by Executive Director Greg Busceme, Sr.

I want to go on a nostalgic journey of the early days of TASI. From the start, even though we had a few staunch supporters, The Studio was struggling to make ends meet. We needed some way we could acquire downtown property to get a larger facility. We approached the city and presented our ideas and need for funding but were met with ambivalence. I believe the city felt we were not going to amount to anything and,  I later found, believed they had better prospects in the future with a “Science Fiction Fantasy Museum”. This was an idea of a local artist, and the pitch was movie sets from Frankenstein and other classic space age and fantasy movies as well as exhibitions of related art and presentations by famous movie people. At this time, The Studio had already been around for three or four years and had a decent following, regular art shows, education programs, outreach at every city event, and working artists in the facility. In contrast, SFFM had a great poster (that can still be viewed) but little else. Public relations and big promises were touted as if the museum existed. This smoke and mirrors trick had the city council convinced this would be their ticket to tourism heaven. $40,000 was handed to the promoter of SFFM but after a year, nothing happened. Years later I read where the SFFM was supposedly coming to Houston but, ultimately, he failed them too. I again went to council and noted that we were still here doing the things we said we would do and maybe we could get $40,000 for what we have accomplished and to insure we could continue our mission on a larger scale in a bigger facility. We were met with ‘We won’t make that mistake again!’

This year, Downtown Beaumont Cultural Arts District (DBCAD) handed over countless hours of effort and resources to Artspace for “feasibility studies”. I understand that the goal of the city in that project was to have living spaces to populate downtown, but where is the infrastructure to support those tenants? Isn’t providing living spaces the job of the Housing Authority and not that of art and culture? If there were artists that needed facilities beyond what is offered by Artspace’s apartments, TASI would be hard pressed to provide additional studios because we are at capacity and have no space available. TASI has maintained full studios for the past ten years. There is always someone ready to occupy a studio immediately if not sooner. If TASI had more studio space, I am confident we could offer that space to artists from across the country who would happily be a part of this community.

DBCAD was lured by an entity that offered more than they intended to give and, yes, they did it again! They took the bait. TASI does not have bait! What TASI does have is a legitimate 501(c)(3) public artists organization that purchased our building at fair market value and the highest interest balloon loan the bank could offer. We recently purchased an additional facility with a donation from the seller and have a good loan from Neches FCU. We are not waiting for a handout. We are contributing to the development and growth of Downtown Beaumont as we have been since our inception in 1983. We do want to thank Community Development Block Grants, Southeast Texas Arts Council (who has given us funding since 1986, their first year and our third) and local private foundations. These funders saw our vision, supported our efforts, gave us guidance, and continue to foster a better and more functional organization. Maybe it is time for our city to give TASI a chance, too.