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A $25 million contract between the City of Austin and the Long Center is under scrutiny over how the public money is being spent. The contracts and the fees inside it are tied to the city’ cultural arts grants program, raising questions about transparency and oversight. We’ll dig into the details of the contract and the future between the two sides.
Texas Republicans have revived anti-Muslim messaging in races across the state as early voting begins tomorrow. It’s a change in messaging from elections over the past decade or so. We’ll look at why that’s the case and what it could mean for elections in Texas.
Real love means working through the good, the bad, and the funny. It’s all explored in the mockumentary “Tying Knots” from an Austin filmmaker that’s premiering this week.
The full transcript of this episode of Austin Signal is available on the KUT & KUTX Studio website. The transcript is also available as subtitles or captions on some podcast apps.
Jerry Quijano [00:00:08] A $25 million contract between the City of Austin and the Long Center is under scrutiny over how the public money is being spent. The contracts and the fees inside it are tied to the city’s cultural arts grants program, raising questions about transparency and oversight, the details of the contract, and Texas Republicans have revived anti-Muslim messaging in races across the state as early voting begins tomorrow. It’s a change in messaging from elections over the past decade or so. Why that’s the case and what it could mean for elections coming up on today’s show.
KUT Announcer: Laurie Gallardo [00:00:41] The Austin Signal is a production of KUT News, hosted by Jerry Quijano.
Jerry Quijano [00:00:46] Real love means working through the good, the bad, and the funny. It’s all explored in a mockumentary from an Austin filmmaker that’s premiering this week. That conversation, coming up next on Austin Signal. Howdy out there, this is Austin Signal. Thank you for starting the week off with us. I’m your host, Jerry Keconnell. Let’s get started with today’s show. There is new scrutiny on a $25 million contract between the city of Austin and the Long Center, which has, for the past three years, been running the city’s cultural arts grants program. Now some city staffers are raising some questions. For more, we are talking with Andrea Balshi as the growth and development reporter for Austin Current, KUT’s collaborator. On the Austin Signal and a partner with KUT’s newsroom in covering the city. Andrea, thank you for coming back on the show.
Andrea Ball [00:01:45] Thank you for having me.
Jerry Quijano [00:01:46] So, you put this contract under some scrutiny, you reviewed the contract, what stood out to you?
Andrea Ball [00:01:52] I think what is great about this contract in terms of reading it is that it breaks down by hour how much each task costs. And that’s not something you always see in contracts. These types of contracts are, according to what I have seen, according the expert I consulted, they’re unusual. They’re not unheard of. They’re like absolutely dinosaurs here. That’s not what it is. They are usually contracts with cities. They usually set a flat fee or a percentage. That way it says, okay, contractor, I want these deliverables. I want this kind of transparency. I want kind of reporting. However you get there, you get their, but stay under 10%. This did not do that. And that’s what struck me. And when I looked at the numbers… As a lay person, I said, I don’t understand why it costs $54 to pay an assistant, a customer service person. Not that it’s wrong, I just don’t under stand. Why does it cost $250 to pull information for the city who owns the information? So, they were questions, not judgments.
Jerry Quijano [00:03:14] And did those seem unusually high? I mean, you said there’s not a lot of examples of this type of contract, but did those rates seem exorbitantly high?
Andrea Ball [00:03:23] And to me they did, but I’m just talking as a person who looks at the regular world and says, that sounds high. Communicated with the Long Center. They were very open. They were very articulate about how they explained where they came up with these rates. And they continually said to me, we’re abiding by the contract. The city approved this. This was intentional. And the reason we did it, the reason why it might seem high to you is because we’re not just using four people who are paid under this contract to do this work. We have dozens of people at the Long Center who can contribute to this work as part of their daily duties. That’s how we keep the overhead low for the city. Problematically, with these types of contracts is that they take a lot of scrutiny. And you have a government agency trying to oversee a contract with limited people, sometimes it doesn’t go as tightly, as one would hope.
