{"id":1305,"date":"2024-11-04T15:43:57","date_gmt":"2024-11-04T15:43:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aiadallas.org\/columns\/?p=1305"},"modified":"2024-11-04T15:43:58","modified_gmt":"2024-11-04T15:43:58","slug":"the-dallas-arts-district","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aiadallas.org\/columns\/the-dallas-arts-district\/","title":{"rendered":"The Dallas Arts District"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

SETTING THE STAGE<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

For over one hundred years, Dallasites have frequented many arts institutions in the city. A concert given by a small orchestra of musicians in 1900 gave birth to the Dallas Symphony. The Dallas Public Library built an art gallery and inspired the creation of the Dallas Museum of Art. A performance by the infamous Maria Callas in 1957 opened the doors of The Dallas Opera. Shortly after, the Dallas Theater Center begins performances out of Frank Lloyd Wright\u2019s Kalita Humphreys Theater.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Looking back today, it\u2019s hard to remember when all these institutions and others, such as Booker T. Washington High School, were not located together in the Dallas Arts District<\/a>. However, the current iteration of the area is fairly new, only coming together around 2009. The idea of creating an arts district in Dallas percolated for many years. Longtime Dallas residents started talking about it as far back as the 1950s, envisioning a modern arts neighborhood to rival New York City and the cities of Europe. It was not until the Dallas Museum of Art (DMA)<\/a> built its current building on North Hartwood Street and Flora Street in the 1980s that an official arts district began to take shape. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1976, the DMA began planning a new building with more exhibition space and more conveniently located for visitors.  At the same time, the symphony, opera, and ballet were feeling the confines of their current spaces. The museum was promised three important art collections if<\/em> they could make this new building a reality. So, the board felt the heat to get this thing together. Board members pondered whether a new museum building could lead to something bigger: a whole arts neighborhood. An eight-acre site on Harwood Street was found between Ross Avenue and the Woodall Rodgers Freeway. The museum\u2019s chosen architect, Edward L. Barnes, and their consultants at Carr, Lynch Associates loved the site and began to dream up the idea of something more than just the museum.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kevin Lynch took this opportunity to start sketching what a complete arts neighborhood on this land might look like. In October of 1977, Carr and Lynch released their ideas for this portion of the Central Business District. They wanted to revitalize this section of downtown into a thriving neighborhood and connect it through the freeways to other parts of the city, such as Uptown.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Everyone got on board, including the City of Dallas.  A financial plan for the Arts District began to take shape. A key component of this plan was a bond sent to city taxpayers on June 10th, 1978. However, the bond failed, and the museum lost the option to the land. The museum scrambled and was able to buy rights but at more than double the expected price. The vision began to fall apart.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Private land developers, chiefly Trammel Crow, realized the Arts District\u2019s potential for a lucrative future. They began buying property around the area in anticipation of its development. However, this threw a wrench into the project and nearly killed it. While the DMA was able to pass a bond several years later and use their land options, the Dallas Symphony and Dallas Opera were priced out of the game. The private landowners did not hold the same vision as Carr and Lynch and were interested in developing their properties primarily for economic gain rather than in service of a thriving arts neighborhood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Dallas Symphony didn\u2019t give up. In 1981, they identified a parcel of land at Pearl Steet and Flora Street for the new symphony hall that happened to be right next to the Borden plant. Hoping to help, the current Dallas mayor, Jack Evans, called up an old friend, Eugene Sullivan. Sullivan was a chief operating officer of Borden. Sullivan and Evans met, and Borden decided to give a parcel of land to the city to facilitate the building of a new home for the symphony. The city purchased several smaller plots of land abutting the gift so that the hall could be built. In 1989, I.M. Pei\u2019s impressive Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center<\/a> was completed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two key arts institutions now had homes in the Central Business District but many of the other plots were still owned by private developers. These developers had their own plans: large buildings with large parking lots, without public spaces or a connection to the arts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meetings between the developers, the museum, symphony, and the city were attempted to re-imagine the arts district idea with all the current players. Triland Partnership was hired to coordinate this effort, and the stakeholders began meeting in earnest to discuss a new vision of the Arts District. The group established a set of design guidelines for new projects, including a plan for future buildings along Flora Street to create the heart of the District.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over the next 25 years, Dallas saw the opening of many institutions that are central to the Dallas Arts District, such as the Nasher Sculpture Center <\/a>(2003), the Winspear Opera House<\/a> (2009), the Wyly Theater<\/a> (2009), and Klyde Warren Park<\/a> (2012), as well as the integration of existing structures such as the Trammell Crow Center<\/a>, Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts<\/a>, Belo Mansion<\/a>, and the Cathedral Santuario de Guadalupe<\/a>. High-end residential, restaurants, and office spaces developed alongside these institutions and began filling out the area. Almost 50 years later, Dallas has the arts district it envisioned so long ago. While the buildings, organizations, and cultural significance that gave the Arts District its name are alive and well, the vision of a thriving neighborhood is far from realized. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

