The Forest Theater is a landmark in the heart of the historically Black community of South Dallas. After being home to movies and one of a kind music productions, including the South Dallas Pop Festival, the theater fell into disrepair by the early 90s. Local musician Erykah Badu rented the space with the hope of reviving the role in the community for several years. Eventually, the property was listed for sale. In 2017, it was bought by a philanthropist and donated to CitySquare, a local non-profit designed to address issues of poverty throughout Dallas. Given the unique responsibilities and opportunity of reviving a space as central to a community as the Forest, they partnered with designers to help envision what the future of the Forest might entail. 

Our team began by spending time in the South Dallas community to better understand the history and current context of the theater. Dallas was considered among the best places for Black entrepreneurs during the Civil Rights era, and many of these businesses were located in South Dallas along Martin Luther King Boulevard (previously known as Forest). Simultaneously, South Dallas was the site of countless acts of hate and racism considered so severe that Martin Luther King and his colleagues determined that Dallas was too volatile to use as a site for significant organizing. Nonetheless, powerful grassroots organizations have worked tirelessly since the community’s inception to improve conditions for their residents and maintain and celebrate the Black community. Given the leadership of our point of contact with the Forest and what we’d learned from the community, we intentionally explored how we might rebuild the Forest Theater as an asset to the Black community and the city of Dallas. From our time in the community, the desire to have places to gather was clear. A large community center on MLK is constantly in use, and local restaurants have lines out the door at lunch as people come together with neighbors and colleagues. However, there was nowhere to gather early in the morning or late at night. We wanted to understand what it might take to activate a space during these times.

Using a food truck and temporary furniture from Better Block, we created a temporary morning gathering space. We advertised using several forms of communication - flyers, NextDoor, postcards in local businesses, signs in person the morning of, and an announcement at the local church - and then talked to people who showed up to ask how they heard about what we were doing. We had a huge turnout both mornings, and the food truck said they did better business in that location than they did among high-end businesses in downtown Dallas. People came through for quick food or drinks, stood in the parking lot talking with each other, and quite a few used the furniture as a co-working space for the morning. Through our conversations and surveys, we learned that most people had learned about our event through word of mouth and NextDoor. We were able to show proof of concept, but also encourage more diverse ways of activating the space of the theater, even before restorations would be complete. Since then, they’ve been able to use the space for similar events, but have also branched out to include drive in movie nights and outdoor markets. The diverse use of the space, even before restorations, is a great window into the future of the Forest and the diverse roles it can play in the community.