Commissionors urge rethinking of "Culture in the Core" festival as city eyes ways to cut costs and grow attendance

Parks and recreation and city management staff briefed the commission March 26 on Culture in the Core, a free downtown cultural event funded through a tax increment reinvestment zone (TIRZ), and asked for advisory feedback as the city evaluates events for the coming budget cycle.

Mikaela, the assistant city manager, told commissioners the event is funded from a TIRZ placemaking fund and that the city is reviewing events as it prepares budget recommendations amid potential state revenue caps. "This is a unique one... it's wholly funded by the city, out of that increment reinvestment zone," she said, adding the event has been flat at about 1,000 attendees and costs roughly $90,000 to stage because tents, staging and site logistics drive expenses.

Staff and commissioners discussed practical constraints: the event currently sits on DART property that limits on-site sales, which forces vendors to the closed streets, increases logistics, and complicates future staging because major construction is planned in the block for late 2026. Mikaela said the city may need to move the event or rethink the layout next year.

Commissioners offered a range of recommendations to increase appeal and lower per-person cost, including more distinctive branding (calling it a festival, adding a clarifying tagline), curated food sampling or a culinary "taste" format, targeted digital channels (commissioners suggested Reddit and local influencer pages), evening hours to mitigate heat, stronger outreach through school groups and employer ERGs, and forming a community-driven planning committee to broaden vendor and performer recruitment.

Commissioners also debated whether to charge vendors or seek sponsorships to offset costs; staff said the performers have not been paid historically and that site infrastructure drives the budget. Kayla Johnson, the city placemaking manager, said vendor selection is application-based with proactive outreach to cultural organizations and that staff is exploring options to increase diversity of food and performances.

The commission emphasized local representation in food and performances and suggested low-cost engagement features such as a public vote for favorite vendor/performance, youth participation from schools and sampling punch-cards to entice attendees to try multiple options.

Staff said they will take the commissioneedback to the city manager and council as part of their event review and budget planning and will study changes to increase attendance while keeping the eventost-effective.