AN OPEN LETTER ON THE FUTURE OF THE RED RIVER CULTURAL DISTRICT

A City That Made Promises: The Case for Acting on Red River Now

Read Our Letter – CLICK HERE

For decades, the City of Austin has told the Red River community that this district matters – in resolutions, ordinances, adopted plans, and commissioned studies. Long before “Red River Cultural District” was the name on the block, the city was already writing down commitments to protect the venues, the musicians, and the culture that makes our Music Mile irreplaceable.

That public record is long, specific, and complex. To detail these ongoing efforts, we’ve compiled a Record of Commitments below that lays out each of these measures to help explain what’s transpired over the past 20+ years. 

The city has committed to Red River, in writing, again and again. What has been missing is not intention; it’s follow-through, bold solutions, and innovative ideas. 

As downtown investment accelerates and venues and creative spaces close, the gap between what’s been promised to support existing and future music venues and cultural spaces, and what’s been delivered is no longer sustainable.

Show Your Support

Sign Our Letter – CLICK HERE

1. Please help champion our cause by SIGNING OUR LETTER in support via our LINK. See the FAQ below to learn more about our ask.
2. Continue to support our local businesses! Buy the ticket, grab the drink, tip the bartender, and buy the artist’s merch, and show up for the independent Red River businesses you love!
3. Follow along on social media @redriverculturaldistrict for the latest updates from our org!
4. Share why Red River matters to you on social media by sharing our post from September 8th and tag us @redriverculturaldistrict #defendredriver

In Summary – What We Want Next:

Read end to end, this is not a district asking the city for something new. It is a district asking the city to finish what it started! 

Every major planning document since 1991 Imagine Austin, the Downtown Austin Plan, the Palm District Plan, the Cultural Tourism Plan has identified Red River by name and flagged the same risk: that redevelopment, rising costs, and infrastructure change would displace the venues and culture that define it. 

Council has responded with funds, studies, task forces, and resolutions. What has consistently lagged is meaningful policy implementation including the overlay, the codified protections, and the incentive programs translated from guidelines into ordinance.

Red River is losing venues, cultural space, and local businesses now. The Red River Cultural District started advocating over a decade ago to be proactive about the closures and loss of creative spaces we experienced then. Unfortunately, valuable time has been lost. Valhalla, Empire Control Room and Garage, Marlow, Feels So Good, and Koriente have all closed in recent months, against a backdrop of major downtown investment moving forward on parallel tracks. 

The city has already told us, in its own words and its own votes, that this district is worth protecting. The record below is the receipt. What’s needed now is the follow-through the city has been promising since the early 1990s.

The Red River Cultural District was created in 2017 to be proactive to the pressures we knew our neighborhood was already feeling. Learn more about our accomplishments that have shaped the case for action. Red River Cultural District Accomplishments

The Record of Commitments

1991 — Resolution 910829-46 The earliest formal City Council action recognizing the district that would become Red River.

2010 — CreateAustin Cultural Master Plan Found that live music contributed $616 million in economic impact and $11 million in local tax revenue, and recommended specific tools, density bonuses, historic and New Market Tax Credits, tax and fee abatements, and low-cost financing  to preserve affordable creative space.

2010 — Waller Creek District Master Plan (Ordinance 20100624-151) Council-approved design guidelines for the Waller Creek chain of parks, adopted with acknowledgment that development here could affect the long-term operation of live music venues nearby.

December 5, 2011 The Austin Music Commission unanimously adopted a resolution declaring Red River the Red River Cultural District.

2011 — Downtown Austin Plan City Council adopted a plan that named the risk explicitly: Downtown’s role as the region’s center of live music was “in danger of being displaced by redevelopment,” specifically citing Red River Street venues at risk from Waller Creek development, and recommended incentives and programs to protect the district.

2012 — Imagine Austin Plan Called Austin’s live music and arts scene “a cornerstone of the city’s identity,” warned that rising costs threatened the long-term viability of the arts community, and called for sustained funding and support to keep the creative sector intact.

2012 — Economic Impact of the Creative Sector in Austin Quantified the creative sector at $4.35 billion in economic activity, $71 million in city tax revenue, and nearly 49,000 jobs in 2010  with specific recommendations tied to the long-term sustainability of Red River.

September 18, 2013 The Downtown Commission affirmed its support for the Red River Cultural District designation.

