The City of Dallas is set to help facilitate LGBT pride parades, according to the newly passed budget.
The Dallas City Council unanimously passed a roughly $5 billion budget last week. The budget states that the Office of Arts and Culture will boost “cultural equity” by supporting LGBT pride and race-based community events.
One of the budget’s goals for the Office of Arts and Culture is to “Increase support for cultural equity through facilitating cultural celebrations throughout the year (e.g., Black History Month, Hispanic Heritage Month, Indigenous People’s Month, Pride, Women’s History Month, Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month).”
Ashley Guevara, a senior public information officer for the City, emphasized the importance of local leaders collaborating to host these cultural events.
“The Office of Arts and Culture (OAC) mission is to support and grow a sustainable cultural ecosystem that ensures all residents and visitors have opportunities to experience arts and culture throughout the city,” she told The Dallas Express.
“The work of the OAC is also guided by the Cultural Equity Statement and Priorities (Equity, Diversity, Space, Support for Artists, Sustainable Arts Ecosystem, and Communication) as outlined in the Dallas Cultural Plan that was unanimously adopted by Dallas City Council in November 2018,” Guevara continued.
Guevara touted the City’s support for LGBT pride events this year. The festivities included drag queens, “trans services,” vulgar merchandise, and all-ages events, as previously reported by DX.
Dallas’ fiscal year 2024-2025 budget cut Office of Equity and Inclusion funds by more than a quarter. Still, it emphasized the importance of working towards equity across the City, as previously reported by DX.
Part of this effort is the “Budgeting for Equity” program, which “aids departments in integrating equity into their budget decision-making processes by asking them to analyze demographic data and identify potential disparities in operations or service provisions based on race, ethnicity, or socioeconomic status,” according to the budget.
The Budgeting for Equity program’s goal is to “Increase [the] percentage of cultural services funding to historically disadvantaged or ALAANA (African, Latinx, Asian, Arab, Native American) artists & organizations to 37 percent.” The budget states that the percentage from the previous year was forecasted at 34%.
The OAC is set to receive $20.6 million in the new budget, roughly three-fourths of which will be directed toward the cultural venues it operates.
These venues include Moody Performance Hall, Majestic Theatre, Bath House Cultural Center, Latino Cultural Center, Oak Cliff Cultural Center, South Dallas Cultural Center, and Juanita Craft Civil Rights House.