SXSW fees waived

In a vote of 10-0-1, City Council approved $309,310 in fees for the South by Southwest Music, Film, and Interactive Festival. Council Member Don Zimmerman abstained from the vote. Council Member Greg Casar said that he didn’t think the way the city has handled fee waivers for the festival accurately showed what the city was, in fact, doing. “It looks like a fee waiver for a parade downtown. This is very different than that,” said Casar. He asked for everyone to think about it as “something different” and to consider what responsibility falls on the city and what falls on event organizers. In that spirit, he thanked organizers for “stepping up and sharing the burden more.” Casar added a provision that, in the future, “such agreements should outline the roles and responsibilities of the parties, potentially for multiple years.”