Convention bureau OKs more funds for South By Southwest outreach
Members of the Woodlands Convention and Visitors Bureau decided Wednesday to move forward with a plan to dedicate more money as part of an effort to lure visitors to the community through a bigger presence at the 2018 South By Southwest festival in Austin.
Board members also approved giving more time to the passenger boat service known as Waterway Events LLC to get its boats— which have been out of service since Hurricane Harvey hit—running again.
The board voted unanimously during a special meeting Wednesday to allot up to $35,000 to go towards paying for an expanded location at the March 2018 South By Southwest, or what’s called SXSW for short. Operating since 1987, the festival has grown from a musical event into a massive annual gathering that brings members of the technology, film and music industries together every year.
During the 10-day gathering earlier this year, organizers say more than 400,000 people participated in its combined conferences and festivals.
The additional expenditure approved by the board would help pay for a tent that would feature food and music to draw people in, as well as signage that would promote The Woodlands and attractions in the community.
Instead of a being inside an exhibit hall, the tent would be located in the Brush Square Park area of the festival, which is located in the heart of the SXSW activities.
The tent and its exhibit, which would be up and running for a day or two, is located in an area that president of the visitors bureau, Nick Wolda, described as “strategically located” between two major hotels located within the festival. The tent would be expected to generate greater foot
traffic than the booth the bureau operated at the festival earlier this year.
Total cost for the tent and the more visible and expanded presence is expected to run about $65,000, but Wolda says the bureau is seeking “partners” to help pay for part of the cost.
“We have $26,000 [budgeted] or so, but we have some flexibility, too, in there,” Wolda told the board. “We really want to do that right.”
At the festival held earlier this year, the The Woodlands also spent $26,000, which included travel expenses for two staff members.
Wolda said so far he has received verbal commitments of about $20,000 to $25,000 in “outside dollars” for next year’s festival, although he acknowledged those commitments are not yet contractually bound.
Bureau Chairman Bruce Rieser, who is also a member of the township’s Board of Directors, proposed bumping up the amount budgeted by the bureau for the tent and its expanded offerings to $35,000.
“I think this a unique opportunity for us,” Rieser said, in asking for a resolution for the greater amount. The board went ahead and unanimously approved a measure to spend up to $35,000.
FERRY SERVICE GIVEN MORE TIME TO GET BOATS OPERATING AGAIN
In another matter, the board also agreed to give more time to the passenger boat service known as Waterway Events LLC to get its boats—out of service since Hurricane Harvey hit—running again.
The handful of ferry boats had stopped service after the pouring rains of Hurricane Harvey damaged their electrical systems, according to Lisa Spitz, the operator of the service. Because the boats weren’t running, the service was in default of an agreement with the township that the boats would be plying the local waterways for at least 20 hours a week.
“I’m set and ready to go,” Spitz said in an emotional appeal to the board. “I can have the boats up and running within two to three weeks.”
After hearing from Spitz and then moving into an executive session to discuss the matter, the board returned and voted unanimously that it would not find the boat service in default and instead gave Spitz three weeks to get the boats running again.
“Lisa you got the three weeks you asked for,” Rieser said after the vote. “We need to get together in a meeting some time next week and sit down and go over what our expectations are, documents we need to cure the issues that are on the table.”
Spitz will have to appear again in front of the board when it meets in January to provide an update on her progress in getting the ferries running again.
“After the hurricane, it blew so hard and got so wet in there, that it basically fried the electrical system on the boats that were running,” Spitz told The Villager after the meeting.
She said she was “elated” by the board’s decision to give her more time.