Item 07 - A3.Introduction with Programs.pdf — original pdf

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L A U R A E S P A R Z A E X E C U T I V E D I R E C T O R W H AT I S A 3 ? - A non-profit Local Arts Agency devoted to sustaining Austin’s arts ecosystem. - Raising funds for artists, musicians, performers and arts contractors who make art accessible to the people of Austin for free - A catalyst for community change in collaboration with partners who are committed to the value of the arts and work to sustain its arts ecosystem. WHAT IS A LOCAL ARTS AGENCY? • The nation’s 4,500 Local Arts Agencies (LAAs) promote, support, and develop the arts at the local level ensuring a vital presence for the arts throughout America’s communities. LAAs are diverse in their makeup—they have many different names and embrace a spectrum of artistic disciplines. But each LAA, in its own way, works to sustain the health and vitality of the arts and artists locally, while also striving to make the arts accessible to all members of a community. • The Cultural Arts Division is a Local Arts Agency but cities can have more than one thus diversifying the funding pool. • A Business Council for the Arts is another piece of civic infrastructure that Austin is lacking. WHY SUPPORT THE ARTS? • Arts strengthen the economy. In Texas, $59.3 billion industry supporting 383,066 jobs. • Arts drive revenue to local businesses at an average of $38.46 per person. • Arts unify communities: 72% of Americans said it provided a shared experience • Arts are tourism drivers with 70% agreeing “the arts improve the image of my community.” • Arts strengthen mental health, wellbeing and improves healthcare in hospitals. • The arts provide a sense of connection to family, loved ones and the community leading to greater civic engagement. WHO IS A3? PA S T • The Texas Fine Arts Association started in 1911 at the Elisabet Ney Museum. • In 1950 it fundraised for Laguna Gloria Museum with an Arts and Crafts Festival. • In 1956 they renamed their festival FIESTA. • In 1989 the organization became Art Alliance Austin and produced Art City Austin until 2019. • Dormant in 2020 due to COVID-19 pandemic. P R E S E N T • Board Chair Eric Hiduke, Attorney-at-Law • David Goujon, Architect • Jade Walker, Curator • Kevin Ivester, Gallery Owner • Imani Aanu, Director Austin Samba School • Kayo Asazu, Restaurant owner/operator • Nick Stillman, Executive Director Prospect New Orleans. • Advisors: Constance White (Airport Arts & Music) Lourdes Rodriguez (ED David Rockefeller Fund) Lydia Galvan (Teacher) Dana Friis-Hansen (Retired Museum Director) CAN A3 FUND CITY PROGRAMS? • City staff and Commissioners cannot solicit funds from individuals, businesses or the COA Cultural Arts Division. • They can write grants but this requires two acts of City Council and the timelines do not always match the funders’ deadlines. • Gifts of money directly to cultural centers cannot be used in the same fiscal year. Funds are available in January of the following fiscal year. • Services and materials can be donated to City facilities and used to serve the public. WHAT CAN A3 FUND? A R T I ST S/ MUSI CI ANS/ PERFOR MERS’ FEES, CO NT R A CT O R FEES, M AT ER IALS. F U N D F O R F R E E A RT P RO F E S S I O N A L D E V E L O P M E N T • Musicians for Tones music series at the • Speakers for the Dougherty’s Professional AARC* • Artists and musicians sharing their work at Development Program* • Artists’ fees for the Carver’s Small Black Museum Residency Program • Artist mentors for the ESB-MACC’s Caminos program. • VISUAL ARTS FUND provides stipends for exhibit installation costs. the Ney • Fusebox • Austin Shakespeare Theater * • Summer Musical* • Musicians for the Pun-off* • *Endangered WHERE WILL THE MONEY COME FROM? • THE USUAL SOURCES • Grants • CAD funding • Fundraising Events • Direct appeal for major gifts • Corporate sponsorship • Business direct appeal • I live here/I give here • Go Fund Me FUNDRAISING IN AUSTIN IS DIFFICULT • The vast majority of non-profit arts organizations are struggling, with closure in site. • We’re losing our iconic events like the Summer Musical • There are few foundations giving to the arts. • There is only one source of government funding and government cannot do it all. • There are no other non-profit LAAs. • There is no business council for the arts. • The business and tech community has been slow to step up to the plate, with some notable exceptions. • Hotel Occupancy Tax has been limited in the breadth of what it could help fund. • BUILDING PUBLIC WILL TO VALUE THE ARTS IS NEEDED TO CHANGE THE FUTURE OF THE ARTS IN AUSTIN. THE FUND FOR FREE ART • Celebrating its 5th anniversary in 2025 at the Asian American Resource Center, TONES is a concert series focused on emerging musical talent in the local Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community. Tones provides emerging artists an intimate space to hone their practice and culminates in Tones Fest, a unique music festival serving Austin’s