Important info about City Funding

[Asaf]

This is from Latifah Taormina who runs the Greater Austin Creative Alliance (formerly ACoT). This talks about funding that AIC has been getting for the last couple of years.

From Latifah:

We are aware and extremely concerned about what is going on at City Council in regards to changes to the  HOT funds ( Hotel Occupancy tax). We are doing all we can to double check all of the facts as to what has actually transpired so we know what we should immediately address. Tonight it is essential for all Arts supporters from the Austin  community to stand strong at  the City of Austin Arts Commission meeting at 5:30 TODAY  City Hall, Room 1029  to discuss the fate of the Arts in Austin. Please hold tomorrow from 11 to 1 pm open for a meeting at the Dougherty Arts Center. We will be sending out more information as soon as we can.
 See below for a email link and text that you can send directly to the Council. Use your voice and stand up for the rights of all Austin Artists and Art Supporters NOW.
The following is a link to the online form for emailing mayor and council simultaneously:

http://www.ci.austin.tx.us/council/groupemail.htm
Dear Honorable Mayor and Councilmembers,

It has recently come to light that the Council is considering applying a narrow interpretation of the State Attorney General's ruling concerning the use of state Hotel Occupancy Tax (HOT) funds. Under the current interpretation that has been in place for years in Austin, HOT funds have been used to support a wide variety of creative, community-based arts organizations. These groups increase the city's livability, complement its artistic temperament, and boost tourism by putting Austin on the map as a city with a vibrant and exciting arts culture.

All that will change if the city adopts a narrow view of the AG ruling, which states that only projects proving a direct, quantifiable impact on tourism are eligible to receive HOT funds. But there are many ways to interpret and evaluate an arts group's impact on tourism. As City Council members, you have the discretion to continue interpreting the existing statute in such a way as to not wipe out over a hundred arts organizations that are currently enriching the lives of Austin's citizens-particularly the largely under-served populations of children, the elderly, lower-income, and people of color.  Even the city's own Special Opportunities and Capacity Building programs will be ineligible for funding under this narrow interpretation.
As a citizen of Austin, I am asking you to reverse your recent decision to change what kind of programming is eligible for Cultural Arts funding.  

[Miggy]

In case you were wondering, the Arts Commission last night passed a motion to reject the city legal dept’s suggested changes to the cultural arts program funding guidelines (which would now require applicants to identify how their project directly supports tourism) to come in compliance with the State Attorney General's ruling. This change would have most likely ruled some applicants out and cause others to redefine their projects.

The Arts Commission will send this guidance to City Council, but apparently council has ultimate authority to interpret or re-write the ordinance that meets the AG's transparency criteria.

The Arts Commission's main argument (that I share) is that it is the sum of all the art components in Austin that creates a tourism draw and this is hard to define in numbers that indicate direct support of tourism - even for major institutions like the symphony/opera/ballet.

[Aden]

That is good news. Thanks for the update Mike!

[Miggy]

some coverage in the Austinist from a member of the commission:

http://austinist.com/2010/03/23/artfund ... t.php#more

[Matt]

Update from Latifah over at GACA:

It's all working. Please know that already we have lawyers, lobbyists and council members working to see that the language of the Cultural Contract applications due May 1 reverts back to the language approved in December 2009 -- as per the recommendation of our Austin Arts Commission last night.

Please hold off on further letters to council till we hear the results of these efforts! If we do not hear positive results by the end of tomorrow, we will ask that you launch more letters.

Thanks all who were able to come today to our meetings at the Dougherty Arts Center. And big thanks to Gloria Pennington, Chair of our Austin Arts Commission, and Bruce Willenzik a longterm stalwart of the Austin arts scene and a long term member of the of the Austin Arts Commission. We were blessed by their presence and leadership.

At this morning''s meeting, we discussed the situation we're in and strategy for going forward. Deborah Edward, who was there - and who has been a driving force in our city wide CreateAustin initiative- volunteered to sum up the situation we're in and the action plan that has emerged from our meetings. (See below.)



Latifah



SITUATION:
Based on interpretation by COA legal staff of of the state law governing hotel motel tax allocations , changes were made in the language of the cultural contract guidelines. These revised guidelines impact all COA cultural arts applications due May 1, 2010. The May application is for a two-year funding cycle, and as it stands, it precludes arts groups applying for projects that address arts education as well as projects not interpreted by legal as having a direct impact on tourism.

The Arts Commission reviewed these changes last night and passed a motion to return to the approved guidelines from Dec 2009. They are awaiting response for Council members.

In the meantime time arts community is concerned about this direct challenge to how Austin interprets the tax code and is ready to put pressure on Council members and others.

PROPOSED ACTIONS THIS MORNING:

Short term strategies (next 72 hours)

1. LEARN MORE RE ACTION OF LEGAL DEPARTMENT: Kevin Patterson is working on this and will ask lawyers on his board to get involved to explain.
2. PRESSURE COUNCIL TO ACT ON THE COMMISSION RECOMMENDATIONS: All concerned citizens and arts groups to continue to write/call/visit/contact Council members with a set of key messages (see below). This is the item we're asking you to hold of on till we hear the results of what we're doing re item #1 above.
3. GET ALLIES INVOLVED: Creative Alliance to reach out to other groups (e.g. Livable Cities, tech community) to secure allies to assist in short term and long term actions
4. GET ON COUNCIL AGENDA FOR NEXT COUNCIL MEETING (APR : If Council doesn't reverse the guidelines decisions, the Creative Alliance will speak at Council meeting.


