The phrase “third rail” in politics means an issue so hot that addressing it could be damaging to staying in office. The classic national example is Social Security.
This week, the First Friday Art Trail (FFAT) may have become a third rail of Lubbock politics. The monthly event has grown and morphed over 20 years into a big public party for tens of thousands in and around downtown Lubbock.
But an LGBTQ event that almost happened this month – and other reasons – led the City Council to pull $25,600 of public funding for FFAT. (A drag show performance was scheduled but then called off.)
Reaction has been loud:
- Three days after new councilmember David Glasheen successfully led the Council to pull the funding, Mayor Mark McBrayer released a statement saying the city has received additional information and is “hopeful we will come to an arrangement regarding funding.” McBrayer was one of five votes in favor of cutting the funding.
- The day of the Council vote, Lubbock attorney Andy Seger sent a letter and a $1,000 check to the Louise Hopkins Underwood Center for the Arts (LHUCA), saying he felt there were people who would do the same and LHUCA’s funding would be restored.
- A fundraising link posted on Facebook by LHUCA was shared 281 times. A petition on change.org earned 990 signatures by late Friday afternoon.
- In addition to the private donations, City Councilwoman Christy Martinez Garcia said she’ll bring the funding back for another vote on August 13.
- Glasheen’s father, well-known attorney Kevin Glasheen, posted on his Facebook page: “While David is my son, and does practice with our law firm, we do not direct his political decisions. David makes his own decisions based on how he thinks he can best represent Lubbock voters and taxpayers. We support David’s commitment to public service, whether we agree or disagree on any political issue. Our law firm made a significant donation to LHUCA earlier this year and was the presenting sponsor at the LHUCA gala in April. Our law firm will continue to support the arts. We will leave it to our elected officials to decide how to spend taxpayer money.”
How we got here
On the agenda for Tuesday’s Council meeting was $549,639 for Civic Lubbock Inc. grants. A line item in the grants was for LHUCA to be used on FFAT. The money comes from hotel room fees and is limited by state law to certain things like tourism or the arts.
“I try to do my best to research every agenda item that comes in front of the Council,” Glasheen said to LubbockLights.com after the Council meeting. “I looked through some of the different recipients and was just looking through the social media profile of the First Friday Art Trail.”
That’s when Glasheen found Queering West Texas (an art and block printing exhibit) and other things.
“I was very concerned that tax dollars were going to be used to promote LGBT indoctrination of our children with these ‘child friendly’ workshops,” Glasheen said.
Glasheen felt this is part of a trend in Texas where certain events to promote LGBTQ are both sexual in nature and directed toward children.
“The government doesn’t need to support political speech. The government doesn’t need to promote indoctrination of children with values that contradict our West Texas values,” Glasheen said.
“I don’t think that any of those programs that we saw promoted by the First Friday Art Trail are appropriate recipients of tax dollars. In the same way that the government is not spending money to support churches and political organizations, we don’t need to support an organization that’s promoting political and social values,” Glasheen added.
On a 5-2 vote, the council cut FFAT. Christy Martinez-Garcia and Gordon Harris were the two ‘no’ votes.
Crux of the opposition
Concerns about the vote fall into two areas:
- FFAT gives the city and businesses an economic boost.
- The city should be more inclusive.
“We need to make it open for anybody and everybody, I’m straight but I don’t hate,” Martinez-Garcia told her fellow Council members.
“I think the other part of that is today ‘LGBTQ.’ Next time it might be a Hispanic heritage event. It might be a cultural event. I mean, we’re censoring things. It’s hard for me to want to censor certain things,” she said.
Martinez-Garcia agreed there can be limits on funding. But said unless those rules were established to begin with then how could LHUCA or anyone know something was wrong.
Seger’s letter outlined FFAT’s impact since it began 20 years ago (excerpts follow):
- “It is easy to forget what downtown looked like 20 years ago. In those days and with the exception of the Depot District and a few other spaces to call downtown blighted would be charitable at best.
- “It was only through the herculean efforts of those who were dismissed at the time as wild-eyed dreamers that the tide began to turn. They had the idea that if our city would only establish an arts and cultural district, that it might breathe new life into our dilapidated downtown which was then an embarrassment.
- “Today we stand on the shoulders of those civic minded giants – people such as Louise Underwood, Margaret Talkington, Charles Adams and many others. And the cultural district they envisioned is now anchored by four great pillars, namely the LHUCA Center, the Charles Adams Studio Project, Ballet Lubbock and our gleaming Buddy Holly Hall. The Art Trail was one of their pioneering and most successful efforts. It remains so today,” the letter said.
Seger went on to say this led to downtown investment creating growth and jobs.
More from McBrayer’s Friday statement
“I, like you, enjoy the FFAT and generally think it is worthy of support,” he said.
He acknowledged LHUCA did not know about the concerns before Tuesday’s council meeting and did not have a chance to respond. The mayor is now asking people to give the council a little time.
“I simply ask that you give the City Council an opportunity to work through this in a way that provides support for the arts in Lubbock in a manner that is beneficial for our entire community,” McBrayer said.
LHUCA, ‘no reason to cut’
The city money would have been used by LHUCA for marketing, security and a few other things related to FFAT.
Civic Lubbock, Inc. issued a statement to explain that LHUCA is not responsible for each event at FFAT.
“There are 15+ venues that participate on the trail throughout downtown. Each venue provides their own programming,” said Jim Douglass, president of the board.
Lindsey Maestri, LHUCA’s executive director, declined a phone interview but did offer to answer questions by email.
“There was no reason to cut this vital funding for a beloved community event,” she said.
LubbockLights.com asked if LHUCA might resubmit the grant request.
“In short, no. There are over 10 independent venues on the trail, and they are all responsible for setting their own creative programming,” Maestri said.
LHUCA cannot promise what other participants in FFAT do. FFAT gets support from foundations, corporate sponsors, LHUCA members, and government grants.
“The majority of the funding request was set to market the event statewide and fund the free trolley at the event. A much smaller portion was earmarked for exhibitions in the LHUCA galleries and performances on the LHUCA Plaza by local bands and dance groups,” Maestri added.
Maestri said LHUCA used last year’s money to pay for local bands, a free trolley service around Downtown and statewide promotion. She said the loss of tourism might hurt.
(Terry Greenberg contributed to this article.)
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