our distinguished chairman Counselor Farreston will be calling upon each speaker in turn. Mr. Chairman Okay, thank you Fernando That's was an exceptional overview. I think you captured the last several months worked very well the Survey is also just a I think a great source of information as well So thank you and the staff for putting that together and Presenting it this evening So hopefully everyone found that as good context and a good framework to begin to have this discussion and really understand How important it is to all of us and how thoughtful I think not only the task force But the city the mayor all of us and the seriousness we're attaching to This project and and the opportunity as I described it at the start So with that said let's get right into our comments. We have about 38 people. I think that Have signed up so just again to Mention we'd like to Limit each speaker to two minutes So if each one of our speakers could be mindful of that we we'd really appreciate it and there's a clock if if you're speaking if you are speaking we'll ask you to go to the microphone where Fernando was just Speaking from and then the clock is across the room with Michelle So, okay, we'll get started first speaker is Wesley Kirk. Where's Wesley? Okay My name is Wesley Kirk. I'm a photographer and a filmmaker and occasionally an arts organizer I was one of the founding members of House of Icona class an art collective for outsider artists and the number one problem that We always faced was space There just aren't enough spaces in Fort Worth meant to properly display art and have enough room for all those who want to Come see it the Fort Worth Community Art Center matched everything We were looking for in a venue both in its physical space and its mission and we were given a residency here But that was in 2019 and our first show was planned for May 2020 Since the pandemic things have changed dramatically in the Fort Worth art scene mainly the art venues and organizations that were able to bounce back Have largely been for profit galleries and or folks who take money from the rich with strings attached What Fort Worth has been lacking has been enough community spaces where artists any artists can show their work without having to make It palatable to the masses and the rich or a charge exuberant prices to help cover gallery fees Fort Worth Community Art Center has been a bastion for artists who are focused on creating deeply personal art and community driven art I've seen shows here that have moved me to tears that could never been seen in a for-profit gallery I've seen shows here that have sparked important conversations Showing how important art and storytelling can be to deliver urgent messages about our history and how it can create a better future and most frequently I've seen hundreds upon hundreds of artists displayed here who are given their first opportunity to properly display their art and start the art career in the last five years or so I've seen the staff of Fort Arts Fort Worth go above and beyond to make this an inclusive Community driven space for artists. They've done incredible work with the pitiful amount of money. They've been giving from the city I've also seen firsthand the limits of this building parking is always an issue the offices and studios upstairs are also in pitiful condition Which could be such a valuable resource for artists But most of all the issue is space for every artist whose work is shown here There are dozens more waiting for their opportunity Because of that I've seen countless artists and creatives get demoralized by how little the city values the creative community And how often they move away to cities with more support and more community art spaces or worse They abandon art all together given how important art is for a community What an economic driver it can be for growth and enrichment to me It seems crazy that we're even having this conversation whether the question shouldn't be whether or not arts Fort Worth stays in the building the question should be how many more buildings can we give arts for worth how much how Can we better support the creative community in Fort Worth? Thank you. Thank you, Wesley Amanda Reyes followed by Joe Brown Good afternoon. My name is Amanda Reyes, and I'm an actor filmmaker local artists also residing in District 7 I moved here from the heart of Brooklyn at the end of 2020 the pandemic caused me to lose all of my work And I took it as an opportunity to move back to North Texas the place I was born and raised but when I came back I learned that the momentum that the Fort Worth art scene once had was halted by the pandemic as well But slowly and with resilience the art scene was starting to come back to life Galleries reopened with such inspiring work that detailed the collective trauma that we had all experienced separately and yet together Art's Fort Worth became a space for local artists to express themselves to their community This place created unity and provided a platform for unknown local artists works to be seen by our art lovers Investors from all over the world since this space is next door to multiple prestigiously world-renowned galleries and museums I was recently cast in the arts Fort Worth original work series Protection of the Texas Book of Beasts by local playwright Jeff Irvin a play about environmental Activism and preserving green spaces in an ever-developing urban scape arts Fort Worth is one of the spaces that saved me after the pandemic. I've met my community here I feel supported here and I know hundreds of others who feel the same and would express something similar There are over 300 people that move to Fort Worth every day in 2021 I was one of them and many of us are not coming here with development money We're not CEOs. We don't have oil or cattle money We moved here because we have ties to the city in other ways that are more In line with the arts culture and the hope that comes with such growth as we are experiencing today We are looking for spaces like this one a place that provides classes for our youth A platform for local artwork a space for innovative theater A place to celebrate our heritage and to connect with the world on a more accessible scale My hope is that this task force hears us when we ask you to invest in the arts Fort Worth The way your community has There is a golden opportunity to create jobs here that help coordinate more promote more advertise more And create more outreach that will only strengthen the beautiful and meaningful work already being done today Think of your time. Thank you for this platform to be heard Thank you Thank you, Amanda, uh, joe brown and He'll be followed by becky wilkes Uh, I don't have a formal. I don't have a formal script. I am joe brown I am senior professor at texas west leon and chair of theater west leon and have topped their 45 years I love this city I have been here since every major theater has developed in this town all started from the scott theater and the original tenet the Fort Worth theater Out of that theater that theater baguette circle that theater baguette stage west that theater baguette hip pocket theater That theater baguette jubilee theater. I am here really under what would be preservation and restoration There used to be a wonderful commercial that said fort worth first Casa first geodesic dome by frank Lloyd right This theater had donnell on sliger involved in it He was a broadway designer in the 50s and became the senior chair of theater at Yale This is a treasure in there that if that painting in the lobby were ever thought to be I will be chaining myself to there He designed he designed that theater. So it's similar to what would be the dallas theater center and the frank lord right space This space Was the grand dame grand dom before all these other places were done. It deserves to have A fresh facelift with proper lipstick and moisturizer put on Yeah, yeah, yeah, so um And also it's a valuable option because bass hall is too expensive tcu theater texas west leon theater uses it Dana schultes was a student at west leon that we performed in that space. We have a high school there now doing frozen and It is used by a lot of our private high schools because will rogers auditorium is a dump And bass is too expensive to use. This is a beautiful Space and jubilee theater will be using it this summer doing the color purple. I'm on their board. Yeah So kids who care as a major resident in the activity that happens and energy that happens just from them I can't speak for the visual arts, but I can speak for the theater and the performing arts there It deserves to be treated right in its history in fort worth and I have to go direct Thank you, joe Belki wilkes wilkes followed by jerry tracy Hi, my name is becky wilkes. I live in asyl My husband has worked in the city of fort worth for many years and paid many city fort worth taxes Um, there are many compelling arguments for maintaining community art spaces most importantly It supports the local artists in their creativity and development regardless of our demographic I came into the arts in 2007 when I began photography classes at tcc since then I have participated in many exhibitions in this center culminating in three distinct solo shows I gained experience confidence and community Leading to national and international exhibition opportunities. I would never have achieved this without this art center Exhibition opportunities are limited and hard to come by and are often cost prohibited to artists This art center with its eight galleries is a remarkable resource and I would argue it already is world class We don't have to look for it being real class My work has traveled through the country and I've never seen anybody else That gets to exhibit in a space like this and I think we need to hold our local artists up Um, this space provides opportunities for all of fort worth in the surrounding region Dallas has four community art spaces, but they are divided by demographic Here in this building, we are encouraged to come together To enlighten each other across our differences to tell our unique stories and to listen and to consider those of others I've had the privilege of exhibiting with many diverse persons Especially my friend bill barter who is 91 years old and over there his exhibiting work The development retention and attraction of local artists is worth a significant investment by our city. Thank you Thank you. Becky Jerry tracy followed by debbie stein Good evening everyone. I'm