The city has announced the creation of a new office that will consolidate the operations of the Music and Entertainment Division and the Cultural Arts Division, in a decision intended to improve support for the city’s creative industries. The new Office of Arts, Culture, Music and Entertainment will operate as a stand-alone entity led by […]
Music and Entertainment Division
A department of the city’s economic development division geared toward growing the music and entertainment industry.
Posted inMusic & Entertainment
Music Commission considers how city could better promote local musicians
The Music Commission will likely ask the city to explore a mechanism to better promote performances by local artists, possibly using excess Hotel Occupancy Tax funds or money allocated from the city’s General Fund. At Monday’s meeting, the commission heard a presentation from Commissioner Scott Strickland and musician Chris Hawkes that focused on possible uses […]
Posted inMusic & Entertainment
Music Commission approves revised ‘agent of change’ measures to calm noise disputes
The city appears ready to codify measures meant to prevent noise issues from creating friction with residential developments and live music venues, nearly a decade after the conflict first received heavy attention. At Monday’s meeting, the Music Commission approved requirements offered by the Development Services Department that would make developers of new projects within 600 […]
Posted inMusic & Entertainment
Music Commission wants tight guidelines on venues receiving Live Music Fund awards
The Music Commission has formed a working group that could reshape how the city will award grants to live music venues as part of an expansion of the Live Music Fund. The group, which will likely include five commission members and operators of a handful of local venues, is expected to deliver its recommendations by […]
Posted inMusic & Entertainment
Music commissioners consider how to steer more grants toward working musicians
The city’s Music Commission may consider a proposal from a local advocacy group to designate a specific portion of grants from a new city grant program to be awarded to working musicians, who are increasingly finding it harder to afford living in Austin. At Monday’s meeting, the commission heard a presentation from representatives from Austin […]
Posted inMusic & Entertainment
Live Music Fund grant payments expected this week after month-plus delay
Grant recipients from the city’s Live Music Fund pilot program were expected to receive the initial 50 percent portion of their award by today, more than a month later than they were initially told they would receive the money. The delay in the grant disbursal has caused some promoters to consider delaying or canceling the […]
Posted inMusic & Entertainment
Despite its name, the Live Music Fund is not just for live music
The 650-plus applications for grants from the city’s inaugural Live Music Fund are in the early stages of evaluation and scoring, with the awards of $5,000 and $10,000 slated for initial distribution beginning in September. The Music Commission received a briefing Monday on next steps in the $3.5 million program, which closed its application process […]
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
Rally draws attention to criticism of SXSW artist pay
Union organizers for musicians took their criticism of South by Southwest’s artist payment practices to the street on Thursday, gathering outside the Austin Convention Center to rally and draw attention to their demand for increased compensation for the hundreds of acts that perform during the festival each spring. Organized by Union of Musicians and Allied […]
Posted inMusic & Entertainment
Council votes clear path for April rollout of Live Music Fund
The city will begin taking applications for the Live Music Fund in April, after City Council approved two resolutions Thursday clearing the way for the awarding of grants to musicians and event promoters. The two items approved on consent were not considered controversial. They provide an additional $525,000 to the program’s nearly $4 million budget, […]
Posted inMusic & Entertainment
Music census leaders try new approach with lessons from other cities
Austin’s second attempt at using a music census to gather data about the state of local musicians and the creative economy is underway. The team conducting the census hopes to use lessons from the 2015 version, as well as results from studies in other cities, to make the data more useful to policymakers and stakeholder […]
Posted inCity Hall
Staffing issues cause slow rollout of arts, historic preservation programs
The Economic Development Department plans to wait until fall to begin spinning up three programs for music, arts and historic preservation that are funded by proceeds from the city’s Hotel Occupancy Tax. Portions of those programs aren’t slated to become active until mid-to-late 2023, with some contracts not expected to begin until the 2024 fiscal […]