A lesson from Austin songbook: Open our city hall to musicians
AUSTIN, TEXAS— In Austin, as in most cities, music fans can go to little bars to discover up-and-coming local bands. If they’re hung over, though, they can just call city hall and ask someone to put them on hold for an hour.
Toronto’s government uses a straight-outta-1987 generic keyboard instrumental as its hold music. Austin’s uses songs by hometown artists.
It’s one of the many ways that the selfproclaimed “Live Music Capital of the World” assists its music industry in ways Toronto does not.
Austin has an official music division that works to promote the area scene and help the people involved navigate city hall. Musicians perform on its council floor during scheduled breaks from meetings. Councillors pass musician-friendly parking policies. And the city happily hands over parks to music events.
Mayor Rob Ford led an official trip to Austin on Thursday and Friday that was intended to help Toronto’s civic leaders understand just what it is that has made this city of 850,000 such a music mecca.
While much of Austin’s success has to do with organic factors — you can’t replicate Willie Nelson — industry honchos believe it has outpaced Toronto in part because its government makes it easier than ours for innovators to thrive.
“The city of Austin is better at saying ‘yes’ than ‘no,’ ” says Michael Hollett, president of Toronto’s North by Northeast festival, which was inspired by Austin’s South by Southwest. The Austin City Limits festival Ford raved about, Hollett notes, takes over a big urban park.
“There certainly hasn’t been the will from the city (of Toronto) to be flexible to using parks in that way,” Hollett says. “Can you imagine if someone proposed High Park or Riverdale or something like that?”
Music Canada president Graham Henderson says he believes Toronto will soon announce it is opening its own music office; the city already has a film office. Austin’s office has made a significant impact, says Jennifer Houlihan, executive director of the advocacy group Austin Music People.
“Part of it is outreach work: making sure music gets out to the community, especially to neighbourhoods where they might not have any live music venues — bringing music out into the parks; they work closely with the Convention and Visitors Bureau to export musicians, making sure Austin music is being heard around the world,” Houlihan says.
“But they also deal with some of the practical things that aren’t that fun — keeping an eye on permits, making sure those are awarded fairly, mediating disputes as they arise . . . in the past, without that ally at a governmental level, music might have been at a disadvantage.”
Area politicians have made a concerted effort to amend laws to benefit the industry. Austin’s government recently approved “musician loading and unloading zones” that allow bands to stop beside venues without being ticketed. A state legislator from the city is pushing a tax cut on alcoholic beverages served by live music venues. And everybody in the government seems to be making Texas-sized boasts about the music scene just about all the time. Braggadocio helps, Henderson says, and Toronto’s civic leaders have been far quieter.
“I can see it, that we’re one of the great music cities of the world, but we’re not telling people,” Henderson says. “If there’s one thing these guys figured out — ‘Live Music Capital of the World.’ Whether they are or they aren’t, they’re claiming to be, and it’s working. We’ve got it, let’s flaunt it. And we need to start doing that.”