Latest / Austin Signal / Austin’s $25 million Long Center contract draws scrutiny

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Austin’s $25 million Long Center contract draws scrutiny · Austin Signal

• 0:08
  A $25 million contract between
• 0:10
  the City of Austin and the Long
• 0:12
  Center is under scrutiny over how
• 0:13
  the public money is being spent.
• 0:16
  The contracts and the fees inside it
• 0:17
  are tied to the city's cultural arts
• 0:19
  grants program, raising questions
• 0:21
  about transparency and oversight,
• 0:23
  the details of the contract,
• 0:25
  and Texas Republicans have
• 0:27
  revived anti-Muslim messaging
• 0:29
  in races across the state as early
• 0:31
  voting begins tomorrow.
• 0:32
  It's a change in messaging from
• 0:34
  elections over the past decade or
• 0:36
  so. Why that's the case and what it
• 0:37
  could mean for elections coming up
• 0:39
  on today's show.
• 0:41
  The Austin Signal is a production
• 0:43
  of KUT News, hosted by
• 0:45
  Jerry Quijano.
• 0:46
  Real love means working through the
• 0:48
  good, the bad, and the funny.
• 0:50
  It's all explored in a mockumentary
• 0:51
  from an Austin filmmaker that's
• 0:53
  premiering this week.
• 0:54
  That conversation, coming up next
• 0:56
  on Austin Signal.
• 1:08
  Howdy out there, this is Austin
• 1:10
  Signal. Thank you for starting the
• 1:11
  week off with us.
• 1:13
  I'm your host, Jerry Keconnell.
• 1:14
  Let's get started with today's
• 1:16
  show.
• 1:17
  There is new scrutiny on a $25
• 1:19
  million contract between the city of
• 1:21
  Austin and the Long Center, which
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  has, for the past three years, been
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  running the city's cultural arts
• 1:27
  grants program.
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  Now some city staffers are raising
• 1:30
  some questions.
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  For more, we are talking with Andrea
• 1:33
  Balshi as the growth and development
• 1:35
  reporter for Austin Current, KUT's
• 1:37
  collaborator.
• 1:38
  On the Austin Signal and a partner
• 1:40
  with KUT's newsroom in
• 1:41
  covering the city.
• 1:43
  Andrea, thank you for coming back on
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  the show.
• 1:45
  Thank you for having me.
• 1:46
  So, you put this
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  contract under some scrutiny, you
• 1:50
  reviewed the contract, what stood
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  out to you?
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  I think what is great
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  about this contract in
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  terms of reading it is that
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  it breaks down by
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  hour how
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  much each task costs.
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  And that's not something you always
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  see in contracts.
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  These types of contracts are,
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  according to what I have seen,
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  according the expert I consulted,
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  they're unusual.
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  They're not unheard of.
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  They're like absolutely dinosaurs
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  here. That's not what it is.
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  They are usually
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  contracts with cities.
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  They usually set a flat fee
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  or a percentage.
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  That way it says,
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  okay, contractor, I want these
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  deliverables.
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  I want this kind of transparency.
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  I want kind of
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  reporting.
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  However you get there, you get
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  their, but stay under 10%.
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  This did not do that.
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  And that's what struck me.
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  And when I looked at the
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  numbers...
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  As a lay person, I said,
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  I don't understand why it costs
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  $54 to pay
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  an assistant, a customer service
• 3:00
  person.
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  Not that it's wrong, I just don't
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  under stand.
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  Why does it cost $250 to
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  pull information for
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  the city who owns the
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  information? So, they were
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  questions, not judgments.
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  And did those seem unusually high?
• 3:16
  I mean, you said there's not a lot
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  of examples of this type of
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  contract, but did those rates seem
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  exorbitantly high?
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  And to me they did, but I'm just
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  talking as a person who
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  looks at the regular world and says,
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  that sounds high.
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  Communicated with the Long Center.
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  They were very open.
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  They were
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  very articulate about
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  how they explained where
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  they came up with these rates.
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  And they continually said to me,
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  we're abiding by the contract.
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  The city approved this.
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  This was intentional.
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  And the reason we did it, the reason
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  why it might seem high to you
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  is because we're not just using
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  four people who are paid
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  under this contract to
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  do this work.
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  We have dozens of people at
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  the Long Center who can contribute
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  to this work as part of their daily
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  duties.
