Parks reap benefits of music fest grants

Austin Parks Foundation has announced its annual ACL Music Fest awards to parks across Austin. Overton School/Colony Park District Park, West Austin Neighborhood Park, Parque Zaragoza, Gullett School Park, Mary Dawson Pocket Park, and Grand Meadow Neighborhood Park are the lucky recipients of a total of $15,600 in grants. Some of the money will be used for specific improvements and amenities at the parks while $125,000 “will go towards Design Services awards to provide the plans that are necessary for the development of and/or improvements within the parks.” Park design director Katie Robillard explains, “Design needs are an unseen barrier to neighborhoods being able to make the improvements they desire, or turn undeveloped park space into a community hub. APF began offering Design Services in 2018 when it became clear that we could help with professional design and park planning, both of which can be quite expensive and time consuming. The design fees for vision planning and the required community engagement for even small parks can be hundreds of thousands of dollars, which is not typically available to neighborhood, volunteer stakeholders.”