Arts Commission joins call for bond money to replace Dougherty Arts Center

The Arts Commission wants City Council to commit to including funding for a new Dougherty Arts Center in the city’s next bond package, likely to go before voters in 2026.

At its most recent meeting, the commission unanimously approved the recommendation proposed by the Friends of the Dougherty Arts Center advocacy group that has been working for more than a decade to secure funding to replace the badly deteriorating facility. The recommendation calls for $30 million that would be added to the roughly $20 million remaining from a 2018 bond package, to cover the current projected cost of $50 million to $60 million.

The Arts Commission joins the Tourism Commission in giving recent support toward the project, which was paused by city leaders last year due to cost increases and disagreement over its design and how it should be built.

Laura Esparza, a member of the advocacy group, said the nearly 80-year-old building has averaged more than one significant maintenance issue per day over the past seven years, and several significant arts and theater programs for area children would be lost if the DAC is not replaced soon.

“​​That would mean eliminating the theater program and the galleries,” she said, noting that inflation effects from the Covid-19 pandemic and a prior Council adding an underground parking structure to the new site caused the costs to increase far beyond what was originally budgeted. “Covid-19 doubled the cost of construction, and alternative funding didn’t materialize because funders just didn’t have confidence in the project without clear city commitment.”

Esparza and fellow DAC advocate Lucky Lemieux said the $30 million gap is too large for a private capital campaign to cover, though once the building is paid for and under construction those donations could help pay for equipment and some programming costs at the new facility, which is proposed to be built near the ZACH Theatre.

“Once he saw that the project was stalled and that the gap was so large, it was like a nonstarter. We as a private, all-volunteer organization cannot be responsible for raising $20 million to $30 million,” Lemieux said, noting that the group wants to avoid another time-consuming and costly public engagement and design process, which has already been completed. “We need help moving forward as somebody to push this over the far side so we can get the shovels in the ground. We were so close, and we were up to permitting before things stopped, and it’s been a long labor of love.”

Using the group’s template, the commissioners opted to add data about the many thousands of adults and children who would be left unserved without a new DAC.

They also added context about the ongoing cost increases in construction, which would mean more money would be needed to replace the facility if it isn’t placed on the next bond proposal.

“I think it will be very beneficial for Council to see how it will affect the cultural ecosystem of the community and have a detrimental effect on tourism and a detrimental effect on arts,” Commissioner Gina Houston said. “The city has a history of doing a survey, figuring out what the community wants, and then it disappears into the ether and we never hear anything about it once the makeup (of City Council) changes.”

Because the DAC advocates had secured meetings with only two Council offices – Ryan Alter and Vanessa Fuentes – Chair Celina Zisman urged other commissioners to raise the issue of the center’s fate with their respective Council members. She said it would be a priority to arrange a meeting with Council Member Zo Qadri, whose district includes both the current DAC site and its planned future location.

The Austin Monitor’s work is made possible by donations from the community. Though our reporting covers donors from time to time, we are careful to keep business and editorial efforts separate while maintaining transparency. A complete list of donors is available here, and our code of ethics is explained here.

Posted In: Austin, District 9