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  That's how we keep the overhead low
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  for the city.
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  Problematically, with these types of
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  contracts is that they take a
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  lot of scrutiny.
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  And you have a government agency
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  trying to oversee a contract
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  with limited people,
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  sometimes it doesn't
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  go as tightly, as one would hope.
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  And through your reporting, what did
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  you hear about the experience of
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  running this program through the
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  Long Center for these last three
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  years, maybe compared to years
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  past for artists who were
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  participating in it?
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  Yeah, I heard, you
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  know, there were secret sources
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  buzzing in the ears, you know,
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  talking about this and that later.
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  But I also did hear from
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  people, hey, we are getting our
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  checks cut much faster.
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  It is much more efficient than
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  it was under the city in terms
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  of getting our money.
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  Now, if you're a musician and you
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  have bills to pay, that's
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  really important.
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  They're not messing with contracts.
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  They don't care about that unless
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  you are.
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  Really having questions, and there
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  were people having questions and
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  they came to me.
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  In your story, you mentioned that
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  this is important, or why does this
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  matter right now?
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  Can you tell us about what's coming
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  up next month?
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  Yeah.
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  So in
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  April, so this is a
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  contract that has a
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  five year period of possible
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  length.
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  So you have your master contract,
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  which is, thank you for doing the
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  work. We will revisit in a year and
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  we will extend
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  it.
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  So it can go up to five
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  years for $100,000.
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  I do want to clarify something that
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  I think some readers might have been
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  a little bit misled by or whatever.
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  Long Center does not get $25 million
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  to pocket.
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  That's not how it works.
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  They are distributing like $23
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  million in contracts and money
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  to the artists,
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  the musicians, the dancers,
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  you know, the people out there
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  creating the art that
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  Austin is known for.
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  They are getting anywhere over
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  the years between like a million and
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  a million five to administer
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  it. They're not running around with
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  $25 million saying, whoopee, let's
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  buy some new equipment. That's not
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  what it is.
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  And I think that even though we put
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  it in the story, it's easy
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  to misunderstand that.
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  It was also mentioned in the story
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  that the city had some leftover
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  money from this grant program
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  last year that it didn't distribute.
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  Can you tell us more about that?
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  So in
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  2024, there were
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  some questions and concerns
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  from the community we could all go
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  back and read about how the
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  grants were distributed.
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  They were looking for transparency.
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  We also had a lot of different
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  departments, not just the
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  economic development department,
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  but a lot different people all over
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  the place kind of had their fingers
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  in this. And so what the city
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  decided to do was to create this
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  one group called ACME, and
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  they're in charge of
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  cultural arts.
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  And so when they
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  came in as a new department,
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  they said, okay, as
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  a New Department, hearing concerns,
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  we're not gonna give out most
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  of the grants this year.
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  We're gonna go to musicians.
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  We're going to go to
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  venues. We're go to promoters.
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  We're to talk to other folks and
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  determine if we are doing this
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  the best way.
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  Do we need to change our
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  applications?
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  Do we to change the way we oversee
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  things? So, you have
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  a bunch of money, let's just say for
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  the live music fund,
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  which is supposed to come out next,
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  the winners are supposed to be
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  announced next month.
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  When you have money that
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  musicians were really hoping for
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  to keep them afloat,
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  that's hard.
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  And so that's why those
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  grants were not distributed at
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  that time. So, people are
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  really looking forward to seeing
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  how they do and if they get.
• 8:06
  That money.
• 8:09
  So, last year they
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  would have distributed $4.5
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  million, but since the
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  tax money from the hotel tax, which
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  is what funds this, accumulated
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  over last year, they're going to
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  give out more money this year to
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  try and compensate for what was
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  not given.
• 8:27
  Yeah, and this story is in line with
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  one we had last week about
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  affordable housing for musicians on
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  the east side of Austin as well.
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  And we'll have a link to that story
• 8:35
  and Andrea's story as well at
• 8:38
  kut.org slash signal
• 8:39
  and in the show notes for today's
• 8:41
  podcast.
• 8:42
  We've been speaking with Andrea
• 8:44
  Ball. She is the growth and
• 8:45
  development reporter for Austin
• 8:46
  Current, KUT's collaborator
• 8:48
  on the Austin Signal and a partner
• 8:50
  with KUT newsroom in covering
• 8:52
  the city.
