“This is something that absolutely has to happen”: Gainesville City Commission discusses path forward for Cultural Arts Center
BY JENNIFER CABRERA
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – At their March 7 Regular Meeting, the Gainesville City Commission discussed a feasibility study that was conducted for a proposed Cultural Arts Center in East Gainesville.
AMS Planning and Research, a consultant hired by the City, said they were unable to find a suitable building for a Cultural Arts Center; specifically, regarding the Duval Early Learning Center building, which has previously been discussed as possible site, “the school district, with changed administration, has begun to think about reuse of that building in a way that restricted its availability to us.” The consultant recommended partnering with other organizations and using existing facilities in the community to provide arts programming.
“So we think… that not finding a building,… while disappointing, is not the end of the project”
The consultant summarized, “We think we have an opportunity in various facilities throughout the community that Parks and Rec already operates or has access to, to introduce programs of all kinds – theater, music, even gallery and movie programming, the opportunity to do poetry reading, arts and culture workshops, and classes that can be used to… test and explore… So we think, in sum, that not finding a building that’s sort of waiting there for us to take it over, while disappointing, is not the end of the project.” The consultant specifically recommended partnering with music teachers and music programs in local schools.
“Please keep in mind that currently there is no allocated funding for a Cultural Arts Center”
Roxana Gonzalez, Parks, Recreation and Cultural Affairs Director for the City, said the department has taken steps to increase arts programming at different locations, and “we also want you to please keep in mind that currently there is no allocated funding for a Cultural Arts Center. And if the Commission chooses to move forward with that, we kind of need to discuss that. And that there is also not a current location for the venue.”
Duncan-Walker: “Duval is not off the table”
After the presentation, Commissioner Desmon Duncan-Walker said she believed the situation with Duval “has evolved, and it continues to evolve… As late as last night, I had a conversation in which the idea of doing a pilot for a Cultural Arts Center over the summer was discussed. So I will say Duval is not off the table, so to speak.” Duncan-Walker encouraged the consultant to reach out again to the school district.
Duncan-Walker said she was interested in establishing a community committee to “become the core of this work… because… we… have an amazing brain trust here in Gainesville of folks who have done this work, who want to be able to do it on a broader scale.”
Duncan-Walker reminded the Commission that she brought this forward not “just for the sake of art, which is something that is important to me. I also couch this in gun violence prevention… because we understand that the data has shown us that the arts is a deterrent… This is something that absolutely has to happen. It has to happen because we have to respond to the call of the youth in this community who are asking us for places to go.”
Saco: “I worry about… rushing… towards a summer pilot”
Commissioner Reina Saco said the presentation made her “more sad about the decision the majority of this board took on Thelma Boltin because I think if we had the information we received today, we could have used that in our planning for a better space for Thelma Boltin and have a home for significant programming… That said, I worry about… rushing… towards a summer pilot with the school board this summer, only because… I don’t know if that gives our staff enough time before the summer starts with the kids. I want whatever pilot we do to be good; I don’t want it to be rushed to meet a deadline.”
Saco supported “beefing up the offerings” and “diversifying the locations” and asked staff to collect data from participants and parents about how the programs can be improved. Gonzalez responded that her department collects significant amounts of data after each program they offer, and they evaluate each program within a week or two after the program ends.
Duncan-Walker: “While we are doing programming at various locations throughout the city,… that’s not a Cultural Arts Center”
Duncan-Walker agreed, “I don’t want anything rushed because it has to be impactful… It may not be this summer, but what I believe we need to do at a certain point is a pilot.” She reiterated her vision of the Cultural Arts Center as “a single space that youth and families and community come to, go through an entire day or an entire after-school of changing classes, experiencing the arts in their different genres and formats in a single space. That’s what the Cultural Arts Center is. While we are doing programming at various locations throughout the city,… that’s not a Cultural Arts Center. The Center is the single space… This is not going to happen overnight; the Center will probably come after all of us are off of this Commission. But a community organization that becomes a stakeholder in this right now will be probably the most consistent thing about this… As I think about the summer that is rapidly approaching, I get nervous, so I am glad that we’ll have some stuff for them to do, but I also am planning for a future, and we have to begin somewhere.”
