Candidates Forum on the Arts

Hey you, with the brush/script/instrument/camera in your hand: If you care about creativity in Austin, you need to be at the Paramount Theatre Wednesday, April 1. That's when all the candidates for mayor and City Council will be onstage telling you where they stand with regard to the arts, culture, and creativity. And if there are only a dozen bodies scattered around the first few rows, well, they won't feel much need to treat the city's creatives as a priority once they take office.

And they should. Pardon my soapbox, but collectively the creative sector in Austin – music, film, the arts, digital media, et al. – generates $2.2 billion in economic activity every year and employs 44,000 people. That sector is not only responsible for a lot of the city's international rep (Austin City Limits, Slacker, Stevie Ray, Willie, South by Southwest, to name a few), but it's grown steadily over the past 30 years, even through the real estate and dot-com busts. Hey, if you're looking for economic stability ...

But when money gets tight, if anything gets cut faster than library hours, it's arts and culture. And part of the reason is we don't show up. Let's not make that mistake this time. A packed Paramount would send a pretty powerful message to City Hall. I think I saw it on a trailer at the SXSW Film Festival: Creativity is all. All is creativity.

Betty Dunkerley will moderate. The action starts at 7pm at the Paramount, 713 Congress. You can park free at One American Center, 600 Congress, after 6pm. The Paramount bar will even be open. So come on, let's fill the joint.