“Skylark’s death is just the latest one, it’s not the only one,” says community leader and musician Harold McMillan, of the beloved blues lounge’s recent closing. Though giants like Antone’s, Continental Club, and Sahara Lounge still stand proud in Austin’s blues, jazz, and funk skyline, Skylark’s shuttering marked a particular loss for working musicians and Eastside music lovers.
McMillan runs Kenny Dorham’s Backyard, a multi-use venue space that’s long been an Eastside holdout for blues jams and reliable residencies. The city-owned venue has struggled financially over the years and offers shows largely for suggested donations. Responding to Skylark’s closing and Black Music Month, the East Austin Creative Coalition – which McMillan also founded – launched their “Keeping It Live on the East Side” campaign, seeking donations* from the community to pay musicians substantive rates.
“I would like to get fed and I would like to pay my staff and crew but I’m not hustling for gigs anymore,” McMillan says. “A lot of people are and a lot of people would like to be playing on the Eastside and they’re not able to now.”
McMillan founded EACC in 2018 to bring together organizations addressing the needs of East Austin’s African American Cultural Heritage District. In September 2021, Austin City Council accepted an EACC-authored resolution calling for reinvestment in the cultural district, including plans to transform Kenny Dorham’s Backyard into the Kenny Dorham Center, a brick-and-mortar cultural arts hub.
In the EACC’s initial plan, the center would include a mixed-use arts complex featuring an amphitheatre, recording studio, rehearsal space, gallery, indoor venue/cafe, and museum, as well as affordable housing partially reserved for artist residencies. The Austin Economic Development Corporation’s – now Rally Austin’s – Creative Space Bond Package solicitation (now Austin Cultural Trust) shortlisted the proposal for funding in 2021.
“The concept has evolved over the years, but it’s the same notion of an anchoring institution at the center of the district that is multidisciplinary.” – Harold McMillan on the proposed Kenny Dorham Center
The same year, however, Council directed the city manager to solicit plans and cost estimates for development of a “multi-story mixed-use development” encompassing two East 11th Street locations: Block 18, where Kenny Dorham’s Backyard currently sits, and Block 16, the 900 block between East 11th Street and Curve. In July 2024, Council authorized the Urban Renewal Agency to move forward with the project through developers Pleasant Hill Collaborative. These plans looked different from what EACC proposed in 2021. Block 16 is slated for a mix of affordable housing and retail space, while plans for Block 18 include townhomes targeted to professional creatives, exterior amenities, restaurants, and cultural venues.
“The concept has evolved over the years, but it’s the same notion of an anchoring institution at the center of the district that is multidisciplinary,” McMillan explains.
Eddie Stout, lifelong Eastside resident and head of Dialtone Records, does similar work from a different angle through the Eastside Kings Foundation and Festival. The foundation puts on blues, jazz, and gospel festivals and performances throughout the year, often making use of unconventional spaces on East 11th Street – like the Mission Possible church parking lot – to produce hyperlocal events featuring Austin-based and international acts.
“Seeing how buildings don’t last, but the music and the culture does, we’re trying to preserve that in the way we know how: through the music,” Stout says. The foundation makes use of funding from the city and various charitable organizations to sustain their archival and performance projects. They have also received funding from East12ATX, a project aiming to “elevate the tangible evidence of the community’s history.” Interestingly, East12ATX is spearheaded by real estate development company Eureka, which owns over three dozen properties along the corridor. Eureka has faced criticism for evicting beloved dance spot Outer Heaven Disco Club. Its application to demolish 1500 E. 12th, a vacant building the company bought in 2016 with links to German immigrants and the Black community, also sparked controversy. A successful petition by Preservation Austin garnered 1500 E. 12th status as a City of Austin Landmark.
“[They] are doing the construction up and down 12th Street, but they’re also throwing some money back into the arts,” Stout says. He hadn’t heard of plans for the new Kenny Dorham Center, but is familiar with the venue and McMillan’s work.
“We’ve played Kenny’s a couple of times and it’s [got] a side of funky but it’s real, which is cool, but I don’t know about building something in that space,” Stout ruminates. “I’m all for it if Harold’s for what’s going down,” he concludes cautiously.
Editor’s Note: This article has been updated to reflect EACC’s ongoing fundraising efforts.
This article appears in July 4 • 2025.