Council votes to aid Blues on the Green, explore more event sponsorships

The city has stepped forward to revive the Blues on the Green concert series held annually in Zilker Park and will look at how to support or possibly co-sponsor other music festivals or cultural events throughout the city in the future.

At last week’s meeting, City Council voted 10-0, with a recusal from Council Member Mackenzie Kelly, to support a resolution first offered by Council Member Natasha Harper-Madison that was initially aimed squarely at keeping Blues on the Green active in the city’s main metropolitan park. In January, ACL Radio, which has organized the concert series held in Zilker Park since 1999, announced it was canceling the concerts this year due to rising costs.

Harper-Madison’s resolution directs the city manager to look for ways to financially support the series and maintain it as a free event open to the public and “further expand opportunities for the City to co-sponsor community events that are centered around locality, diversity, and inclusivity.”

Council Member Chito Vela successfully amended the resolution to push for research into possibly allowing alcohol sales as a component of city arts events. The amendment passed with a 6-0 vote, with Council members Ryan Alter, Alison Alter, Zo Qadri and Harper-Madison abstaining and Kelly recusing herself.

“I don’t know a lot about the music business, but I do know that most of their revenue comes from either ticket sales or alcohol sales in terms of venues and if we’re gonna have free events, I do want to consider that if we were to allow alcohol sales at Blues on the Green, would that be able to provide enough revenue to sustain the event?” Vela said.

Harper-Madison said her concerns over public safety and increased liability costs related to an open public gathering potentially including alcohol sales were her reasons for abstaining on Vela’s amendment. She also voiced support to “collectively normalize sobriety” and not making alcohol consumption an automatic feature of all cultural gatherings.

The resolution’s gradual evolution since it was first shared on the City Council Message Board gives staff fairly wide discretion in pursuing partnerships with businesses and community and arts organizations to promote more live music and arts events.

“We are a music city and so we have an ecosystem that is gonna require our support and our collective effort towards making our events more sustainable and accessible,” Harper-Madison said. “This resolution today includes direction for the city to explore co-sponsorship of an annual free and open-to-the-public concert series currently known as Blues on the Green, however, this resolution goes beyond just supporting one particular event. This resolution provides further direction for city staff to examine how the city can support live music and local arts and events.”

During discussion on the resolution, Qadri revealed his plans to soon bring forward another resolution in support of live music, specifically directing staff to provide city funding to the Red River Cultural District to cover its operations, marketing and other expenses. Last month, the Music Commission voted to ask Council to fund the RRCD at a level similar to other cultural districts, which currently receive between $150,000 and $300,000 annually.

ACL Radio representatives said the city’s support and increased sponsorship from H-E-B would help to preserve the concert series, which in recent years has taken place over several weeks in July.

“We’re thrilled that the people of Austin, the city, HEB and the countless other sponsors agree that Blues on the Green is an essential bit of what makes Austin the Live Music Capital of the World. We are so grateful to be able to continue this great, 30+ year tradition,” ACL Radio program director Lynn Barstow said in a prepared statement.

Photo made available through a Creative Commons license.

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