A cultural revolution in Dallas

[KB0679]

Big D’s Culture Game
Can extravagant, cutting-edge art and architecture transform Dallas?
Michael May | January 8, 2010

Dallas has long been seen as a city (and metro area) rich with money but poor on quality of life. Downtown is full of colossal office buildings, huge parking garages and one-way streets that whisk office workers in and back out to the suburbs as efficiently as possible. But Dallas has always strived to be a world-class destination, and its leaders have looked to great architecture and art to make that a reality since 1890, when the city spent $300,000, then an outrageous sum, on a courthouse in the middle of downtown. It showed that Dallas was leaving its Wild West reputation behind.

Nowadays Big D has a collection of modern buildings by famous architects to rival that of any metropolis. Even so, this has been a monumental year for Dallas architecture. Two mammoth projects were recently unveiled that would seem to have little in common: the AT&T Performing Arts Center in the heart of downtown, and a brand-new stadium for the Dallas Cowboys in suburban Arlington. The two have different purposes, to be sure. But with both, Dallas is betting that great art and architecture will create an experience that will further transform its reputation in the 21st century.

[jtk1519]

I expect in the coming years the Woodall Rogers Deck Park and Perot Museum of Nature and Science to have a similar impact.

[bobdreamz]

the article seemed more concerned with the art at the football stadium than what was happening downtown. Football fans don't care about seeing art at a game hence this comment:
“Is that art? Looks like a bunch of painting,” Smith said. “I don’t have an opinion about it because I just don’t care.”
anyways congrats to Dallas on their new Opera house.

[BTinSF]

I actually clicked through to the article and read with interest because I'm as much an opera fan as a building fan. The opera house is beautiful but it didn't say much about who will be performing therein. Since another Texas city, Houston, has long cornered the market for world-class opera in that neck of the woods, it's hard to image Dallas joining the big leagues even with a gorgeous house. By spending enough money they might do it but the ticket price (several times $20) mentioned in the article isn't much in the world of opera and they would have to be nearly unique in that world by raising large sums from donors for operating expenses as well as the building to buy their way into the top rank. Meanwhile, they can probably hire some big name soloists to give concert performances that'll please the wealthy donors (in San Francisco, those people attend on Tuesday evening and are often spotted asleep in their boxes during performances). Real opera fans who want to see full productions might have to wait a while as evolution, not revolution, takes its course.

[BTinSF]

I took a look at the Dallas Opera web site. As expected, they are doing a compact season of 5 operas (the nation's older companies do something like 10) but with some excellent (and well-known) performers. The operas are a mix of popular Italian favorites (Otello, Madama Butterfly), Mozart fluff (Cosi fan Tutti) and bit of experimentation (a new piece: Moby Dick). The prices don't seem at all high--they were advertising 4 operas for a low as $75 (probably in some corner of some balcony)--SF gets $96 for the cheapest 5-opera series ("balcony side") and $744 for the same series in the good seats (orchestra, Grand Tier).

All in all, I'd have to applaud a good start but the revolution awaits the challenge of stuff like Wagner and the Russians. That may be more a question of whether Dallas audiences are ready than whether the company is.

[dktshb]

The new stadium is really cool inside but as the article said it is an hour out in suburbia with no transit in the middle of a sprawling parking lot... most stadiums are but this is nothing to trump as far as culture. Going to a game or a concert there and drinking a beer out of a plastic cup will never be a cultural experience.

[alex1]

a new football stadium with artwork is proof of a cultural awakening?

silly.

I hate articles that could pivot on some reality but instead go for the fluff.

[Jasonhouse]

I submit that the stadium is actually evidence of a cultural decline.

[Dan Denson]

I'm not sure where this author obtained his information on Dallas' reputation for quality of life. Aside from the downtown area, it's had quite a good reputation for many decades. Perhaps he meant downtown? If so, I would agree.

The "wild west" statement is so stereotypical and laughable. Perhaps the author was obsessed with the TV series Dallas?

[TexasPlaya]

Cultural revolution?

[VivaLFuego]

Originally Posted by Dan Denson

I'm not sure where this author obtained his information on Dallas' reputation for quality of life.

Well, it's been known for affordable middle-class quality of life for decades, but not really for the sort of high culture lifestyle as desired by the global elite (the fine arts, dining, cultural movements, and so forth). Fair enough to point out that the blanket term "Quality of Life" indeed can mean different things to different people.

[pj3000]

Originally Posted by Dan Denson

I'm not sure where this author obtained his information on Dallas' reputation for quality of life. Aside from the downtown area, it's had quite a good reputation for many decades. Perhaps he meant downtown? If so, I would agree.

The "wild west" statement is so stereotypical and laughable. Perhaps the author was obsessed with the TV series Dallas?

Dallas has long been known as a city devoid of the level of culture commensurate with its overall wealth. A city claiming so many millionaires (and several billionaires), it long lacked the cultural venues that smaller, less-wealthy cities did. Quality of life (whatever that really means) measures factor-in cultural attributes in their determinations. For its size, Dallas has no major universities, in size or stature. This fact plays a major role in Dallas' history of subpar cultural offerings for a city of its size and influence.

