Tool #2: Understanding eligibility for HOT funds
Remembering that all municipal HOT funds are restricted to nine allowable uses with promotion of the arts being one such use, if the event or facility also directly promotes tourism and the convention and hotel industry, let’s now look at eligibility requirements regarding how artists and arts organizations can use awarded local HOT funds.
According to the Texas Tax Code, Chapter 351, recipients of HOT funds for the arts must present, perform, promote, encourage, or otherwise make possible artistic events, cultural performances, programs, exhibitions, or lectures involving any of the major art forms listed in the code. And because all programming must “promote tourism and the convention and hotel industry,” any funded event or program should be accessible to tourists—which means the ideal venue is a public setting, not private—and it must be promoted and marketed outside of the community to help attract out-of-town visitors.
The art forms specifically listed in the code are fairly all encompassing and include “instrumental and vocal music, dance, drama, folk art, creative writing, architecture, design and allied fields, painting, sculpture, photography, graphic and craft arts, motion pictures, radio, television, tape and sound recording, and other arts related to the presentation, performance, execution, and exhibition of these major art forms.”
The code allows for the presentation of art to take many forms, including events taking place in physical facilities such as museums, theaters, concert halls, etc., as well as those taking place in parks, streetscapes, and less traditional arts venues.
In addition, the use of HOT funds designated for the arts may include expenditures related to day-to-day operations and other administrative costs associated with the specific arts projects being funded.
Finally, it’s important to note that local municipalities have the discretion to impose further and more specific requirements with regard to the eligibility, allocation, expenditure, and documentation of local HOT funds.