Medium term strategies:(next 2 weeks)

1. ADDRESS CITY COUNCIL ABOUT THE ISSUE: Either if there's an urgent need to reverse or a formal need to thank the Council for the reversal. Creative Alliance to lead the way with this.
2. INCORPORATE ENDORSEMENT OF THE AUSTIN WAY OF DEFINING HOTEL MOTEL BED TAX INTO THE CREATEAUSTIN COUNCIL PRESENTATION: A CreateAustin issue


Long term strategies: (to be defined)

1. CONVENE AISD/COA/ACF/CREATIVE ALLIANCE/OTHERS to discuss the funding challenges for arts and arts education.
- Hide quoted text -
2. CONTINUE TO COMMUNICATE THE CASE TO ACVB AND OTHERS WHO MAY CONTINUE TO CHALLENGE THE HOTEL-MOTEL PRIORITIES.



MESSAGES:
---The Austin way of supporting the arts has been the reason we have such a vibrant creative ecosystem that attracts visitors and businesses. Our ecosystem supports a pipeline of new talent and audiences and provides creative experiences of all kinds to weave a fabric of creative expression.

--The legal ruling narrowly interprets a tax code that is supportive of the concept that making a community creative enhances livability, tourism, economic development.

-- Council needs to go on record of being committed to Austin as a destination city ("scene city") through our diverse cultural arts

-- The entire Austin creative community believes that each arts project has a direct impact on economics and tourism, and that restricting hotel-motel funding to only specific performances is misguided and detrimental to our city's leadership role.

-- We are asking Council to reverse the changes in funding guidelines and restore guidelines to the Dec 2009 version, as requested by the Arts Commission.

-- We further ask Council to recommit to the permissive language in the original #351 of the tax code (not sure about how to word this for accuracy).

-- The arts community is united about the importance of every kind of arts experience to making Austin a leading city in creative enterprise.

[Marc Majcher]

This is from Latifah Taormina who runs the Greater Austin Creative Alliance (formerly ACoT). 

Would that make her Lady GACA?

[kbadr]

Dear Arts Community,

We're happy to report the outcome of the efforts made in our behalf today - that we spoke about yesterday. In the briefest language:

Fill out your CAO Cultural Contract Application as you have in the last funding cycle.

What happened:
After the meeting we had at the DAC yesterday, Kevin Patterson and Cis Myers of Austin Lyric Opera, in consultation with others on their team, Create Austin and our Creative Alliance, agreed to meet with members of city staff and several council members on behalf of our entire arts community today.

I just got off the phone with Kevin and here is his update of what took place:

Meeting with Sue Edwards, Assistant City Manager:
We made it clear to Ms. Edwards that we were representing the entire arts community and shared the concern about the language in the current funding application. We also shared with her an alternate interpretation of the Texas State Tax Code, section 351.101. We emphasized the serious economic impact that the pending city interpretation of the tax code could have on all arts organizations.

We had a very positive exchange of ideas with Ms. Edwards resulting in her agreement to recommend the following to City Manager Marc Ott:

o That the new language in the application be deleted;
o That the alternative legal interpretation of the tax code be shard with David Smith, General Council for the city for further review;
o And that the city pledged to work with the arts community to further define the process for the next application cycle if necessary.


Meeting with Council Member Randi Shade and Policy Aid Glen Coleman:
Council Member Shade was emphatic about her support for the arts community and arts funding and that the content of the application form was a staff matter and not one requiring council action. We reviewed the same materials and she was in agreement with the general approach outlined with Assistant City Manager Sue Edwards. Council Member Shade anticipated a briefing later today by city staff, but again emphasized that her intent was never to jeopardize funding for the arts community. The meeting went very well and was extremely positive.

We were able to have brief conversations with Council Member Cole and Austin's General Council David Smith. Each was appreciative of the arts community providing leadership in this matter and anticipated resolving this issue in a positive manner.

Assistant City Manager Edwards indicated that the arts community should proceed with the application process as they have in past funding cycles.

I feel our holding together as ONE community has been a stellar achievement. And everyone - each and every one of us, has made a huge difference in this crisis. May we all grow forward from here as we mutually advance, connect, and celebrate our art, culture, and creativity!

With lots of love,


Latifah


And this also came in just now from Randi Shade :

Subject: RE: City Arts Funding Issues [IMPORTANT PLEASE READ]

Thanks so much to each of you for your involvement and productive approach to what has clearly been a challenging week for all of us:-)

Onward,
Randi
----------
Randi Shade
Austin City Council
Council Member Place 3
(512) 974-2255 (phone)
(512) 974-1888 (fax)
http://www.ci.austin.tx.us/council/shade.htm

[Matt]

In case you're wondering, the city funding application process mentioned above is what the AIC goes through to get a few thousand dollars to help fund improv projects in the community. Announcement coming shortly regarding how to co-sponsor a project with the AIC using this money.