Creative Economy
Growing and investing in creative culture is a cornerstone of Austin's identity, as well its economy. The focus of the Grow and Invest in Austin's Creative Economy priority program is to encourage and support Austin’s live music, festivals, theater, film, digital media, and new creative art forms. In order to support the creative industry, this priority program includes educational and economic programs as well as initiatives that provide affordable transportation, work space, housing, and healthcare.
Game Changer
Cultural space and affordability are the two biggest issues that Austin’s Creative Economy faces. City of Austin Departments made strides in addressing these issues through two game-changing initiatives over the past 10 years.
Cultural space in Austin has faced increasing pressure as new development, gentrification and struggles in affordability threaten the medium and long-term sustainability of the City’s cultural infrastructure. A new Cultural Trust has been formed as part of the Austin Economic Development Corporation (AEDC) to support acquisition and preservation of arts, cultural, and music spaces. The Cultural Trust manages transaction negotiations and coordinates fundraising, development supervision, and asset management for affordable cultural and music spaces. AEDC, through purchases and long-term leases, creates affordable spaces that support artists and arts organizations, and preserves historic and iconic cultural buildings and spaces for creative and cultural uses.
Austin voters expressed their support for more cultural space through the 2018 Bond election. Proposition B allocated $128million in bond funding for seven named projects that would enhance existing City facilities with additional theaters, galleries, and arts education facilities, made available to artists and musicians for rent below market rates, or through residencies and commissions. The projects are now underway, with the first to be completed in 2025.
Highlights
In 2022, the Economic Development Department completed a 36-month Cultural Funding Review Process in consultation with City Council, Boards/Commissions, MJR Partners (consultants), and the cultural community, to re-imagine funding programs through an equity lens, and to improve efficiency and effectiveness of the City's use of Hotel Occupancy Tax to support cultural tourism. While this process was underway, the Economic Development Department deployed more than $28M in pandemic relief funding to the local creative community.
From 2017-2022, the Cultural Arts Division supported Austin's designation as the only U.S. city designated as a City of Media Arts under the UNESCO Creative Cities Network. Austin took part in summits and showcased the work of local artists in exhibitions in Enghien-les-Bains, France; Gwangju, South Korea; Changsha, China; and in virtual city-to-city exchanges with York, England; Changsha, China; and Karlsruhe, Germany.
The Austin Parks and Recreation Department launched the Artists Access Program in 2019 to provide free access to Cultural Center sites for rehearsals and low-cost access to theaters for performances. Through a partnership with the Cultural Arts Division, funding from the Hotel Occupancy Tax funds the support of space usage by theater companies, musicians and visual artists in need of low-cost space for creative work. The artists and musicians are chosen through a public competitive process. To date, the program has provided more than 60 residencies in five Cultural Center sites.
The opening of the Central Library and Oakwood Cemetery Chapel provided more venues for the arts in Austin. Known as tourist destinations as well as community gathering spaces, they provide opportunities for artists and musicians to share their work, showcasing both local and internationally-known artists, and serving as homes for creation and collaboration.
While the pandemic made in-person live performances all but impossible, Austin Public Library continued to find ways to elevate and celebrate artists and their works. In October 2021, the Library unveiled the “Legends Mosaics: Austin’s Courageous Female Leaders of Color,” six commemorative mosaic portraits produced in a collaboration between Latinitas, Austin’s only bilingual STEM nonprofit, and local artists. These pieces preserve the legacy of local trailblazers and were displayed at the Central Library as well as library locations throughout the city.
Challenges
Austin's fast-paced growth over the last decade continues to pose the greatest challenge for the local creative economy in terms of affordability and cost of living. The skyrocketing commercial and residential real estate markets and climbing property taxes are displacing creatives at a rapid rate, resulting in the loss of performing, production, and exhibition spaces and record numbers of residents moving to bedroom communities or to other cities altogether.
Lack of digital access is an expression of the affordability issues Austin’s creatives face. Digital inclusion is a priority issue for the Austin Public Library. Disparities in levels of access for residents were made especially clear by the pandemic. APL applied for and received grants to circulate laptops and Wi-Fi hot spots to those in the community who lack those resources. Sustaining funding for these efforts is a challenge APL faces as grant funding cycles come to an end.
Photo from KUT, Gabriel C. Perez
Program Champion:
Laura Esparza
Parks and Recreation
Housing and Planning
Austin Public Library
Economic Development
Aviation