Commissioner Cynthia Chestnut asked whether Parks and Recreation could pull all the programs together and “market them as a brochure for summer… And then at the end of the summer, once we’ve collected that data, you could… perhaps begin conversations with other interested parties to begin to build the base for next year.”
Mayor Harvey Ward said, “I think branding is exceedingly important for this; not having a sense of what we do keeps us from knowing what we should do next… But I also understand the importance of having a Center.”
Commissioner Ed Book said, “We can’t stop visioning and planning for something because we don’t want to be having the same conversation in three years, based on all the information that’s already been gathered from the consultants… We do need to continue moving, even if we don’t have the money today.”
Ward agreed, “We don’t have money today… and we don’t know what next year is gonna look like, either.”
Commissioner Bryan Eastman said that projects like a Cultural Arts Center are “long-term things that happen over the course of multiple Commissions.”
Next step: a community committee
Duncan-Walker asked Gonzalez about the best way to create a community committee, and Gonzalez said the best way would be for a community organization to create it, and then she would send a staff member to the meetings to gather input. Duncan-Walker said the community committee could “take it from this point, bring in and work alongside staff, and we’ll just go from there.”
Wow. Duncan-Walker was at a meeting!!
It would have been hard to miss her…if you get my drift?
Is she the fat one?
“we also want you to please keep in mind that currently there is no allocated funding for a Cultural Arts Center.”
Don’t see that as a stumbling block for this to move forward, based on the commissions comments. Which, would be fine, if they say that they are going to cut X, Y, or Z to fund this. Not everything can be a priority and a, to quote” absolutely has to happen” item. How is this going to be paid for?
J,
We ain’t worried about funding. After all, our citizens are the ones who will pay for this when we raise their taxes to keep funding our pet projects.
That does indeed sound like something a miserable tightie rightie would say, lol.
If you’re referring to the implication that those whose politics lean right are fiscally responsible, I would agree with you.
What would be more important is having classes for parents on how to raise your children. I know this is small percentage of population, but if it helps only a few it is worth it.
Great point, J
OH BOY MORE TAX $$$$$$
The city is Baroque….therefore they will have no Monet…
I don’t believe anyone can say Commissioner Duncan-Walker’s heart isn’t in the right place. However, where are we going to get the money? Second, being closer in age and being a parent, I understand our youth are very interested in content creation. Repeatedly describing this as “the arts” is going go over their heads. Something like a “content creator camp” would fit their generation. That’s my liberal take. My conservative take is: if it does make sense to do any of this, we blew it by paying a consultant $100K just to make a few phone calls and come back with a presentation on what we already knew.
Commissioner Duncan-Walker’s heart isn’t in the right place.
This is an obvious vanity project driven by her desire to leave behind the “Desmond Duncan-Walker Cultural Arts Center” as her legacy. Meanwhile even her fellow commissioners are stepping out of the frame because they know it’s not happening.
You are correct about the consultant fees. We might as well elect the consultants since apparently commissioners have no skillset of their own besides treating $400/hr consultants like their personal assistants.
Are the roads fixed?
Well….the Eastside still might be a ‘food desert’ however, let them eat art so they can become cultured and refined in their hood rat ways.
Personally, I believe in this project but to be honest, the city commission never has. Talk is not cheap, $100k? We’ve had plenty of community pilot programs for years. The city commission has done nothing to bring this vision forward. Claw back the totally wasted BRASTAX expenditure that you spent on after the fact criminal activity that was already available to GPD from multiple sources in the state. EARLY INTERVENTION is key to helping the youth. We’ve already had discussions for years and available properties wasted into decay. Nothing worthy is coming to realty from this Commission’s continued fantasy world-speak. SAIEW…
There are at least a dozen states where the customer has a choice of electric company. When the bill comes there is a charge for the electricity and another charge for the distribution of it.