diverse AAPI communities. This program is the only one of its kind in Austin and has been very impactful to Austin's AAPI creative scene, helping to launch careers of musicians like promqueen, KUTX 98.9 Artist of the Month for May (AAPI Heritage Month). • Goal: $10,000 THE FUND FOR FREE ART • Since 1959, people in Austin enjoy high- quality musical theater in Zilker Park free. The annual musicals draw crowds of 45,000- 80,000 from Central Texas and beyond. Cast, crew, staff, and sponsors work together to bring audiences shows that celebrate the spirit of community in a Broadway-grade production in one of Austin’s most beautiful parks, right under the Texas stars. The Zilker Summer Musical is a quintessential Austin experience. Funding will benefit stipends paid to cast and musicians. Staff and board are largely volunteers from your community. • GOAL: $36,000 THE FUND FOR FREE ART • Fusebox is launching a new program designed to help local artists create ambitious live performance projects that premiere locally in Austin, with an eye toward then touring the show around the United States and the world. The inaugural project will be led by Austin-born and based singer/performer Joshua Banbury, whose identity as a queer, Black jazz musician calls upon the past and present of performance traditions in East Austin. Fusebox will support the creation of a new, original concert and performance created by Banbury that brings together the worlds of theater, design, and jazz in new ways. • Goal: $15,000 THE FUND FOR FREE ART • THE FUND FOR VISUAL ARTISTS AT ANY PUBLICLY ACCESSIBLE SITE • This fund is a competitive grant based on need for visual artists to assist with artist fees, curatorial fees, exhibition preparation expenses, marketing, truck rental, equipment rental, supplies, insurance or fuel. Artists will exhibit their work at any site accessible to the public. Assistance will be limited to $1000 per exhibit. Exhibits may include murals, temporary or permanent installations. Artists may not be in receipt of other funding from A3 in the current fiscal year. • GOAL: $25,000 THE FUND FOR FREE ART • THE SMALL BLACK MUSEUM RESIDENCY PROGRAM (SBMRP) • SBMRP was launched in 2021 to forward the George Washington Carver Museum and Cultural Center’s mission to preserve and exhibit African- American material culture, history, and aesthetic expression. This residency cultivates three early career artists by engaging them in critical conversations about their work, providing mentorship around the business of art and preparing them to engage with a broad spectrum of institutions. The residency culminates in a group exhibition and is ideal for artists with a progressive approach to both content and form with work that reflects shifting paradigms of race, identity, nation and place. Funding will pay for the artists’ stipend, materials and contractor’s fees. • GOAL: $30,000 THE FUND FOR FREE ART • The Artist Resource Center at the Dougherty Arts Center offers a series of monthly professional development workshops designed to empower and support Austin artists. Each month, workshops cover a different aspect of the arts industry, equipping participants with invaluable tools to propel their careers forward. All workshops are free and open to the public. Since 2018, the series has hosted 52 workshops with 47 speakers representing 22 organizations, and 1,200 participants. Participant feedback through surveys demonstrated that 100% of participants say they learned something new. Funding will pay for speakers fees. • GOAL: $6000 THE FUND FOR FREE ART • Shakespeare in the Park is presented free at the Zilker Hillside theater every year. Austin Shakespeare began in 1984 and has been a staple in Austin theater ever since. Professionally produced productions are imaginatively interpreted to bring contemporary dimension to the Bard’s ingenious texts. Shakespeare in the Park serves 4000-5000 people of every age every year. • Goal: $15,000 C A M I N O S T E E N L E A D E R S H I P P R O G R A M -Established by City Council in 2016. -Immersive one year paid internship empowering teens to carver their own path in the creative arts. -Youth are chosen through a competitive process -Youth learn to produce events, festivals, exhibits, and mental health conference for other teens. -Also perform community outreach at conferences, SXSW -Goal of $18,000 will fund 5 artists to mentor youth. HOW CAN YOU HELP? • Consider us for a grant to benefit artists. • Send me leads for potential givers such as individuals, businesses or corporations • Give generously at A3Austin.org. • Consider giving a party for A3 to solicit donations from your neighbors/work associates. • Tell your friends. Word of mouth is everything in changing Public Will. • Send me names of potential board members. C O M E TO O U R N E X T F U N D R A I S I N G PA RT Y ! November 21, 2024 7pm-9pm Carver Museum and Cultural Ctr 1165 Angelina, Austin, TX Laura Esparza, Exec Director (512)588-0369 A3ArtAllianceAustin@gmail.com A3Austin.org