A view of the Austin Convention Center from a few years ago. Image: Austin Convention Center
Okay, so convention centers attract economic growth and increase tourism dollars. But as we’re mentioned before, their vibes are typically really bad. The paradox of a convention center as an urban land use is that it must be placed smack dab in the heart of the central city to create a vibrant, accessible presence for attendees, but the very act of building that center immediately sucks the life out of the surrounding area — the blocks around the Austin Convention Center are not known for their character, having attracted downtown’s single densest concentration of chain restaurants. Whenever the facility is not actively hosting a convention, the grounds of the center effectively become downtown Austin’s largest vacant lot.
Folks at the city seem to realize this as the process for redeveloping and expanding the Austin Convention Center moves forward downtown, though nobody would ever admit it on the record — current marketing for the project really pushes the idea of a refreshed convention center as a cultural landmark, with the 2021 design study for the project including two large “community rooms” and a gallery space showcasing work by local artists. That’s a good start, but if the city really wanted to do something interesting with the new center and leverage its public-private partnerships for a truly vibrant cultural use, it would designate permanent space somewhere along the redeveloped center’s street frontages for a full-fledged live music venue.
The Austin Convention Center doesn’t get to be inside the boundaries of the Red River Cultural District because nobody likes it. Nah, we’re just playing around, but isn’t there still something we could do to make the center mesh with this nearby district’s reputation for music venues? Image: Red River Cultural District
This aspect of the project would align with recent goals for the stewardship and preservation of affordable music venue spaces identified by the Austin Cultural Trust of the city’s Economic Development Corporation, and could even extend the border of the Red River Cultural District — for obvious reasons, the accepted boundaries of this live music district currently end one block north of the Convention Center. We’ve long maintained that the city should operate more music venues and other creative uses out of its substantial downtown property holdings, not only putting teeth in that whole “live music capital” thing but also as an effort to bring more public life into spaces that lack an active daily use. For what it’s worth, this recommendation approved by the city’s Music Commission late last year seems to support our position:
“The music commission recommends that Austin City Council directs Convention Center Staff to create a Convention Center Expansion Advisory Board, consisting of stakeholders from the art, music, and other relevant communities and industries, to provide critical input for expansion planning . . . The Convention Center expansion is a landmark capital project with tremendous potential for public benefits to Austin, including increased tourism revenue, exceptional public spaces, and robust programming . . . The Convention Center should set itself apart and above competing facilities by leveraging and strengthening Austin’s status as a thriving mecca for creativity, arts, music, and diverse culture.”
If the pending expansion indeed forms an advisory board of cultural stakeholders, we’d like to gently encourage those stakeholders to loudly demand an active and substantially booked music venue, perhaps a city-owned version of something like the ACL Live at 3Ten, an intimate club-like space ideal for showcasing smaller local acts. “We’re playing the convention center” doesn’t sound very cool, but maybe call it the “Conventioneer Club” and respectfully rip off the Continental Club’s logo as a joke. Oh, and one more thing — it has to sell beer. Don’t half-ass this.
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