@lou — Not everyone who lives on the east side of town is a “hood rat” as you call them. A lot of us are responsible and educated with full-time jobs and homes that we own. We pay taxes, too. Our only “crime” is being the working poor.
According to information from datausa, “28.5% of the population for whom poverty status is determined in Gainesville, FL (36.1k out of 126k people) live below the poverty line, a number that is higher than the national average of 12.6%. The largest demographic living in poverty are Females 18 – 24, followed by Males 18 – 24 and then Females 25 – 34.
“The most common racial or ethnic group living below the poverty line in Gainesville, FL is WHITE, followed by Black and Hispanic.” (I added the caps on White).
Because we’re a college town, and thinking logically is forbidden. And we’re a nest of lawyers and judges and bail bondsmen and homeless/addict NGOs, all working in tandem to exploit the demerits of a college town on the poor or degreed hapless 🤡👹💩🥺
If it’s true that more whites are below the poverty line than blacks in Gainesville, then the East-side needs to stop using poverty as the reason for their murderous violence!
The City is in an active Charlie Foxtrot with their mismanagement of funds and entanglement with GRU. They have the brilliant idea to put a big ticket item such as a Cultural Community Center on their “wish list”? So much so that they are already forming citizen committees?
Parks and Rec is saying “umm…hello, there is no money”. The Commission just keeps talking and planning.
There is TB McPherson and the MLK Building on the Eastside for these pilot programs. Problem solved.
Too many drive by’s there? Oh…perhaps there is a bigger issue. Maybe focus and put funds towards those issues. Make Gainesville safe again so people will want to enjoy a Cultural Community Center and not fear it becoming the next crime scene.
This is really all Duncan-Walker – she wants it as her legacy. The other commissioners are making vague comments of agreement as long as they don’t have to actually DO anything because they don’t want to alienate her in case they need her vote in the future for THEIR pet projects.
Yep. Without my knowing the motives on this particular issue, what you’ve described is the sausage making of nearly all legislative actions. At least there is a bit of back and forth/debate in the county meetings on some matters before them though imo.
Yep, if you ain’t got no money take your broke a$$ home Gainesville
This happens every major election year. To distract the hapless 90% loyal D voters.
It’s too bad her natural inclination isn’t to create jobs “to give people something to do.” That implies people should be industrious and want to work, but that goes against her sanctimonious grievance/victimhood view of the world. I’m sure she thinks “Slaves used to work hard!” (So we shouldn’t.) That’s the road to nowhere.
Feckless, Wasteful, Commission trying to push a lame agenda. Fix the roads and train your constituents how to navigate round about and put their guns down.
Hey Gainesville FYI you were too woke and now your broke. Fails – Homeless ended in 10 years, biomass, self driving buses, downtown revitalization.
They got a new library branch, and kids tried burning it down recently. They have more churches per capita as well.
Why do Dems keep trying to shift blame everywhere else?
Just stop worshipping Caesar. Problem solved.
Let me provide some help to the City idiots since they obviously don’t know the difference between “need” and “want.”
The word “want” is commonly used as a verb meaning “to wish for” or “to crave, desire.” When used as a noun, “want” is used to mean “something desired.” The word “want” typically implies that a person really desires something, but that thing isn’t essential.
The word “need” is commonly used as a verb to mean “to require” and as a noun to mean “a requirement” or an “urgent want.” The word “need” often implies that someone desires something that is essential or something they view as a necessity.
Obviously the City Clowns have misconstrued the two. Here’s a better example: Some of us want the City Clowns to drive over a bridge.
On the other hand, the City itself needs these idiots to move, or be kicked out of office for the good of the residents and the city as a whole.
They’ve caused enough problems during their terms in office.
Maybe they can put it in one of the bus bays at the Corrine Brown Downtown Bus Monument Facility? 🤔