This includes music, dance, writing, architecture, sculpture and photography and would result in the art foundation managing and administering up to 15% of Bee Cave’s total HOT fund revenues, which currently stand at $2.5 million.
Mayor Kara King explained that as one example, the BCAF fund management would handle money allocation for events such as the Lake Travis Film Festival moving forward.
City Council approved the agreement during its April 14 meeting. City documents state the next steps mandate a budget submission from the BCAF be approved by council no later than July 15. After that, the start of the one-year term of the agreement will be Sept. 30.
Information from the BCAF states it plans to create a Bee Cave Arts and Culture Master Plan that will help invest funds in local cultural projects and events.
The BCAF also proposed the creation of the Bee Cave Arts Commission, which would “serve in an advisory capacity to assist and make recommendations on policies, programs, and projects related to the cultural arts, and in particular encourage and promote tourism through the use of the Hotel Occupancy Tax designated for the arts.”
City Manager Clint Garza said the partnership has been discussed since last summer as part of a plan to delegate management of the city's hotel tax funds, and once the BCAF submits its initial budget, the foundation would need to update that budget quarterly. Funds would then be dispersed quarterly based on the budget updates. A marketing plan is also required from BCAF under the agreement, Garza said, adding the Texas Tax Code is what dictates how municipal hotel tax revenue can be allocated.
As one example of the arts- and event-based ideas that could result from the agreement, the BCAF, which became a nonprofit organization in 2009, proposed what would be called the Bee Cave Winter Light Festival. Free to attend and held at the Hill Country Galleria, the event would be billed as an outdoor cultural arts festival that would showcase art installations created by architects, artists and designers.
"As the program develops, these things will get teased out ... and be organic and grow over time," Garza said.
