AUSTIN, Texas – One of the nation’s largest support networks for survivors of domestic and sexual violence is facing a crossroads.

In the last year alone, the SAFE Alliance has lost roughly $4 million in philanthropic and government funding. That massive gap is forcing the organization to end a critical service.

The backstory:

“The part that is going away for Eloise House is the forensic examinations specifically,” said Dr. Pierre Berastain, CEO of SAFE Alliance.

According to SAFE Alliance, it provides 95% of all forensic examinations for sexual assault victims in the city of Austin, amounting to roughly 600 tests annually. Now, hospitals will be taking on that responsibility.

“Response times for forensic exams, whenever they happen at SAFE, are within an hour, an hour and a half max,” Berastain said.

And that’s only the wait time for the test. It often takes much longer at hospitals. On top of that, the exam itself can take anywhere from three to six hours to perform.

“When survivors go to the hospital, they’re having to tell about a dozen people what happened to them, before they’re talking to someone who can actually take their story. They’re waiting hours, sometimes up to eight hours in a room before they are with a nurse or an advocate who can help them. After that, they’re getting a bill for thousands of dollars. The actual exam is free, but the hospital charges you for everything else. We do not do any of that here,” said Holly Bowles, director of the Sexual Assault Victim Advocacy Program at SAFE.

While the assessment is free by law, survivors often get hit with “facility fees” or charges for other medical treatments at hospitals.

“Victims have received no bills from SAFE Alliance whenever they receive forensic examinations. What I can tell you from national data is that victims sometimes receive hospital bills that amount to two, three, $4,000 for services,” Berastain said.

SAFE’s CEO said that while the organization will no longer be able to provide this key service, it is still committed to supporting survivors and hopes to partner with the hospitals in this transition moving forward.

“We’re not going anywhere. And so, my reaction is one of taking in the news, accepting, and then determining what it is that we need to do to ensure that services don’t go away,” Berastain said.

What’s next:

Mayor Kirk Watson announced Tuesday that Ascension Seton, Baylor Scott & White, and St. David’s will conduct the exams.

The three major hospital systems issued a joint statement about their commitment to a “seamless transition,” promising high-quality, trauma-informed care.

More than 60 years after Willie Nelson brought the hippies and the rednecks together at the Armadillo World Headquarters and helped forge Austin’s identity as the “Live Music Capital of the World,” the city continues to enjoy an outsized influence on the global music scene.

Maggie Phillips, music supervisor for Deep Cut Music, attributes this in part to Austin’s isolation, both geographically and economically, from the music industry hubs in New York, Los Angeles and Nashville.

“We don’t have the business influencing bands as much as we do on the coasts,” she said Saturday during a panel at the inaugural KUT Fest. “And because of that, I feel like the art, the music, that people make here is art for art’s sake and music for music’s sake, and it has a very DIY, punk attitude toward creating.”

As rising costs and massive growth change the city’s demographics, how Austin can continue to be a welcoming place for musicians — and keep them here — are becoming increasingly important questions for city leaders and people in the industry.

“I think our city is going through a bit of an identity crisis,” musician Alejandro Rose-Garcia, who goes by Shakey Graves, said, pointing to parallels in changes in the city and the music business. “All the arts are going through a bit of an identity crisis. When I was growing up, ‘selling out’ was a hill to die on. Now, that’s changed. The reality of the situation is that musicians can’t just sit back and play music all the time; you have to be a self-marketing machine.”

Preserving that rich history of creative freedom while navigating the new realities of making a living in the arts here is the mission of the city’s new Arts, Culture, Music, and Entertainment Department. Director Angela Means said she wants the city to be a conduit for artists to connect with the new businesses and industry moving to Austin.

To have an environment where creatives thrive, she said, there needs to be support systems for artists as well as collaboration with all of the parties who want to call Austin home.

While nobody in attendance was thrilled with the idea of a Tesla Stage at The Continental Club, the panelists all recognized the need for financial support for music to remain a fixture in Austin. Longtime Austin City Limits Executive Producer Terry Lickona tried to imagine ways these partnerships could work.

“I wouldn’t complain, say, if a local Austin-based startup tech company that was successful wanted to give back in a way by supporting the music scene by putting their name on a stage without messing with the creative side of things,” he said, “or taking away from the history or legacy of what was there to begin with.”

Means said the city recognizes the difficulty in managing corporate influence in creative spaces, but still believes it’s one of the best ways to protect the artists and venues that make Austin so unique.

“Where is that fine line, and is there a model that will work for Austin, Texas?” she asked. “It will absolutely have to include partnering with our business community to be sustainable.”