jerry tracy the executive director of historic fort worth ink And I am definitely the most historic component of this building But it is a pleasure to be here. I just want to name their names These are some of the finest architects that ever lived in our country They are connected this building herbert bair Don all slinger joseph pellec And olil ford and associates in san Antonio. You can't buy this combination today. It happened here This is a center with such an artistic past Fort Worth art center is an outgrowth of the fort worth art association and it was established in 1938. This has been the magnet for artists This is a center where parking fees have hurt its users, but i'm not going to talk about it. You all already know This could be a restoration project not which is not like new construction We own we have owned several properties and we phase in our restoration projects But if this building were properly landmarked It could earn back 25 percent of every cost you're looking at In state historic tax credits and there are other ways to garner other tax credits So it's harsh to see a total number that is not factoring in the methodology that preservationists use I encourage you to do that And in closing fort worth has earned bragging rights As the destination city with the second highest number of designated historic resources in texas The fort worth community art center deserves to be a part of this group And that can happen with a phased in preservation based development plan for the historic fort worth art center. Thank you Thank you jerry Debbie stein be followed by Quentin mcgallon Oh, yeah, i'm in great company here I must say i was a little apprehensive coming to this meeting today because i was afraid of What you were going to say, but i must say fernando you did an incredible presentation and this task force has done an incredible job because i was expecting the worst I thought we were going to be gone here for a minute And i know i don't have to explain how important the arts are to all of us. Otherwise we wouldn't be here so um I was called about i don't know. I guess whenever 2015 by the then president of the arts council asked me to go to the city council To support this building By the way, my name is debbie stein and i'm past president of the live theater league I'm the founder and chief improvement officer of the riverside arts district And you are sitting on in one of my favorite places because i was the tap teacher at kids who care and this was art studio Thank you My favorite my favorite people. I don't want to see them go away But i've been called upon to support many buildings whether it was a demolition or a change of use And you know, I always thought okay the building and jerry i know has Wonderful things to say about the building as we all do But i really always thought about this not as just a building but as a place A place where the people are really important It's a great gathering place whether you're a visual artist or a performing artist And i'd like to see it stay that way and you know the 20 whenever that was in 2015 We had the same problems then All those things that are on your list were probably on the list then that needed to be repaired Because I remember that and we've talked about it for a long time. So I hope a restoration is possible I think that's very promising So whatever you need to do To get this building in shape for us to continue and move forward. Let's do it. Thank you Thank you debbie Quentin McGowan followed by yoko pang Thank you Well, I can neither match the depth of the comments already made nor say anything in less than two minutes So i'm going to leave my remarks with you for the for the record and really jump to the conclusion Which is simply that we need to recognize and repair the effects of too many years of deferred maintenance And fully support this important community asset so that it can continue to serve as a center for the arts and education for another 70 years What you will hear from everybody in this room tonight is how critical and vital this is What i'll be leaving you with is a little more of the archaeological genealogy that as gerry pointed out Is incomparable in this city or in any other city in the united states So with that do the right thing for this facility and the city will be behind you to do that Thank you Yes, sir. Good evening. Um, my name is yoko pang and i'm currently the president of the society of watercolour artists Um, the society was established 47 years ago in fort worth It is a non-profit Um organization totally run by volunteers So among the many activities we do to promote the art of watercolour We have two very important exhibitions every year One for members only the other is open to the world is an international exhibition So we are very grateful for the health science center across the street to allow us to use the space for our members show But our international show Becomes a potential issue Many years ago. We have the international show in this building But there was a policy change We were told that group exhibitions were no longer welcome In the arts center So we have in the last several years we have been using the central library in downtown fort worth to do that But starting next year that would go away. You all know that, right? So we are urgently looking for Appropriate locations for our international show and So I would like to ask the panel to kindly consider the possibilities to provide exhibition space for artists as well as groups like us and I guarantee you The the quality quality of the work from our society is really world-class It fits very well with your world-class cultural hub purpose and just a plug In fact, this year's show would start in two weeks From April the 16th to May the 20th in the central library So whenever the library is open walk in through the central Corridor turn right you will see it and I guarantee you the quality of our show would not cause an embarrassment to the center Thank you Devin now in followed by Jill freer Hello, my name is Devin now in I'm an artist and I work as the collection manager at the aamon carter museum Where I am responsible for exhibition design installation preparation photography and digital asset management I've been a that's what I do today But I have been an exhibiting artist and have worked in different capacities at the art center and with Fort Worth art staff Since 2005 I responded to the survey to describe the personal and professional benefits to my career development That has been built by my activities here at this center But tonight I would like to speak about the impacts to current artists here on the walls tonight And the work of the arts Fort Worth staff there have been tremendous advances made in the programming here In the past years artists were responsible for paying rental fees for their opportunities And today there are other funding that supports the artists instead of relying on them financially The long-standing annual repeating rentals from other organizations had been phased out Um, which was very difficult for some of those organizations But it has had the effect of boosting the professional profile of the artists exhibiting here and has driven a lot of innovation Maybe there are ways to bring back a mix The renovations that were completed in 2021 expanding the galleries updating the lighting and improving the flooring Um, it's something that I'm the most proud of because today the artists that exhibit here are able to document their work In a very professional setting and they use those installation images on their websites For residency applications to apply to universities to continue their education or to market themselves in any other number of ways And so I think that their decisions that were made here and those updates were really great as a catalyst to springboard The artists that get to exhibit here This center in the heart of the cultural district devoted to the city's emerging artists Has a significant impact that is unlikely to be replicated anywhere So I ask you to consider the renovation option and keeping the current facilities operating Thank you Devin Jill Hello, hi, I'm Jill freer and I live in nearby district nine within walking distance of this building And my husband and I chose to live here because of the arts and culture in the area This building is a gem for the arts in the in fort worth as everyone has stated We know that tens of thousands of visitors enter these doors every year to experience art in some way The art center serves at least nine current sub tenants of which one is the stolen Shakespeare guild and on on whose board I voluntarily serve this theater guild has performed solely in this in this space For years and it operates on a very tiny budget Our mission is to provide affordable high quality classic theater and we need this facility to accomplish that mission Where else in fort worth can a small theater perform? This facility has also been an incubator as noted already for some of the other performing arts like stage west theater And amphibian stage productions if this building becomes unavailable Where will newly started theater groups have a chance to get going? Where will emerging artists as stated already engage with the public? Is the city prepared to provide an immediate city funded alternative to the sub tenants in this building? As a 13th largest city in america fort worth needs to be a leader in the arts Companies who consider relocating here value the arts as a quality of life necessity We know that the arts contribute not only to the well-being of the citizenry But to the economy too a 2021 state of the arts report released by texas cultural trust Details significant returns on investment on the arts and that's why the arts are worth supporting Yet the city didn't provide the funding to support these facilities here It foisted the major maintenance onto arts for worth a nonprofit organization What a great arrangement for the city to own a building yet not maintain it Surely surely this plan was unsustainable even at the time Can a nonprofit be reasonably expected to support long-term maintenance on the building? I think the plan was doomed to failure. So Fort worth can do better For the quality of life everyone and everyone here in fort worth I believe that it is in the city's best interest to do what it takes And provide the funding to support the arts in this building. Thank you Thank you Next up we have atlee phillips followed by matt