Related: Talk of move rattled students: Art school ‘is for Boca, not for Delray’
By Anne Geggis
A plan for having art activities in newly renovated classrooms at the Crest Theatre building continued to elude the Delray Beach City Commission in June.
Six arts organizations made proposals in May to bring art classes to the city-owned space that’s been dark for five years, but confusion ensued about how long of a run the city is prepared to offer.
At one discussion, Mayor Tom Carney said that he wanted something to start this summer and only for a short contract. Given that renovations at the Crest Theatre itself haven’t been completed, Carney said he didn’t want a multiyear contract for the classrooms, because it could potentially limit the city from engaging someone who could run activities at both the classrooms and the theater.
At the June 18 commission meeting, Carney instructed the staff to come back with some definitive numbers on what it will cost to fix the Crest Theatre itself and plans for getting activities started in the classrooms.
“We keep dancing around the numbers, we keep dancing around the issue,” Carney said. “Let’s get something definitive. What is it going to take to fix it?”
Two of the major players, Boca Raton Museum of Art and Old School Square Center for the Arts, have dropped out of consideration for running classroom activities. Other discussions have involved the Downtown Development Authority or the city Parks and Recreation Department running the classroom activities.
A June letter to the community from the Old School Square Center for the Arts provides a peek into the behind-the-scenes chaos in the efforts to enliven the building.
“On June 5th, a phone call was made to 3 of the previous applicants, requesting a proposal within seven hours; only to occupy SEGMENTS of the building and fill the classrooms just for the summer months,” the letter reads. “We declined to follow through with this last request, due to the fact that we have never been short-term thinkers.”
Gina Carter, city spokeswoman, said that the city is homing in on a possibility, although the potential for summer classes was melting away quickly.
“The commission is going to be working with the city manager to come up with a plan,” Carter said. “I can confirm that they are eager to come up with a plan to get the classrooms up and running.”
The discussion has reopened some old wounds about the previous 30-year engagement the Old School Square Center for the Arts had at the downtown center, which has been credited with making the city a draw for art lovers.
The nonprofit arts organization was instrumental in starting performances and other artistic endeavors at the former site of Delray Beach’s high and elementary schools. The old campus is the home of the theater, the Cornell Art Museum, the Fieldhouse (the former gymnasium), and an outdoor performance stage called the Pavilion.
But that run in the city-owned public facilities halted in 2021, when the City Commission ended the group’s lease amid allegations of financial mismanagement. The organization then sued the city, some commissioners personally and even some of its former board members — a suit that went away after a commission less hostile to the organization took office last year.
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