The event, scheduled for June 10-13, 2021, will be slightly different from the inaugural festival held in February—before the pandemic began locally.
“We won’t replicate 2020,” Kat Albert, the festival’s executive director, told council members at the meeting.
She said organizers are planning for the event to be in person but held in smaller venues.
The event’s 2021 budget, which Albert told Community Impact Newspaper is nearly $200,000, is funded through hotel tax revenue, a tax that directly funds local tourism, as well as members and sponsors. The Bee Cave Arts Foundation also allocated $50,000 from that city’s hotel tax revenue to the festival.
Albert said she hopes to improve on the local hotel occupancy that occurred during this year’s event, when at least 87 hotel room nights were booked due to the festival. Organizers will hone in on three target demographics: content creators, industry professionals and local audiences.
According to a city staff report, the festival will be held at the Lakeway Resort and Spa, LaQuinta, Lakeway Activity Center, High 5 and several restaurants at the Oaks at Lakeway.
The Lakeway funding will be divided into $30,000 for arts promotion, $15,000 for festival marketing and $5,000 for registration. The 2021 total represents an increase from the $40,000 allocated to the inaugural festival.
To begin promotion of the event, festival organizers have scheduled an outdoor movie night from 6-10:30 p.m. Oct. 29 at Star Hill Ranch. The 2009 R-rated movie “Zombieland” will be screened.
The deadline for submissions to the 2021 festival is Dec. 15. For more information, visit the festival's website.
