For all the focus Mayor Steve Adler and others in city government have put on the health of Austin’s music economy in recent years, it’s easy to lose sight of what it means to be a “working musician” in Austin in 2017. Napster and the go-go days of illegal downloading in the early 2000s zapped […]
Red River Cultural District
Established in 2013, the Red River Cultural District runs from Sixth Street to Tenth Street and is a cultural district with the Texas Commission for the Arts. Its creation was intended to help preserve the live music venues located within the district.
Posted inAustin
Character, retention of businesses fuel expansion of Soul-y Austin
Though he works on the very same block, Josh Blaine had never been inside East Austin’s Vortex theater prior to attending a meeting of what is now the Manor Road Merchants Association. But as manager of the In.gredients neighborhood grocery store, Blaine said he fell victim to the habit that many business owners and managers […]
Posted inMusic & Entertainment
Curfew relief in sight for Red River music venues
A handful of music venues along Red River Street between Sixth and 10th streets could soon have a later sound curfew for outdoor music. On Monday, the Music Commission unanimously passed an item that venue owners and other music boosters hope will result in a pilot program to study the effect of allowing live music […]
Posted inBudget
Visitors bureau budget cut, but still up $1 million
Mayor Pro Tem Kathie Tovo won a round Thursday in her battle to use more of Austin’s tourism dollars to promote Austin’s heritage. City Council cut the tourism promotion budget of the Austin Convention & Visitors Bureau by approximately $1 million out of a proposed $16.5 million overall allocation from the city for its budget. […]
Posted inMusic & Entertainment
City lands $10 million “minibond” agreement to save endangered music venues
The city of Austin will team up with private investors to save some of the city’s most iconic — and increasingly economically distressed — music venues through a new program announced prior to Thursday’s City Council meeting. Mayor Steve Adler announced the forthcoming creation of a $10 million municipal “minibond,” the creation of which will be […]
Posted inAustin
City launches affordable parking program, raises meter rates
In a striking display of balance, the city’s Transportation Department will both raise downtown parking meter rates and launch a pilot program that aims to ease parking burdens for downtown service industry workers – all in one fell swoop. First, the bad (and fairly mundane) news: Parking meter rates will change from $1 per hour […]
Posted inMusic & Entertainment
Can Austin help save Austin music?
Amid concerns that Austin’s rising costs may be driving out the music industry that has been so integral to the city’s popularity, Austin Music People released its Biennial White Paper yesterday. As a supplement to the paper’s extensive policy recommendations, the group included a Music City Report Card, which graded the city on everything from […]
Posted inMusic & Entertainment, Uncategorized
Industry leaders discuss policy potentials to secure Austin’s music scene
People active in the Austin music business gathered Thursday at a studio space on East Fifth Street to talk about issues inhibiting the growth and sustainability of the city’s music life – a talk organizers called “State of the Arts,” held at Studium, a co-disciplinary space. With two musicians, one show organizer and a City […]
Posted inAustin
City seeks to “empower” Red River district
With news spreading about the struggles of several music venues in Austin’s Red River Cultural District, many have raised concerns about the future of the area’s identity. Meanwhile, the city is rolling out a new plan that could help give a collective voice to stakeholders in the RRCD. Officially dubbed the Soul-y Austin Business District […]
Posted inMusic & Entertainment
Hotel construction casts a shadow over downtown music venues
This past weekend, worries that a new downtown hotel was threatening Cheer Up Charlies and the Mohawk overtook Austin’s social media. A lot of Austinites’ concerns focused on whether a parking garage for the Hyatt House hotel would destroy the iconic white cliff at Cheer Up Charlies. After some panic, it appears that is not […]