Austin’s history has been distinctly marked by its geo-social participation in colonial settlement policies since the early 1800s and as a proponent of racially-based slavery policies before the Civil War. Despite the formal end of the Confederacy, Austin’s elites continued to perpetuate spatial segregation practices, culminating in the drastic forced movement of communities of color (local African-descendants and local Mexican/Hispanic residents) in 1928. City council required the movement of all communities of color---including free Black families---to Austin’s eastside. While formal practices of segregation were ended through federal desegregation mandates, ongoing informal practices of red-lining, covenant residency contracts and inequitable City Council representation perpetuated residential racial and class distinctions. These histories have continued to impact local musicking via inadequate music teaching resources, geographical divisions between musical genres and their listeners, out-migration of long-term residents of color, and fewer musical venues for Black and Hispanic-preferred genres. Such histories undercut Austin’s self-promotion as “Live Music Capital of the World”, with the slogan at odds with real barriers for supporting local musicking. Seen in this light, proposals for progress in Austin’s musicking require focused attention on the ongoing needs of disenfranchised now out-migrating communities, currently battling for recognition, parity for land-use, and subsistence support in the face of gentrification.

This presentation considers how literature on cultural sustainability can be applied to urban cultural policy in Austin, Texas. In recent decades, scholars such as Jeff Todd Titon, Tim Cooley, Huib Schippers, and others have used concepts from ecology and environmental studies to imagine what diverse and equitable musical ecosystems might look like. Drawing on the concept of sustainability, such literature frames the growth-oriented and competitive logics of capitalism as a threat to musical communities and instead advances a perspective that favors co-operation and limits on growth. This presentation puts cultural sustainability literature in dialogue with research gathered through a City of Austin research project that documents cultural erasure in the city as a result of gentrification and other issues. Based on interviews with musicians, in-depth research on cultural policy, and experience with non-profits, the discussion contributes a perspective on the experiences of contemporary musicians and provides recommendations for developing sustainable music programming and cultural policy. These include funding for musical performance sites sponsored and operated by the city that can promote local genres with insufficient support from commercial venues and promoters.

Anchored by the Austin City Limits and South By Southwest festivals, music has become a central aspect of Austin’s branding as a “hip” place to live. Ironically, this has contributed to decades of unprecedented growth, accelerating the rising cost of living and threatening local musicians’ quality of life. Our presentation explores the history of the Live Music Fund, created by city officials in July 2021 with the sole intent of supporting the Austin live music scene. Funded by Hotel Occupancy Tax (HOT) revenue, this initiative resulted in a flurry of controversies that raised questions about the role of public policy in the commercial music industry, the value of arts and music to the local population, and the future of Austin, broadly. How do Austin musicians make a living? What kinds of compensation models exist within municipal agencies to support them financially? How successful have such initiatives been in getting the money to struggling musicians? This study evaluates city initiates and proposes new ideas about how to allocate these funds to the community.

Music cities studies are primarily concerned with understanding how city policies might better address the concerns of urban musicians and other music workers. Reports commissioned throughout the world highlight important policy areas in support of the performing arts such as fair pay, continuing education or training, and subsidized housing. The scope of these projects usually centers on individual cities, though various reports take a regional or global look at broader patterns. I discuss the relevance of each of the areas mentioned above to our project and how research in Austin contributes to a broader body of work on music policy. Finally, I position the Austin initiative vis-a-vis current trends in applied ethnomusicology. Municipal policy work employs collaborative research methodologies that extend across the realms of academia, non-profits, government, and input from performers themselves. Our project brings together researchers from Texas Folklife (a local non-profit) and the University of Texas at Austin’s ethnomusicology students and faculty, for instance, to advise Austin’s municipal government on policy. Cultural policy-focused projects offer new models for applied work to graduate students, opportunities for independent scholars, and have the potential to improve local music ecosystems and musicians in tangible ways.

Despite Austin’s reputation as a center of music making, those living locally struggle to earn a living wage. Typical compensation for live music performance has changed little in recent years, despite soaring housing costs and other increases in the cost of living. In order to understand how the City can best remedy this crisis, we conducted dozens of ethnographic interviews over the course of two months with a representative sample of local performers. This presentation discusses suggestions they made at the grassroots level and compares them with municipal policies from other music cities internationally in order to propose policy changes to Austin officials. Suggestions include creating a minimum wage for musical labor, paying subsidies to venues that would allow them to raise wages for musicians, earmarking affordable housing for musicians, providing low-cost health care to performers, and contracting them for ongoing work in high-profile public spaces downtown.