Focus on the Arts

Keeping the arts alive: KLRU and CultureMap examine Austin's creative community

How important is the creative class — artists, musicians, filmmakers and those who support them — to Austin? A recent study by the city suggests there are over four billion reasons the creative sector is important, 4.35 billion actually, as in dollars.

The study, updated earlier this year, covered the 2010 economic impact of the creative sector. Besides that dollar figure, the creative sector includes 49,000 jobs. One-third of those dollars come from tourism.

This week KLRU, the Austin Creative Alliance, CultureMap and other arts organizations will explore the economic and cultural importance of the arts in Austin with Civic Summit: Arts in Context. This television program, to be recorded Wednesday evening and moderated by CultureMap, will look at the economic impact of Austin’s creative sector and discuss the future of the Arts in Austin. It will air on KLRU at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, August 23.

The importance of the creative sector to Austin's economy demands attention to ensure the creative economy continues to thrive. And there are issues: downtown residential development conflicts with music venues, greater film production competition from incentives by other cities and states, many non-profit arts organizations struggle to bring in enough donations to stay afloat and artists themselves often cannot make a living wage or afford healthcare.

This discussion will cover all of that. We'll be talking to wide and diverse group of artists and organizations and the public is invited to attend and participate. Summit leaders will discuss the current state of the arts and the city's support of them as well as what it's like to live and work as an artist in Austin and what the future holds.

As part of the show, you are invited to record a video describing how you support Austin's creative sector. As the video above states, we might include your video on the show or online. We hope you'll be part of the event.

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Civic Summit: Arts in Context takes place Wednesday, August 22 at 7 p.m. (doors at 6:30 p.m.) at KLRU's Studio 6A. The event is free to the public, but an RSVP is required. RSVP here.

Sonic Boost

Musical gala spotlights 20 Austin acts including Nemegata, Quentin Arispe

Nemegata Austin

Photo courtesy of Spaceflight Records

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On January 18, charitable organization Sonic Guild will award $150,000 in grants to 20 deserving local bands and solo artists at the Sonic Guild Ball. For the first time ever, tickets are available to the public for this ceremony and show.

This is the 11th year this organization has supported the Austin music scene, though readers might know the organization by its previous name, Black Fret. This public charity is headquartered here in Austin and is on a mission to support artists here (as well as in Seattle and parts of Colorado, now) with a publicly available annual membership.

In return for annual dues, members get to see a bunch of shows and attend private events; and their memberships support local music with grants. Over these years, the group has awarded grants and payments to local musicians, venues, and music businesses totaling over $6 million.

This year's grant recipients are:

Rob Baird
West 22nd
Cactus Lee
The Point
DAIISTAR
Parker Woodland
Nemegata
Deer Fellow
Elijah Delgado
Grocery Bag
Quentin Arispe
Shelley King
Geto Gala
Next of Kin
promqueen
Lew Apollo
S. L. Houser
Harvest Thieves
TV's Daniel
Stella and the Very Messed

These artists were selected through a year-long process where Sonic Guild members, advisors, and prior grant recipients nominated, lobbied for, and finally voted on their favorite artists.

These 20 winners will receive not only grants at the upcoming Sonic Guild Ball, but also mentoring, and will be paid for any performance they do for Sonic Guild audiences in the future. In fact, half of the awarded bands will be performing at the ball itself.

In between performances there will be videos and live testimonials telling the stories of how past grant winners have used their funds to boost their music careers with album recordings, tours, instruments, and more.

“Naming these 20 2024 Sonic Guild Artists puts us at over 200 individual acts we have recognized with a Sonic Guild grant,” said co-founder and Executive Director of Sonic Guild Austin Matt Ott in a press release. “Every member that joins Sonic Guild sends a powerful message to our city’s musicians that their contributions to our culture matters. We must support our music scene as our great city grows to make sure it thrives for generations to come.”

The 2024 Sonic Guild Ball will be held at the Long Center for the first time ever. Individual public tickets are available online and range between $24 and $130 depending on the seat.

Austinites can also become members of Sonic Guild and have access to more than 30 live shows this next season, and will get to vote for the lucky artists that will be awarded with grants at next year's Sonic Guild Ball.

galas fundraisers music live music

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