AUSTIN (KXAN) — For many musicians, COVID-19 has caused them to press pause.
Thursday, Austin City Council could vote on a measure that would help provide emergency assistance for some of the Live Music Capital’s performers.
“We want to make sure that all of Austin’s wonderful live musicians are able to make it through this crisis,” Kathie Tovo, council member for District 9 said.
Council will use the money the Live Music Fund has generated so far since being created last September.
“It’s been accruing money since September,” Tovo said, “because we have this crisis this would take what’s in the fund currently and allocate at least a large portion of it to this kind of assistance.
Year to date, Tovo said the fund has accrued a little more than $1.5 million from the Hotel Occupancy Tax. The Live Music Fund was estimated to generate a couple of million dollars, but with the pandemic Tovo said the fund has taken a hit.
“We are a vibrant city and lots of people come here because of our music,” Tovo said. “It’s so intertwined with why people visit Austin so making sure we are reinvesting those dollars back into live music and making sure that continues to be a vital industry.”
During this time, with no gigs and no tours, musicians across the area are getting creative.
“Everybody is doing these Instagram live concerts,” Thor Harris from the band Thor & Friends said. However, Harris said the online concerts are simply not enough, and many are struggling to make it.
“Many of my friends are musicians and we’re all just going, ‘Well, I don’t know.’” Harris said.
The uncertainty many musicians are facing is creating other issues. The Executive Director of the SIMS Foundation, Patsy Bouressa, said they’ve experienced an influx of musicians, music industry professionals including music venue staff members and their immediate family members signing up for the foundation’s mental health services — three times more than this time last year.
“The anxiety is through the roof because nobody really knows when it’s going to end and what’s it going to look like,” Bouressa said.
Bouressa added a lot of these music industry professionals depend on service industry jobs and with restaurants and bars closed many are struggling.
“City council, do what you can for musicians, a little bit of money goes a long way in the life of a musician,” Harris said.
How the money would be distributed? Or how would eligibility work? Tovo said if this resolution passes, staff will have to figure that out. Her goal is to get the money out as quickly as possible.
There’s also a potential for the city to team up with nonprofits like the SIMS Foundation or HAAM to distribute the money, and just give our musicians one thing that they can hold on to.
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