• 8:53
  Andrea, thank you for talking with
• 8:54
  us. Thank you so much for having me.
• 9:01
  The Islamic faith has become a
• 9:03
  talking point among Texas
• 9:05
  politicians, especially as we've
• 9:07
  neared tomorrow's start to early
• 9:09
  voting in the primaries.
• 9:11
  Forrest Wilder of Texas Monthly
• 9:12
  wrote about how Republican
• 9:14
  candidates are attacking their
• 9:15
  opponents by calling them soft
• 9:17
  on Islam and pushing their own
• 9:19
  hard-line stance.
• 9:20
  Texas Standard's David Brown spoke
• 9:22
  with Wilder and starts by
• 9:24
  underscoring the headline and
• 9:26
  subhead to his story.
• 9:28
  Inside the Texas GOP's
• 9:30
  anti-Muslim campaigning,
• 9:32
  with national prospects looking
• 9:34
  bleak for Republicans heading into
• 9:35
  the midterms, the party has dusted
• 9:37
  off an old boogeyman.
• 9:39
  Say more about that.
• 9:41
  Republicans concerned about what
• 9:43
  might happen here in the mid-terms?
• 9:45
  Yeah, that's right.
• 9:47
  You know, the midterms are never
• 9:49
  great for the party
• 9:51
  that's the president's,
• 9:53
  and also Trump's approval ratings
• 9:55
  are dropping, and some of the issues
• 9:57
  that were really salient for
• 9:58
  bringing Trump back to power
• 10:00
  are waning a bit.
• 10:02
  You know the border is quiet,
• 10:04
  that's thanks to Donald Trump, but
• 10:05
  the salience of that issue has
• 10:07
  decreased a bit And
• 10:09
  some of the panic around
• 10:11
  transgender issues has waned.
• 10:14
  And so I think it's not a
• 10:15
  coincidence that you're seeing
• 10:17
  some of these fears about
• 10:19
  the so-called Islamification come
• 10:22
  back to the fore as a campaign
• 10:23
  issue, a flash point
• 10:25
  for Republican candidates.
• 10:27
  I want to underscore something
• 10:29
  because I can remember—this gets to
• 10:30
  the boogeyman comment that's
• 10:32
  in your story—I can remember when
• 10:34
  anti-Islamic rhetoric was a
• 10:35
  political talking point in the wake
• 10:37
  of 9-11 and for many years
• 10:39
  after.
• 10:39
  But you know, we're talking about
• 10:41
  20 years or more ago.
• 10:43
  Why do some politicians in Texas
• 10:45
  think Islam has political salience
• 10:47
  now in 2026?
• 10:49
  Yeah, it is a little strange, right,
• 10:51
  because after 9-11, I mean, it's not
• 10:53
  hard to figure out why there
• 10:54
  would be a panic around
• 10:58
  radical Islam in
• 11:00
  the wake of 9-Eleven terrorist
• 11:01
  attacks.
• 11:02
  Now it seems a little stranger,
• 11:04
  but I think it has to do, it ties
• 11:06
  in with broader fears about
• 11:08
  immigration.
• 11:10
  The fact of the matter is Muslims in
• 11:12
  Texas remain a small
• 11:13
  minority group, about 2% of the
• 11:15
  state. However,
• 11:17
  the percentage is growing,
• 11:19
  particularly in certain areas of
• 11:21
  North Texas, Dallas, Fort Worth,
• 11:22
  Houston, and also in Travis County.
• 11:24
  And some of the visibility has
• 11:26
  increased. For example, there's
• 11:28
  Ismaili Center,
• 11:30
  this 150,000 square foot
• 11:33
  facility for the Ismailie
• 11:35
  Faith that opened in Houston.
• 11:37
  Some schools in, for example, Collin
• 11:39
  County have, or neighborhoods
• 11:41
  have large populations of
• 11:43
  South Asian immigrants, many of whom
• 11:44
  are Muslim.
• 11:45
  And so I think.
• 11:46
  For some people, that's scary.
• 11:48
  And so you see politicians
• 11:49
  capitalizing on that and trying to
• 11:51
  get these lots of the polls.
• 11:52
  Is there any evidence that this is
• 11:54
  messaging that's being orchestrated
• 11:56
  in some way by Texas Republicans
• 11:59
  or are we talking about
• 12:00
  individual candidates seizing on
• 12:02
  something that they think could
• 12:05
  benefit them?
