The Music Commission wants the city to look for ways to analyze data from the latest census of the Austin music ecosystem and find a way to publish the raw data from that third-party project on the city’s open data portal. At Monday’s meeting, commissioners received an update from David Gray, assistant director of the […]
Austin Music Commission
The Austin Music Commission guides city practices on music development issues, including the SxSW music festival.
Posted inMusic & Entertainment
Economic Development staff opts to withhold music census data from city data portal
Staffers in the Economic Development Department have declined to publish data from the most recent census of the Austin music ecosystem on the city’s open data portal, despite a request to do so from the Music Commission and the support of City Council members. Emails obtained by the Austin Monitor via an open records request […]
Posted inMusic & Entertainment
City Council to consider expanded arts, music venue code language by June
The city’s Music and Arts commissions have given their support to expanded definitions of what constitutes music venues and creative spaces, in the hope that the city will move ahead with building code changes and incentives to encourage those spaces throughout Austin. The unanimous votes – held during a recent joint meeting of both commissions […]
Posted inAustin
Arts, music commissions to renew push for short-term rental tax collections
It appears arts and music advocates will likely ask City Council to reach an agreement with short-term rental platforms such as Airbnb and begin receiving millions of dollars in uncollected hotel taxes that could in part benefit the local creative community. Both the Music Commission and Arts Commission have in the past year asked the […]
Posted inMusic & Entertainment
Planning underway to bring hubs for music and arts to three cultural centers
The city’s three ethnic cultural centers are being considered to house hubs for music and other artistic endeavors that would provide members of the local Black, Latino and Asian American communities with more opportunities to explore and advance their creative careers. The process is in its formative stages, with a $50,000 request for proposals open […]
Posted inMusic & Entertainment
Music Commission to continue push to improve venue accessibility
The Music Commission plans to continue its work in making music venues of all sizes more accessible to the disabled, following the positive results from a task force on that issue convened last year by the Circuit of the Americas. At Monday’s meeting, commissioners discussed how they can interact with members of the Mayor’s Committee […]
Posted inAustin
Task force sees COTA disability work as starting point for other venues, businesses
Praising the dozens of improvements made at Circuit of the Americas over the past year to address disability issues, members of a task force organized by the racetrack and concert venue want other Austin venues to use their work as a starting point for accessibility standards throughout the city. Members of the task force and […]
Posted inMusic & Entertainment
City preps $1.5M in assistance for creative spaces facing displacement
The city is preparing to open the application for the latest iteration of the Creative Space Assistance Program, which provides up to $50,000 to organizations, artists or for-profit venues facing financial hardships that could lead to their displacement. The $1.5 million allocated for this year’s program is the largest amount of city funding so far […]
Posted inMusic & Entertainment
Live Music Fund headed for final Council vote next month
The city’s Live Music Fund is expected to get final approval from City Council in February, nearly three and a half years since it was created using millions of dollars in Hotel Occupancy Tax revenues. At last week’s Music Commission meeting, staff from the Music and Entertainment Division said the Purchasing Department is finalizing portions […]
Posted inMusic & Entertainment
EDC talks deals but no details of creative space investments
At the end of this month the public will get the next detailed look at how the city plans to purchase and assist a handful of struggling creative spaces, but won’t get to hear specifics about which businesses have been chosen to receive city investment. The Austin Economic Development Corporation, a semi-public deal-making entity created […]
Posted inMusic & Entertainment
Long Center makes sole bid to manage city’s Live Music Fund
The Long Center for the Performing Arts appears almost certain to be named as the organization that will handle the application process and payments for recipients of grants from the city’s long-awaited Live Music Fund. The fine arts center was the sole applicant for the third-party administrator contract, which was handled via a request for […]
Posted inMusic & Entertainment
Initial music census findings show changing landscape for Austin creatives
Early findings from a recent census of the Austin music community show some improvements in the state of local creatives, though there are still areas of concern for music stakeholders. At Monday’s meeting of the Music Commission, a presentation from Sound Music Cities founder Don Pitts offered a glimpse of some noteworthy details from the […]