There is a magical art behind asking for something you want and then getting it!  I read an essay many years ago that talked about how culturally it was not always the norm to ask directly for what you want and when we do, we are usually bad at it.  People tend to hem and haw and often walk away from asking because we cannot clearly articulate the message.  For example, many are uncomfortable asking their boss for a raise or salary bump.

Persuasion tactics are strategies that can help you convince people to see things your way and being good using these tactics is usually an art form.  To be good, or to be great you must first know exactly what you want and what you need others to “buy in” to.   Second you must ground yourself in why you are doing it and make sure it resonates with you so you can “sell it from the heart.”  Third, you must be able to state clearly and with no confusion what you are asking for or trying to sell to the people. It must be direct, clear and specific.  Lastly, you must be selective and targeted about who you ask or when you announce it. 

In Frisco, one man is very good at Persuasion Tactics and his name is Mayor Jeff Cheney.  When he “wants” something in Cheneyville, well he gets it!  He is very good at “telling you” what you want versus “asking” residents what they want.  For example, he has put together his team and he has been gathering his clan of supporters to push for the Performing Arts Centre.  When he hit a no with the public/private partnership with the school district and Hall Group, he didn’t stop.  Nope, he just changed course and came back at it again with his little clan in toe.  Next thing you know he will get what he wants, residents will bitch, and no one knows the wiser of how we ended up here.

The talk of a Performing Arts Centre is not new, but what is new is we are curious “How much has this cost taxpayers?”   The city has spent $1.6+ million on the current Theatre Projects assessment or feasibility study, but how many others have we done in the past?  What were the costs to taxpayers in the previous studies?  Why are we doing so many studies?   When it comes to wanting studies and assessments what is the magic number of how many we will do before we say enough is enough?  We did some research, and this is what we found:

Feb 17, 2015: Under the consent agenda for the city council meeting item 17 reads, “Consider and act upon approval of publishing a RFQ for the development and implementation of a study to examine the feasibility of a performing/theatre arts facility within the corporate limits of the City of Frisco.”  We looked high and low and could not determine how much any of this cost.  We could not even find the RFQ they approved to publish.

2015: Frisco Association of the Arts commissioned a “Facility Programming Report” by Page Southerland Page.  According to the minutes for the Citizens Bond Committee on 01/26/2015, Tammy Meinershagen provided an update that a feasibility group has been identified to conduct a study for the PAC in Frisco.  She went on to say it would take about six (6) months to complete the study and has an estimated cost of $200,000 dollars.

2018: The City of Frisco commissioned a “Needs Assessment” by Webb Management Services and Parkhill Smith & Cooper (PSC).  According to a Community Impact article, the study showed there 14 performing arts groups that have 667 days of demand for performance facilities in Frisco.  According to the study, the majority of this demand—466 days—calls for a facility with 225 to 500 seats while 177 days of demand calls for a facility of 1,001 to 1,750 seats.  At the June 2018 Council Summer Work session, PSC Associate Michael Howard presented the findings and told the council there is not enough capacity in Frisco right now.  At that time Cheney told Community Impact that “it was council’s preference to use available bond funds to build a 300- to 500-seat facility to meet the current demand of community arts groups with the hope of working with a private partner to build a larger performing arts center.”  Of course, Cheney always changes his tune later!  The CI article goes on to say the Councils “Performing Arts Committee is in the middle of a feasibility study to determine the size and needs of a potential PAC.”    HOW MUCH DID IT COST – We don’t know!  We can’t find anywhere in an agenda search where this shows up from 2017 to 2019. 

August 2020: Frisco ISD commissioned a “Programming Report” by Schuler Shook.  We can’t determine how much this one cost our ISD Taxpayers either.  We have sent a PIR asking for that information.

October 2020: The City of Frisco and Frisco ISD commissioned a “Feasibility Report” by Garfield Public Private and Schuler Shook.  Well Shocker – we cannot find anywhere what this one cost taxpayers either!

