Arts Commission sees potential in proposed cultural district framework

The Arts Commission expressed early support recently for the Economic Development Department’s plans to simplify and standardize the process for creating cultural and economic districts, with the expectation that more districts will be established and funded in the coming years.

At last month’s meeting, the commission received a presentation from Matthew Schmidt, a program manager with EDD, who discussed the cultural framework policy that has been in the works since last year that is intended to bring structure to a process that has heretofore been shaped entirely by individual City Council resolutions. The framework initiative is expected to go before Council for consideration in August.

Currently, there are four cultural districts operating within the city – the African American Cultural Arts District, 5th Street Mexican American Heritage Corridor, Red River Cultural District and South Shore Cultural District – though there is no committed funding or technical support structure to help them flourish.

“Unfortunately, there were no tools or resources behind them outside of the recognition of them … to actually resource and provide a sustaining element to see their development,” Schmidt said. “This policy is hopefully trying to solve some of those gaps in their development process.”

The Souly Austin program was created in 2014 to help support neighborhood merchant associations that could potentially serve as stepping stones to cultural districts. Schmidt said the $362,500 annual budget doesn’t allow Souly Austin to provide enough support to the six recognized organizations.

By better supporting compact areas of culture and commerce throughout the city – typically ranging from a quarter mile to just under 2 miles in size – Schmidt said EDD expects districts established under the new framework would create more impact in their communities by strengthening economic and cultural bonds. To continue with piecemeal support and funding, he said, would discourage participation from the local business and community leaders needed to make the districts viable.

“Without a policy, there is just unfunded Council actions. With the current process we have of Council actions of designation and no supporting tools – that’s not a sustainable way of supporting our districts,” he said. “We continue to run into hurdles of trying to support and implement projects specific to those areas to see them thrive.”

Commissioner Acia Gray suggested Schmidt and EDD staff include artists and other cultural leaders in the process of structuring the framework. She also said in addition to supporting new districts, City Council will need to make a commitment to supporting existing cultural districts that have experienced ongoing uncertainty on their annual funding and other resources.

“It seems like the city itself has big plans and has for many decades about the things we all need to be doing, and it seems that for whatever reason, our city never can step up to see things through,” she said.

Regarding a question on how the new districts would interact with Texas Commission on the Arts cultural districts, Schmidt said the city is working to challenge some of the rigid requirements needed to achieve state-level designations and the resulting funding, which in some cases are districts’ most reliable and substantial source of financial support.

Photo made available through a Creative Commons license.

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