Kim McCarson, program manager for the Music and Entertainment Division, updated the commission on Live Music Fund collections and grant compliance. McCarson reported that collections for fiscal year 2025 were nearly on par with the previous year: "we have almost caught up ... 1,123,522" for the August report and the program was about 1% behind the prior year at the same point.

McCarson and Erica Shamley, division manager, also reported on grant closeouts. For the FY2023/FY2024 cycles staff said 136 awards were accepted for FY2024, with 134 first payments made, 99 second payments made and 49 final payments closed. McCarson reported there are 29 remaining awardees who are noncompliant: 14 submitted an interim report but did not submit a full final report, and 15 submitted an incomplete or no interim report. "We now have 29 remaining non compliant awardees," McCarson said.

Staff outreach and consequences: McCarson described the department’s outreach process — text, phone and email — and letters notifying awardees that outstanding final reports or returned funds may affect eligibility for future awards. She said staff provides options including repayment or finishing the required final report: "they can finish it out and give us the report or, you know, they could... pay it back and make good with the city." Commissioners asked whether noncompliance would lead to penalties or a temporary bar from future awards and urged staff to propose clear, equitable standards.

Funding and program details: Erica Shamley told commissioners the Austin Live Music Fund for the fiscal year totals $7,000,000, with about $600,000 dedicated to $5,000 individual grants, roughly $1,600,000 for venues and the remainder allocated for professional musicians and promoters. Staff described the award payment schedule: typically 50% on execution, 40% on a progress report and the final 10% on submission of the final report; some FY2024 award types had two‑year performance windows.

Commissioner discussion and next steps: Commissioners generally supported leniency for early rollout problems but asked staff to return with a proposed policy for repeat noncompliance that balances support for applicants with stewardship of public funds. Staff indicated the grants intake and eligibility process for upcoming cycles will include checks to prevent reaward without resolution of prior agreements.

Ending: Staff said letters and direct outreach had closed some previously noncompliant files and that the office will return to the commission with recommended policy language for handling future noncompliance.