Illustrator :: How To Add Transparent Texture

I am trying to apply texture to a design of mine that needs to be transparent through the art- so you could see the background through the texture holes if you will. I've tried combining the objects, merging them, diving them, excluding them, and minusing the front. I know the answer is probably one of them, I'm just probably not doing it right. Below is the art I'm trying to do this to, the white is the texture that I want to be joined with the art and made transparent.