Jerry Quijano [00:04:30] And through your reporting, what did you hear about the experience of running this program through the Long Center for these last three years, maybe compared to years past for artists who were participating in it?
Andrea Ball [00:04:40] Yeah, I heard, you know, there were secret sources buzzing in the ears, you know, talking about this and that later. But I also did hear from people, hey, we are getting our checks cut much faster. It is much more efficient than it was under the city in terms of getting our money. Now, if you’re a musician and you have bills to pay, that’s really important. They’re not messing with contracts. They don’t care about that unless you are. Really having questions, and there were people having questions and they came to me.
Jerry Quijano [00:05:16] In your story, you mentioned that this is important, or why does this matter right now? Can you tell us about what’s coming up next month?
Andrea Ball [00:05:22] Yeah. So in April, so this is a contract that has a five year period of possible length. So you have your master contract, which is, thank you for doing the work. We will revisit in a year and we will extend it. So it can go up to five years for $100,000. I do want to clarify something that I think some readers might have been a little bit misled by or whatever. Long Center does not get $25 million to pocket. That’s not how it works. They are distributing like $23 million in contracts and money to the artists, the musicians, the dancers, you know, the people out there creating the art that Austin is known for. They are getting anywhere over the years between like a million and a million five to administer it. They’re not running around with $25 million saying, whoopee, let’s buy some new equipment. That’s not what it is. And I think that even though we put it in the story, it’s easy to misunderstand that.
Jerry Quijano [00:06:29] It was also mentioned in the story that the city had some leftover money from this grant program last year that it didn’t distribute. Can you tell us more about that?
Andrea Ball [00:06:36] So in 2024, there were some questions and concerns from the community we could all go back and read about how the grants were distributed. They were looking for transparency. We also had a lot of different departments, not just the economic development department, but a lot different people all over the place kind of had their fingers in this. And so what the city decided to do was to create this one group called ACME, and they’re in charge of cultural arts. And so when they came in as a new department, they said, okay, as a New Department, hearing concerns, we’re not gonna give out most of the grants this year. We’re gonna go to musicians. We’re going to go to venues. We’re go to promoters. We’re to talk to other folks and determine if we are doing this the best way. Do we need to change our applications? Do we to change the way we oversee things? So, you have a bunch of money, let’s just say for the live music fund, which is supposed to come out next, the winners are supposed to be announced next month. When you have money that musicians were really hoping for to keep them afloat, that’s hard. And so that’s why those grants were not distributed at that time. So, people are really looking forward to seeing how they do and if they get. That money. So, last year they would have distributed $4.5 million, but since the tax money from the hotel tax, which is what funds this, accumulated over last year, they’re going to give out more money this year to try and compensate for what was not given.
Jerry Quijano [00:08:27] Yeah, and this story is in line with one we had last week about affordable housing for musicians on the east side of Austin as well. And we’ll have a link to that story and Andrea’s story as well at kut.org slash signal and in the show notes for today’s podcast. We’ve been speaking with Andrea Ball. She is the growth and development reporter for Austin Current, KUT’s collaborator on the Austin Signal and a partner with KUT newsroom in covering the city. Andrea, thank you for talking with us. Thank you so much for having me. The Islamic faith has become a talking point among Texas politicians, especially as we’ve neared tomorrow’s start to early voting in the primaries. Forrest Wilder of Texas Monthly wrote about how Republican candidates are attacking their opponents by calling them soft on Islam and pushing their own hard-line stance. Texas Standard’s David Brown spoke with Wilder and starts by underscoring the headline and subhead to his story.
David Brown [00:09:28] Inside the Texas GOP’s anti-Muslim campaigning, with national prospects looking bleak for Republicans heading into the midterms, the party has dusted off an old boogeyman. Say more about that. Republicans concerned about what might happen here in the mid-terms?
