On 8 Years Of Creative Community Service: Xochi Solis
Generational Austin artist and community leader Xochi Solis served as founding Board President of Future Front Texas for nearly eight years. Throughout her time at Future Front, Solis contributed to the organization’s name change, established our current advisory and team structures, served as Interim Admin Director in our biggest growth spurts, as well as helped co-found our Residency and VIBE programs.
Generational Austin artist and community leader Xochi Solis served as founding Board President of Future Front Texas for nearly eight years.
Throughout her time at Future Front, Solis contributed to the organization’s name change, established our current advisory and team structures, served as Interim Admin Director in our biggest growth spurts, as well as helped co-found our Residency and VIBE programs.
This Summer 2026 Season, we’ll reflect on Solis’ contributions to Future Front through the debut of her latest exhibition “In the days of various light,” on view now through September 2026 at Future Front’s historic Community Studio on 1900 E 12th.
ON HER TIME AT FUTURE FRONT:
Photo by Jinni J
What drew you to this board position?
“A commitment to expanding representation and access in the creative sector—especially for women and artists of color—drew me to join and help shape Future Front Texas from its founding days. As a multidisciplinary artist and organizer born & raised in Austin, my ambition has always been to see future generations of Texans and Tejanxs experience more joyous, creative lives, supported by institutions built on equity, visibility, and authentic community. Witnessing the potential impact and reach of #bbatx’s early events as a space for intersectionality and amplified voices, I felt compelled to invest my skills and energy in an organization aligned with my core values: creative leadership, collaborative design, and personal and professional curiosity.
For me, building Future Front Texas was a natural extension of my life’s work—developing connections and advocating for spaces where complex identities and authentic stories can thrive. The process of transforming #bbatx into a nonprofit truly reflected my belief that it takes responsibility, ownership, compassion, consideration, and love to actively create and maintain the inclusive spaces our communities deserve.
Through my civic involvement and years of collective work, I’ve witnessed and contributed to a nurturing, ever-evolving environment where people challenge themselves and grow from every experience. This organization has deepened my understanding of community organizing, moving beyond the boundaries of any single industry, and has given me a fuller creative life in my hometown.”
How has Future Front evolved since your term began in 2018? What are you most proud of?
“Over the years, what kept me engaged and committed was the opportunity to work alongside a passionate, multidimensional team and witness firsthand the meaningful change our programs brought to our creative community. Sustained by a sense of responsibility to this ever-growing community, I stayed because of the real impact Future Front has had: providing visibility, resources, and opportunities for Texas’s independent artists and creatives.
The organization’s evolution—from #bbatx to Future Front—reflected a sincere commitment to inclusion, experimentation, and collective growth, values which continually fueled my motivation to contribute. Additionally, I found personal fulfillment in mentoring new leaders, fostering autonomy among board officers, and ensuring our mission always remained at the center of our work. The relationships built here—with team, board, artists, and allies—have been a continual source of inspiration and renewal proving that shared leadership, creativity, and generosity can reshape cultural life in Texas.”
ABOUT XOCHI SOLIS
XOCHI SOLIS (b. 1981) is an Austin, TX-based mixed media artist and cultural strategist with over 20 years of experience. Her creative practice consistently aims to build spaces—physical, intellectual, and emotional—that explore her relationship to land, culture of place, and personal history.
Her works include collaged paintings that explore color, texture, and shape through paint, collected paper ephemera, hand-dyed and marbled paper, plastics, and found images from books and magazines. Through a practiced process of layering materials, incorporating the visual depth and illusions of photographic surfaces, Solis reflects on the visual complexities in her environment—both natural and cultural. Her work communicates a nuanced narrative about time, place, and sensation while grappling with how to represent an environment where her heritage, body, and dreams for the future co-exist.
While her practice remains rooted in mixed media, she thrives on collaborative creativity. This ethos is reflected in her participation in numerous artist residencies across the United States and Mexico, where she both nurtures and is nurtured by fellow artists. These experiences have strengthened her commitment to community-building through art, bridging her studio practice with her passion for creating innovative, collective spaces. Notably, she has been invited to the prestigious Pocoapoco Residency in Oaxaca, Mexico (Spring 2026), a gathering of international and local artists dedicated to collaboration and dialogue. In summer 2021, she participated in the pilot residency program at WRONG Marfa in Marfa, TX. Earlier, in 2016, Solis was an artist-in-residence at Pele Prints in St. Louis, MO, where she developed a series of monoprints combining her painting and collage techniques with printmaking. Her exploration of printmaking continued through collaborations with Shoestring Press in Brooklyn, NY, in 2017 and 2018.