sacks Hi for those of you who don't know me. My name is atlee phillips I'm currently the director of texas art at heritage options My dad in an art gallery called the fort worth gallery or dutch phillips and company I grew up in the arts community here. I've interned at most of the museums I also spend all my time talking about texas art in different cities And one of the things they really say about texas a lot is that we have a great community for young artists We're a great place for Artists to come where they can afford to live where their work where they're supported and the community art center is a huge part of that This is an incubator The murals that you love to see around the city the bring economic diversity The people who get gallery shows who go on they all had their first shows here They all sold their first shows here. It's a very very important space My mother was on the board of the museum when it was still here before it moves the new building It's an open secret This building has not been maintained by the city the way that it should be They should have had more support for many many years long before this lease Or whatever because it is such an important space This is where all the things happen that then go on to make the city look great to have these murals To have these shows to have this community and the fact that it's free and it's under the control of artists It is unbelievably important and we would not have what we have now If we did not have it and I can just tell you having worked in new Orleans after katrina We worked so hard to keep the schools intact because you need those incubators You need places for young artists or musicians or theater people to work and to show their art and to experiment And that is how you get a vibrant arts community like what we have in fort worth and that's the only way we will have it So if you do not restore this building if you do not continue to allow artists Huge amounts of input and control over what happens here You will down the line in the future lose so much of what makes this city important Matt sacks followed by chat young Hi, my name is matt sacks I help run a place a local place called the grackle art gallery We're a local nonprofit Showing musicians and artists no fees no commissions what I would like to see here first of all free parking So anyone and everyone can afford to be here secondly That all artists and musicians Can show their work here and perform here without restrictions without fees without commissions So everyone has an opportunity to express themselves Thank you matt Uh chat young followed by scott barker I think it's clear that the visual arts have been well supported here And I think that that's amazing. My name is chat young and i'm a professional lighting designer I've designed in uh over 100 venues over the last 20 years all around the world This one's still my second favorite I love it More than anything I can tell you about but I want to talk about the people who are not in this venue And I don't know a single professional who believes that the theater has been properly managed for the last 20 years It is unfortunate that there's such a discrepancy between the visual artists And the performing artists, but I think that the only performing artists who would come here and talk to you about their joy Would do it based on the money that's being donated to them by the arts council it's a clear conflict of interest and They don't understand how to run anything other than an arts gallery This management has failed you it has turned this asset into a liability 100 it does not have to be this way And I just want to say really quick the people who aren't here are stage west and it wasn't incubated And I know dan is here, but it wasn't incubated It was forced out because they wouldn't work with them amphibian i'm a founding member It was not incubated here It was forced out amphibian decided to raise a million dollars to go get a different building because they couldn't produce here with the management The same thing goes for texas wesley and tcu junior women's club I don't want stolen shakes to be the next person to leave And under this management it will happen And I want you to know that the new management structure is the most important thing to me when it comes to saving the theater Because it deserves a champion And not somebody who's just going to Look at it when they really have to Thank you chad uh scott barker followed by lori isbell Yeah, hi, my name is scott barker and i appreciate having a chance to speak to you for a minute Between 2003 and 2017 I organized 17 events here um all art related Mostly having to do with early texas art, which is what I enjoy studying the most And at each one of those processes these these events lasted between two days and two months I never had a moment Organizing these things and participating in these shows and these sales Or I didn't thank my lucky stars That I had a chance to live out this thing that I wanted to do In an honest to goodness art museum I didn't know of any other city in america That could provide a place like this That's built for art Built for theater That was available to the public To somebody that wanted to Do the thing that they conceived to do. This is a field of dreams. That's what it is For us who are not professionals and yet we need a place to express ourselves And I was so grateful to have it and I would tell people that I would say you know what I just I don't think there's another city in america where I could do this This building also is not just any other Building this building's roots go back to the 19th century You have the efforts of generations of fort worth residents Who's desires to have a place Where art could be showcased The all those efforts and all those that work that they put in stretching back to Mrs. Schuber and mrs. Buley and Sam canny and robert windfor and all these people that worked to make this place Come true That dream needs to be protected and I think that is the message that you're hearing tonight You got to protect this building Thank you Laurie is bell followed by breen richard Laurie is bell and I am a writer I have recently returned to fort worth after living away from the city for a long time I'm so glad to be back and one of the first things I did when I arrived was get myself to this building And I saw an art exhibit I attended that performance and I thought back to my memories of this building that traced back to when I was in high school or college And I had to come here for some kind of school assignment And I came from a working class family and I can tell you that when I walked into this modern contemporary art building I think it was the first time I had ever seen a piece of framed art That did not have a cow in it True And I have been involved in the arts and doing my best to make my way ever since I'm here to support the preservation of this building and also support the work of the current residents the arts Fort Worth organization They promote arts across the board They are one of the only places in fort worth Perhaps the only that can offer visual art theater dance movement Literary arts they do it all here and with a very important distinction They not only offer it so people can come and view it But people can come and participate in it This is the place where you can come and make things and share things and show things and learn and teach things to other people It is truly art for fort worth By the people of fort worth. There is something very powerful about that and should be preserved I'm going to circle back in my final moments to the the way we started this meeting. Mr. Firestone Called us to order and said that he wanted to make this building special And I say that it is Breen Richard And larry boon will follow breen My name is brian rickter and I am a brand new theater mom And I am off script, which I understand makes theater people very nervous So I apologize in advance. Um, I just want to say that I had the opportunity and I'm I'm going to try not to get emotional Um to go with kids who care on a theater trip to new york And I saw the return on the investment in this building In about a dozen of those kids in that room Whose lives were changed From their time here in this building So I just wanted to share with you that today Please help save this building whatever we need to do and here's here's my kids who care kid bronco And he'd like to say a few words Hi, i'm a participant in kids who care And I do a dance class every week And when I go in this room There's all these tables and chairs that we usually don't use So I feel like maybe we need to expand to have a room for just storage and a room A room where I can actually dance not looking at these chairs Like we we use a few but we don't have that big of an audience um So I think The city of fort were should invest In this building because of kids like me well said Well said, thank you for coming Larry i'm larry born homegrown We're up in oakhurst Live now in ryan place 43 years And I was here when this was dedicated in 1954 I come to you as an artist and this is more about the programming of What artists have when they come here There's a call that goes out to whoever wants to participate in the show And the particular show It's juried and they tell you who the juror is And then you get the notice that you weren't accepted And so, you know when I get a few of these I go I've got to go to see what beat me out and We've got the big three museums here So when people from Out of town come We'd always visit there and then I'd bring them by here And then I realized that things that kind of changed with What the art jurors were looking for And I came in and I saw Three home home depot boxes stacked up And a wind of shade on the wall And I was going I think we need more art than we do Boxes So I hope that in the programming For future Artists It's changed But because of this place Different artists have come through here Emerging artists And I've been written down a few of them James Tennyson Joe Rutley Dennis Faris Don Taft Susan Dunlap Nancy Bean Corky Cup Martha Bean Carol Ivy And myself Larry Bourne Thank you for the opportunity Thank you Larry Tamara Garsec followed by Donna Beckman Take your time Take your time Speaking on behalf of being a parent of a newly Coming upcoming artist who is into music Singing and guitar and coming here was the very first time that he was able to feel comfortable Opening up in front of other