Item 7 Supporting Document — original pdf

Backup

LIVE MUSIC FUND: RECOMMENDATIONS Outreach • Engage Community Partners through city vendor contracts to reach expanded audiences in diverse communities… this is where equity effort can make a difference. DAWA, Austin Tejano Music Coalition and ATXM may be prime contenders for this work. • Host, or engage partners to host community workshops featuring past grant recipients sharing tips for success and orgs such as TALA and MOHA on tips for applying. • Share video content or testimonials profiling successful projects, similar to this. • Share a preview of the application at least two weeks prior to application opening. Application • By and large, musicians felt that the application portal was much easier to use in 2024. Our recommendation is to continue using and building upon the current Submittable platform. • Musicians did remark that certain scoring rubrics relevant to banking and healthcare access were not explained fully in the application process. Our recommendation is that all application questions and associated scoring are better explained within the application. Eligibility: Musicians ATXMPRO Membership Requirements: • Percentage of Income from music related businesses 40% or higher • One of the following: Number of live music gigs (minimum 25), number of music lessons taught (minimum of 300), number of studios gigs (minimum 25) • Registered their business with County or State (DBA/LLC/S-Corp/Sole Prop) • Lived in Austin 1 year or longer (MUST reside in Austin or ETJ area) • Has online presence with at least two of the following: official website, major social media profile (Facebook, Twitter or Instagram), Youtube, patronage platform (i.e. Patreon or Bandcamp) • Has a minimum of 5 commercial releases in the last ten years (physical or digital, full length albums, EPs or singles) Eligibility: Musicians • Level 1 - $5K: “Emerging” musicians should meet two criteria • Level 2 - $20k: “Working” musicians should meet four criteria Eligibility: Promoters • An independent promoter is an individual or organization that: ○ Organizes, markets, and promotes live events such as concerts, music festivals, or performances. ○ Operates independently of any venue, record label, or major entertainment company. ○ Is typically self-employed or runs a small business, working on a contractual basis with artists, venues, or event organizers. Independent promoters must have a verifiable business specifically associated with promoting artists, and events, being contracted with venues, and/or festivals. • • Guidelines: Musicians and Independent Promoters i. Remove all questions centered around access to services. Changes in Federal and state law now scrutinize all state-provisioned grants, and unfortunately any questions related to EDI determinations now jeopardize continued funding. the Texas Legislature’s upcoming House Bill 167 plainly states these intentions. For further clarification we suggest engaging multiple legal sources including city legal and TALA. ii. Greenlight Local Economic Impact guidelines being proposed… these should likely make up 50 scored points rather than 30, and many of these questions (local shows produced, teaching gigs, etc.) would already be addressed within musician eligibility. iii. Greenlight Music Industry Contributions, and score at 25 points. iv. Greenlight questions related to accessibility at 5 points AFTER determining with city legal that this does not potentially endanger the fund for reasons listed in (i). v. Award 20 points for musicians who did not receive LMF Award in previous year. Award Amounts In line with last year’s award amounts, ● 78% Musicians and Independent Promoters ● 22% Venues Post-Award Announcement i. A major criticism seemed to be that musicians could not access their scores to understand specific scoring and determine areas for improvement. While this may take some additional automation, we suggest building a system into Submittable that will allow for detail around individual scoring. It has been suggested by many that a comparative analysis with Cultural Arts grants may be beneficial in this regard. Venue Eligibility and Guidelines We defer to Red River Cultural District, who have a deeper understand of the needs and challenges facing Central Texas music venues. Funding Explore new funding opportunities through ● STR Tax revenue ● Public/Private partnership PAT BUCHTA, ATXM CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER PAT@AUSTINTEXASMUSICIANS.ORG MARGARET ROGERS, PROGRAM DIRECTOR MARGARET@AUSTINTEXASMUSICIANS.ORG