Nearby, the Carousel installation central to a roundabout at the intersection of East Rosedale and Mitchell Boulevard was damaged in April<\/a>. The artwork, which features six stainless steel parrots, lost one of its birds in the collision. The piece was created by North Carolina-based artists Jim Hirschfield and Sonya Ishii.<\/p>\n Public art program manager Anne Allen said her team, which works for Arts Fort Worth, is collaborating with the city\u2019s risk management department to determine if there are funds available for the repairs without dipping into their regular maintenance budget.\u00a0<\/p>\n Arts Fort Worth is the nonprofit contracted by the city to oversee the public art program, which includes more than 160 commissioned, acquired and donated artworks<\/a>. The public art management team is made up of Allen, Alida Labbe, Adam Neese and Michelle Richardson.\u00a0<\/p>\n Public art projects are funded through voter-approved<\/a> bond packages. Fort Worth officials allocate roughly $505,000 annually<\/a> to the nonprofit for administration of the public art program, which includes ongoing care of the collection.<\/p>\n Labbe said the team has the difficult challenge of balancing the costs of needed annual maintenance \u2014 inspections and conservation efforts \u2014 and any funds required for \u201cmajor unexpected expenses\u201d like hit-and-runs.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Arts Fort Worth team declined to disclose the total cost needed for repairs as the numbers are still being finalized. There is no set deadline for repair of the two artworks, but frequent updates will be posted on the Fort Worth Public Art<\/a> social media pages, staff said.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a priority for us, and we\u2019re working just as fast as we can to repair them, wading through a complicated process,\u201d Neese said.\u00a0<\/p>\n When Blay found out about the damage to his East Rosedale Monument Project, he said he was disappointed that there wasn\u2019t enough information available to learn whether the hit-and-run was accidental or intentional.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cEveryone in the Historic Southside is as disappointed as I am that something so crucial to Fort Worth, and important, has been damaged,\u201d he said. \u201cThey are eager to have it immediately repaired.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n The Fort Worth artist is working alongside the public art team to search online and in-person for a similar 1970s bus that can be used for the reconstruction of the project\u2019s front section.\u00a0<\/p>\n A bus located in New England would require substantial shipping costs, Labbe said. The team is looking to find a vehicle in this region that would be less expensive to source, but will move forward with the first option if nothing else is found, she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Arts Fort Worth staff retrieved the parrot broken from the roundabout Carousel and are keeping it in storage.<\/p>\n Once city funds are found and approved by council members, the public arts team will move forward with contacting construction crews, art conservators and fabricators to make the repairs.\u00a0<\/p>\n Each public artwork requires specialists to maintain the original design as the pieces were designed to be unique to their site, Neese said.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cA very important part of this process is not only rectifying the materiality of the work, but also the intent of the artists as they integrated that piece into the landscape of their community,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Arts Fort Worth team said they are in talks with the city\u2019s Transportation and Public Works Department about installing bollards to prevent future damage around the East Rosedale installation but, to date, nothing is set in stone.\u00a0<\/p>\n For Blay, the separate hit-and-run incidents serve as opportunities for Fort Worth officials to consider a \u201crapid response program\u201d to ensure public art projects that are damaged are restored in a timely manner.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThings like this happen that are beyond everyone\u2019s control, so it\u2019s important to have enough funds in place to immediately address destruction,\u201d he said. \u201cThe life of a public artwork doesn\u2019t begin and end at the commission and installation. It is a long-term commitment by a city and by a community.\u201d<\/p>\n Is there a Fort Worth public art project damaged or in need of attention in your neighborhood? Contact program manager Anne Allen at aallen@artsfortworth.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n David Moreno is the arts and culture reporter for the Fort Worth Report. Contact him at david.moreno@fortworthreport.org or @davidmreports<\/a>.<\/p>\n The Fort Worth Report\u2019s arts and culture coverage is supported in part by the Meta Alice Keith Bratten Foundation and the Virginia Hobbs Charitable Trust. At the Report, news decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here<\/a>.<\/p>\n This <a target=”_blank” href=”https:\/\/fortworthreport.org\/2026\/05\/03\/drivers-damage-fort-worth-public-artworks-in-separate-incidents-repairs-down-the-road\/”>article<\/a> first appeared on <a target=”_blank” href=”https:\/\/fortworthreport.org”>Fort Worth Report<\/a> and is republished here under a <a target=”_blank” href=”https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nd\/4.0\/”>Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License<\/a>.<img src=”https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/fortworthreport.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/cropped-favicon.png?resize=150%2C150&quality=80&ssl=1″ style=”width:1em;height:1em;margin-left:10px;”><\/p>\n <img id=”republication-tracker-tool-source” src=”https:\/\/fortworthreport.org\/?republication-pixel=true&post=522187&ga4=2820184429″ style=”width:1px;height:1px;”><script> PARSELY = { autotrack: false, onload: function() { PARSELY.beacon.trackPageView({ url: “https:\/\/fortworthreport.org\/2026\/05\/03\/drivers-damage-fort-worth-public-artworks-in-separate-incidents-repairs-down-the-road\/”, urlref: window.location.href }); } } <\/script> <script id=”parsely-cfg” src=”\/\/cdn.parsely.com\/keys\/fortworthreport.org\/p.js”><\/script>![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Carousel-1024x683.jpg\")
Carousel, a public art project in Fort Worth\u2019s Polytechnic Heights neighborhood, is under maintenance. One of the artwork\u2019s steel parrots was knocked free when a vehicle collided with the installation in April. (David Moreno | Fort Worth Report)<\/p>\n