On Tuesday, August 13, 2024, the Lubbock City Council voted to reinstate $5,000 of funding from the originally recommended $25,600 to support First Friday Art Trail (FFAT).
First Friday Art Trail. Photo courtesy of the Louise Hopkins Underwood Center for the Arts.
Last month the Council voted to cut the proposed $25,600 funding from FFAT over alleged LGBTQ programming. Each year, arts organizations apply for funding through the Cultural Arts Grants Program (CAGP) that is administered by Civic Lubbock Inc. (CLI). The committee that reviewed applications recommended that the Louise Hopkins Underwood Center for the Arts (LHUCA) be awarded $25,600 to support its FFAT event, which brings thousands of visitors to the cultural district each month. CLI approved the grants in June and presented its recommendations for the Council’s approval in July.
City Councilmember David Glasheen requested that the FFAT funding be removed from the overall grants program prior to approval. He alleged that in June FFAT programs, such as an exhibition titled Queering West Texas and a drag performance, “promot[ed the] LGBT agenda.” Though Councilmember and Mayor Pro Tem Christy Martinez-Garcia spoke up in support of FFAT, which takes place in the district she represents, a vote was made to cut the funding for the program without hearing from LHUCA or providing specific details about the alleged programming.
Following the decision, Lubbock community members spoke out on social media, reached out to their City Council representatives, and showed up to the August FFAT to support LHUCA and the FFAT program. Ms. Martinez-Garcia placed a resolution on the City Council’s August 13 agenda to reconsider the funding.
Prior to the meeting, Ms. Martinez-Garcia told Glasstire, “While I do not believe it will pass, I believe the public should be concerned that our dais has been compromised by partisan politics.
The information in question was obtained from social media. Further, LHUCA, who organizes the First Friday Art Trail, is being held to a different set of standards despite following the same guidelines as all the other groups that also applied for the grant funds because of false information.”
The standards Ms. Martinez-Garcia mentioned are the guidelines provided in the CAGP application, none of which indicate that LGBTQ programming is not allowed. Regarding false information, Ms. Martinez-Garcia is referring to the fact that LHUCA disputes whether or not the show in question was a drag event and explained that the performance and exhibition were held at a separate nonprofit. She added, “The FFAT draws people from all ages, districts, backgrounds, interests – and puts UNITY back into community. It is truly disheartening that biases of some have disrupted that momentum with unfortunate misinformation that could lead to a bad image of our city.”
Sharae Villanueva speaks at a Lubbock City Council meeting.
Community members showed up to voice their concerns at the August 13 City Council meeting. Citizens like Scott Cherry supported the Council’s decision to remove funding, stating, “When someone receives tax dollars in the form of a grant, you have to have accountability.” Others spoke in support of LHUCA, including former board member Patty Johnson who noted that the public has a choice about which activities to attend and spoke about the value of LHUCA to the city. Sharae Villanueva, LHUCA’s Events and Marketing Coordinator spoke about how the City funding has helped the organization to promote FFAT across Texas. She pointed to the success of the event beyond providing opportunities for local artists and musicians and enrichment to the community, but also at times serving as a catalyst for small businesses.
Toward the end of the City Council meeting Ms. Martinez-Garcia’s resolution to consider funding for security, transportation, and general marketing of FFAT, which is what the $25,600 was initially intended to support, was addressed. She proposed that the funding be reinstated fully and without restriction.
Mr. Glasheen countered, “I’ll say to award this grant without any restrictions is actually worse than the first time it was proposed to us because this is really not even just an LGBTQ issue. It’s about a broader question about what are some common sense restrictions on the types of expression that should be supported or promoted by tax dollars. There are broad categories that are sexual, political, violent, other controversial expression that doesn’t need to be supported or amplified by tax dollars. Everyone has a constitutional right to express themselves, LHUCA has the right to continue this programming without public tax dollars and it may give them the freedom that they would prefer to have the full range of what they consider to be appropriate expression.”
Ms. Martinez-Garcia pointed to the issue that decisions were made based on misinformation and that LHUCA is being held to different standards than the other organizations that received funding.
Mr. Glasheen pushed back recounting other issues related to improper use of tax dollars. He stated that at the April FFAT, the venue Rock, Paper, Shears, a salon and gallery, had an advertisement that promoted a mayoral candidate and that a vendor set up at that venue advertised that a percentage of its proceeds would go toward the marijuana legalization movement. He then indicated that taxpayer dollars supporting transportation and marketing related to FFAT is a problem if vendors and venues are engaging in these types of activities.
Mayor Mark W. McBrayer stated that artists are free to express themselves, however, they cannot expect taxpayer money to support “everything and anything they do.” He also indicated that because FFAT has many venues it becomes harder for LHUCA to “police” the venues and to “know what’s truly going on.” He went on to say, “I don’t mind political things being done at LHUCA, just not on that schedule of events that we, as taxpayers, pay for. People who want to do things of a sexual nature, if they appropriately card people at the door or tell people this is for this age or not, fine if they want to do that, but not during the FFAT.”
Ms. Martinez-Garcia went back to the argument that LHUCA followed the guidelines provided and uses the grant money to support security, advertising, and transportation. She said, “It’s just not fair that we are going backwards and creating a whole new set of rules just because we didn’t like something. When I say no conditions, moving forward we can create conditions, but as of now, these folks were evaluated on conditions they had to meet and fill and now all of a sudden we are creating a whole new set of standards for them. And it’s just not fair. We need to be fair and that is the bottom line.”
A vote taken on Ms. Martinez-Garcia’s motion to fully reinstate funds without restriction did not pass, though three of the seven Council members voted in favor of it. Then Councilmember Tim Collins brought another motion to reinstate partial funds, restricted to use for security and transportation, for a total of $20,000 (the originally budgeted portion of the overall grant that would have gone to these categories). He noted that this would be similar to what the City does to support football games and other athletic events to provide public safety. Mr. Glasheen stated that this still did not address the lack of oversight by LHUCA in regard to the events taking place during FFAT. A vote was taken and also failed 4 to 3.
Ultimately, the Mayor proposed that security funding for this year be reinstated, “because of the temperature that has been increased, I’m concerned about how things might play out at FFAT and I’m a little concerned about our responsibility to them for that.” This final motion was to provide a $5,000 grant to LHUCA for security at FFAT. The vote passed 4 to 3.
On Wednesday, August 14, LHUCA issued the following statement regarding the funding decision: “While the Lubbock City Council’s decision not to fully reinstate funding was disappointing, LHUCA will continue its mission of serving our community and is grateful that a revised resolution passed to help fund security at First Friday Art Trail. We remain hopeful that all grant recipients from Civic Lubbock, Inc. can move forward together and that our City Council and Mayor will value the First Friday Art Trail as much as our supporters do.”
Learn more about FFAT via LHUCA’s website.
