detail of It Happened in November, Kani Alavi, mural, Berlin Wall
please endorse OUR Letter to The City Manager & CounciL calling for a Department of Cultural affairs and an audit of cultural funding, Scroll down to review
May 4, 2023
Dear City Manager, Mayor, and Council Members,
Austin Creative Alliance (ACA) serves to advance community driven cultural work, connect resources to the culture, arts, music and preservation sector, and advocate for the growth of sustainable cultural investment. As the only local organization committed to the overall well-being of Austin’s broader arts and cultural sector, we are compelled by the current lack of community confidence in the City’s cultural funding processes to help facilitate a path towards improvement for arts and culture sector workers, organizations, and advocates.
With over 120 organizations and 400 individuals in our cultural coalition, ACA offers a shared voice with thousands of collective years in arts and culture expertise and management. Austin is a veritable arts and culture capital with international acclaim, and our city merits a cultural partner in the public sector that reflects the same leading professional caliber of our artists, cultural institutions, and arts management professionals. As such, ACA supports the creation of an Austin Department of Cultural Affairs, which will serve the current pressing needs of the arts and culture sector. More importantly, this Department offers the opportunity to create a more professionalized, responsive, and accountable relationship for the benefit of Austin’s artistic and cultural vitality.
First proposed in 2009 by the community driven CreateAustin Cultural Master Plan, and reiterated by the 2012 ImagineAustin Comprehensive Plan, we propose the creation of the Austin Department of Cultural Affairs after listening to several members of our coalition regarding the lack of transparency and consistency in several Economic Development Department and Arts Commission actions including those related to:
The three-year suspension of City of Austin funding for the arts without approval by the City Council or the Arts Commission;
The perception of biased and preferential treatment characterizing the management of the Thrive Grants and Cultural Arts Funds programs; and
The lack of responsiveness toward community requests for collaboration and accountability in the Economic Development Department’s arts and culture activities.
Noting the above concerns and discrepancies, the members of the ACA board (who have reviewed the contents of this letter) and members of ACA recommend the following next steps:
A performance audit of the Economic Development Department’s arts and culture activities, including the Cultural Funding Review Process, and management of the Cultural Arts Fund;
A public process in which members of the public and the arts and culture community at large may respond to the audit and receive feedback;
A convening of a Blue-Ribbon Committee featuring national and international public sector experts in arts and culture management from leading cities such as: New York, Philadelphia, Toronto, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Houston and additional leading arts cities, to review the results of the audit and to write a series of recommendations in a formal plan to create the Austin Department of Cultural Affairs.
We look forward to engaging with your offices regarding the details of these next steps, with the broader aim to anchor Austin’s artistic and cultural vitality and to support Austin’s equity and economic goals. Together, collective leadership from the Austin City Council, Mayor, and the future City Manager, in partnership with local arts and culture workers, organizations, and advocates, will produce a more professional and dynamic city department better equipped to respond to the challenges and opportunities of the large city Austin has now become.
Sincerely,
Dewy Brooks
Chair, Austin Creative Alliance Board of Directors
Daniel Ronan, Resilient Heritage Vice Chair
Krystle Cline, The Vortex Secretary/Treasurer
AJ Garcia-Rameau, Ventana Ballet, First Street Studios
Mike Lavigne, Texas Access Partners
Julie Mech, Texas Facilities Commission
Anuradha Naimpally, Austin Dance India
Jessica Nero, Blue Lapis Light
Rommel Sulit, ForgeCraft Architecture + Design
John Riedie, Chief Executive Officer