people to sing and perform And Mel had the opportunity to create his very first music video here in this space So I just it was a it's an important place for me and our family so that please renovate it and keep it So other kids have the opportunity Donna Beckman And I'm here as a parent grandparent rather than Somebody that's worked in construction all of this although some of my kids are doing that but uh We've had I've had several grandkids that have been in the classes here And loved it and come wanted to come back every time and have learned from this place I've we had a wedding here, which was fabulous We've had uh Can't even think of all this we've done a lot of things that are out of the artistic part Except that we've come for classes ourselves where they've had adult Art classes and different things and so I think that this is a very important place not just for the artists to perform but Because of the fact that it is a community and we can all be here and enjoy the facilities So renovate Next up we have randy and mark this away followed by jennifer price They're still with us Uh Is jennifer here? No, we've got a few more I'm jennifer castler price. Um I have been a curator at the kimball art museum for almost 30 years I was a commissioner on the fort worth public art commission for six years two of which I served as president I think my pov is probably Pretty evident. I hope I echo everything that everybody has said that has come to the podium But I want to say something and and I get the emotional attachment Um Donald owens lager my father studied with him at Yale and my father helped to build the scott theater. He helped to design it So I have an I have an emotional connection. I get that um And I also don't like tearing down historical things if you can preserve them correctly, but I also Don't like the idea of throwing money at something and just putting band-aid after band-aid after band-aid on it And it still is sinking What I would like to see is the city of fort worth Put their money where their mouth is and say we're going to spend the money to make this community art senator community theater center community museum State of the art modern facility that can function and last And be free and not be falling apart for the next 50 60 70 years Thanks jennifer tim long Thistle waits. Okay. Yes. Thank you all Hi, I'm randy. Thistle wait and I've had a lot of experience working in this facility for setting up art shows for about the 18 years And I feel like it provides such an important It's an important place in our community for Everybody to come together and um, I'm going to let mark Say some more words Hi, I'm mark. Thistle wait retired Art history professor from tcu and also a former Chair of the fort worth art commission Which meets in this building and it's associated with the public art program in fort worth We've been in the other room and I've been making notes and so I scrapped any comments about parking and I'm not going to mention parking at all But I I did someone else had already commented on this but I wanted to reinforce it because it's really been heartening to hear The everyone who's spoken so far And what struck me was again someone had commented on In the opening remarks, uh, the statement was made that this panel has an opportunity For something doing something special And I immediately wrote down as did randy already is something special And again that that's come through This building should be restored Updated it serves an incredibly important role in the city as a public Cultural facility that's free to all One of the things that worries me about the private or the public private model Particularly in the case of the zoo and the botanic gardens is the admission costs That in the zoo are ever increasing and that have been now part of the botanic gardens This should be a very public area And it should be free I've been coming here. We've been coming here since it's to this building since 1977 It is historically important. It should be preserved and restored Um, I've been continually impressed by the quality and the quantity of exhibitions They rotate shows through all the time. It's sort of everyone gets a fair chance And an opportunity to be seen in in ways they wouldn't be in other places And then finally, I think in in looking at the Slides and all the work that this panel has done. It's it's quite impressive But I wish there were more Visual artists and performing artists involved In this panel. I don't see that many And those are the people that are really good at imagining things And reimagining things So I hope that happens and I hope this building stays here for a very long time and serves its very public function Thank you. Thank you Thank you both Tim long followed by Barbara Wilson Good evening. My name is Tim long. I'm the executive director at circle theater in downtown I don't have a lot to say more than my history Uh, and with this building when I was in the fifth grade I came for the modern art And had a great lecture and was one of those things that propelled me to be an artist Because a month later I came over to the scott theater and saw my very first professionally produced adult play It was a Neil Simon play and it was amazing And it would be years later that I would work with pretty much the entire cast at circle theater So it's a it's a history thing And I just want to thank you for this panel for taking this on To come up with certain ideas on how to renovate this building because it is a special place And I think we've all heard from a bunch of people how special this place is But I think as you're in this room, you realize how important it is for The fourth worth to be able to tell its story. And I think this is a great place to do that Thank you Barbara Wilson followed by Ron check Is uh, is barber here? I thought that was Barbara No, okay. Okay. Is Ron here? Maybe we'll wait. They may be coming from the other room. Uh, how about Ashley Felker? Yes, ma'am. So my name is Ashley and I'm a Fort Worth resident. I live in district three I'm also the chair of the board of the stolen Shakespeare Guild And so I'm here to speak a little bit about this room right here this theater Um, this theater is such an amazing space for us because we provide affordable classic theater to this community And with the Trinity Shakespeare Festival not being around anymore We're one of the only places you can experience Shakespeare still in this community So we want to continue to provide that to our community Last year in 2022 we paid $48,000 in rent for this space and we brought in 3400 audience members to experience classic theater here in this room I keep saying this room because this room Is small as it is is such a special place to experience theater to be so close to the artists To be so intimate with them to be able to feel their emotions and to be in this space It's so important to our community to keep a space like this available Additionally as a Fort Worth resident not as stolen Shakespeare Guild chair Um, I want to advocate that this space right here Here the arts Fort Worth center It is a third space and if you don't know about third spaces third spaces are not work They're not home. They're a free third space that the community can gather and engage with each other The importance of this space is that it remains free and a third space for our community to continue to gather and experience each other And I guess just love on the art a little bit That's what I have to say Ron cheek and I am the Founder and the director of the texas academy of figurative art We have existed in Fort Worth since 2007 and we are the only fine art academy with a full time curriculum in real estate drawing and painting I have worked with traditional galleries and I have Work in the permanent collections of the grace museum the museum of biblical art in dallas And I've taught fine art at texas a and m tcu tarrant county college And I've lectured at other Many other colleges and I'm just telling you this to give you my credentials as a professional artist And just to give you my personal story of how this building and the programming in it Has impacted my career um, I wanted to speak in favor of keeping and Renovating this space as it exists today I believe it serves artists and the community of what worth in a unique way By providing opportunities that just don't exist In the traditional gallery business model Or the museums that are in our neighborhood So when I began my career, I frequently exhibited here at the community art center In group shows and that expanded my presence in fort worth and beyond and when I started my school The texas academy of furtive art many of my students exhibited here and we had student and faculty shows here um And I have taught workshops here And several of my students have come from among the artists that have taken classes here In fact, one of my own instructors On that at a workshop here who then began to study with us and now he teaches for me part time so I've known several emerging artists who've started their career exhibiting here and I've helped organize some of the exhibitions with those artists and so This building and its programming has been instrumental in helping my career And many other artists. I think it would really be sad if it if it diminished in any way On a personal note, my own children have grown up performing in the scott theater Many of our friends children have as well I've attended academic lectures not just performances in the scott theater as well. So there's many uses for that My wife and daughters Have come here in this very room for plays on occasion And so in summary as an artist Who's I think is contributing to the economic And culture of this city I would really strongly advocate keeping this building as it is and choosing option a and renovating it And going forward with that continuing to make a place for emerging artists. Thank you Thank you, ron David lanza followed by doug black My name is david lanza and I'm a professional sound designer and sound engineer in fort worth and I'm going to summarize some of this to keep it brief But the gist is that I've spent more of my life outside of my home and work Sorry home in school. I've spent more of my life in the scott theater than any other building anywhere in my whole life I have also worked professionally around fort worth and dfw For 13 plus years now. And so I've been in almost every theater in fort worth and seen What those facilities have to