Music Commission asks city to find space, assistance for Texas Music Museum

The Music Commission has asked the city to step in quickly to provide storage space for the archives of the Texas Music Museum, with $850,000 sought in the near future to help the nonprofit organization remain viable and secure a permanent home.

The recommendation approved unanimously on Monday asks City Council to quickly approve a budget-neutral item that would direct the city manager to find at least 2,000 square feet of city property that could provide climate-controlled storage for the museum’s hundreds of records, photographs, exhibits and other artifacts that capture more than 100 years of Texas music history.

The $850,000 request would provide the museum with staff and rent to continue operating at its East 11th Street location, with the goal of having a permanent home within the next four years. Space created in the forthcoming redevelopment of the Block 16 and 18 properties on East 11th Street have been included in the scenarios discussed for the museum’s permanent location, estimated at 13,000 square feet.

Leaders from the museum, which has operated for 40 years in a modest 2,000-square-foot space, approached the commission seeking city assistance earlier this year. Since then, a working group involving other members of the community has worked closely to assess the options for the museum, with Council Member Natasha Harper-Madison’s office offering to help usher any recommendations through the appropriate channels.

Commissioner Scott Strickland and museum representatives said talks scheduled for next week with Rally Austin – the former Austin Economic Development Corporation – are expected to provide some options for how to move forward with the funding request and the search for long-term space.

“We’re going to work from immediate needs, and then work forward with the bigger, heavier lifts and asks, like moving into a different space,” Strickland said. “The recommendation is $850,000 because it gives the Texas Music Museum the highest propensity for success. We’re looking to use the Cultural Trust to get rent at $1 so that they could have their rent basically covered. The conversations that we’ve been having with (Natasha) Harper-Madison’s office is the ask that we’re asking for is actually on the lower side of things in comparison to what people normally ask for.”

There are time considerations for some of the museum’s current funding since some of its staffing is paid for by a Cultural Arts grant that expires next month.

“Our next ask is, where do we go? We have 2,000 square feet, and we’re busting at the seams, so we’re definitely trying to find a space in an underutilized building in East Austin or Block 16 and 18,” said Sylvia Morales, information strategist for the museum. “At the end of September, we will not have any funds to be able to staff myself and someone else. We’ll be operating under volunteer only.”

Aside from space provided by the city, the museum has also had an initial discussion to use the space on East Riverside Drive formerly used by the Austin Music Foundation, though it is unlikely that would provide enough storage even temporarily.

Chair Nagavalli Medicharla cautioned the commission and museum leaders that possible deficits in the next city budget, as well as in years to come, could make it difficult to secure the full $850,000.

“We want to support this. Then the conversation moves forward with Council. … We have been hearing just for perspective that the General Fund this time is going to be as a deficit or has been lean,” she said. “Rally Austin has not been able to support several organizations that have come through their application process, I think at least 14, 15 of those. Whether this gets into that mix or through this recommendation gets treated as in a separate channel, we’ll have to see how that will evolve once this recommendation is put forward through us.”

Photo made available through a Creative Commons license.

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