Forrest Wilder [00:09:45] Yeah, that’s right. You know, the midterms are never great for the party that’s the president’s, and also Trump’s approval ratings are dropping, and some of the issues that were really salient for bringing Trump back to power are waning a bit. You know the border is quiet, that’s thanks to Donald Trump, but the salience of that issue has decreased a bit And some of the panic around transgender issues has waned. And so I think it’s not a coincidence that you’re seeing some of these fears about the so-called Islamification come back to the fore as a campaign issue, a flash point for Republican candidates.
David Brown [00:10:27] I want to underscore something because I can remember—this gets to the boogeyman comment that’s in your story—I can remember when anti-Islamic rhetoric was a political talking point in the wake of 9-11 and for many years after. But you know, we’re talking about 20 years or more ago. Why do some politicians in Texas think Islam has political salience now in 2026?
Forrest Wilder [00:10:49] Yeah, it is a little strange, right, because after 9-11, I mean, it’s not hard to figure out why there would be a panic around radical Islam in the wake of 9-Eleven terrorist attacks. Now it seems a little stranger, but I think it has to do, it ties in with broader fears about immigration. The fact of the matter is Muslims in Texas remain a small minority group, about 2% of the state. However, the percentage is growing, particularly in certain areas of North Texas, Dallas, Fort Worth, Houston, and also in Travis County. And some of the visibility has increased. For example, there’s Ismaili Center, this 150,000 square foot facility for the Ismailie Faith that opened in Houston. Some schools in, for example, Collin County have, or neighborhoods have large populations of South Asian immigrants, many of whom are Muslim. And so I think. For some people, that’s scary. And so you see politicians capitalizing on that and trying to get these lots of the polls.
David Brown [00:11:52] Is there any evidence that this is messaging that’s being orchestrated in some way by Texas Republicans or are we talking about individual candidates seizing on something that they think could benefit them?
Forrest Wilder [00:12:07] Well, I don’t think it’s like everyone gets in a room and decides on this. I think it really, the dynamic is that they do polling, they figure out where Republican base voters are. Cause keep in mind, we have a Republican primary coming up. So a lot of this is about the Republican primary, not necessarily the general. And then, you know, everyone gets the memo, not in a literal sense, but they all kind of figure out this is what we’re running on this season. Now, to be fair, some people have been on the Muslim bashing kick for a long time. They’re not Johnny Come Lately’s other candidates. They’re a little late to the game, right? They’re just kind of jumping on the bandwagon now because it’s the thing that might help get them elected.
David Brown [00:12:45] Texas has a rather large and growing Muslim population. I think the Texas Almanac said it was something like 400,000 one of the largest that would make it one of largest Muslim communities in the u.s. What about people in those communities is there any sign this could backfire against Republicans in November?
Forrest Wilder [00:13:03] Yeah, it’s interesting because, you know, it looks let’s not generalize too much because Islam is one of the world’s great religions. It’s the practice by two billion people. It’s a extremely diverse community. Not all Muslims are immigrants. So you don’t want to overgeneralize. However, if you if you, if you take a broad view, it said it’s a mixed community, community, politically tending to be social conservative. There are many Muslims who are sort of natural Republicans who vote Republican and you know the folks that I talked to are as you can imagine really upset about this I won’t make any predictions about what it might do politically But I think that it’s at a personal level, you know, this is pretty hurtful rhetoric. These are folks who were part of communities who are proud to be Texans, proud to Americans who are here for a reason and feel like they’re being attacked for nothing that they’ve done other than their identity and their existence.
Jerry Quijano [00:14:01] That was Texas Monthly’s Forrest Wilder speaking with Texas Standard host David Brown. We’re going to have a link to Wilder’s story at kut.org slash signal. And in today’s podcast, show notes. We have more Austin Signal coming up after this break. We will be right back with you. This is Austin Signal. Welcome back. Valentine’s Day has come and gone, but for some, the real love story happens all the days in between. The good, the bad, and most importantly, the funny. It’s that deeper look that award-winning filmmaker Holly Charles Pearson of Austin wanted to explore up on the big screen. Her new mockumentary rom-com, Tying Knots, premieres tomorrow at the Millennium Youth Entertainment Complex in East Austin. She spoke with host Myles Bloxson about the film.