Solis is featured among thirty artists in Collage: Contemporary Artists Hunt and Gather, Cut and Paste, Mash Up and Transform (Chronicle Books, 2014) and among forty-five artists in A BIG IMPORTANT ART BOOK (NOW WITH WOMEN): Profiles of Unstoppable Female Artists--and Projects to Help You Become One (Running Press, 2018).
Recent exhibitions include LAYERS: The Art of Contemporary Collage at Decker Gallery, Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore, MD (2025); Contemporary Ex-Votos: Devotion Beyond Medium at New Mexico State University Art Museum, Las Cruces; Gallery 400, Chicago; and Barrick Museum of Art, Las Vegas (2022–24); Rooted by Invisible Means at Galveston Arts Center, Galveston, TX (2020); Remedies for a Generation at Uprise Art (2020); Crawl into the Shapes the Shadow Takes at WRONG Gallery, Marfa, TX (2018); and Mi Tierra: Contemporary Artists Explore Place at Denver Art Museum, Denver, CO (2017).
Solis has served as a founding member of multiple influential community arts organization in Austin, Texas, most recently contributing eight years as Board President to Future Front Texas. Beyond her visual art practice, she also performs as a vinyl DJ under the name Mira Mira, with a focus on preserving and performing Tejanx culture.
PS — Want to get involved with Future Front?
Our programs model the value of local art and creativity in our everyday lives and dreams for the future.
Become a member or donate. You can also explore all of the other ways to join us here.
One Night Only With Richie Shazam’s “I Was Never Meant To Survive This”
In April, we gathered for one night only within Richie Shazam’s “I Was Never Meant To Survive This” for a site-specific performance of ILOVEYOU by Austin artist and icon María.
In April, we gathered for one night only within Richie Shazam’s “I Was Never Meant To Survive This” for a site-specific performance of ILOVEYOU by Austin artist and icon María.
Thank you to our long-time collaborators McLennon Pen Co. for the invitation and guided tour! Austin was truly lucky to host this ground-breaking debut collection of Richie Shazam’s mixed media works.
ENJOY THE VISUAL RECAP.
All photos by Sarah Bork
BEHIND THE SHOW
“I Was Never Meant To Survive This”
Richie Shazam’s debut solo exhibition in Austin presents a new series of self-portraits exploring identity as a continual state of becoming and means of survival. Across seven characters Shazam, like a modern La Castiglione, transforms herself to examine shifting perceptions, memory, and the dualities of existence—where dreamscapes and disruptions collide.
Each character was shot within the confines of an eight-by-ten-foot wooden box complete with seven unique sets, costumes, hair, make-up and prosthetics. The result is seven tableaux each occupying a domestic interior, forming an immersive environment that reflects the character's self-constructed world. Richie is a collector, she stockpiles and accumulates things, scraps and ideas which go on to adorn her future work. Flowers, objects, hair and ornaments spill out of the wooden frame, which eventually broke down as a result of constant creation, renovation and demolition within it.
The pieces function as a study in survival, an intimate psychological landscape shaped by a relentless quest to create images of our deeply ingrained inner worlds. A soft violence of memory runs throughout, revealing the complexities of how memory operates and how experience imprints itself onto the body. Here, the flesh is divine—a site of reclamation and consciousness regained.
Novelist Garth Greenwell said “the history of queer art is taking stigma and turning it into style” and for Richie, what began as a trauma response becomes an act of authorship. By situating each scene within a different room of the home, Richie completes what is often a final step in trauma therapy—visiting the site of harm. Through the construction of a singular idea across multiple selves, Richie reclaims her own story, her choice of space, and her ongoing states of becoming.
The work reflects experiences that Richie should never have had to endure and therefore these are portraits she should never have had to make. But what choice did she have? In Audre Lorde’s A Litany for Survival she remarks “but when we are silent / we are still afraid // So it is better to speak / remembering / we were never meant to survive”. This show, these characters, their frame and Richie herself exist against erasure, asserting presence through ownership of flesh, form, and narrative.
Richie Shazam (@richieshazam)
Richie Shazam is an artist who was born and lives in New York City. After graduating from Trinity College she entered the fine art space working in galleries and museums with a focus on curation. She started to model which led to a full immersion in the fashion world where she eventually began working on both sides of the camera, shooting a variety of campaigns, celebrities and magazine covers. Unsatiated still, she turned the lens on herself creating a book of self portraits titled Shazam. The process's creative fulfillment and commercial success inspired Richie to take the concept a step further, using new mediums like sculpture, set design, and an expansive array of photographic techniques to build physical worlds. To manifest her fullest vision, Richie created Shazam Studios, a collective of creatives that turn dreams into physical realities creating a portal for all who wish to join Richie in the construction of self.
