The Dorham Center

The Kenny Dorham Center – Project Overview

OVERVIEW

The Dorham Center, given the proposed East 11th Street location, lies within the East Austin Urban Renewal District, is compatible with land-use zoning requirements, and fits the City’s definition for mixed-use development.

The aspect that sets this development apart from any other in Austin is that all of the available spaces will be dedicated to arts, culture, and the creative industries. Our proposal calls for a dedicated carve-out earmarked for artist/creatives’ residences, consistent with the City's goal of increasing creative synergy.

HISTORY

Our sister organization - local non-profit DiverseArts Culture Works - has operated Kenny Dorham’s Backyard Performance Park and Mural Gallery on this property since 2004. Celebrating nearly 20 years of regular programming, KD's Backyard is the longest running African American-run live music venue in Central East Austin still in existence. This commercial, mixed-use development lies east of Interstate 35 on City-owned property, and is publicly accessible.

The Dorham Center concept was the blueprint for the September 2021 Council Resolution regarding the African American Cultural Heritage District and Creative Spaces Cultural Trust. Our group authored the resolution.

Briefly stated, the Dorham Center addresses each point of the Joint Recommendations for Cultural Spaces Bond Package submitted by the Art and Music Commissions, and was adopted at Council.

Click here to read the Statesman's overview of this project and its backstory, rooted deeply in Austin's East Side history.

FEATURES:

Professional performance spaces
Rehearsal and teaching spaces
Artist’s studios/gallery spaces
Professional recording studio
Workspace for creative professionals
Admin/work space for nonprofit cultural arts organizations
Shared/community workspace
Public art exhibition space
Creative industries’ commercial retail and services spaces
Artists’ housing

MAJOR UPDATE:

The team behind the Kenny Dorham Center is announcing a major achievement! With the support of Rally Austin, and a strong team of community arts leaders, we have won an Exclusive Negotiating Agreement (ENA). This is a major milestone in the effort to construct an large-scale mixed-use cultural arts institution that specifically address historic inequity and serves the interests of the community in East Austin's African American Cultural Heritage District. With this agreement comes the opportunity to share more about the project. We're looking forward to a big announcement (with a big celebration) for the Dorham Center!

“You’re talking about over a decade in the making of us getting to this place where saying that we have an African American Cultural Heritage District actually means something,” said Mayor Pro Tem Natasha Harper-Madison, who sponsored the resolution."

"The Kenny Dorham Center is an music-focused arts facility including an amphitheatre, recording studio, rehearsal space, art gallery, indoor venue/cafe, and museum, as well as affordable housing partially reserved for artist residencies for up to three years. The new resolution directs city staff to solicit plans and cost estimates for development of the “multi-story mixed-use development,” which integrates street-level retail. The facility would be called the Dorham Center, after the legendary jazz trumpeter who grew up nearby on East 12th Street, and will be a destination for the Austin Black Music Archive and Kenny Dorham Museum.

Read the Austin Chronicle article here:

Faster Than Sound: City Council Supports Music-Focused Arts Facility on East 11th Street

Check out this sneak peek on the project: