FAYETTEVILLE — Go eat a hamburger.
It’s good for our live music scene.
Don’t follow that logic? Stay with me for just a second.
Fayetteville’s Advertising & Promotion Commission is charged with promoting the city by managing the Advertisement and Promotion fund. That money is collected by taking 1 percent of the local Hotel, Motel and Restaurant Tax, which is colloquially known as the “Hamburger Tax.”
And that Hamburger Tax is funding more live music next year.
Last week, the A&P Commission announced the most recent recipients of funds. Money was awarded to local staples such as the Chili Pepper Cross Country Festival, the Washington County Fair and TheatreSquared. In all, more than $220,000 will be given away.
There are a few catches: The money must be used to promote the city, and it must be for an event designed to bring new faces - and the tax revenue they generate in the form of hotel bookings and food purchases - to Fayetteville.
Few organizations received the full amount requested, and preference was given to new events or organizations over those that have been established for several years.
The distributions provide a little insight into what the movers and shakers of this area have in store for us in 2011, entertainment-wise.
We know that the arts and music community can be a tight-lipped bunch. There are no shockers among the events that have been provided some seed money. Neither are there a lot of revelations as far as performers’ names go.
But the list definitely gives us a few things to look forward to, and I think you’ll agree there are a few surprises among the requests and the amounts granted to those organizations.
The information that follows is courtesy of the documents those requesting A&P funds used to support their case. Here are the ones related to music:
◊ 101 Runners Mardi Gras Indian Funk Band - This funk group from New Orleans will perform at a yet-to-bedetermined site in downtown Fayetteville on Feb. 24, the date of the city’s annual Mardi Gras Parade. Organizers requested $8,000 to set up the concert, and they were given $4,000.
◊ Arkansas Music Pavilion - The venue in north Fayetteville routinely attracts national touring acts. Since 2005, its inaugural year, the AMP has drawn more than 60,000 fans and been the site for more than three dozen shows. Organizers requested $60,000 for out-of-state marketing efforts and $20,000 for a fireworks show. The AMP received $5,000, and another organization, Uptown Fayetteville, which also proposed a fireworks show, was given money to do so.
◊ Arkansas Entertainers Wall of Fame - Launching sometime in 2011, we’re told by the requests, will be an Arkansas Entertainers Walkof Fame. It will be modeled after the Hollywood Walk of Fame in Los Angeles and will fill the sidewalks of Dickson Street with large bronze stars.
A concert will accompany the first unveiling. The promoter of the Walk of Fame asked for $15,000 to market the event and was given $5,000.
◊ Artosphere - The first Walton Arts Center-sponsored Artosphere drew more than 15,000 patrons last year among dozens of related events. The next event hopes to expand that total, with officials estimating nearly 20,000 will attend in 2011.
Although specific events were not announced, last year’s Artosphere featured a chamber music concert series, an outdoor concerton local walking trails and an appearance by the Indigo Girls. The WAC asked for $45,000 and was awarded $20,000.
◊Bikes, Blues & Hot Rods, Too - The smaller, car-related rally that runs concurrent to Bikes, Blues & BBQ will again take place in 2011. The rally, located near the Arkansas Music Pavilion, attracted an estimated 75,000 visitors in September. The organizers hope to use marketing funds to draw car enthusiasts to the area to increase the rally size. To help with out-of-state marketing, BB&HRT asked for $25,000 and was given $5,000.
◊ Songs in the ’Ville - This monthly showcase of songwriting talent hosted by Effron White reports that guests from as far away as Tulsa, Okla., and Little Rock have been visiting the event.
Songwriters from across the nation have been featured in the monthly songs-in-theround setting. White asked for $5,000 to extend the event’s marketing presence and was given $1,000.
Two other events received consideration but were given money in a spring distribution of A&P funds. One of those events is the Fulbright International Concerto Competition on the University of Arkansas campus, which received $10,000 in April. It received an additional $5,000 in the newest distribution.
Another event, Rock-It, seeks to expand the Northwest Arkansas Music Awards from a one-day event to a weeklong showcase of local bands and national music vendors. That concept was given $7,000 in promotional funds earlier in the year but nothing in the recent round of funding.
It’s going to be a very musical year, if everything happens as planned.
Whats Up, Pages 19 on 11/19/2010