Valley Builds a Strong Foundation for Artists
Published Jan 24, 2008
The P. David Romei Arts Center opened in the fall of 2003 and is a hub for business and community organizations.
When he left College Station to pursue new opportunities last October, Dr. P. David Romei left a piece of himself behind.
A 5,550-square-foot piece, to be exact.
Romei, the former executive director of the arts council of Brazos Valley, spent eight years working to get the area’s arts organizations together. Creating the arts council, as well as tireless efforts to raise funds for a new facility, led to its being named for him. Opened in fall 2003, the P. David Romei Arts Center now is an active hub of artists, community residents and business organizations.
The $1 million building is a study in perpetual motion. The activities of the 40 various arts organizations that comprise the council, as well as a steady stream of visitors and organizations that use the facility for meetings and special events, keep everyone involved on their toes. But more than anything, the center serves to keep the public focused on the arts, which was Romei’s goal all along.
“We’ve been very successful,” Romei says. “We were able to ensure that each of the organizations was invested in the umbrella organization, and that they are treated equitably and fairly. We made sure early on that everyone knew that there would be no favoritism, that the smaller organizations would carry equal weight with the larger ones, so everyone came on board.”
Artists can be a temperamental lot, so Romei says creating that operating model, and earning the trust of a disparate group of people, took some serious diplomacy on the part of himself and his staff.
“We are absolutely transparent in our relations with them, and we have a policy of never micromanaging one of the member groups,” he says. “It’s very easy to be the big guy who hands out the money and then says, ‘Do this, do that,’ but our hands-off policy has been very successful. If they come to us for advice we give it, but never offer it without a request.”
It doesn’t hurt that Romei is a published author and former poet laureate of the state of Texas.
“For me, the bottom line in these relationships is to always be fair. It’s the reason I very rarely go to events, just so I don’t appear to be playing favorites. I’m the business guy here.”
Next up for the Brazos Valley, Romei hopes, is a new performing arts center. And even though he won’t be around to help raise funds and be involved in the planning, he has some definite thoughts on the issues.
“Texas A&M has one, but it’s not up to date and it’s university affiliated, not community-based,” he says. “We need a $20 million, $25 million center, and I think that we’re on the way to doing that. That’ll be the next big step here for the arts.”
Story by Joe Morris
Photo by Stephen Cherry
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