Delray Beach‘s popular Arts Garage is expanding to Pompano Beach.
The group that transformed Delray’s Old School Square Garage into a popular cultural arts hub will now attempt to duplicate that success in Pompano’s Creative Arts District at the Bailey Contemporary Arts building, right off Pompano’s main drag, Atlantic Boulevard.
The move has the creative minds behind the Arts Garage excited. But some in Delray, which funds the group, aren’t as happy with the plan. At least one commissioner is concerned that Delray is funding something that will benefit Pompano.
“There is no question of the popularity and great programs … the Arts Garage brings to the city of Delray Beach,” Commissioner Adam Frankel said. “However with over $300,000 in funding coming from Delray Beach taxpayer dollars and the fact that the Delray Beach City Commission established the Creative City Collaborative in 2006, in the interest of transparency I question why this expansion has occurred without seeking the approval from the group that established it.”
But the expansion plans don’t concern Delray Commissioner Shelly Petrolia.
“They are trying to make their organization a viable one and a lasting one,” Petrolia said. “If it means expanding their venue or their reach I don’t see how it can hurt Delray. It is important for us to see that they make it and they are doing a great job.”
City Collaborative Executive Director Alyona Ushe said the expansion allows the organization to entice artists and performers to spend additional time at both venues.
“There’s so much positive about our expansion,” Ushe said. “The focus of the organization is to be a cultural planner in the entire region.”
There is nothing stated in the organization’s original contract with Delray that prevents it from working in other cities.
The group submitted its nonprofit status to the state in 2008, aiming to strengthen Delray’s reputation as a place for cultural arts by raising public and private dollars.
Collaborative officials filed an amendment in May with several changes, including a new purpose that broadens their purview from solely promoting Delray.
Ushe said reaching beyond Delray’s art scene didn’t happen overnight. She said the nonprofit’s mission began to change long before the doors to the Arts Garage opened in 2011.
Delray officials initially formed the group in 2006 as the Creative City Collaborative to help other cultural organizations plan events, apply for grants and promote activities. Money for the group came from the city and Delray’s Community Redevelopment Organization.
The change in the group’s mission began when the economy tanked and Delray officials no longer had the money to fund nonprofits, Ushe said.
“We were supposed to be an umbrella organization,” she said. “When the economy went belly up and the city didn’t have any money, the organization sat dormant for three years. When it was reborn, the mission was recreated to where it is now.”
Currently, the group has a contract with Delray officials to buy the Arts Garage space for $2.5 million by March 2016.
Ushe said they are right on target with fundraising, but she would not say how much money the group has raised toward making the thriving space their permanent home.
The nonprofit receives $300,000 from Delray’s Community Redevelopment Agency to pay for programming. Their new contract with Pompano Beach’s Community Redevelopment Agency gives them $236,000 to cover programming costs.
Ushe said those accounts are kept separate.
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