offer It's with all that in mind. I feel uniquely qualified to speak on the scott theater specifically and its place in this community There's no other theater facility in this city that even comes close to offering the unique combinations Features that the scott does it fills an important size between the larger spaces like will rogers and bass hall That can feel cavernous and smaller theaters with 200 seats or less It's shaped and acoustically designed in such a way that unamplified voices and instruments can be heard all the way to the back row It has ample offstage wing space on both sides for stay Both sides of the stage for set storage. It has fly rail space and a fly system Has plenty of dressing room and green room space. It has an automated orchestra pit It has a freight elevator and a loading dock for loading in equipment and large sets You would be hard pressed to find any other physical structure in fort worth That can offer this wide of a variety of features And these unique combination of features cannot be easily replicated somewhere else if the scott theater didn't exist There's nothing else like it in this city that can fill its place Yes, this building has heart and soul and history, but it also has these structural and physical features that make it so special When you pair that with everything else that this entire building has to offer I hope you can see how much of a gym the fort worth community art center is There are many different paths this building could take and I'm not here to advocate specifically for any of them But if the topic of this meeting is the future of the fort worth community art center Then I just want to make sure that whoever is shaping that future Understands the important and unique role that this building plays Plays in our city and that with the proper vision and guidance It can serve this community in new and exciting ways for decades to come. Thank you Uh dug dug black just dug Great Be followed by jc hosier Thank you all We're coming. It's nice to be part of this course of passion tonight um Doug black I I had a studio up here for the last two years fantastic experience Just coming down to see the exhibits of all the local artists just unbelievable 50 years ago The powers that be hired Henry Hopkins arguably The most creative contemporary arts curator in the country and he transformed This museum the modern art museum Into one of the cutting edge contemporary art museums in the entire country And it really planted a seed I think in many of the young people In this city to become artists and to see how fantastic All of the great new art and contemporary art was the first time to see Jackson Pollux and Clifford steels and rossenbergs and that was powerful. It really affected a lot of people This is an important institution. I hope we all have the wherewithal to Keep it open Keep it funding and keep it going on. Thank you so much Thank you JC and be followed by Benito Huerta. I'm JC Hozier I'm a props designer for kwc performing arts And also a mom of theater kids. We've been coming here for over 14 years I'm also the volunteer data chair for them And I can tell you that we have over 150 volunteers annually Coming to the theater and that's just to kwc As these wonderful parents and children Come in and we greet them in the lobby. We are so proud of this building. We're proud to point out its history We give tours so they can see the space However, there are also things that we are not proud of That are like That need to be updated Such as accessibility to those with mobility issues such as the plumbing and the water fountains The whole building itself we want to Be proud of all of it and to provide the best for these children and their children for generations to come so I hope that you take that into consideration that we love this space. We love coming here, but we really do need to update it To the best of its ability so that it can continue to inspire all these children for years and years. Thank you Benito Followed by megan henderson Hi, uh, i'm benito uerta I live in arlington. So don't hold that against me um I'm a professor at ut arlington. I'm an artist. Um also um I'm a person who supports the arts had been supportive of texas art and artists over the lab over actually over my lifetime Uh, one of the things that I teach at the university of texas in arlington is a professional practices class I one of the things I teach them is places where they could go to the city galleries to show their work And I talk about dallas cultural art centers and they have several of them throughout the city There's our every art center. There's a plain old art center And there's the community art center. That's now arts for worth Did I forget to mention arlington? That's because arlington doesn't have an art center One of the things that's important is that You know, we have a good thing here I'm not been a very big supporter of it, but sometimes Sometimes when we lose it we we realize what we had and what we're trying to do tonight I assume is not to lose that but to improve on it Uh, some of the the students that I've taught Uh, the former students now are in the audience. They live in for in Fort Worth They actually work some of them have worked for the commission In various capacities. I have sat on several panels here to select artists Sarita Westrup who's in the first artist room residency program. I was in that panel I was in panels for public art Did public art here in Fort Worth? I'm a big believer in Fort Worth and what it's doing Uh, I also think that sometimes people forget that As a result of this not only just being local but a regional art center It attracts a lot of people from the region to the art center And what they bring is also is their money So tonight when my wife Janet Chafee and I go out to dinner in Fort Worth I'm spending money in Fort Worth And I hope that maybe in the future when I'm Paying the sales tax that's going to the city of Fort Worth that I could earmark it for the Arts Fort Worth Next up is Megan Henderson and uh following hers luke long wire Good evening. Can you guys hear me? I was in the other room and I could tell sometimes you couldn't be heard I'll tell you I didn't realize I signed up to speak but I always have an opinion So I'm happy to take a few minutes at the microphone I hope you'll stick with me as I fumble through my name is Megan Henderson I'm a resident of district nine and I have the privilege of serving on arts fort worth as a new newly appointed board member So I'm new to the organization in that capacity But I also work for near south side ink as a community and economic development Professional and so every day in my life I get to work not only with the arts and the community But also with economic development. We've heard a lot of incredible arguments tonight about the cultural and Emotional impact of the arts and there is no doubt that that is true But I'm here to talk to you about the other side of that coin which is truly important Art fuels the economy it fuels our economy in fort worth We're here to ask you for funding to support this center and to appreciate the work the very important work of the institution Running at arts fort worth But what I share with you is that the economic future of fort worth requires a workforce That is adaptable creative and prepared for challenges There is nothing that does that better than art the arts strengthen forward's education and economy and they prepare citizens for creative careers Generating significant tax revenue in this city and boosting tourism art creates jobs one in five One of 15 professionals in the state of texas work in the arts And that is reflected here in our fort worth community and many of those people here in the room tonight Who are talking to you about how their profession was built out of this center The arts and culture are a huge industry. They generate six billion dollars in taxable sales for the texas economy We have a share of that right here in fort worth and in state sales tax revenue There was more than three hundred and eighty million dollars of state sales tax revenue in the arts in just 2021 alone The arts boost tourism a huge investment that fort worth makes in its economy as their tourists and cultural visitors 37 percent of non residents For overnight leisure travelers are engaged in cultural activities Those are born of the artists who work in the industry who drive tourism in fort worth One in four visitors participate in cultural tourism. The arts can also improve health and well-being Did you know that art can combat depression attending a cultural event once a month reduces the risk of developing depression by 48 percent These are important benchmarks arts are not just about the emotion of the arts They are also about the economy and the cultural impacts to our community that change the entire system Tonight we are asking you to consider a 26 to 27 million dollar investment in this building That amount of money for any one of these efforts education tourism infrastructure Would be met with glad hand at the city of fort worth because I have the privilege often of sitting in meetings Where those types of deals are negotiated daily? So it's a small investment for huge impact We're talking about innovation and incubation within the walls of this building and we are talking about infrastructure This is a piece of infrastructure that needs investment because it has huge cultural and economic impact. Thank you for your time You sure you didn't sign up to speak there. That was pretty that was really good Look and followed by lori Thompson. Hello. My name is luke long anchor. I'm a local actor In town, but more importantly tonight. I'm a theater teacher at a high school I'm going to read some comments from my students who have been performing here I remember in 2016 when my dad took me to scott theater to see all saint's episcopal schools production of kiss me kate I remember sitting in that audience being absolutely mesmerized with only one sentence running through my mind on repeat I want to do that from then on I had one goal perform on that stage the scott was My broadway. I've performed there twice now and it's been the best experience of my life I can't wait to continue to perform there. I hope I get to Next when I was a little kid I watched my sister who I looked up to dearly shine and grow on that stage Ever since I watched her first show at the theater the drowsy chaperone I couldn't wait to perform on that stage