Austin staff outline 2025 Live Music Fund structure, scoring priorities and tentative fall application launch

City staff presented a detailed briefing to the Austin Music Commission on the proposed structure and scoring criteria for the 2025 Live Music Fund and asked commissioners to advise on final point weights and outreach before staff finalize guidelines.

Erica Shamley, Music and Entertainment Division manager, and Kim McCarson, Live Music Fund program manager, told commissioners the FY25 Live Music Fund budget and proposed award pools include a $3,500,000 award budget for $20,000 grants to professional musicians and independent promoters (targeting roughly 175 awards), a $1,000,000 award pool for live music venues (targeting roughly $60,000 awards), and a separate pool for $5,000 grants to emerging artists (approximately 60 awards). Staff described the working-group priorities and their proposed staff priorities as: (1) cultural tourism, marketing and outreach; (2) Austin music economy development; (3) artist development (including a separate approach for the $5,000 grants); and (4) music industry accomplishments.

Shamley said the working group recommended that past music accomplishments carry significant weight; staff proposed prioritizing cultural tourism because the program uses Texas hotel occupancy tax funds, which are intended to support cultural tourism. Staff showed proposed scoring categories for musicians/promoters and for venues, with example criteria such as local hiring rates, marketing strategy, accessibility features and demonstrated cultural tourism impact.

Timeline and community engagement: Staff said they aim to launch the next application round in fall 2025, subject to new state and federal laws and coordination with the ACME office. Commissioners asked for more time to review the proposed point weights and recommended continuing the working group to finalize scoring. Several commissioners urged staff to preserve equity-promoting criteria (qualified census tract bonuses and limited-access-to-services indicators) while addressing concerns about how some questions might disadvantage working musicians who have day jobs or who perform in specific genres.

Program delivery details: Staff reiterated that venue applicants must conform to the program’s live-music-venue definition and suggested scored questions to demonstrate that a venue’s core business is music (for example, frequency of performances, payroll for music staff, and share of revenue derived from music events). Staff also said they will work with partners such as the Long Center to build the application and scoring platform.

Next steps: Commissioners agreed to continue a working-group process to refine point weights and applicant guidance and asked staff to return with updated scoring and a community-engagement plan before May if possible to meet a fall launch schedule. Staff noted many details remain to be finalized and that the new ACME office will play a central role in outreach and implementation.