When you first enter the Rothko Chapel, the 14 nearly black paintings hung in the octagonal room are mystifying. It’s dark, quiet and somber. What is the point? What kind of chapel has no cross or candles or altar?

That mystery is worth experiencing in person. The chapel, which turned 50 last weekend, was born at a time of turmoil — the Vietnam War, protests for racial justice, political division — that is all too familiar today. If you have ever wondered how Houston manages to hold itself together with its bubbling stew of peoples, the Rothko is one answer. A single skylight above filters natural light onto the canvases, which turn out not to be black after all but a subtle range of hungry purples and lost greens. Some canvases come alive with brush strokes, others invite you into their depths. In the somber space, there is, if not hope itself, the stillness for it to arise.

The Rothko’s anniversary is a reminder of how essential arts organizations are to our city. Some arts groups entertain and provide levity. Some incubate and innovate not unlike a high-tech firm. Some provide a means for the rich to network and invest. Others are a refuge for those at the margins of society. Many are full of educators, instigators, investigators and provocateurs. Consider another enigma outside the Rothko, a sculpture called “The Broken Obelisk” by Barnett Newman. It looks like a monument snapped in half, flipped and improbably reconnected.

“We have here both a chapel and a great monument,” said Dominique de Menil at the dedication on Feb. 28, 1971, that included Christian, Jewish and Muslim leaders. She and her husband, John de Menil, commissioned Mark Rothko to create the paintings and work with architects to design the building. The de Menils first offered “The Broken Obelisk” to the city to be installed outside City Hall on the condition that it would be dedicated to the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., but the city — a very different city then — balked. King was still considered to have been a dangerous rabble-rouser, so the de Menils paired the sculpture with the Rothko instead.

“The association of these two remarkable sites should tell us over and over again that spiritual life and active life should remain united,” de Menil continued in her address.

For the next half century, the Rothko pushed that association forward by bringing scholars, spiritual leaders and activists together around climate justice, human rights, immigration and criminal justice reform. The ecumenical embrace expanded to Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs and others. Oil and gas executives rubbed shoulders with indigenous rights leaders. Lawyers mixed with poets. Professors pontificated with priests. As much as arts organizations disturb and challenge norms, they also preserve traditions, good and bad. Our oldest institutions were segregated. A 2018 study by SMU DataArts found that senior staff and board members of Houston cultural non-profits are not as diverse as the city.

We do see many examples of change.

The Contemporary Arts Museum Houston will soon turn 50 as well. The museum reopened last week, bringing back “Slowed and Throwed,” an exhibition featuring works inspired by the late Houston music legend DJ Screw. We need more arts institutions to take the CAMH’s approach of expanding who gets included and invited into the “arts.” For the most part, however, live events that are the lifeblood of the arts remain shut down. In 2020, the arts, entertainment and recreation sector lost 12,500 jobs — a staggering figure that is more than one-third of its pre-pandemic employment, according to Patrick Jankowski, an economist at the Greater Houston Partnership.

“The pandemic has rocked us,” Ashley DeHoyos, the curator at DiverseWorks, told the editorial board. “With COVID we run a risk of losing creative individuals who cannot afford to put their practices on hold.”

The $15 billion in federal support included in the December 2020 COVID relief legislation will help. We applaud Texas Republican Sen. John Cornyn for working across the aisle with Minnesota Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar to secure these funds. Houston has a reputation for its generosity. The Rothko marked its first half-century with a new welcome center, a reworking of the skylight in the chapel and new landscape — a first step in a $30 million campaign.

Our collection of internationally celebrated spaces is growing. Let’s make sure we don’t neglect the communities that bring them to life.

If you are willing, and able, to make a financial commitment to that end, we encourage you to join the many patrons who have already given to the Greater Houston Area Arts Relief Fund for artists and arts workers.