Arts advocates urge Fort Worth to use hotel-occupancy tax and bond funding for Community Arts Center

Wesley Kirk of Support Fort Worth Art told councilors during public comment that the city should use the May 2026 bond election and allocate hotel-occupancy tax revenue to support redevelopment of the city-owned Community Arts Center.

“Now is the perfect time to make this happen,” Kirk said, arguing that city investment would make it easier to attract private partners and that the city-owned status of the land and building means municipal leadership is necessary. He suggested using hotel-occupancy-tax revenue to help make the building financially sustainable.

Kirk noted that Fort Worth is, in his words, “the largest city in Texas that does not have any of the hotel occupancy tax go towards the arts,” and he pointed to Irving as an example that allocates hotel tax to arts programming. He urged the council to place bond funding before voters in May 2026 as seed money and to consider directing a portion of hotel-occupancy-tax receipts to arts maintenance and programming.

Kirk said the Community Arts Center lost donors and momentum after years of underinvestment and described the change as an opportunity to rebalance priorities that support Fort Worth’s arts and tourism economy. He also proposed using hotel-occupancy tax revenue to fund smaller community arts spaces elsewhere in the city.

No formal council action was taken; Kirk asked the council to consider the proposal as part of bond planning and fiscal discussions.