Wes Copeland, executive director of the Center for the Arts and Sciences and Brazosport Fine Arts Council, told the Lake Jackson City Council on Nov. 3 that the organization is intensifying efforts to draw visitors and support local hotels.

Copeland said the center houses multiple programs — including Brazosport Center Stages, the Brazosport Museum of Natural Science, a full-dome (BASF) planetarium, the Brazosport Art League and the Brazosport Symphony Orchestra — and provides administrative and marketing support to maintain cultural activity in the region. “It is my absolute honor and privilege to be the executive director of the Center for the Arts and Sciences and Brazosport Fine Arts Council,” Copeland said.

Why it matters: Copeland framed the center’s work as an economic as well as cultural driver, saying tourism generated by the center helps local hotels and businesses. He described a hotel-relations campaign that distributes monthly event lists to lodging operators and uses outreach to encourage visitors to stay locally.

Copeland provided event-origin statistics collected by the organization: about 30% of museum visitors come from outside the county during regular business hours; Center Stages productions average about 19% out-of-county attendees; and the Elizabethan Madrigal Feast draws about 25% of its audience from outside the county. He said those figures support the center’s hotel-occupancy-tax-funded programming.

The council heard that the Brazosport Symphony Orchestra recently became an official program of the Brazosport Fine Arts Council and received a Texas Commission on the Arts grant to support marketing for a February concert, which the presenter said is intended to attract out-of-town guests.

Copeland said the organization is preparing a three-year visioning roadmap, expanding evening hours at the museum and art league on select days, and hiring professional leadership and an advancement director to diversify funding. He also announced plans for a 50th-anniversary celebration marking the center’s opening on Aug. 15, 1976.

Council members thanked Copeland and volunteers for the long history of arts volunteerism in Lake Jackson. No formal council action was taken on the presentation.