María Rivera Felizardo
María Rivera Felizardo es una performista electrónica, DJ y mujer Trans inmigrante Mexicana. María is more widely known for her multimedia project “p1nkstar” in which she embodies an electronic pop superstar to build utopic horizons for trans+ communities through music, art, nightlife experiences and social media. Now touring internationally, Maria is the first Trans person to receive an Austin Music Award and has received 3 Best of Austin awards for her work in art and nightlife.
Through her ILOVEYOU performance series, María uses drag to build experimental multimedia performances exploring experiences growing up queer in a Mexican city led by conservative Catholic values and infested by drug cartel violence.
As a project based in improvisational practices, every ILOVEYOU performance becomes audience-specific and site-specific. In past performances, María usually strips down from large sculptural costuming to undergarments, all while using electronic music equipment to process her vocals into new voices and create sonic landscapes. Simultaneously, María will throw down on DJ decks, dance, perform her teenage poetry or lipsync to pop songs to create a deconstructed narrative. A standard ILOVEYOU performance lands somewhere between drag, sound art, live punk music performance and strip-tease.
McLennon Pen Co. Gallery
McLennon Pen Co. is located at 1114 W 5th St #202, Austin, TX 78703. McLennon Pen Co. Gallery was founded by Jill McLennon in March 2023 with a commitment of showcasing the work of emerging and internationally established artists. The gallery aims to present contemporary art that is exciting, poetic, and emblematic of the times, while also placing the work within a historical context.
In June 2025, the gallery expanded from its original East Austin house gallery into a new 2,300 square foot commercial location at 1114 W 5th Street, at the gateway to Clarksville and Old West Austin.
Prior to relocating to Austin, McLennon spent thirteen years working in New York City for globally renowned commercial art galleries and auction houses in placing contemporary artwork in private and public collections, curating exhibitions, and supporting some of today’s most esteemed living artists in their career development.
The name of the gallery has been passed down from McLennon's grandfather who established a luxury pen shop in downtown Chicago that originally opened in 1934.
PS — Want to get involved with Future Front?
Our programs model the value of local art and creativity in our everyday lives and dreams for the future.
Become a member or donate. You can also explore all of the other ways to join us here.
The Front Market's Spring 2026 Season: Another Record-Breaking Recap
For The Front Market’s Spring 2026 Season (which marked ten years), we exhibited 150+ independent artists, makers and craftspeople, welcoming a record 7,500+ visitors across the state of Texas.
For The Front Market’s Spring 2026 Season (which marked ten years), we exhibited 150+ independent artists, makers and craftspeople, welcoming a record 7,500+ visitors across the state of Texas.
Bask in the visual recap.
Photos by Kate Nuelle
The Front Market celebrated ten years this Spring, due to support from our sponsors, members, staff, volunteers, friends and you. Thank you.
THIS SEASON’S IMPACT:
★ NO. 1 — 7,500+ VISITORS & 150+ ARTISTS AND MAKERS
From ceramicists and fiber artists to woodworkers and jewelry makers, we exhibited more than 150 artists, makers, creatives and independent craftspeople across Texas, with an average of 3,750 visitors joining us each day.
★ NO. 2 — 100% COMMUNITY-LED CURATION & PRODUCTION TEAMS
It took four staff members, 24 board members, 16 event volunteers, 200+ collaborators and one year of planning to open The Front Market’s Spring 2026 Season at Distribution Hall in East Austin.
★ NO. 3 — $1,500+ DONATIONS RAISED, $12,000+ IN COMMISSIONS & CONTRACTS DISTRIBUTED
Thanks to Distribution Hall, Tito’s Handmade Vodka, Texas Commission on the Arts, an Elevate grant from AACME, Liquid Death, Movability, Moontower Rentals, Miscellaneous Rentals, Partiful and Future Front Texas, we were able to keep the market free and open to the public, with community workshops, DJ sets and art installations each day.
You can read about this season in KVUE, Austin Chronicle and more.
Want to stay involved?
★ Head to thefrontmarket.com (click here) to tap into the Fall 2025 Season lineup of vendors, workshops, DJs, and collaborators at anytime.
★ Remember whyThe Front Market matter. Local artists, makers and creative small businesses build community. Learn more at thefrontmarket.com/mindset.
★ Explore all we do at Future Front—and find what’s for you—at futurefronttexas.org/programming.
The Front Market will return in November 2026 for our Fall 2026 Season.
Applications will open in July 2026 at thefrontmarket.com/apply.