THE CURRENT STATE<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cGreat cities thrive on neighborhoods that encourage pedestrian traffic, traffic that offers many eyes to keep streets safe, and many intersecting actions to keep places interesting. This is best achieved in neighborhoods where a variety of uses\u2014from residential and recreational to office and retail\u2014create a web of interweaving activity. But on the ground, the Arts District looks like it will remain an entertainment destination.\u201d – Peter Simek, D Magazine, October 2, 2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The challenge facing the Arts District today is how to develop a living, breathing space that is integral to people\u2019s everyday lives, rather than a place to attend a performance every few months. The current configuration of residential and commercial spaces limits the area\u2019s potential by its inaccessibility and homogeneity. The solution is core to the city itself and the economically and racially diverse members of the Dallas community who live outside of the city center.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the corner of Harwood Street and Woodall Rogers Freeway, the lawn of Klyde Warren Park is filled with people of all ages, races, and income.  They are buying food, playing on the play structures, enjoying music or a movie, and just living. There is a natural flow between Dallas Museum of Art and the park. On busy days, it feels as if there is no difference between the two spaces. This is in part the nature of the thriving park and in part a result of the DMA\u2019s free admission and curated programs. Over the last ten years, the DMA has focused on Black and Latino artists in their special exhibits and permanent collections. The success of these efforts is shown in the increased diversity of visitors to the museum. The combination of affordability, relevance, and accessibility has made this corner a potential blueprint for the rest of the Dallas Arts District.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Past Harwood Street and down Flora Street, the feelings of vitality and warmth fade into a coldness; sharp and unwelcoming. Monuments designed by architectural giants – Renzo Piano, I.M Pei, Norman Foster, and Rem Koolhaas – seem unloved and underappreciated. The buildings call out to have people live, work, and play within them. They need to be seen and embraced as parts of people\u2019s everyday life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The physical challenges facing the district are not small. All the venues are aging and collectively have tens of millions of dollars of deferred maintenance piling up. Kevin Moriarty, Executive Director of the Dallas Theater Center, which collectively operates the Wyly Theatre and the Kalita Humpries, sums it up from his perspective, \u201cWhat’s happening in the buildings\u2026is that we have very important and impressive architecture, all of which are now aging and coming into a time where they need increasing amounts of investment to maintain their function and beauty. Individual organizations or people built the venues then gave the buildings to the city, relying on Dallas to maintain. The recent bond issue will help but doesn’t go nearly far enough to address all the issues.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Moriarty is referring to Proposition E<\/em>, the $75 million bond issue providing additional funding to the Dallas Arts District passed by Dallas voters as part of the massive city-wide $1.25 billion capital bond program. This money, while significant, will only patch the holes and provide Band-Aids for the most pressing needs. Russell Dyer, Senior Manager of Cultural Venues for the City of Dallas and the operator of the Moody Performance Hall, agrees with Moriarty\u2019s analysis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe city is now starting to realize how much ongoing maintenance is required for these buildings,\u201d he says. With several of the buildings at or approaching twenty years old, he\u2019s advocating for more attention to be placed on maintenance. \u201cRight now, it\u2019s an approach of \u2018don\u2019t fix it until it\u2019s broke.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dyer\u2019s insight is particularly apropos for his pride and joy, the Moody Performance Hall. Unlike the other venues in the district, the Moody does not have a resident professional company. It was built for the sole purpose of fostering small- to mid-sized community arts organizations. The Moody is the only venue to be built solely with public funds and continues to be funded by the City of Dallas. Rental fees are affordable for these groups \u2013 a major boon for them but a financial impact to the city\u2019s budget.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet with the young Moody now maturing \u2013 hitting its stride according to Dyer \u2013 one would be hard pressed to find anyone who could challenge its success. Tenants of the Moody include some of Dallas\u2019 most beloved arts organizations: TITAS Dance, Dallas Black Dance Theatre, Turtle Creek Choral, the Dallas Chamber Symphony, and many others. The success at the Moody speaks to both the need and the desire for publicly funded arts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The overwhelming 3-to-1 support for Proposition E<\/em> is encouraging and speaks to the public\u2019s interest in the vision of the Dallas Arts District finally coming into its full and greatest form.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

LOOKING AHEAD<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is no lack of enthusiasm for the future of the district among those who work there. Leading that vision is Lily Cabatu Weiss, the energetic Executive Director of the Dallas Arts District. She agrees that the future of the arts must be public and local. \u201cAmerican arts don’t have a way forward without American cities,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Weiss and her team have outlined their vision for the District through the Connect Master Plan, led by the design team of NBBJ Architects and the landscape architecture firm MickelsonStudio. The five primary strategies are:<\/p>\n\n\n\n