Miles Bloxson [00:15:01] So this film is a mockumentary, right? And I have to admit, I’ve never even thought about what that means before. So for people that might not be familiar, what is a Mockumentary and why was that the format that you decided to choose for this particular project?
Holly Charles-Pearson [00:15:17] That’s a great question. And so when you think about mocking something, but also a documentary, it’s this mashup of the two worlds that we love. We love narrative action, like we love film, we love cinema, but we also really have the guilty pleasure of loving reality TV and being able to listen to the confessionals and hear what people were really thinking in the moment. And sometimes to me, it’s funnier what’s setting in a confessional when people are being Honest? Than it is actually watching the action. And so I thought, man, this is a way to add some texture.
Miles Bloxson [00:15:47] That is so true. I have to say, like, yes, I do get a little bit of reality here and there. How did the idea for this short film come to you? Like, was this any, like real life inspiration possibly behind this?
Holly Charles-Pearson [00:16:01] I owe my husband a whole lot of money coming up with a lot of these ideas. I was a later bride. I was the late bloomer in that department. We got married right before I turned 40 years old, and so that means I was very established. I was set in my ways, as was he. And so there’s just, there’s some hilarity and some levity. And just a whole lot of good stuff to write about when you think about folks over the age of 40 trying to, I guess, merge their lives together. And so I thought, man, this reminds me so much of traditional sitcoms, where there’s always, week to week, there’s some sort of situational drama or comedy. And what drew you to create a film that centered
Miles Bloxson [00:16:48] Black love how important is that?
Holly Charles-Pearson [00:16:50] You know, I think that we’ve gotten really, really used to centering black trauma. You know all of this, what some people will call like this trauma porn, drama born thing when it comes to black love and black life and what social oppression has actually done to the black family. We think about disenfranchisement and all these things. But studies are showing that we’re getting married, we’re staying married, and we just so happen to be doing it a little bit later in life. So I thought it was super important to show some positive images. Love and people working things out in a way that doesn’t have to be dramatic. It can actually be hilarious.
Miles Bloxson [00:17:25] That’s very true. And in the film, you also touch on beauty standards within the black community. What made that an element you wanted to explore?
Holly Charles-Pearson [00:17:33] I’ll say this, the story is told, I’m a black woman, so of course I’m telling it specifically from my point of view. Yes, it’s about beauty standards, it’s how a black women has to go out into the world to be accepted and wanting to be more accepted at home. But I think that any person who’s ever been in love can relate to the fact that. Once it gets real, once you’re at home, there are these expectations that we kinda gotta throw out the window. And I might need to slide that CPAP machine on and you’re gonna, you know, sometimes you’re going to feel a few prickly hairs on my legs and there’s just a time for me to say, hey, this is all of me and I can’t present the fantasy all the time. And so we just so happen to see that with this black couple who starts off their marriage and he is used to seeing his woman’s hair a certain way, we’ll say that without ruining the full plot.
Miles Bloxson [00:18:21] That’s so real, and that’s so important. I’ve been talking with filmmaker, director, and creator of the mockumentary tying knots, Holly Charles Pearson, about her upcoming event on February 17th at the Millennium Youth Entertainment Complex. You have an incredible cast in this film. I have to say that. And casting couples, I’m sure that’s not easy, but the couple you chose has such a natural chemistry. So can you tell us about your casting process? Yeah!
Holly Charles-Pearson [00:18:48] And let me say this, I do think that I was just really, really lucky. We were really, really blessed I was having this conversation with a friend the other day about how difficult it is when you watch the pilot of your favorite show. Typically the first few episodes are a little wonky and people are trying to find their place. And so I was concerned, as any writer would be, that how is this couple not only gonna be hilarious and find their comedic timing, but are they gonna look like they’re in love? And so I really have to tip my hat to Crystal Lester and Brandon Goss for just being really amazing. We also, not only were they super talented, but we decided to be intentional about how we rehearsed and getting them comfortable with each other’s bodies and all of these different things, not just because there was a lot of slapstick comedy and physical comedy, but also because I wanted them to look natural being able to hug each other and love one another. It was really, really important that they were believable. And aspirational so that we could laugh at ourselves on screen. And I didn’t mention this.
