FORT MYERS, Fla. — Some people in Fort Myers called on the city council to support plans for a new African American Cultural Center at Roberto Clemente Park in the Dunbar community. By the end of Monday's city council meeting, the council agreed.
The proposed two-story facility would include an art gallery, community space for events and performances, and music studios for producing music, podcasts, and photography. The media production wing will have its own level.
Watch Fort Myers Community Correspondent Miyoshi Price explain how this could transform the park:
Charles Barnes, chairman of the Lee County Black History Society, says the goal is to educate the community about local and African American culture.
"We truly want to expand who we are as an organization," Barnes said.
The Lee County Black History Society currently manages the Williams Academy Black History Museum at Clemente Park, which has become an educational destination attracting visitors from around the world.
"We actually maintain artifacts about our local national history," Barnes said.
Barnes shared a video of the planned cultural center, which would be between 12,000 and 15,000 square feet.
The first floor would feature an art gallery with extensive glass frontage visible from Martin Luther King Boulevard. The second floor would provide community space for events and performances, while the third level is like it's own wing and it would house music and media production studios.
"We're gonna have an art gallery. We'll have some office space that we can sit down have conversation about our history and also things important to the community," Barnes said.
Barnes recalls when the corner of the park used to host various businesses.
"There was a place called the taster fleet. They sold ice cream and burgers and those kind of then it was another little bar," Barnes said. "There's another place called wagon wheel. Was a sit down restaurant. So I remember all that history on this quarter street that's no longer here."
According to Barnes, the city is fulfilling its agreement to revitalize the park with a new playground and plans for an amphitheater. The city has voted to partner with the Lee County Black History Society on the cultural center project.
Roberto Clemente Park is named after the Hall of Fame baseball player who lived in the Dunbar community during spring training with the Pittsburgh Pirates. The park has become a popular gathering place for family events and celebrations in Fort Myers.
Proponents of the project describe it as an investment in the city's youth and future, with the cultural center serving as a source of positive identity and personal pride for the Dunbar community.
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