the same way she did now that I am at the age She was I got the chance to grow as a person and become confident by performing at the scott I know I'm not the only one this building is a home for so many people where they can express themselves By doing the thing they love with the people they love nothing can be more special than that I would love to see more people continue to grow and shine in the scott theater after me last one Sorry two more the scott theater has been an invaluable part of my high school experience Every year I've watched my senior friends give their last performances there and waited for the day that I could do the same The musical every season builds a community at all saints and the scott has been instrumental in that The traditions jokes stories are part of what makes our theater program who we are The scott theater is not just that for all saints, but also every school that does a show there We need to keep this theater as a landmark of the theater community in fort worth and last but not least I've been performing in the scott theater the past six years both with all saints and kwc performing arts And it has become my home. I've never felt safer and more loved than I do in this space It is a space where creativity can run free And people of all ages get to experience and take part in all forms of the fine arts from the art gallery to the stage The scott is where people from all over the world and I mean literally I've become friends with people from places like columbia luxembourg and idli in this space To do what they love it is a landmark and I would hate for anything negative to happen to it I just have to say as a theater teacher It is incredible to see what happens when the environment that this space culturally Builds these young artists. It is their Broadway. This fort worth community has to keep this space I also will say it needs a tech director. It needs management. It needs it needs It needs to be state of the art so that the management team doesn't have to run fix the bathroom and run fix this And run fix that they can focus on the artists that are in this building and providing and helping them Which is our students and our young people of today. Thank you so much Thank you Laurie Thompson Followed by jay wilkinson Laurie Thompson. I'm a resident of fort worth for 61 years been involved in the arts for as long as I can remember Was on one of the task force by betsey price for the arts and My thought is when a city invests in the arts The local scene becomes stronger We provide such a small amount per person per capita for the arts and we have world renowned museums An opera that's amazing a ballet. That's fantastic But the local scenes scene seems to be left out for I don't know what reason So my thought is the community art center has supported artists has supported musicians and theater productions for as long as I can remember And there's no excuse that we should be having a meeting here about the city funding the arts It's just a no-brainer Dallas funds the arts. I think it's five dollars and 75 cents per person per capita And when I was on the arts funding task force, we provided 50 cents per person per capita So when do we get to start using the hotel occupancy tax and the rental car tax and sales tax for the local art scene? So My my request for that task force is let's get the city and let's hold them accountable Let's find funding outside the city. Let's bring it all together and let's make this a dynamic Local art scene in the city of fort worth not just the museums and the ballet And the all of the symphonies But all of us that are local people that need a place to be seen The reason I got started in art is I fell in love with it in college at tcc And there wasn't a gallery that would give me the time of day and it wasn't because they were not good people They didn't have the luxury on betting on something that wasn't going to make them money So I put up an army regulation size mess hall tent two years in a row on seventh street Until I finally figured out I was sick of rain I was sick of putting it up and taking it down and I opened the firehouse gallery in meadowbrook in 2003 And september it'll be our 20th anniversary that it's still here in fort worth and we need Hundreds of those across Not just fort worth proper arlington all the little outlying areas because there's so many artists that need a place to be seen Thank you Next is j wilkinson followed by claudia mason Jay left. Okay. It's claudia here. She may be in the other room How about marita and miguel bedoya? They here No, uh Well, wait, maybe they're coming over uh chris wallis. Is he in this room? Or lanny brock Okay, thank you And I am a theater maker and an artist I moved to downtown fort worth a year ago having no friends No connections nothing that would tie me to fort worth A year ago. I wouldn't have even labeled myself an artist But given the opportunities that I have been given here it grew my confidence and joy in this craft Recently I had the opportunity to be in a new work that has been mentioned texas book of ease by jeff erwin It is hard To make friends and connections in a new city where you know no one But because of my experiences here I was able to make connections that not only further my career As a theater maker and artist, but I was given a beautiful wonderful group of friends some of them are right here And community that I love here in fort worth Arts fort worth is not just special. It is essential. Thank you Hi I love the community art center because it gives us the opportunity to enjoy art learn about it and exhibit our own work In an environment that is a professional and nurturing The visionary spirit of its building also designed many decades ago Remains current and offers the perfect backdrop for all kinds of artworks Thanks to its seven galleries from large former paintings the benefit from some galleries natural light To showcase their colors in all vibrancy to interactive installations and performances that take advantage of the open floor plan As well as the new media and film showed in the more intimate spaces No medium misses a chance to be exhibited at its best And the equal opportunity that enjoyed the artworks gets replicated in the community Art at art's forward. Everybody feels welcome As an emerging latin artist this community art center has given me opportunities that nowhere else in north texas. I've been able to find Including one having had my work professionally exhibited among artists from diverse backgrounds and ethnicities Shown to viewers from diverse backgrounds and ethnicities number two Having gotten to know many of these artists Creating a diverse arts community that has enriching all of our practices And three having had the same access to curators resources and calls for art than all of my peers Overall, I think That having a big art center really encourages to bring all people together and give everybody the same opportunities Please take in consideration that if you reduce the size of arts forward You will also reduce its reach The amount of opportunities that it offers and the amount of people in the community that it supports Please let arts forward keep its building give its needed improvements and let us continue to grow and thrive together Good evening. Thank you for the opportunity that you are giving me here. My name is miguel hart bedoya and for the ones that don't know me I'm a texan So We're so grateful that fourth world welcomed me and my wife recently went in 2000 And this has become our home our only home even though we are from peru and from chili and we have lived in new zealand and in Oregon fourth world became our home our three children have been born here and when With planning I knew that my tenure with the forward symphony would end in 2020 We made family decisions To go somewhere else Or stay in fourth world And definitely staying in fourth world was the decision and we still have two high schoolers and pascal And suddenly I realized oh, I have to move out of bass hall And it was no question That I needed a place to set my library about the size of these walls And my point of work and there was no other place But this space I could not imagine living in fourth world and not being surrounded by art by artists So in brief I think this is the place where the Heart and the soul of our artists visual performing written art should happen simultaneously at all times and be this a magnet be a vibrant place a welcoming place where Anytime that you walk in You'll hear children's choirs amateur choirs mariachi theater You can watch paintings everything at once because that magnet brings people people bring traffic Traffic brings the economy and food food. Don't forget the food trucks in this building So this place is ready to become the representation of our heart and we'll continue to Live and enjoy what fourth world has given to us. Thank you so much Thank you Okay, um Is that one more Great Which one there? Oh all four we've got four more. Uh jenna grace Is claudia mason in the room? They must be in the other Yeah, hi there Yep, take your time My name is jenna grace I'm a local artist and a small business owner Another local group here the house of iconic class gave me my first show into uh 2021 I have an opening reception for another show at the 500 x gallery the day after tomorrow This building has given me multiple instances of inclusion in shows three in the past year alone Sorry, despite not having Finish my art degree yet or having come from an extensive background of artistic success These local spaces and groups have forged my passion as a career from the ground up When I think of fort worth community arts center losing this space I wonder where people like me will go Hybrid spaces such as bars and salons have been our place to show what we can do without Without the traditional credentials of being an artist Along with this place For many the only environment of a professional inclusive gallery setting has been this I have lost track of the stories that I have traded with other working class artists Who couldn't afford the spotlight of private galleries or art school degrees If this goes Most of us won't be able to go to any of the private galleries as they're too busy spiking their submission costs to even enter a show Despite acknowledging the financial burden of covid on artists I am so tired of seeing community spaces like this fall I've heard all of the stories here. So why does something with