Programs

2024 - 2025

FUND FOR FREE ART

Austin Shakespeare

AUSTIN SHAKESPEARE

In addition to Free Shakespeare in the Park, the company presents Shakespeare and other classic works along with contemporary playwrights whose work reflects classical sensibilities at the Rollins Theater of The Long Center, The Curtain Theater (one of only a dozen Elizabethan replicas in the United States), and other venues in Austin.

Goal: $10,000

Fusebox Launchpad

Fusebox

Our inaugural project will be led by Austin-born and based singer/performer Joshua Banbury, whose identity as a queer, Black jazz musician calls upon the past and present of performance traditions in East Austin. Fusebox will support the creation of a new, original concert and performance created by Banbury that brings together the worlds of theater, design, and jazz in new ways.

Goal: $15,000

Tones Music Concert & Festival

ASIAN AMERICAN RESOURCE CENTER

Celebrating its 5th anniversary in 2025, TONES is a concert series focused on emerging musical talent in the local Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community. Tones provides emerging artists an intimate space to hone their practice and culminates in Tones Fest, a unique music festival serving Austin’s diverse AAPI communities.

Goal: $10,000

Breaking The Mold Exhibition & School Outreach Program

THE ELISABET NEY MUSEUM

This program reinforces Elisabet Ney’s vision for women in the arts while advocating for youth educational initiatives.

Goal: $10,000

Zilker Summer Musical

ZILKER HILLSIDE THEATRE

Since 1959, people in Austin have come to love the experience of sitting on The Hillside and enjoying a free, high-quality musical. The annual musicals draw crowds of 45,000 or more from Central Texas and beyond.

Goal: $36,000

The Pun-Off

O. HENRY MUSEUM

Pun-Off World Championships is an internationally renowned spoken word competition focused on the art of the pun. For 48 years, punsters have gathered in Austin Texas for a battle of wit and wordplay in honor of famous wordsmith and short story writer, William Sydney Porter, better known as O. Henry.

Goal: $10,000

VISUAL ARTS FUND

The Fund For Visual Artists

AT ANY PUBLICLY ACCESSIBLE SITE

This fund is a competitive grant based on need for visual artists who require assistance with artist fees, curatorial fees, exhibition preparation expenses, marketing, truck rental, equipment rental, supplies, insurance or fuel.

Goal: $12,500

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMS

Artist Professional Development Program

DOUGHERTY ARTS CENTER

The Artist Resource Center at the Dougherty offers a series of monthly professional development workshops designed to empower and support Austin artists. Each month, workshops cover a different aspect of the arts industry, equipping participants with invaluable tools to propel their careers forward. All workshops are free and open to the public. 

Goal: $6000

The Small Black Museum Residency Program

GEORGE WASHINGTON CARVER MUSEUM AND CULTURAL CENTER

This residency supports an ever-evolving ecosystem of Black artists living and working in Central Texas. SBMRP cultivates three early career artists by engaging them in critical conversations about their work, providing mentorship around the business of art and preparing them to engage with a broad spectrum of institutions. The residency culminates in a group exhibition and is ideal for artists with a progressive approach to both content and form with work that reflects shifting paradigms of race, identity, nation and place. 

Goal: $36,000

Caminos Teen Arts Program

EMMA S. BARRIENTOS MEXICAN AMERICAN CULTURAL CENTER

CAMINOS is an immersive, year-long paid internship, mentored by professional artists, empowering Austin-area teens to carve their own path in the creative arts. Students are chosen competitively to work alongside ESB-MACC staff and guest artists on a variety of community-oriented activities which develop their skills in leadership, arts production and community outreach.

Goal: $18,750

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