The chilly weather isn't keeping artist Richard Phillips from getting ready for First Night on Auditorium Shores.
"Even though the city didn't have the funding, we managed to pull this off. My company, Interactive Entertainment, is funding the lighting and trussing and everything like that and the artists are working for donations," Phillips said.
"In these economic times, our artists and other people step up," Cantara said. "I think we're getting more bang for our buck this year because people are stepping up and want this event to go on."
"We're developing the luminous cube. It's going to be about 15 feet tall and 19 feet wide," Phillips said. "We even have a light wizard who's going to interrupt light beams to play music."
Phillips is among the more than 850 artists and performers who are taking part in the First Night festivities -- even though many are being paid much less than in years before to help create the New Year's Eve spectacle.
Last year's celebration brought almost 100,000 people downtown -- but the festivities this year will be scaled back with fewer large art installations and just one fireworks display. But organizers promise this First Night will have the same sort of artistry and fun revelers have experienced since the Austin celebration began in 2004.
This year's event had a projected budget of about $350,000, but raising that kind of money proved to be difficult.
"I would say this year was in the $200 to $225,000 range," said Albert Cantara, First Night Austin Board President.
Cantara says he and the rest of his team have worked hard to make this year's First Night a success -- and most of the artists insisted, showing their creative side was more important than money.
