Billionaire oil heir Ed Bass, whose family has participated in much of the redevelopment of downtown Fort Worth, financed the project, and Kathelin Hoffman served as its artistic director.

[5] Caravan of Dreams was self-described as "...a meeting place appealing to audiences who enjoy the creation of new forms of music, theater, dance, poetry and film," designed and managed by and for artists.

The center operated its own record label, releasing albums by Coleman as well as artists such as Ronald Shannon Jackson, James Blood Ulmer, and Twins Seven Seven.

[5][7][8] Caravan of Dreams also released films (including Ornette: Made in America, a feature-length documentary about Coleman) and spoken word recordings by William S. Burroughs, Brion Gysin, John P. Allen (as Johnny Dolphin), and others.

The facility became less geared toward the experimental (though high-profile) musicians, writers, and artists with whom it was associated in its early days, when Jerry Thompson, a veteran of the Dallas Alley nightclub district, was hired as Caravan's president.