Arts Fort Worth, the organization that administers city grants and oversees the public art program on behalf of the City of Fort Worth, has announced the elimination of the role of Director of Public Art due to budgetary constraints.
Fort Worth Community Arts Center
Earlier this year Arts Fort Worth revealed its plan to vacate the Fort Worth Community Arts Center (FWCAC), a city-owned building that the organization has operated for over 20 years. The space presented rotating exhibitions for local and regional artists, hosted performances in its black box theater, and was home to artist studios and nonprofit offices. However, the building is in need of repairs totaling $30 million and the City’s plan to redevelop the site has been stalled.
In light of ongoing building issues and without a clear plan to address the physical needs of the space, Arts Fort Worth decided to remove itself from the building and cease its exhibition programming. At the time of the decision, the Gallery Manager position held by Robert Long was eliminated. Though it has not been publicly announced, Wesley Gentle, Executive Director and President of Arts Fort Worth told Glasstire that as the organization ends its management of FWCAC, “all staff employed by the Arts Center will be laid off at different times over the remaining duration of our lease agreement with the City of Fort Worth.”
Arts Fort Worth staff, December 2024
A review of the Arts Fort Worth staff page indicates that the positions likely to be eliminated include the Director of FWCAC, held by Marla Owen; Production Manager, held by Jason Leyva; and the Facilities Team, held by Taiya McGilvray. All other positions appear to be related to the continued operations of the organization. While these upcoming layoffs have been suspected since the announcement that Arts Fort Worth would leave its building, the decision to eliminate the position of Director of Public Art, which was announced at a recent Public Art Council Meeting, came as a surprise to many.
Martha Peters, who has served in the director position for 21 years remarked, “With all we have accomplished, thanks to amazing local, national, and international artists, a multitalented team who are equally passionate about their work, scores of art commissioners representing art, design, and community viewpoints, as well City of Fort Worth elected officials and staff, I was shocked and disappointed by the decision to eliminate the Director of Public Art position and am greatly saddened that my time here is coming to an end.”
Mr. Gentle has said that the decision was a result of multiple years of the City declining Arts Fort Worth’s requests to reinstate its funding to fiscal year 2020 or 2019 amounts. He explained that the public art budget is separated into different categories with $12,894,901.62 allocated for commissioned projects, $195,760 for collection maintenance and conservation, and $505,295 for administrative costs such as compensation and operating expenses related to marketing, web hosting, mileage reimbursement, and more. The current administrative budget has been at a standstill since it was cut in FY21. In FY20 the administrative budget was $543,328 and in FY19 it was $580,717. Mr. Gentle also noted that since FY21, “Arts Fort Worth has supplemented the administrative budget with private funds” and due to rising inflation and cost of living the amount that has needed to be offset has increased annually.
Maggie Adler, independent curator and Chair of the Fort Worth Art Commission stated, “This public art staff has moved mountains with spoons for years and years with Martha Peters at the helm. They have made this city look good… I’m not blaming Arts Fort Worth for making tough decisions about how to allocate really a scandalously small amount of resources devoted to the arts. But I am mad.”
Ms. Adler went on to speak about the necessity of investing in art and culture and called on city leadership to do more. She stated, “We rely on privately established institutions like the Kimbell, the Modern, and the Carter, and private funds from philanthropists for projects such as Keith House or murals all over downtown to make us look world-class. And those individuals make us seem more invested in the arts than we have a right to claim based on limited investment of city resources… How do we maintain our status as a major city worthy of attracting growth? By investing in culture. I know I would never have moved here or thought this place was somewhere to set down roots if I hadn’t perceived this was an art loving city.”
Budgetary issues faced in Fort Worth seem to be part of a larger trend across the state. Earlier this year Houston’s City Council decreased its contract with Houston Arts Alliance (HAA) for the management of the City’s public art program from $25 million to $15 million. Last month, Laredo artists gathered at a City Council meeting to advocate for the City’s public art program, which the Council had previously considered cutting funding.
Across the state, public art programs are managed differently from city to city, with some programs run by city staff and others like Fort Worth and Houston, managed partially by a private organization. Jaime Castillo, Art in Public Places Manager for the City of Austin told Glasstire that eight full-time staff members manage the City’s collection of more than 400 public artworks. In Houston, Theresa Escobedo, the Program Manager for Civic Art is a team of one but works with liaisons in each city department, who work partially on Civic Art projects, and that other elements of the work are contracted out to third parties like HAA.
With the elimination of Martha Peters’ position, Arts Fort Worth will maintain five public art positions. When asked about other solutions considered when deciding how to manage the City approved budget and how the organization will restructure to manage the duties that Ms. Peters oversaw in her role, Mr. Gentle declined to comment.
Martha Peters
Ms. Peters, who joined Arts Fort Worth in 2003 as the inaugural Director of Public Art, helped to grow the City’s collection to more than 160 works. A statement by Arts Fort Worth noted, “[Ms. Peters] led innovative and impactful public art projects that established Fort Worth as a trailblazer in producing significant works of public art through community-driven processes… Through her advocacy and commitment to the program, she led a public process to produce the 2017 Fort Worth Public Art Master Plan update, which guided major improvements in the program and included the recommendation of four sites for large-scale “iconic” works of art.”
Ms. Peters’ last day will be December 31, 2024.
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