Recommendation 20240306-007: Support for Academia Cuauhtli’s fiscal year 24-25 budget — original pdf

Recommendation

EMMA S. BARRIENTOS MEXICAN AMERICAN CULTURAL CENTER ADVISORY BOARD RECOMMENDATION 20240306-007 Seconded By: Chair Angelica Navarro Date: March 6, 2024 Subject: FY2025 Budget Recommendations Motioned By: Member Lillian “Lily” Zamarripa-Saenz Recommendation The Emma S. Barrientos Mexican American Advisory Board (MACC) recommends the City Council direct the City Manager to take the following actions and to allocate additional funds for the following items for FY 2025. These recommendations include actions that can be taken immediately outside the budget process and recommendations for the FY 2025 budget: Description of Recommendation to Council 1. Allocate the funding requested by staff for the MACC’s Phase 2 FY25 operating expenses. Support funding for the Bronze Community Band Project in the amount of $3,000. Support funding for the Academia Cuauhtli’s FY25 operating expenses in the amount of $140,000. 2. 3. Rationale: Phase 2 Operating Budget In 2018 a comprehensive community engagement was completed as part of the Facility Expansion Plan which included community members and Austin City Council members. The Austin City Council unanimously voted to adopt the 2018 Facility Expansion Plan on May 24, 2018, with the intent to complete all remaining phases without preconditions on funding sources. The 2018 Bond Committee recommended, and Austin City Council approved $27 million to be included under Proposition B for the ESB-MACC Phase 2 project. 74 percent of voters in the 2018 election voted in favor of Proposition B. The Joint Venture team of Miro Rivera Architects (Austin) and Estudio Tatiana Bilbao (Mexico City) was selected to lead the Phase 2 design in part because of their experience designing world-class facilities. The project team has been diligently working on completing the project slated for completion in the Fall of 2025. In order for the facility to be fully operational on day one, the operating budget needs to be increased to support the additional 19,000 square feet as well as the new and renovated program spaces. The Mexican American Cultural Center Advisory Board recommends to the Austin City Council to allocate the necessary amount needed for the Phase 2 operating budget in order to fulfill the commitment by the City of Austin to complete a Phase 2 expansion and renovation that is commensurate with a world- class cultural center that continues to be a reflection of the strength and resiliency of Austin’s Mexican American community. 1 of 3  Bronze Community Band Project The Bronze Community Band provides culturally relevant music education rooted in community-based practice in the regional bajo-sexto conjunto and orquesta music tradition of Mexican American heritage. It works directly with musicians taking an intergenerational approach (young adults to elders) utilizing a community-based model to teach basic music literacy and, simultaneously, capture Mexican American music in notated form. The Bronze Community Band passes down the skills that elder Mexican American musicians have learned in their lived experiences within and outside the music entertainment industry. Since its founding 8 years ago in 2016, the Bronze Community Band has received both in-kind services and funding by various city cultural funds and grants. While the Bronze Community Band has current active diverse sources of funding, with a total annual cost of $15,000, there is a still of gap of $3,000. This funding requested ensures the continued historical music preservation of Mexican American music. Access to high quality music education that is culturally relevant, community-based, and inclusive among marginalized musicians. And exposure and cultivation of Mexican American music in the present among the Latinx community with Tribute Shows of La Música Chicana. The MACC Advisory Board supports the funding of the Bronze Community Band Project in the amount of $3,000. Academia Cuauhtli: Academia Cuauhtli demonstrably continues the deep, intense, and intergenerational support for the ESB MACC as a partner in fulfilling its mission, and by protecting and supporting the community with the same deep commitment that enabled the construction of the ESB MACC in the first place, helping to make it a true incubator for future artisans, artists, writers, and community activists for culture and the arts. Since its founding in 2013, Academia Cuauhtli (originated by Nuestro Grupo, community-based volunteers) was established at the ESB MACC as a free Saturday culture and language revitalization academy for elementary school children and their parents, with curriculum focused on indigeneity, social justice, social history, traditional arts, and danza Mexica and since July 2014, Academia Cuauhtli has served as an official educational enterprise of the ESB MACC. Academia Cuauhtli was instituted as an integral part of the ESB-MACC and promotes its mission further to instill in our children and their families a deep appreciation for the arts, social justice, and in action projects to preserve and develop our cultural resources, focusing on the ESB MACC and other Latino cultural arts institutions. Academia Cuauhtli, through a partnership with the City of Austin, Austin Independent School District (AISD), and Nuestro Grupo embraces and fulfills ESB MACC’s mission of collaborative engagement by involving personnel and students from all participating entities into a holistic team which advances the mission of the ESB-MACC and all engaged parties. Academia Cuauhtli fulfills its mission by serving as a means for the comprehensive advancement of the students and their parents, by providing a learning and supportive environment for education, social, and economic needs through the expansion of the parental involvement enterprise. The MACC Advisory Board supports the funding of Academia Cuauhtli in the amount of $140,000. Vote 8-1 2 of 3  For: Chair Angelica Navarro, Member Noemi Castro, Member John Estrada, Member Gerardo Gandy, Member Cynthia “Cy” Herrera, Member Anthony Martinez, Member Raul “Roy” Reyna, Member Lillian “Lily” Zamarripa-Saenz Against: Abstain: Vice Chair Hilario “Larry” Amaro Absent: Member Eduardo “Eddie” Rodriguez Attest: Michelle Rojas, Staff Liaison 3 of 3