Creatives call for light to return to Fort Worth’s darkened community arts center
Fort Worth stage actor Karen Matheny, 37, said she owes her entire career to the Fort Worth Community Arts Center.
She spent most of her early 20s working for Amphibian Stage and later the Stolen Shakespeare Guild when both organizations were based inside the arts center. A running joke among Matheny’s colleagues was that she had a cot in the basement of the building, she said.
But anytime she thinks about the arts center now, she can’t help but feel emotional.
The city-owned building, located in the Cultural District, closed its doors to the public last December as the property is in need of roughly $30 million in repairs. A 2022 assessment found the center faces problems with its plumbing, electrical and mechanical infrastructure.
Although the closure has felt like a death in the family, Matheny said, the actor is fighting to restore the building as a central part of the Fort Worth arts community.
Matheny was one of nearly 30 local artists and arts leaders who gathered at Amphibian Stage in the Near Southside Nov. 25 to discuss the history of the building and ways to advocate for its future.
Wesley Kirk, a longtime advocate for the arts center, led the meeting to strategize talking points to bring forth to council members during the city’s last public comment meeting of the year at 5 p.m. Dec. 2.
“We need to be the first people that (City Council) hears from,” he said. “They have to ask the arts community what we need and want for the building.”
The gathering came on the heels of Fort Worth officials confirming that the city’s property management department did not move forward with leasing the community arts center to Texas Christian University.
The university was exploring the center as a temporary site when the school’s Ed Landreth Hall undergoes renovations next year. Fort Worth management decided not to proceed after a review of longer-term impacts and questions about the condition of the building, city officials said.
TCU spokesperson Greg Staley declined to comment on the artists’ advocacy efforts and whether the university would revisit Fort Worth’s property management department for a new lease proposal.
“We are in no discussions to utilize this space,” he said via email.
Chief city spokesperson Sana Syed did not respond to a request for comment.
Kirk said his top priority is getting TCU to temporarily occupy and renovate the building to prevent further deterioration as city management works out a long-term plan for the property. The building’s closure has left a gap for local emerging artists, he added.
“TCU would benefit, the city would benefit. It literally solves so many problems,” he said. “That buys us time to get the community arts center back the way that we need it.”
Some advocates at the Nov. 25 meeting said public speakers should emphasize the historical value of the center since the building opened in 1954.
Others noted that the building’s size should be a key point since other Fort Worth arts spaces don’t have the same amount of amenities. The center featured nine galleries and two theaters, including the 468-seat W.E. Scott Theatre.
Arts Fort Worth board chair Megan Henderson agreed with all the priorities, noting that all advocates preparing to speak at public comment should carry a unified message across their three-minute presentations.
The arts organization managed the building for over two decades before determining that repairs were too significant and continuing operations was not financially sustainable.
“If we are showing up with a unified voice, you may have a different interpretation of how to convey the message, but the actual message itself needs to be something where there’s some synergy,” Henderson said.
David Moreno is the arts and culture reporter for the Fort Worth Report. Contact him at david.moreno@fortworthreport.org or @davidmreports.
At the Fort Worth Report, news decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here.
This article first appeared on Fort Worth Report and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.