Miles Bloxson [00:19:50] Earlier, but I had the opportunity to see the film. That’s clearly how I know that there was chemistry there, right? A lot of chemistry. Yeah, and it was perfect. Perfect editing, like just comedy timing was perfect as well. Yeah. So what challenges did you face while making this film, if any?
Holly Charles-Pearson [00:20:06] So, I’ll say this, there’s the challenge, the common challenge that independent filmmakers have, right, just independent music, you know, a musician’s, I mean, it’s funding. But I’ll this, I think there is a way to be respectful of your audience and not cut corners that are going to impact the quality of what you shoot. And so, what we had to do was just, we had do a lot of really strategic planning to make sure that. When folks see it, it doesn’t look low budget, even if what we had to work with was a smaller budget than what we would have liked. And so it really was about inviting folks in to make sure that we’re blocking, making sure that they’re comfortable. And so a lot of that was flying in our talent from LA and it was spending a full eight hours on a 20 page script. It was just making sure that by the time we shot and we’re spending money, that we could get things done. We did it in over a weekend. We probably had about 13 hours. Total in our space, which is unheard of. That’s impressive. It’s impressive, but it was like theater and I do have a theater background, so I’ve directed several stage plays, written and directed. And so I’m so used to rehearsing over and over and over so that it becomes a part of your body and so it feels very fluid and movement. And so that way, once we get on set, you’re not searching for anything, except for a new way to maybe deliver the line that you’re already comfortable with. So a lot of it had to do with planning and so I would encourage anyone doing anything independently. To rehearse, rehearse rehearse and have a plan A through Z and that’s exactly what we did. And so we were able to save money that way. But that was a challenge that I think actually forced us into better planning. I love that for you.
Miles Bloxson [00:21:46] And you’re a planner, so.
Holly Charles-Pearson [00:21:47] That’s great.
Miles Bloxson [00:21:48] Planner. And your event is coming up on February 17th, but it’s not a typical film screening. So what can people actually expect if they attend the event?
Holly Charles-Pearson [00:21:57] Yeah, no, I love having fully immersive events. I want you to come and watch a film and then have something to chew on, something to talk about. And so first of all, we’re being hosted. We’re co-hosted by the National Black NBA Association of Austin, also the National Society of Black Engineers. They are joining us as co- hosts. They’re having a VIP opening reception where they’re networking and having food, and then they’re gonna have a night at the theater. We’re also… Being supported and partnering with Water Your Plants, which is a group of curators of intentional events and they thought this was great because ultimately we’re going to watch this film but then have an opportunity, right, during the centennial Black History Month because this year is our 100th year and right after Valentine’s Day to say, hey, let’s talk about love and very specifically black love. And so we’re gonna play the newlywed game, we’re gotta have some rom-com, black movie trivia, we’re do all of those things. And finally, where can people go to learn more about the film and the event? On Instagram at tyingknotsfilm, where you can learn more about the screening and where we’ll be after this.
Jerry Quijano [00:23:04] That was award-winning filmmaker Holly Charles Pearson of Austin. She was talking with Miles Bloxson about her new film, a mockumentary romantic comedy called Tying Knots. Again, it premieres tomorrow at the Millennium Youth Entertainment Complex in East Austin. We’re going to have a link with more information at kut.org slash signal and in today’s podcast, Show Notes. And that is it for today’s. Show. Thanks for starting the Monday here with us on Austin Signal. We will be here with you every weekday at 1 o’clock. Thank you to Kristen Cabrera and Rayna Sevilla for their help with today’s episode. And I’m your host Jerry Kehannel. Thank you for spending some time here with. We’ll talk to you tomorrow.
This transcript was transcribed by AI, and lightly edited by a human. Accuracy may vary. This text may be revised in the future.
