First Night Austin: Just eight weeks until New Year's

If you're still suffering from a Halloween hangover, you may think it's too early for anyone to be thinking about New Year's Eve. But for the folks working on First Night Austin, eight weeks out is crunch time for the mammoth cultural extravaganza. If you weren't one of the 100,000 people who spent part of last Dec. 31 Downtown enjoying the local debut of this popular civic celebration, you may not realize just how massive this event was: 10 hours, 25 locations from the state Capitol to Auditorium Shores, more than 80 artists and arts companies presenting work. Coordinating that much activity over that much real estate, much less raising the cash to pay for it, requires months of advance preparation, and creating projects for First Night – some of which are epic in scale – can be equally time-consuming. At the end of August, the departure of Executive Director Ann Graham and reports of fundraising sluggishness had First Night's sophomore edition looking less than a sure thing, but last month the organization announced that megagrocery HEB was stepping up to the plate as presenting sponsor, with AT&T providing support for the Midnight Grand Finale fireworks display over Town Lake. Even so, this year's event is being scaled back somewhat, both financially and geographically; the budget for the second First Night is $377,000, down from the first's roughly $430,000, and the footprint will shave off the five blocks north of Sixth Street to concentrate activities from Sixth and Congress to Auditorium Shores (a move instituted in response to feedback from pedestrians exhausted and footsore from hiking the length and breadth of last year's site). But those aren't the biggest changes in store for First Night, at least where the budget-conscious are concerned; that would be the elimination of the $8 charge for performances taking place indoors. Remember the Faith Gay-designed button that certified you had paid for the privilege of seeing the indoor events? A thing of the past. Now, all First Night events will be free to the public, which may mean more public crowding in to enjoy the fun. And by the way, succeeding Faith Gay as First Night poster artist is Peat Duggins. What isn't changing? First Night Austin will again be family-friendly and alcohol-free.

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First Night Austin 2007 will take place on Sunday, Dec. 31, 2pm-12mid. For more information, call 476-5577, or visit www.firstnightaustin.org.