September 2021: Frisco Arts Foundation commissioned a “Market & Feasibility Study” by Theatre Projects Consultants, Inc.   We cannot find out how much this one cost either.  However, we are guessing since each year the city “FUNDS” the FAA through Hotel/Motel Fund somehow Taxpayers still paid for it.

May 2022: City of Frisco, Frisco ISD, and Hall Group commissioned a “Space Analysis Narrative by Corgan + Studio Gang.  In February of 2022 the city council authorized an agreement for services in the amount of $175,000 dollars.   Remember in late June of 2021, the city and Frisco ISD entered a public-private partnership with developer Craig Hall to construct a $67 million performing arts center. The city has agreed to contribute $14 million in voter-approved bond money, while Frisco ISD will contribute $43 million from the 2018 bond package, and Hall will contribute $10 million.  Remember this is the one that “FELL APART” and truly if the city had wanted a PAC would have been the best option for everyone involved but we have learned from city insiders that “to many chiefs got involved” which caused the band to break up. 

July 2022:  Hall Group commissioned and performed a “Proposal and Outline” and we could not find out what the cost of this study was.

January 2023: The City of Frisco commissioned and executed an agreement with Theatre Projects Consultants, Inc., for consulting services related to a performing arts venue in the amount of $99,300 which was to be paid for by Bond Funds

September 2023: The City of Frisco commissioned part two of the agreement with Theatre Projects Consultants, Inc., in the amount of $1,415,500 dollars.  Recently in 2024 after some CLARITY they Upp’d that amount to $1.6 million as we told you in our last article.

We did learn a few interesting facts along this deep dive…

According to the Dallas Morning News, “Frisco leaders also launched the HEARTS Project initiative — an acronym for Hall, Education and the Arts — to crowdsource an additional $100 million in donations for auxiliary upgrades. The amenities could include a large video screen facing The Star in Frisco, box suites, a VIP arts club with membership benefits, Frisco summer musicals, and a restaurant or bistro, according to the campaign website, but would not contribute to additional seating.”  The 2021 article went on to say that “although city officials have previously said the center could host professional performances, the petition states that the limited seating capacity is too small for consideration by Touring Broadway. Experts recommend between 1,750 and 2,000 seats, according to the petition, which cited Theatre Projects’ market assessment and feasibility study for Frisco.

Next, we found it interesting just a few years ago in 2021 Frisco ISD had committed $43 million from a 2018 bond package and now they are back in 2024 asking voters to VOTE FOR the new 1-billion-dollar bond because they are broken penniless poppers!  Just a few years later, they are begging for us to vote in favor of the bonds so the Frisco Kids can have an 11,000,000-tennis center. 

We also learned Keating was a huge fan of the arts from a 2018 article in Lifestyle Frisco.  He is quoted as saying Deputy Mayor Pro Tem John Keating said, “This is our chance to blow it out of the water, Frisco style!”  Remember, Keatings motto in his last re-election we are #1 this, #1 that, #1 here, #1 there!  Now he is closing on his house in The Preserve at Fields the #1 most exclusive community in King Cheney’s Frisco.

In closing, the city has buried how much these things cost deep in agendas, under nicknames and code words, hoping that you or I will give up looking.  We did but what we can tell you with the most recent study in 2023 plus the other three we are at about $2 million alone in just “STUDIES, ASSESSMENTS, ANALYSIS” done for a Performing Arts Center.  That means we are going to keep paying money for these via the bonds, hotel/motel tax fund, or something else until King Cheney gets his Performing Arts Center.  You can bet little pretty Princess Tammy will be right next to him the whole way.  Trailing behind will be their wingman “John “The Infamous Cheating” Keating. 

Diving into all this has taken a lot more time than we expected and unless you understand the arts and all these studies it is a bunch of well-pitched jargon crap to confuse the residents of Frisco.  We will continue our deep dive into this because we know the city is about to hit us with a bond. It will be through the City or the secret weapon “THE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT BOARD”.  Just wait and see…. the EDC will make the pitch because the city has been called out.