We produce vibrant creative community spaces, shows, opportunities and resources. Current programs include:
โ the FRONT MARKET
As a biannual independent marketplace and fair, The Front Market has welcomed 40,000+ guests & supported more than 2,000 Texas-based women and LGBTQ+ creatives, artists, designers, chefs, makers and craftspeople since 2016.
Learn more here.
โก THE FRONT FESTIVAL
The Front Festival is an end-of-summer festival, featuring music, film and art showcases curated by Future Front from an annual open call. Over the course of a weekend, alongside thousands of friends, we celebrate independent women and LGBTQ+ artists in Texas and the power of telling our stories.
Learn more here.
โข THE FUTURE FRONT HOUSE
Located in historic East Austin, The Future Front House is a 1200 sq. ft. community space, distinctively designed to offer free/discounted educational opportunities and gathering space for creative community-building, workshops, shows and pop-ups by independent artists and creatives based in Texas.
Stop by during public hours, become a member or book a community rental. Learn more here.
โฃ OPEN CREATIVE LEARNING PROGRAMS
Our workshops, educational series and professional development programs build public education around creative leadership, community-building, wellness and belonging.
Current series include Community Clubs, the Work Conference, as well as Future Frontโs Artist Residency AND Curators Program.
โค CREATIVE COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIPS*
We work with community partners and collaborators to design, pioneer and produce cultural programs that nurture the creative future of Texas around three core pillars:
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We work alongside independent creatives and organizations to nurture a community practice for Future Front, as well as community practices in Texas. This looks like:
โฐ Offering fiscal sponsorship & pro-bono partnership to like-minded grassroots initiatives that meet FFTX core values & vision
โฐ Operating The Creative Future of Texas Fund
โฐ Operating a Community Curators Program
โฐ Operating the Community Clubs program
โฐ Collaborating on the creation of projects & programs with partners that increase access to paid resources & capacity-building opportunities for creatives & artists outside Future Front programs
โฐ Documenting and creating processes, educational opportunities & capacity-building trainings for community-driven curatorial work and program design -
We collaborate directly with artists and creatives in our programs to bring forward progressive projects that nurture belonging and address inequity in our Texas communities. This looks like:
โฐ Producing collaborative community showcases and events like The Texan Feminist Throwdown and Pride Picnic that explore social justice, public health and autonomy
โฐ Creative activism projects around reproductive rights advocacy, gender & racial equity, as well as labor advocacy in creative fieldsโfrom community outreach on grant funding to educational resources on public health
โฐ Ongoing partnerships with gender & racial equity groups & groups that create belong for diverse women, femme, queer, trans and nonbinary folks in creative fields and Texas at-largeโfrom participating in voter advocacy to distributing Census surveys to drag culture advoacy
โฐ Ensuring our programs are fair-share, reflecting back the diverse cultures present in Texas, as well as the cultural histories that shape our programs
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We collaborate on projects & programs that increase access to creative wellness in Texas. To date, we have worked on:
โฐ a pro-bono therapy fund with Colors of Austin Counseling distributing more than 150 therapy sessions to creatives of color in need
โฐ designing collective-care curriculums for independent creatives centering justice and belonging in their community spaces
โฐ ensuring that wellness and mental health themes are incorporated into our creative programmingโfrom sessions on burnout and creative work to workshops on meditation
*Active projects INCLUDE:
โฐ Future Front collaborates directly with like-minded partners and organizations to bring expanded versions of its programs and frameworks to the public. This has included designing and co-founding a range of public programs with partner organizations, including Pride Picnic at Pease Park, The Texan Feminist Throwdown, the Downtown Austin Allianceโs first-ever festival and EMERGE at The LINE Austin.
โฐ Future Front provides ongoing fiscal sponsorship, mentorship, funding and capacity-building support to independent cultural producers and creative community events in Austin, aligned with Future Frontโs values and mission. Current fiscal sponsorees include Black Austin Musicians Collective, Blood Bathโs Community Fashion Show, Equity Through Art, Broad Studiosโ ClubHouse Ceramics Scholarship and more!