• 12:07
  Well, I don't think it's like
• 12:08
  everyone gets in a room and decides
• 12:09
  on this. I think it really,
• 12:12
  the dynamic is that they
• 12:14
  do polling, they figure out where
• 12:16
  Republican base voters are.
• 12:18
  Cause keep in mind, we have a
• 12:19
  Republican primary coming up.
• 12:20
  So a lot of this is about the
• 12:22
  Republican primary, not necessarily
• 12:23
  the general.
• 12:25
  And then, you know, everyone gets
• 12:26
  the memo, not in a literal sense,
• 12:28
  but they all kind of figure out this
• 12:29
  is what we're running on this
• 12:30
  season. Now, to be fair, some people
• 12:32
  have been on the Muslim bashing
• 12:35
  kick for a long time.
• 12:36
  They're not Johnny Come Lately's
• 12:37
  other candidates.
• 12:38
  They're a little late to the game,
• 12:39
  right? They're just kind of jumping
• 12:40
  on the bandwagon now because it's
• 12:43
  the thing that might help get them
• 12:44
  elected.
• 12:45
  Texas has a rather
• 12:47
  large and growing Muslim population.
• 12:49
  I think the Texas Almanac said it
• 12:51
  was something like 400,000
• 12:53
  one of the largest that would make
• 12:54
  it one of largest Muslim communities
• 12:56
  in the u.s.
• 12:57
  What about people in those
• 12:58
  communities is there any sign this
• 13:00
  could backfire against Republicans
• 13:02
  in November?
• 13:03
  Yeah, it's interesting because, you
• 13:05
  know, it looks let's not generalize
• 13:07
  too much because Islam
• 13:09
  is one of the world's great
• 13:10
  religions. It's the practice by two
• 13:11
  billion people.
• 13:12
  It's a extremely diverse community.
• 13:15
  Not all Muslims are
• 13:17
  immigrants.
• 13:18
  So you don't want to overgeneralize.
• 13:20
  However, if you if you, if you take
• 13:22
  a broad view, it said it's
• 13:24
  a mixed community, community,
• 13:25
  politically tending to be
• 13:27
  social conservative.
• 13:28
  There are many Muslims who are sort
• 13:30
  of natural Republicans who vote
• 13:32
  Republican and you know the
• 13:34
  folks that I talked to are as you
• 13:35
  can imagine really upset about this
• 13:37
  I won't make any predictions about
• 13:39
  what it might do politically But
• 13:41
  I think that it's at
• 13:43
  a personal level, you know, this
• 13:45
  is pretty hurtful rhetoric.
• 13:47
  These are folks who were
• 13:49
  part of communities who are proud
• 13:51
  to be Texans, proud to Americans
• 13:53
  who are here for a reason
• 13:55
  and feel like they're being attacked
• 13:56
  for nothing that they've done other
• 13:58
  than their identity and their
• 13:59
  existence.
• 14:01
  That was Texas Monthly's Forrest
• 14:03
  Wilder speaking with Texas Standard
• 14:05
  host David Brown.
• 14:06
  We're going to have a link to
• 14:07
  Wilder's story at kut.org
• 14:10
  slash signal.
• 14:11
  And in today's podcast, show notes.
• 14:14
  We have more Austin Signal coming up
• 14:16
  after this break.
• 14:17
  We will be right back with you.
• 14:29
  This is Austin Signal.
• 14:31
  Welcome back.
• 14:32
  Valentine's Day has come and gone,
• 14:34
  but for some, the real love story
• 14:36
  happens all the days in
• 14:38
  between. The good, the bad,
• 14:40
  and most importantly, the funny.
• 14:42
  It's that deeper look that
• 14:43
  award-winning filmmaker Holly
• 14:45
  Charles Pearson of Austin wanted to
• 14:47
  explore up on the big screen.
• 14:49
  Her new mockumentary rom-com,
• 14:51
  Tying Knots, premieres tomorrow at
• 14:54
  the Millennium Youth Entertainment
• 14:55
  Complex in East Austin.
• 14:57
  She spoke with host Myles
• 14:59
  Bloxson about the film.
• 15:01
  So this film is a mockumentary,
• 15:04
  right? And I have to admit,
• 15:05
  I've never even thought about what
• 15:07
  that means before.