so much life have to fight to live? This space included me For a show last november after my institutionalization from an attempt My art is all I have at my highest as well as my lowest This space saved me being an artist here saved me So I ask again if this place goes Where do we claudia out there claudia Oh, I'm sorry, uh jenay allen First I want to say a hey public speaking So i'm a dancer. We dance through dance. We speak through dance. So pray for me My name is jenay allen. I am the founder of movement purpose creative arts program and rear diamond and jams dance company We support through social motion and learning through the arts So we meet all girls from three to 18 years old My program service in the fourth isd districts and in the fourth community for young artists three to 18 Old in several styles of dance and musical theater 60 grand and sold in scholarship funded and 40 affordable tuition We as a company look forward to having a dedicated housing space here at the theater for safe functional use for our dancers Due to our company elite high level dancers the basement would be ideal for another dance room But it would need to be more functional safe space to allow a second rental room for classes I would also vision a dressing room so that the dancers could be able to have a place to dress and feel comfortable in their change of attire It would also support more performing arts companies to be able to rent while using the theater as well It would be amazing to be a part of more innovative partnerships representing a more diverse housing community Especially at the african-american culture center Would also be housing at this theater. It would be an extraordinary opportunity to build community relationships As well as already having a community partnership with the kids who care performing arts Program, I can't imagine how dynamic that would be to have all forms of performing arts housing at this theater So I vote for the theater to be renovated for a community Modern sensor theater to support all arts with a great management team. Thank you thank you James Talambas Talambas I'm James Talambas. I'm the current vice chair of the art commission A lot of great stuff has been said by everybody And so I'll make it short First of all, um You know having been on a commission and and and work with task forces and everything I think it's kind of absurd that there's only one artist and There's nobody here who actually uses the building who is Who is on the task force? There's nobody here. Pardon me if i'm wrong So You know, um, thank you for being our voice Okay, um, also, um A lot of the magic that that uh people have been talking about here It doesn't happen with private money. It happens with public money and support Hey, you talk about dallas spending three times what we do on the arts public money not private Talk about houston spending six times what we do not not private money public money Hey, and you look at their great everything that those those cities Are on their way to becoming world class. We want to be world class. We spend our public money On the arts And then I guess the only thing I would actually speak to y'all with would be I'd like to encourage all of you to continue this conversation and have your voice heard again at the public arts commission meetings every month Uh, the next one is on april 17th right here in the building So please your voice will be on the record. We we talk directly to city council for better for worse So please come out have your voice heard again get three more minutes and and uh, Let's not have this party stop here Let's keep this ball rolling and show them what what what it means to have this venue and what it means to us in the city Okay, we have we have two more. Yep. No worries Yeah, that's great Bernardo Hello guys a lot of faces. I recognize everywhere It's a pleasure to speak on behalf of this building. So I am Bernardo Valorino. I am a colombian american sculptor here in Fort Worth I'm also the coordinator of the Fort Worth art collective a collective that was started because of the lack of spaces in Fort Worth so we find spaces around Fort Worth and we showcase artists local artists their artwork and And help them grow their careers because we don't have enough spaces The community art center is one of those only places by the city Who allows us to help us Grow as artists locally so that we don't have to export our talent, but rather keep it here locally I choose Myself as a local artist to stay in Fort Worth and not become a chicago artist or a new york artist and so forth My career has been stunted in some ways because of that choice Just think about that But I appreciate everybody's You know community that's helped me the who's helped me throughout the years But anyways, really the reason I wanted to talk is not because I'm an artist But right because I'm a real estate agent in the last 20 years of doing real estate One of the things that I have experience is landlords and tenants Right, and I've also been in the board of Arte de la Rosa also as a tenant Fort Worth and when a good landlord cares for the building They take care of the building as the years go by they don't wait until it's completely destroyed You know by the lack of understanding of the use of the building and then till the tenants look This is the contract right here where it says that, you know, you should be taking care of this or that No good landlords take care of the buildings not only do they fix it, but they understand that with the years Things deteriorate and they require different kinds of technologies to maintain the building to be useful at that time And maybe in the future if you're a really good landlord The city of Fort Worth is a horrific landlord To our local arts organization You know at Arte de la Rosa the building sometimes it requires months Years to get something done, you know the doors that were safety needed. They just got replaced Right same thing happens here So this is not a matter of like, you know, is the city going to put the money the city We should have put the money a long time ago. So I appreciate you guys listen to me Where's the moral compass of the city when it comes down as a landlord to the arts and its arts community? Thank you Sarah Blair Hi, my name is Sarah Rochelle Blair I am a resident of Dallas Fort Worth and I say Dallas Fort Worth because I have lived everywhere in Dallas Fort Worth I am a graduate of Texas Wesleyan University as a liberal arts Student with a bachelor's degree and I will tell you I came from nothing I came from drug addicted alcoholic parents. They did not support me doing the arts They pushed me into doing something I did not want to do and I was in management and sales for a very long time I myself became an alcoholic. I myself became a drug addict The only thing that pulled me out of that was performing in the theater because you don't have time to do stuff like that When you are performing in the theater if I have to memorize lines I can't be smoking weed or drinking now occasionally We will go out and have a drink together with the cast But I don't have time to do that every day and I am bent on breaking the generational trauma in my family I adopted my 11 year old cousin who also came from drug addicted and alcoholic parents I brought him into this theater and thanks to Jason Leyva He has now decided that he has a passion for music in all aspects of it Not just for theater not just playing the guitar, but he wants to learn audio so that he can work in places like this and help people Like him he's 15 now and he is doing so great because I decided to join the theater and I have reached my hands out into him to Lift him up from the devastation that is my family It is a horrible thing to come from something like that and places like this give people like me who have nothing No money Nothing to volunteer at and to make myself a better person and to make my children better people Please please make sure that this is a safe space for people like me to come from nothing Reach over to the people that live in hempill bring them in Bring in the musicians the teenagers who have nowhere to go except for the bars or out on the streets to do drugs Bring them in here to do battle the bands or just to speak and be able to be heard Also, I encourage you to reach out to veterans My husband is a veteran and art has helped him through his tbi and has also helped him with his Excuse me. I will end here, but Veterans are very important and they need a space too and the teenagers are being ignored and they need a space too Don't take that away from them Okay, thank you. Uh, I think that's the last of our speakers. Okay. Thanks everyone so much What we thought we would do is just maybe go down the dais if you all are Ready or prepared to do that and give you all some feedback and some impressions So you hear from all of us this evening before we go Do you want to start down? I'm impressed with the breadth of Input from everyone. I mean, of course we expected to get favorable inputs tonight, but all the stories the diverse stories were really touching and Informative so thank you um I don't even know where to start I I've been in so many roles when it comes to things about the city and when we're making decisions like this Which are up to other people now not me any longer Getting input from the community is the most important factor That goes into these decisions and so having this public meeting as a part of this Is the most important factor to the work that we've been doing in my opinion as a task force Um We've been hearing all the information. We have started out with opinions of our own of the things that should happen here We have our own stories and histories of bringing our small children here when it was the modern museum of art and on all of these things and So I think I just want to make it very clear that we hear you Um, this was the thing I was hearing when I was even first asked to serve on this task force And I made it very clear where my allegiance were. I am not an artist, but I am absolutely a supporter of the arts And I do that in every aspect of my life. So I'm really proud to be on this task force And carrying forward the voices that we've heard here tonight and the voices that I've heard in my entire time of living in Fort Worth So I appreciate all of you I'll echo what has been said and just be very brief and say thank you Thank you for being a part of the process. Thank you for sharing your