On Analog Art, Austin Music And Third Spaces: Future Front Takes Over TOMO Mags for Women’s History Month
Every year during SXSW, Future Front hosts artists, activists and musicians across the U.S. for International Women's Day and Women's History Month. This year, we celebrated with a day of slow media in one of Austin’s newest third spaces, concept store and magazine shop TOMO mags.
Every year during SXSW, Future Front hosts artists, activists and musicians across the U.S. for International Women's Day and Women's History Month.
This year, we celebrated with a day of slow media in one of Austin’s newest third spaces, concept store and magazine shop TOMO mags. Over an all-day lineup of DJs and a hands-on block-printing workshop, we held candid conversations with Austin-local artists and musicians on their analog practices, vital third spaces and Texas history icons.
Thank you to DJ BAD APPLE,ORYA,JP, Suxxy Puxxy, RIOBAMBA, Hierba MalitaMegz Kelli,Thuỵ Trần, Beth Schindler and Jazz Mills.
As we celebrate ten years of Future Front, we’ll keep exploring analog art-making and community-building practices all year long. Look out for future pop-ups at creative spaces like TOMO mags who have collaborated within our program over the last decade, too.
“Community-building can happen everywhere, all the time, in the formal and informal spaces that we gather together. It’s an invitation to keep showing up joyfully, creatively, and fiercely with and for each other.”
“In this day and age of community becoming a commercialized, marketable buzzword, try to enact small acts within your own pre-existing social circle. Offer a friend who doesn’t have a car to drive them to work. Share your homemade soup from your culture that your coworker hasn’t tried yet. Ask your neighbor to borrow a hand mixer instead of buying a new one that you might only use a few times.”
“In the midst of our creative work, where so much of it happens in a vacuum, it’s refreshing to be reminded that one of the most basic, accessible analog experiences we can always return to is human connection – being able to connect with your community to collaborate, to check in, to just be and share space.”
ENJOY THE VISUAL RECAP.
All photos by Kate Nuelle
PS — Want to get involved with Future Front?
Our programs model the value of local art and creativity in our everyday lives and dreams for the future.
Become a member or donate. You can also explore all of the other ways to join us here.
Painting Picnics, Clay Villages, Springtime Collage and Sun Print Cyanotypes at Squirrel Fest 2026
Thousands of Austin families joined us for a beautiful day in Austin’s first (and oldest) public park.
On April 11, 2026, we hosted a soft afternoon of all-ages creative workshops, outdoor DJ sets and community vibes during Pease Park’s Squirrel Fest—an annual day to celebrate Spring, Austin’s natural ecosystems and the city’s iconic native squirrel.
Experiences included:
Make A Clay Fairy Village with Tanya Zal
Sun Prints: Cyanotype Printing with Hierba Malita
Nature Painting Picnic with Kayla Kennedy
DIY Recycled Collaging and Friendship Bracelets with Future Front
DJ Sets In The Park with Sonder and HoneyPocket
Hands-on activities, food trucks and pop-ups (like Five O Four and Pickle Envy), plus playtime in the park curated by Pease Park Conservancy and other Squirrel Fest partners
Outdoor film screening of “Zootopia (2016)”
As always, thousands of Austin families joined us for a beautiful day in Austin’s first (and oldest) public park.
Scroll for a visual recap.
PS — Want to get involved with Future Front?
Our programs model the value of local art and creativity in our everyday lives and dreams for the future.
Become a member or donate. You can also explore all of the other ways to join us here.
On Public Invitation and Community Arts: “Open Call”
Presented by Future Front, Open Call was the 2025 Group Show for Future Front’s Artist Residency.
Presented by Future Front, Open Call was the 2025 Group Show for Future Front’s Artist Residency.
open call (n.) — a public invitation to participate. Creative expression is often an open call for community and connection.
Exploring the art of invitation, gathering and relating to the world, this exhibit features work by contemporary artists living and working in Austin, Texas, including: Laura Clay, Aimèe M. Everett, Rewon Shimray, Kate Nuelle, Victoria Cardenas, Samantha Asencio, Erin Carle, Sarah Bork and Yvonne Uwah.
Continue reading to learn more about the show.
