Tag Archives: Music and Entertainment Division
City staffing shortages to delay Live Music Fund deployment until mid-2023
Musicians, promoters and other creatives will have to wait another year to enter into a contract of $5,000-$10,000 from the city’s Live Music Fund. The delay is due to a staffing shortage in the city, including 20 positions in the Economic…
Austin • By Chad Swiatecki • May 10, 2022
City had data, but not follow-through, to 'fix' Sixth Street in 2014
City leaders had a pair of reports nearly a decade ago that prescribed changes to make the downtown Sixth Street entertainment district safer, yet many of those actions were never implemented despite a 2014 City Council resolution that included several…
Austin • By Chad Swiatecki • Mar 7, 2022
Council pushes Music Commission for further review of funds to promote industry growth
City Council has asked the Music Commission to take another look at the proposed guidelines for the new Live Music Fund, with some on the dais questioning whether the program fits the intent of Council action taken two years ago…
Music & Entertainment • By Chad Swiatecki • Oct 14, 2021
Music Commission's oversight could further delay emergency funds for musicians
The Music Commission has asked city staff for more input and involvement in how a pair of financial assistance programs for Austin musicians will be carried out, with an emergency aid fund tied to Covid-19 possibly delayed three weeks as…
Music & Entertainment • By Chad Swiatecki • Sep 16, 2021
Proposed live music grants could fund hundreds of concerts
The city is seeking feedback in the initial guidelines for the long-planned Live Music Fund, which would provide hundreds of grants of up to $10,000 for independent musicians and promoters to create new concerts and festivals throughout the city. Total…
Music & Entertainment • By Chad Swiatecki • Jul 19, 2021
Downtown vacancies eyed for arts activations, tenants with new pilot program
Vacant storefronts in downtown Austin could become temporary homes for arts and creative organizations beginning this summer thanks to a pilot program under development by the Downtown Austin Alliance Foundation. The foundation is currently working on a lease agreement with…
Austin • By Chad Swiatecki • May 11, 2021
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City lays out diversity goals in next round of arts, tourism funding
Groups that have been historically overlooked and underrepresented in the city’s cultural community will have priority in the Economic Development Department’s spending for cultural and tourism programs in the next budget year. During an online meeting held last Saturday, the…
Austin • By Chad Swiatecki • Dec 18, 2020
Austin joins national pilot program exploring how to safely reopen music venues
Austin has signed up as a pilot city for a national effort to establish guidelines for music venues looking to reopen safely once the public health threats from the Covid-19 pandemic are lessened. Today the city will announce its partnership…
Music & Entertainment • By Chad Swiatecki • Aug 7, 2020
Survey seeks data on full impact of Covid-19 on city's music economy
The city’s major music nonprofits have partnered with a national consulting firm to conduct a survey of the economic and some health impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic on Austin’s music community. The survey from Music Cities Together, which is also…
Music & Entertainment • By Chad Swiatecki • Apr 27, 2020
City may begin evaluating creative spaces bond sites in June
The city expects to use real estate and economic development professionals from the Texas Facilities Commission to broker the acquisition of what may be multiple properties for local artists and musicians to use. An April 3 memo spells out the…
Bonds & Propositions • By Chad Swiatecki • Apr 13, 2020
Music Commission seeks answers on lingering sound enforcement, 'agent of change' issues
The Music Commission has asked representatives from the Austin Police Department to attend its next meeting to discuss the delay in moving sound enforcement responsibilities from the police department to the city’s music office. At last week’s meeting, Rebecca Reynolds,…
Music & Entertainment • By Chad Swiatecki • Feb 10, 2020
Arts Commission shares concerns amid increased creative space funding
The city’s expanded program to assist local creative spaces with rent and capital expenses came under criticism from members of the Arts Commission last week. During a presentation on the recommended recipients of the Creative Space Assistance Program, commission members…