• 15:09
  So for people that might not be
• 15:10
  familiar, what is a Mockumentary and
• 15:12
  why was that the format that
• 15:14
  you decided to choose for this
• 15:16
  particular project?
• 15:17
  That's a great question.
• 15:18
  And so when you think about mocking
• 15:20
  something, but also a documentary,
• 15:22
  it's this mashup of the two worlds
• 15:24
  that we love. We love narrative
• 15:25
  action, like we love film,
• 15:28
  we love cinema, but we also really
• 15:29
  have the guilty pleasure of loving
• 15:31
  reality TV and being able to
• 15:34
  listen to the confessionals and
• 15:36
  hear what people were really
• 15:36
  thinking in the moment.
• 15:37
  And sometimes to me,
• 15:39
  it's funnier what's setting in a
• 15:41
  confessional when people are being
• 15:42
  Honest?
• 15:43
  Than it is actually watching the
• 15:44
  action. And so I thought, man, this
• 15:46
  is a way to add some texture.
• 15:47
  That is so true.
• 15:48
  I have to say, like, yes, I do get
• 15:50
  a little bit of reality here and
• 15:52
  there. How did the idea
• 15:54
  for this short film come to you?
• 15:56
  Like, was this any, like
• 15:58
  real life inspiration possibly
• 16:00
  behind this?
• 16:01
  I owe my husband
• 16:03
  a whole lot of money coming
• 16:06
  up with a lot of these ideas.
• 16:08
  I was a
• 16:10
  later bride.
• 16:11
  I was the late bloomer in that
• 16:13
  department. We got married right
• 16:15
  before I turned 40 years old,
• 16:17
  and so that means I was very
• 16:18
  established. I was set in my ways,
• 16:20
  as was he.
• 16:21
  And so there's
• 16:24
  just, there's some hilarity and
• 16:26
  some levity.
• 16:27
  And just a whole lot of
• 16:29
  good stuff to write about when you
• 16:30
  think about folks over the age of
• 16:32
  40 trying to, I
• 16:35
  guess, merge their lives together.
• 16:36
  And so I thought, man, this reminds
• 16:38
  me so much of traditional sitcoms,
• 16:41
  where there's always, week to week,
• 16:42
  there's some sort of situational
• 16:44
  drama or comedy.
• 16:45
  And what drew you to create a film
• 16:47
  that centered
• 16:48
  Black love how important
• 16:50
  is that?
• 16:50
  You know, I think that we've gotten
• 16:52
  really, really used to
• 16:55
  centering black
• 16:57
  trauma.
• 16:58
  You know all of this, what some
• 16:59
  people will call like this trauma
• 17:01
  porn, drama born thing
• 17:03
  when it comes to black love and
• 17:05
  black life and what social
• 17:06
  oppression has actually done to the
• 17:07
  black family. We think about
• 17:08
  disenfranchisement and all these
• 17:10
  things. But studies are showing
• 17:11
  that we're getting married, we're
• 17:13
  staying married, and we just so
• 17:15
  happen to be doing it a little bit
• 17:16
  later in life. So I thought it was
• 17:17
  super important to show some
• 17:19
  positive images.
• 17:20
  Love and people working things out
• 17:22
  in a way that doesn't have to be
• 17:23
  dramatic. It can actually be
• 17:24
  hilarious.
• 17:25
  That's very true.
• 17:26
  And in the film, you also touch on
• 17:28
  beauty standards within the black
• 17:29
  community. What made that an element
• 17:31
  you wanted to explore?
• 17:33
  I'll say this, the story is
• 17:35
  told, I'm a black woman, so of
• 17:37
  course I'm telling it specifically
• 17:38
  from my point of view.
• 17:39
  Yes, it's about beauty standards,
• 17:41
  it's how a
• 17:43
  black women has to go out into the
• 17:44
  world to be accepted and wanting to
• 17:45
  be more accepted at home.
• 17:48
  But I think that any person
• 17:50
  who's ever been in love can relate
• 17:51
  to the fact that.
• 17:52
  Once it gets real, once you're
• 17:54
  at home, there are these
• 17:55
  expectations that we kinda gotta
• 17:57
  throw out the window.
• 17:58
  And I might need to slide that CPAP
• 18:00
  machine on and you're gonna, you
• 18:01
  know, sometimes you're going to feel
• 18:02
  a few prickly hairs on my legs and
• 18:04
  there's just a time for me to say,
• 18:06
  hey, this is all of me and I can't
• 18:08
  present the fantasy all the time.
