First Night Austin

Luke Savisky's The "I" of TX, First Night 2006 (Photo by John Anderson)

As songwriter Frank Loesser memorably posed the question, "What are you doing New Year's Eve?" Well, where 2010 is concerned, it'll be something other than First Night Austin. On Thursday, Sept. 30, the board of the local edition of the international celebration of arts and culture announced that it will be suspending this year's event, and I'll bet you can guess the reason why. Lack of money. That's hardly surprising, given the difficulty most nonprofits are experiencing in the fundraising department these days. But First Night Austin was particularly vulnerable following the turbulence it hit in 2009, when then-Executive Director Dave Sullivan left the organization in August after having failed to secure sponsorships and funding for the event. Left with five months to cobble something together on its own, the board produced a scaled-down version for about $250,000. Which may sound like a lot, but not so much when you consider that it's an eight-hour event involving more than 850 artists and that that's roughly half the budget of the first First Night, in 2005. This year, with the economy still in the tank and without an executive director to lead the hunt for money – no replacement for Sullivan was ever hired – support proved even harder to come by. The nine-member board headed into the fall with no presenting sponsor (chipping in $125,000), just over half of the budget raised, and no more financial prospects on the horizon. Concerned that going forward with such a limited budget would compromise the event's artistic quality, the board voted to cancel this year and focus on reviving First Night in 2011.

So what other family-friendly, alcohol-free New Year's Eve events might the 100,000 revelers that typically attend First Night go to in its place? Curiously enough, the city of Austin claims it will host one. In a statement released hot on the heels of the First Night cancellation announcement, City Manager Marc Ott stated that the city-sponsored event would not be on the scale of First Night but would feature live music, food, and fireworks. This is a surprising offer coming from the same government that just axed the Trail of Lights over budget concerns, but Ott may be planning to help pay for it by tapping the $50,000 that the city had already dedicated toward First Night as part of a five-year arrangement.