October 17, 2013 — Resolution No. 20131017-036 City Council formally designated the 600–900 blocks of Red River Street as a local Cultural District.

2015 — Austin’s Cultural Tourism Plan Named Red River a generative cultural district model “worth investing in to test and replicate,” and supported the formation of a merchants association to sustain the district commercially.

2016 — Mayor’s Music and Creative Ecosystem Stabilization Recommendations Called for the strategic deployment of economic development incentives, tools, and loans to stabilize the music and creative industries.

June 8, 2017 — Resolution No. 20170608-033 Directed the City Manager to explore public infrastructure enhancements specifically within the Red River Cultural District.

January 26, 2017 — Ordinance No. 20170126-019 Established a pilot program authorizing extended hours for sound equipment.

2017 — City Budget Allocated $300,000 for heritage wayfinding in the Red River Cultural District. To date as of September 8th, 2026, Red River Cultural District has not gained access to these funds.

August 30, 2018 — Ordinance 20180830-058 Directed development of a Locational Enhancement Program and real estate gap financing to preserve live music, cultural space, and small businesses.

May 5, 2019 — Resolution 20190523-023 Directed collaboration with the Waller Creek Conservancy and Downtown Austin Alliance on a comprehensive Palm District planning process, including identifying where existing Waller Creek design guidelines could become binding code amendments.

December 2016 — Urban Land Institute Technical Assistance Panel Commissioned by the city’s Economic Development Department to study live music preservation in Red River; produced immediate and long-term recommendations spanning incentives, regulation, and finance.

January 2021 — Austin American Institute of Architects Report (summary) Recommended, as a high priority, protecting Red River through strengthened restrictions, local and national historic designation, transfer of development rights, and a community land trust.

September 19, 2019 — Ordinance No. 20190919-149 Established the Live Music Fund, providing an ongoing budget for cultural funding programs supporting Austin’s music industry.

Resolution 20190808-144 Committed $1.3 million toward public infrastructure revitalization on Red River — sidewalks, planters, and street crossings.

2019 —  Alley Closure Investment from City of Austin in total of $100,000 committed to address safety and sanitation issues via alley closure. Funds were used internally at the City to put a gate and fence up in a problematic alleyway in the District.

2020 — Texas Commission on the Arts Designated Red River Cultural District a State Cultural District.

December 3, 2020 — Resolution 20201203-046 Established the Iconic Venue Fund in partnership with the Austin Economic Development Corporation, with a goal of $15 million in total funding.

March 25, 2021 — Resolution 20210325-063 Advanced coordination on the I-35 reconstruction project, acknowledging its long-term impacts on the Red River Cultural District.

July 28, 2022 — Resolution 20220728-094 Directed that “Live Music Venue” be codified in the city’s Land Development Code, and directed creation of a bonus and incentive program  fee waivers, modified parking requirements, affordable commercial space covenants, and density bonus prioritization or other overlays — for Red River, East 6th, and the Warehouse District.

June 1, 2023 — Council approved modifications to Project Connect light rail plans, with acknowledged risk to the district from rising property values, displacement, and loss of venues and parking.

September 14, 2023 — Palm District Plan via Resolution 20230914-096 Directed immediate action to preserve, support, and expand Red River’s live music economy through incentives, public-private partnerships, and regulatory tools including transfer of development rights, historic designation, agent-of-change sound compatibility rules, and the Iconic Venue Fund. Also directed an Impact Assessment of proposed Land Development Code amendments  including Waterloo Greenway Design Standards on existing live music venues.

May 30, 2024 — Ordinance No. 20240530-169 Created the Red River Cultural District Special Revenue Fund for equitable cultural district funding.

2024 — Placed-Based Incentive Program Established to support live music venues, creative spaces, and legacy businesses.

February 2, 2024 — Resolution  20240229-060 — The City is committed to the expedited delivery of the defined incentives, tools, and regulatory and financial commitments to preserving and enhancing Austin’s live music community. The City Manager is directed to provide an update on policy areas that have been the subject of previous Council direction, including: • Chapter 380 Policy Revisions • Location Enhancement Program • Cultural District Overlay • Economic and Cultural District Framework

2025 — Live Music Fund Working Group Developed grant program guidelines.

