Austin City Council voted unanimously to approve an additional $240,000 for the Austin Economic Development Department Cultural Arts Fund as part of the city’s fiscal year 2017-18 budget at its Dec. 14 meeting. The additional funds will come from the city’s hotel occupancy tax revenue. They will be used to provide the temporary staffing necessary to extend the operating hours of cultural centers for the next two years to accommodate rehearsals and performances by Austin artists and to promote arts programming to tourists and convention delegates. The cultural centers that will receive additional funding include the Emma S. Barrientos Mexican American Cultural Center, the Asian American Resource Center, and the George Washington Carver Museum and Cultural Center.