Article by by Dang Le from Fort Worth Report
Just blocks from Frost Tower Fort Worth, ballet, opera and symphonic music share a stage at Bass Performance Hall. Nearby, Jubilee and Circle theaters pair productions with arts education. Galleries along Houston Street showcase local artists’ work.
That cultural life isn’t just for entertainment, said Jill Caughron, interim executive director of Texas Ballet Theater. It draws tourists and provides a thriving culture to attract employers, and sustaining them requires support that arts organizations cannot always count on.
“The primary thing is, you know, our funding is just unpredictable,” Caughron said.
At the Fort Worth Report 2026 Growth Summit on Oct. 22 inside Frost Tower, arts leaders called for stronger city support as Fort Worth grows. Their concerns extended beyond the ability to put on the next performance or exhibition but more so to the less visible work of reliable funding and a partner inside City Hall to help coordinate programs, connect organizations with resources and reach more residents.
Fort Worth is the only city among the nation’s 10 largest without a dedicated arts and cultural department or office. It contracts with nonprofit Arts Fort Worth to manage public art and administer grants. The roughly $1.59 million agreement for fiscal 2027 includes about $928,000 for competitive grants.
A dedicated department could help coordinate that support and make existing funding more effective, and a city with Fort Worth’s size, complexity, ambition and growth trajectory deserves one, said Wesley Gentle, executive director of Arts Fort Worth.
“It’s not just about the number of dollars, the per capita spending,” Gentle said. “It’s about how those dollars are deployed and what problems they’re trying to solve.” Read full article from Fort Worth report here…