Members from local venues, Texas Student Media, South By Southwest Conferences and Festivals, and members of the commission all discussed ways to increase equity and diversity in the music industry in Austin.
Here are the top three takeaways from Monday night’s meeting.
1. A new 18+ music series at Hole in the Wall begins Sept. 21
The music commission had a discussion with representatives from Texas Student Media about increasing student engagement with local music.
University of Texas at Austin students Zach Burky and Austin McCartney represented KVRX, the university’s student-run radio station. They said they met with organizations such as the Frank Erwin Center, KUTX radio station and UT athletics to discuss how to create more equitable and diverse music opportunities for students at UT.
“Right now it’s very white, and it’s very rock,” Burkey said.
The first step KVRX plans to take is to start a new series of 18+ shows at Hole in the Wall, beginning Sept. 21. The cover will cost $3 and go toward paying the participating musicians.
“We partnered with Hole in the Wall because they have a reputation for paying their bands and for playing good music,” Burkey said.
2. The city of Austin’s Music and Entertainment Division plans to propose to expand the Music Venue Loan program
Brian Block, the division’s entertainment services manager, told the commission the division plans to propose a broadening of the city’s Music Venue Loan program.
Right now, only music venues seeking assistance with sound mitigation are eligible for the loan program, which was created in 2012 to help venues purchase technology to fix sound issues, Block said.
The proposal would create a separate track in the program that allows music venues to apply for loans for any capital improvement they believe would help expand revenue, he said.
“We need to make sure we’re preserving music venues and that they’re viable and sustainable,” he said.
The division will make the proposal to the commission in October with the intention to be approved and able to present to Austin City Council in November.
3. Members of the Austin Music Commission and Austin Arts Commission are drafting proposed changes to CodeNEXT draft
Music commission member Oren Rosenthal, representing City Council District 10, said he is working with members of the arts commission to ensure CodeNEXT—the rewrite of Austin’s land development code—includes the voices of the arts and music community.
“For a city that doubles [in size] every 25 years, we need to make sure there’s a growing art scene,” he said.
Rosenthal said the working group is working on a proposed draft to present to CodeNEXT members that suggests changes in relation to the four following areas:
- Preserving what Austin already has: making sure existing venues, institutions and scenes are not "squeezed out," or fail because of an inequitable land code
- Spreading throughout the city: creating a template that replicates the downtown arts scene in the rest of the city
- Promoting equity and diversity: fighting gentrification by increasing access and genre diversity throughout the city
- Flexibility: ensuring the music and arts scene will thrive for the next 50 years and not be harmed by decisions made in CodeNEXT
Rosenthal said he will bring recommended changes to CodeNEXT to the next commission meeting to get approval from other members.
The next commission meeting will be held Oct. 2. For more information about the music commission meeting, visit its website.
