Last week, advocates and leaders in the independent music venue community gathered during South by Southwest to discuss how those thin-margined businesses can improve their chances to stay in business. A few days later, news came out that the festival will shrink by two days next year. The panel Small Stages, Big Impact: Saving Indie […]
South by Southwest
Annual megafestival that brings the city lots of revenue. But at what cost?
Posted inMusic & Entertainment
Music Commission asks city to include fair pay standards in SXSW negotiations
The Music Commission has joined the Parks and Recreation Board and other entities in pushing the city to require South by Southwest to further raise the amount it pays showcasing performers at the annual spring festival. The commission’s recommendation, approved 7-0, asks City Council to ensure all negotiations with SXSW for city resources include provisions […]
Posted inMusic & Entertainment
Parks board wants SXSW artist pay included in negotiation for use of city facilities
In response to a call for higher compensation for South by Southwest showcase musicians, the Parks and Recreation Board on Monday voted unanimously to ask the city to negotiate for fair pay for artists performing at its parkland facilities, such as Auditorium Shores. The recommendation, which will be forwarded to City Council for possible action, […]
Posted inMusic & Entertainment
Parks board to consider SXSW fair pay measure
A coalition of groups will rally on Monday at Austin City Hall to demand the city require fair pay standards in all future contracts with South by Southwest. The 5 p.m. protest is being organized by local advocacy nonprofit Austin Texas Musicians, the Austin Federation of Musicians AFM Local 433 and United Musicians and Allied […]
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 inAustin
Austin cancels SXSW amid COVID-19 concerns
South by Southwest is canceled. Mayor Steve Adler, Travis County Judge Sarah Eckhardt and public health officials said the concerns surrounding COVID-19 were too great. “I’ve gone ahead and declared a local disaster in the city, and associated with that, have issued an order that effectively cancels South by Southwest for this year,” Adler said […]
Posted inPublic Safety
Venues face tough realities in city’s active shooter training
“Remember that the intent of this person is to end your life.” Those sobering words, delivered last Wednesday by Austin Police Department Officer Josh Visi, came as something of a wake-up call for the 40 or so concert venue owners and promoters who had gathered to learn how to handle active shooters inside a live […]
Posted inMusic & Entertainment
New event deadline means clarity, crunch time for SXSW planners
The Austin Center for Events has set a hard deadline of Feb. 8 for applications for special events scheduled to take place during spring festival season, or the 10 days in March that span the South by Southwest festival. Setting that date – which was announced Dec. 27 – roughly a month ahead of the […]
Posted inEnvironment
Adler picks out top two climate change priorities at SXSW
When it comes to climate change, Mayor Steve Adler believes that cities are fundamentally ill-equipped to face the challenge. “You really do need the innovation that comes from outside of government to really act and scale in a material way,” Adler told a modest audience that attended a Tuesday morning South by Southwest panel titled […]
Posted inMusic & Entertainment
SXSWTF? Dissecting a music festival’s immigration PR meltdown
In today’s installment of “A Good Rumor Travels Around the World Before the Truth Can Put On Its Shoes,” we watch with fascination as music fans from all over the world make South by Southwest out to be the newest arm of President Donald Trump’s anti-immigration fever dream. The pebble to that avalanche was a […]
Posted inCity Hall
Shifting SXSW focus, permitting changes await music head upon return
Returning South by Southwest to its focus on industries and helping to usher components of the city’s plans to help the local music industry are high on the personal to-do list of Don Pitts, until recently the director of Austin’s Music and Entertainment Division. Pitts, who resigned from his position on Feb. 14 but later […]
Posted inAustin
How the city handles SXSW cleanup
On Sixth Street just past midnight, small herds of young people mill in the street or near the entrances of bars – some smoking cigarettes, others looking at their phones. Virginia Alexander honks at them to move. She is trying to drive her ATV down the street to get to the trash cans. “Watch out, […]