• 18:10
  And so we just so happen to see that
• 18:12
  with this black couple who
• 18:14
  starts off their marriage and he is
• 18:16
  used to seeing his woman's hair a
• 18:18
  certain way, we'll say that without
• 18:19
  ruining the full plot.
• 18:21
  That's so real, and that's so
• 18:23
  important. I've been talking with
• 18:24
  filmmaker, director, and creator
• 18:26
  of the mockumentary tying knots,
• 18:28
  Holly Charles Pearson, about her
• 18:29
  upcoming event on February 17th
• 18:32
  at the Millennium Youth
• 18:32
  Entertainment Complex.
• 18:34
  You have an incredible cast in this
• 18:36
  film. I have to say that.
• 18:37
  And casting couples, I'm sure that's
• 18:39
  not easy, but the couple
• 18:41
  you chose has such
• 18:43
  a natural chemistry.
• 18:45
  So can you tell us about your
• 18:46
  casting process?
• 18:47
  Yeah!
• 18:48
  And let me say this, I
• 18:50
  do think that I was just really,
• 18:52
  really lucky. We were really, really
• 18:53
  blessed I was
• 18:55
  having this conversation with a
• 18:56
  friend the other day about how
• 18:58
  difficult it is when you watch the
• 19:00
  pilot of your favorite show.
• 19:01
  Typically the first few episodes
• 19:04
  are a little wonky and people are
• 19:05
  trying to find their place.
• 19:07
  And so I was
• 19:09
  concerned, as any writer would
• 19:11
  be, that how is this couple
• 19:13
  not only gonna be hilarious and find
• 19:15
  their comedic timing, but are they
• 19:16
  gonna look like they're in love?
• 19:18
  And so I really have to tip my
• 19:20
  hat to Crystal Lester and
• 19:22
  Brandon Goss for just being really
• 19:23
  amazing.
• 19:24
  We also, not only were
• 19:26
  they super talented, but we decided
• 19:28
  to be intentional about how
• 19:30
  we rehearsed and getting them
• 19:31
  comfortable with each other's bodies
• 19:33
  and all of these different things,
• 19:34
  not just because there was
• 19:36
  a lot of slapstick comedy and
• 19:37
  physical comedy, but also
• 19:39
  because I wanted them to look
• 19:40
  natural being able to hug each other
• 19:42
  and love one another. It was really,
• 19:43
  really important that they were
• 19:44
  believable. And aspirational so that
• 19:46
  we could laugh at ourselves on
• 19:48
  screen. And I didn't mention this.
• 19:50
  Earlier, but I had the opportunity
• 19:51
  to see the film.
• 19:52
  That's clearly how I know that there
• 19:53
  was chemistry there, right?
• 19:54
  A lot of chemistry.
• 19:55
  Yeah, and it was perfect.
• 19:56
  Perfect editing,
• 19:59
  like just comedy timing was
• 20:01
  perfect as well.
• 20:02
  Yeah. So what challenges did you
• 20:04
  face while making this film, if any?
• 20:06
  So, I'll say this, there's
• 20:09
  the challenge, the
• 20:10
  common challenge that independent
• 20:12
  filmmakers have, right, just
• 20:14
  independent music, you know,
• 20:16
  a musician's, I mean, it's funding.
• 20:18
  But I'll this, I think there is
• 20:20
  a way to be respectful of your
• 20:21
  audience and not cut corners that
• 20:23
  are going to impact the quality of
• 20:25
  what you shoot.
• 20:26
  And so, what we had to do was
• 20:28
  just, we had do a lot
• 20:30
  of really strategic planning to make
• 20:32
  sure that.
• 20:33
  When folks see it, it doesn't look
• 20:34
  low budget, even if what we had
• 20:36
  to work with was a smaller budget
• 20:38
  than what we would have liked.
• 20:39
  And so it really was about inviting
• 20:42
  folks in to make sure that we're
• 20:43
  blocking, making sure that they're
• 20:44
  comfortable. And so a lot of that
• 20:46
  was flying in our talent from LA
• 20:48
  and it was spending a full
• 20:50
  eight hours on a
• 20:52
  20 page script.
• 20:54
  It was just making sure that by the
• 20:55
  time we shot and we're spending
• 20:57
  money, that we could get things
• 20:59
  done. We did it in over a weekend.