Supporting Research Documents

• Music and Creative Ecosystem Recommendations (2016)
• 2022 Music Census (ATX)
• Amplified Sound Compatibility Staff Recommendations (June 2019)
• Thriving in Place: Supporting Austin’s Cultural Vitality Through Place-Based Economic Development (2018)
• CAMP: Cultural Asset Mapping Project (2017)
• Austin Music Economic Impact (2016)
• Building Austin’s Creative Capacity — Needs Assessment (2016)
• The Austin Music Census: A Data-Driven Assessment of Austin’s Commercial Music Economy (2015)

Frequently Asked Questions 

Q: What is “cultural infrastructure”?

Cultural infrastructure means the physical spaces, music venues, theaters, galleries, studios, rehearsal spaces, and other creative and performance spaces that a community’s cultural life depends on. Just like roads, water lines, or transit are physical infrastructure a city needs to function, cultural infrastructure is the physical foundation a city’s arts and music economy needs to survive. When that infrastructure disappears, the culture built around it doesn’t relocate easily; it disappears with it.

Q: What is “cultural preservation” in a City planning context?

In land-use and development policy, cultural preservation means using the tools of city planning, which may include zoning – including overlays, incentives, and funding mechanisms to keep existing cultural spaces and communities in place, rather than displacing them as an area redevelops. It works alongside historic preservation (protecting buildings) but focuses specifically on protecting the uses and possible communities inside those buildings, like music venues, and the people who create and gather in them.

Q: What is the Downtown Density Bonus (DDB) Program, and what is “Phase II”?

The Downtown Density Bonus program through the City of Austin lets a development build taller or bigger than normally allowed, in exchange for providing defined public benefits. Texas law does not allow cities to require affordable housing through zoning, so density-bonus programs are one of the few tools Austin has to secure public benefit from private growth. 

First adopted in 2013, the DDB program already includes “cultural uses” and “live music venue” on its menu of eligible community benefits but they compete with many other options, and the program is now being reformed. The City is updating the DDB program in phases: an initial phase covering specific subdistricts is moving through Codes and Ordinances Joint Committee, Planning Commission, and City Council review in 2026. 

RRCD is asking that as this update continues into its next phase, cultural preservation be made a real, prioritized community that benefits not just one option but many. Learn more at SpeakUpAustin.org.

Q: What is Transfer of Development Rights (TDR)?

TDR is a voluntary, market-based tool that lets the owner of a protected property, a “sending site,” such as a historic landmark or a small legacy building, sell their unused development capacity (the extra height or square footage they’re allowed to build but haven’t) to a developer elsewhere. That developer, on a “receiving site” in an area targeted for greater density, buys the right to build bigger than they otherwise could. The landmark owner gets a cash incentive to keep their building as-is instead of selling to be redeveloped; the city gets to direct new density to where it wants growth, without losing the smaller-scale buildings that hold cultural and historic value.

A TDR program was recommended in the recently adopted Austin Equity-Based Preservation Plan (Read the plan in English or Spanish (PDF), specifically to explore how TDR could protect smaller-scale downtown buildings, commercial corridors, and historic districts. Cities including Boston, San Francisco, Seattle, Los Angeles, New York, Dallas, Palo Alto, and King County, Washington already run TDR programs the City is studying as models. Read the City’s TDR market analysis: services.austintexas.gov (PDF). 

Q: What is the Central City District Plan?

This is the update to the Downtown Austin Plan, a new 10-year blueprint for Austin’s urban core. It has been expanded beyond just downtown to also include the South Central Waterfront and the University of Texas / University Neighborhood area. Among its stated goals is functioning as an “economic hub” that keeps attracting new business while retaining the existing arts and cultural centers that draw people downtown. 

The plan is currently in its second engagement phase (through September 2026), with a third engagement phase in early 2027 and adoption by City Council targeted for spring 2027  meaning the window to shape its cultural-preservation content is open now. The Red River Cultural District has been  Learn more and get involved: SpeakUpAustin.org/CentralCity

Q: What is the Red River Cultural District Overlay?

A cultural district overlay is a regulatory, financial, and programmatic designation layered on top of existing zoning that recognizes an area’s cultural significance and applies additional protections or incentives tailored to it, similar to how a historic district overlay protects a neighborhood’s historic character. City Council directed staff to develop this overlay for Red River in Resolution No. 20240229-060, sponsored by Council Member Zo Qadri and Resolution No. 20220728-094. 

It has not yet been implemented. RRCD is calling on the City to move this overlay from directive to reality without further delay.