CATHEDRAL ARTS OF DALLAS

Cathedrals, temples, and mosques have been awe-inspiring structures at the heart of great cities for centuries, traditionally including spaces for the arts. These landmarks often provide venues for composers, visual artists, performers, speakers and dramatists to engage, entertain, display, and inspire their communities. This ancient practice continues today as a celebration of human creativity at 5100 Ross Avenue in Dallas, the home of historic St. Matthew's Cathedral. Founded in 2011 as St. Matthew's Cathedral Arts, Cathedral Arts of Dallas is now an independent nonprofit center for the performing and visual arts, bringing discovery, inspiration and community to an extraordinarily diverse Old East Dallas neighborhood. We're located one mile from the nation's largest Arts District, in an area of rapidly changing demographics and development. Near Downtown Dallas, Fair Park, Deep Ellum, the Swiss Avenue Historic District, Lower Greenville, White Rock Lake, Uptown Dallas, and the Park Cities, Cathedral Arts resides on a beautiful campus, first completed in 1889. The cathedral complex at 5100 Ross Avenue has undergone major development, including MAA Cathedral Arts (named in honor of Cathedral Arts by Dallas' Episcopal Bishop), adjacent apartment buildings with covered parking, positioning Cathedral Arts for significant growth. Cathedral Arts of Dallas presents an annual season of world-class arts programming at St. Matthew's Cathedral. In addition to  donor-advised funds at the Communities Foundation of Texas and the annual North Texas Giving Day initiative, our primary financial and volunteer support comes from an engaged community of patrons across the Metroplex. Cathedral Arts shares superb examples of the performing and visual arts with the entire community, regardless of the ability to pay. In keeping with its mission, Cathedral Arts events are open to the public at no charge.

Our Needs

To underwrite an annual season of free public events, Cathedral Arts pursues funding suited to its unique situation in a historic building serving a multi-cultural community with a broad range of socio-economic demographics. Partnerships with professional artists and arts organizations are key to Cathedral Arts' continuing success, providing fine performing and visual artists with appropriate compensation, and access to a superb arts venue. Sustained administrative support is key to the proper functioning of Cathedral Arts. In addition to identifying volunteer hours to support the planning and execution of Cathedral Arts events, approximately 1,500 hours of skilled contract labor must be budgeted annually to ensure success in the critical areas of administration/operations, website management, fund development, grants, marketing, media, and communications.