Live Music Fund collections steady; staff report 41 awardees remain noncompliant on reporting

At a Music Commission meeting staff said hotel-occupancy-tax collections for the Austin Live Music Fund were largely unchanged year to date, while grant-reporting problems left dozens of awardees out of compliance.

Kim McCarson, program manager in the Music and Entertainment Division of the Office of Arts, Culture, Music and Entertainment (ACME), reported that June 2025 collections for the Live Music Fund were $16,485, bringing the year-to-date total to $3,233,024. McCarson said that percent change in the year-to-date total was “about down by about a half percent.”

The reporting problems were the central issue in staff briefings. Erica Shamley, division manager for music and entertainment, said the FY2023 grant round initially had 367 awardees and that “4 awardees forfeited before receiving any funds.” She told commissioners the count of noncompliant awardees had fallen from 56 last month to 41: “the number was 56 last month, and now it's 41 remaining noncompliant awardees.” Shamley said 20 of the 41 had submitted an interim report showing the…