• 21:01
  We probably had about 13 hours.
• 21:03
  Total in our space,
• 21:05
  which is unheard of.
• 21:06
  That's impressive.
• 21:07
  It's impressive, but it was like
• 21:09
  theater and I do have a theater
• 21:10
  background, so I've directed several
• 21:12
  stage plays, written and directed.
• 21:13
  And so I'm so used to rehearsing
• 21:15
  over and over and over so that it
• 21:17
  becomes a part of your body and
• 21:19
  so it feels very fluid and movement.
• 21:20
  And so that way, once we get on set,
• 21:22
  you're not searching for anything,
• 21:24
  except for a new way to maybe
• 21:26
  deliver the line that you're already
• 21:27
  comfortable with. So a lot of it had
• 21:29
  to do with planning and so I would
• 21:30
  encourage anyone doing anything
• 21:32
  independently.
• 21:33
  To rehearse, rehearse rehearse and
• 21:35
  have a plan A through Z and
• 21:37
  that's exactly what we did.
• 21:38
  And so we were able to save money
• 21:40
  that way. But that was a challenge
• 21:41
  that I think actually forced us into
• 21:43
  better planning.
• 21:45
  I love that for you.
• 21:46
  And you're a planner, so.
• 21:47
  That's great.
• 21:48
  Planner.
• 21:49
  And your event is coming up on
• 21:50
  February 17th, but it's not a
• 21:53
  typical film screening.
• 21:54
  So what can people actually expect
• 21:56
  if they attend the event?
• 21:57
  Yeah, no, I love having
• 21:59
  fully immersive events.
• 22:01
  I want you to come and watch
• 22:03
  a film and then have something to
• 22:05
  chew on, something to talk about.
• 22:07
  And so first of all, we're being
• 22:08
  hosted. We're co-hosted by the
• 22:10
  National Black NBA Association
• 22:12
  of Austin, also the National Society
• 22:14
  of Black Engineers.
• 22:15
  They are joining us as co- hosts.
• 22:16
  They're having a VIP opening
• 22:18
  reception where they're networking
• 22:19
  and having food, and then they're
• 22:21
  gonna have a night at the theater.
• 22:22
  We're also...
• 22:24
  Being supported and partnering with
• 22:26
  Water Your Plants, which is
• 22:28
  a group of curators of intentional
• 22:30
  events and they thought this was
• 22:31
  great because ultimately we're going
• 22:33
  to watch this film but then have
• 22:35
  an opportunity, right, during the
• 22:37
  centennial Black History Month
• 22:38
  because this year is our 100th
• 22:41
  year and right after Valentine's
• 22:43
  Day to say, hey, let's talk about
• 22:44
  love and very specifically black
• 22:46
  love. And so we're gonna play the
• 22:47
  newlywed game, we're gotta have some
• 22:49
  rom-com, black movie trivia,
• 22:52
  we're do all of those things.
• 22:53
  And finally, where can people go to
• 22:55
  learn more about the film and the
• 22:57
  event?
• 22:57
  On Instagram at tyingknotsfilm,
• 23:00
  where you can learn more about the
• 23:01
  screening and where we'll be after
• 23:02
  this.
• 23:04
  That was award-winning filmmaker
• 23:06
  Holly Charles Pearson of
• 23:08
  Austin. She was talking with Miles
• 23:10
  Bloxson about her new film, a
• 23:12
  mockumentary romantic comedy called
• 23:14
  Tying Knots.
• 23:15
  Again, it premieres tomorrow at
• 23:17
  the Millennium Youth Entertainment
• 23:18
  Complex in East Austin.
• 23:20
  We're going to have a link with more
• 23:22
  information at kut.org
• 23:24
  slash signal and in
• 23:26
  today's podcast, Show Notes.
• 23:28
  And that is it for today's.
• 23:30
  Show. Thanks for starting the Monday
• 23:32
  here with us on Austin Signal.
• 23:34
  We will be here with you every
• 23:36
  weekday at 1 o'clock.
• 23:38
  Thank you to Kristen Cabrera and
• 23:40
  Rayna Sevilla for their help with
• 23:42
  today's episode.
• 23:44
  And I'm your host Jerry Kehannel.
• 23:45
  Thank you for spending some time
• 23:47
  here with. We'll talk to you
• 23:49
  tomorrow.