Cindy Salem, representing the Denison Arts Council, told the Main Street Advisory Board the council intends to apply to expand the city’s Cultural Arts District to include additional downtown and park-adjacent properties.

Salem said the Arts Council, which serves as the sponsor or administrator of Denison’s Cultural Arts District created in 2009, is proposing a modest east and south expansion so the district would include Forest Park and the Eisenhower Birthplace area. “The Arts District itself's boundaries were also set in 2009 … over the ensuing years, a few things have developed that made us think that we should at least look into the potential of expanding the Cultural Arts District so that it includes some key areas that would be to our advantage,” Salem said.

The proposal’s supporters said inclusion matters because certain events and many Texas Commission on the Arts (TCA) funding opportunities are limited to organizations and activities physically inside a designated Cultural Arts District. Salem summarized the procedural steps she plans to follow: the Arts Council will (1) discuss proposed boundaries with Main Street staff and the Main Street Advisory Board, (2) hold a stakeholder meeting hosted by Main Street, (3) hold a public meeting (the Denison Arts Council plans to use its regular monthly public meeting for that step), and (4) have the Arts Council board vote to submit the application. Salem said the directors plan to vote in September and then submit paperwork to the TCA.

Board members discussed specific streets and landmarks that the expansion would include and excluded (for example, the railroad inventory and Frontier Village cannot be included because the district must be contiguous). Board members suggested modest westward and southward adjustments so the footprint would cover additional blocks of Main Street and the 700 block park area. Salem said the proposal is intentionally conservative compared with some larger districts in peer cities.

Salem noted the TCA application asks applicants to explain the why and how of a proposed boundary change and to demonstrate stakeholder outreach and public notice. She said the Arts Council will advertise the proposed boundary changes and document that outreach for the TCA application. “The other part is informing stakeholders about what you're planning to do as a cultural arts district,” she said. Public meetings and a stakeholders meeting are planned in August, with the Arts Council board vote in September.

Board members raised minor drafting questions about specific streets and blocks, and several supported the inclusion of Forest Park because of public art and event activity there. No formal vote on the boundary proposal occurred at the Main Street meeting; Salem characterized the board discussion as part of the stakeholder outreach required for the TCA application.