In the city's latest tug-of-war over cultural funding, local venues may soon have to sing a different tune when it comes to tapping into the Live Music Fund grants. Reports emerging from the Music Commission's latest gathering, as detailed by the Austin Monitor, suggest that the Commission is looking to tighten the purse strings and ensure that the $4.5 million war chest is doled out under strict guidelines.
The proposed revamp in how grants are awarded is primarily to better support the local talent, with the Commission eyeing to require venues to more effectively funnel the funds towards musicians' pay. In truth, they're trying to make sure venues do not simply hoard the cash under the guise of nebulous expenses. The intricacies of the matter were laid out at Monday's meeting, where a working group was formed, comprising five commission members and a selection of local venue operators, destined to deliver their financial wisdom by the end of March.
The Austin Monitor highlighted the crux of the issue revolving around the purpose of the grants. For the uninitiated, the Live Music Fund which uses Hotel Occupancy Tax to prop up the arts - has proposed upping the ante with artists and promoters eligible for a lot more cheddar, anywhere between $15,000 and $30,000 out of a $3.5 million pot. Venues, on their part, are eyeing a slice of the $1 million pie with grants ranging from $30,000 to $60,000 depending on their operating budgets.
Yet, some commissioners are up in arms about the lack of clarity on how these funds can be used, fearing that venues can tack on just about any old expense. Commissioner Scott Strickland didn't mince his words, "There is nothing that says that venues can't just tack on these extra miscellaneous expenses and justify their expenses and say, ‘hey, there’s like a cleaning fee and a this fee and a that fee and a this fee, or whatever the case may be ... and then they just pocket that money," he told the Austin Monitor. =
Nevertheless, Erica Shamaly, manager of the Music and Entertainment Division, defended the proposed framework, outlining that venues could indeed use grant money to cover a range of expenses including marketing campaigns and salaries, sans a requirement to meet the $200 per-musician minimum. "We just have to give the flexibility to the venues to have what they need to get the expenses done so that there is a venue for musicians to play at, and also pay musicians the standard rate of pay," she explained to the Austin Monitor. It seems the final note on this matter is still to be composed, with the review of expense reports from the next round of recipients touted as the key to perfecting the grant guidelines.