voice. Thank you for showing up and speaking up Thank you for being vulnerable and being authentic with us so that we understand how Deep this issue is how important this issue is Thank you It takes courage and you have exercised great courage this evening and it's been hugely hugely helpful So thank you from the bottom of my heart for sharing all that you've shared this evening. Really appreciate it Echoing it's uh what has been said Thank you is not enough. I mean, uh, it Very a lot of thank yous for showing up because some people didn't think People were going to show up at times and or having a head count And I'm very thrilled and excited that you all did show up and that it got to Another room as well. What I will ask of you as well Um, Fernando will will let us know when the last time as far as getting the input y'all saw 318 Or 318 or over 300 I was I'm I'm a little bit surprised. It should be well over in the thousands of getting a response So please encourage your family members Neighbors anyone that that lives in the city of Fort Worth to give this input And I also challenge you for one thing I always tell individuals for every one problem There should be three solutions because when you give somebody bring me one solution more than likely I'll come back with zero but This is a team effort with the community So I'm glad that there is also the importance of getting feedback from the community from the artists I believe all of us are our artists creatives So in that aspect of it looking at it from a financial standpoint sustainability Y'all did see their 26 million dollars, right? That's just renovation to bring the building up to date That doesn't mean how how do you sustain that in future efforts, right? Because there will be other elements that that that have the maintenance and what have you point being is I know that there were some some comments that were made which are very helpful as well But what other areas of looking at and I think there was a question In the survey of open comment, you know write it in there again, it will get a chance to look at it But again that just challenging you to see what other options you all may have as a solution. Thank you I'd like I'd like to respond to mr. He don't so question We'd like to keep the survey open at least two more weeks To give folks a chance to to respond and still Be of value to the task force as they make decisions We agree William. We should have more responses than the number that we've already received We encourage folks in the audience to spread the word So that folks might respond to the to the survey Another question that's arisen is about Additional opportunities for comment This is the only public hearing that the task force was formally scheduled. However, the task force Will be holding at least two more meetings april 13th and april 27th as we indicated earlier And all the meetings are open to the public. So if you're interested in attending, you're you're free to do so furthermore The task force will be making recommendations to the city council ultimately The city council will be making Decisions about future uses of this building therefore The council would welcome your comments at any of their formal public comment meetings, which are held generally on the first And third tuesday of the month you don't have to wait until after the task force delivers this report to the council to speak to the council The council may wonder what you're saying Without reference to the task force report with findings and recommendations, however, you are free to speak At any of the council public comment meetings as well. Thank you Okay, first of all, I want to thank everybody for showing your passion. Believe me, it comes through I have the privilege of knowing a lot of the people that spoke today and I want to say I'm pleasantly surprised to see that diversity Because in our survey that diversity was not there and we need to show that this is a Community for everybody everybody that we live and love forward and love the arts So we need you, you know as the artists to go out and help us bring the people and get them interested Believe me, we learn a lot today. Maybe things we weren't aware of But we need everybody to work together to make something successful. It's not blaming one or the other one We're in a situation where we need everybody to work together If we have a goal that is, you know Preserving something making it grow and seeing this wonderful success stories. So help us Let's get that survey growing I think 400 people it's Nothing, you know, compared to the 89,000 that came and visit Please let us show the city council that people care And that's everybody Going out helping us showing things and be open to ideas You know, we want to create history. We want to develop things We want to create things that are going to be here as many people said for many many years 70 more years to come and it's wonderful to hear every single story Believe me has touched us and we thank you because you have that creativity that maybe we're not as creative But we love it and we encourage it And we're believe me. We have put our money where our mouth is several times to support the arts So we thank you again Well, I too want to thank you all for being here and taking Late into the evening to express your opinion and I've been involved in several city projects over the years But it's unlike Ann and Leonard. This is the first time I've sat on this side of the table for a public meeting And I have to admit it's a little intimidating But I really appreciate the passion that you all brought to this and I want you to understand that Everybody on this task force is in favor of a community art center Everybody wants that the main question is how do we get the building fixed and where do we go after that building gets fixed? So that's what we're struggling with But I really appreciate the passion you have for the programming for the stories that you told It was very meaningful to me and I appreciate hearing them Well, the curse and the benefit of the going last is that you just get to echo a lot of really great words vulnerability passion Courage takes a lot of courage to get up and talk about this I think scott said it very well. There's there's nobody on this board that that wants to see Anything but but improvement and what it can be It does take us all coming coming together to find a solution It's it's hard, you know change is hard and not to say that has to be changed for the better Or change for the worse, but it's just we've got to find a right answer and a solution to how we move forward how we move forward with 27 million dollars worth of improvements how we move forward with maintenance and And you know paying the electric bill and and management and all of those different things And and I truly truly believe that when we all come together, we can find that solution That that will make this Center not only as great as it is today But is as great as it can be tomorrow So thank you again for your time your courage your vulnerability. I learned a tremendous amount tonight. Thank you Thank you matt I think you know, I'll just wrap things up with a couple comments as well and I think One is what scott mentioned and matt reiterated. I want to reiterate reiterate everyone on this In this task force on the daisier is in absolute support of Perpetuating this facility and the arts that's just a bottom line and to give further context to that I think it's worth noting that the genesis of this really came from the mayor and her understanding when Really presented with the financial issues that the building is is under the pressures Said we've got to solve this for To preserve a great asset and we got to solve this for the arts in our community So that that's why this came about and I think that's that's really important to know I do want on a personal note want to Just comment because I was kind of called out on it a little bit about Not believing that this was a special place. So that was a very poor choice of words And you know and how I can make that personal and I should have said this to y'all at the start My kids have gone through Kids who care and you know my daughter who's now back east just outside of new york Is a sophomore was just cast as one of the leads in the spring play and she would absolutely Uh She would absolutely tell you that her you know her love for theater started here. So For me it is a special place. So it just didn't feel right to say more special, but I guess we could we could do that But uh, you know to maybe say that in a in a different hopefully better way Just a couple notes that I wrote You know, it's not a question if we use the building for the arts It's a question of how best we utilize the building for the arts and that's really what I was trying to get at And so, you know, I again as I mentioned at the start, you know, these are great minds with great experiences driven by the arts and community service and Um On this task force and that experience and so I think we're going to tap into those things To come up with something probably unique as it should be But there's so much experience that we can tap into I think we can we have a great opportunity to hopefully get that right So, you know My thanks to you as well For everybody that is here tonight in this room and in the other room We appreciate it and you know, it is impactful for sure and I just want to kind of As we were going through with all the speakers notes and things and kind of got on a train of thought here But uh, if you'll give me a moment So, you know in in terms of the art that we have here in visual and theater What what I started to write down is art is entrepreneurial art is economic development Art is tourism art is community art is education Art is opportunity. It's a profession and art can define and save lives That's what I heard tonight So You know, uh, that's powerful stuff. That's powerful stuff and so I think Speaking for Fernando and in the city. We get it. We get it. It's a valuable valuable thing That is important to so many people in our community. So we recognize it We're here to tell you we want to address it in the most positive way we can we can because From an arts perspective in Fort Worth clearly there is nothing nowhere more important than than this facility so Thank you all again for being here. Um, we appreciate it very much It it is getting late, but it was well worth it. And we're so glad for this opportunity. Thank you all