Not sure what is so "stereotypical and laughable" about the "wild west" statement. The author stated that the city was "leaving its wild west reputation behind" by constructing an architecturally significant courthouse. Back in 1892 when the "Old Red" courthouse was built, Dallas was in fact shedding its "wild west" image. Dallas was never the lawless frontier town of cowboy movies, but Doc Holliday did shoot a man or two in Dallas, you know.

I actually wish Dallas would embrace its heritage and history as an early crossroads or gateway leading to the "wild west" more.

[Dan Denson]

Originally Posted by VivaLFuego

Well, it's been known for affordable middle-class quality of life for decades, but not really for the sort of high culture lifestyle as desired by the global elite (the fine arts, dining, cultural movements, and so forth). Fair enough to point out that the blanket term "Quality of Life" indeed can mean different things to different people.

I (along with friends and business associates) over the years have many times been to performances of the symphony, opera, have had great dining experiences, and have enjoyed the fine arts scene. True, everything is relative, though.

[Dan Denson]

Originally Posted by pj3000

Dallas has long been known as a city devoid of the level of culture commensurate with its overall wealth. A city claiming so many millionaires (and several billionaires), it long lacked the cultural venues that smaller, less-wealthy cities did. Quality of life (whatever that really means) measures factor-in cultural attributes in their determinations. For its size, Dallas has no major universities, in size or stature. This fact plays a major role in Dallas' history of subpar cultural offerings for a city of its size and influence.

Not sure what is so "stereotypical and laughable" about the "wild west" statement. The author stated that the city was "leaving its wild west reputation behind" by constructing an architecturally significant courthouse. Back in 1892 when the "Old Red" courthouse was built, Dallas was in fact shedding its "wild west" image. Dallas was never the lawless frontier town of cowboy movies, but Doc Holliday did shoot a man or two in Dallas, you know.

I actually wish Dallas would embrace its heritage and history as an early crossroads or gateway leading to the "wild west" more.

No change of heart here...the author's statement was stereotypical and laughable. But thanks for the interesting history lesson. I learned something.

Does SMU not have stature among universities? I guess I thought it did.

[pj3000]

Originally Posted by Dan Denson

No change of heart here...the author's statement was stereotypical and laughable.

Does SMU not count as a prestigious university?

In your opinion... and kinda sensitive at that, if you can't see how in the context of 1890s, the author shows how Dallas was coming of age in transforming itself into a leading US city. I don't see how it is so stereotypical given that at the time what he's saying was true. But whatever, there's really no point in arguing it.

SMU is a very fine university and has a strong reputation in that region of the country. A major university or nationally-prestigious, though? No.

[Dan Denson]

Originally Posted by pj3000

In your opinion... and kinda sensitive at that, if you can't see how in the context of 1890s, the author shows how Dallas was coming of age in transforming itself into a leading US city. I don't see how it is so stereotypical given that at the time what he's saying was true. But whatever, there's really no point in arguing it.

SMU is a very fine university and has a strong reputation in that region of the country. A major university or nationally-prestigious, though? No.

Oops....I completely misread the "wild west" statement. A bit of dyslexia in this case. I thought it said 1980, not 1890. Thanks for pointing out the context. My apologies.

[pj3000]

^ Oh, okay. I thought that you might have, since the author seemed to overall be positive in tone about what Dallas has done in a relatively short period of time. I understand what you mean about "wild west" comments though. When I lived in Dallas, I got tired of so many people asking me about JR Ewing and the TV show and cowboys, etc., as if that was really what Dallas was like in the 2000s.

[BTinSF]

Originally Posted by pj3000

Dallas has long been known as a city devoid of the level of culture commensurate with its overall wealth. A city claiming so many millionaires (and several billionaires), it long lacked the cultural venues that smaller, less-wealthy cities did.

Kind of like the largest city in the Bay Area, San Jose, and maybe for the same reason: The money was too new and its owners still obsessed with accumulating more to give it away to things like "culture".

[Crawford]

IMO people are conflating cultural venues and culture.

Yes, you can build a nice building; but usually culture is defined as what lies within the building.

This isn't to say that there isn't high culture in Dallas, but Dallas has had a similarly spectacular symphony hall for 20 years, yet it doesn't have much of a symphony to fill its seats. Same goes for the art museum.

Are either even in the national Top 20?

Dallas' relative stature as a cultural center has little to do with the caliber of buildings.

I mean, Abu Dhabi is building a spectacular cultural center. Are we to assume that Abu Dhabi is now a cultural crossroads?

[BTinSF]

Originally Posted by Crawford

I mean, Abu Dhabi is building a spectacular cultural center. Are we to assume that Abu Dhabi is now a cultural crossroads?

There is a pretty good chance it may soon be. The international stars of "culture" are, after all, just people working for a living and Abu Dhabi will be able to make them offers they can hardly refuse. Just as the UAE city states can afford huge empty buildings, they can afford the best in performance art and will probably get it just for the prestige whereas most western cities, even wealthy ones like Dallas, don't provide their artistic organizations unlimited budgets. See, for example, http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000...909194642.html

Exerpt:

the financial model for orchestras has become unsustainable, with many of the best-known groups having posted red ink for several successive years. Chicago, Philadelphia, Baltimore, St. Louis, and Detroit (among many others) all have musically excellent ensembles that have experienced serious financial difficulties. Even the New York Philharmonic, one of the field's more stable operations, announced a $4.6 million deficit for 2009 on a $64.5 million budget and expects a $4 million loss in the coming year.