Meet the Artists
Laura Clay
Laura Clay is a Mexican-American artist based in Austin whose practice spans painting, drawing, and ceramics. Working in both abstraction and figuration, she navigates themes of bicultural identity, displacement, and the balance between chaos and order. Her work is characterized by distinct gradients and textures, creating a visual language that explores personal and cultural narratives. A commitment to materiality is central to her process, from creating her own handmade paints to her recent explorations in clay. Laura holds an MFA from the National Art School in Sydney and has exhibited worldwide, with her work held in the Mexic-Arte Museum's permanent collection. She has been featured in publications like Eastside Magazine and is represented by Washington Gallery and The Cathedral ATX. @lauraclayart
Aimée M. Everett
Questioning and communicating life experiences, emotions, and memories through gestureless abstraction, figurative exploration, minimalism, intense color, form, and texture, Aimée M. Everett asks the viewer to revisit recreated memory snapshots as a state of present experience. Drawing inspiration from the rich cultural heritage of New Orleans — where the celebration of the mundane, the dead, and the living coexists with a forward-looking perspective— Everett embraces this tradition throughout her practice. @aimeemeverettart
Samantha Asencio
Samantha Asencio aka Future Vagabond, is an interdisciplinary artist originally from New York. Shortly after graduating from Pratt Institute in 2015, she relocated to Austin, where she continued her sculptural work. Over time, she shifted her focus to embroidery and later founded the brand FV. The work explores themes of the American road trip, draws on historical references, and examines the notion of impermanence. Her practice invites viewers to consider how memory, travel, and time intertwine. @futurevagabond
Yvonne Uwah
Yvonne Uwah is a self-taught photographer living in Austin, Texas. She began using photography out of a deep desire to connect with and acknowledge other people. Because of this, her work primarily focuses on portraiture and what emerges when investing time into relationships. She has exhibited at various galleries in Central Texas. @yvonneshoots
Sarah Bork
Sarah Bork is an Austin-based interdisciplinary artist whose photographic work centers LGBTQ+ experiences of everyday life. With a background in film and performance, Bork has spent over two decades cultivating a socially engaged practice rooted in community portraiture and text. Her current series Girls Gotta Eat is an ongoing photography and oral history project exploring the grocery shopping rituals of drag performers. Bork’s work has been featured in solo and group exhibitions at The Dougherty Arts Center, Austin Public Library, Women and Their Work, Houston Center for Photography, and in a public billboard commission by Art + Action in San Francisco. She credits the Girls Gotta Eat community with helping her better understand her own queerness, and remains committed to collaborative work that bridges social divides and celebrates the radical potential of everyday care. @girlsgottaeat_dragportraits
Make it stand out
Rewon Shimray
Rewon Shimray is a native Austinite and biethnic Asian American who processes her cultural and queer identity through autobiographical paintings. Her compositions blend childhood photographs, popular iconography, and cultural artifacts to narrate her upbringing in white dominant and Christian fundamentalist spaces. Rewon’s paintings offer a site of contemplation, recognition and connection. She earned a BA in Journalism from Baylor University with minors in religion and studio art. Rewon has exhibited work in over a dozen Austin galleries, including her debut solo exhibition in May 2023, titled “SPLIT: Portraits of the AAPI Diaspora.” @artbyrewon
Erin Carle
Erin Carle is a fine artist whose practice is rooted in painting. Her work addresses themes of inadequacy, body standards, and body dissatisfaction, often reframing them in a playful yet unsettling way through surreal imagery. Inspired by personal experiences and observed societal expectations, her work explores how cultural pressures shape the way we see and value ourselves. Brightly colored and intentionally chaotic, her paintings invite viewers to confront discomfort within a vibrant, almost humorous visual language. Erin earned her BFA from Texas State University and has exhibited in both solo and group shows across Texas. She is currently pursuing her MFA at the University of Texas at San Antonio, where she is expanding her practice into ceramics, video, and installation. @erincarleart
Victoria Cardenas
Victoria Cardenas AKA Wavy Roller is a self-taught artist residing in Austin, TX. Her primary medium is acrylic on canvas but she also explores different mediums and canvas (lino printing, digital design, paint markers, and pastels). Her art is offered through original paintings, prints, stickers, book marks, totes and she explores, “connection and lack of connection that is around me; with myself and my own trauma, others and nature through dreamy colorful, yet tonal pieces.” @wavyrollerart
Kate Nuelle
Kate Nuelle is an artist born, raised and based in Austin, Texas. By day, they work as a graphic designer, specializing in brand identity and printed material for companies and non-profits related to arts, culture, and media. Their photography and illustration work brings up concerns about privacy, ephemerality, and power through eerie compositions. They have been featured through The Gallery ATX, the Michael and Noémi Neidorff Art Gallery, and ICOSA, as well as published in Verses, Glaze, Seedlings, Power Vacuum and other independent publications. @kate.nuelle
EXPLORE PHOTOS FROM THE EXHIBIT:
All photos by Yvonne Uwah
DID YOU MISS OPEN CALL?
Keep up with what we’re up to at Future Front—from events to membership—here.
Introducing 2026 Broad Studios x Future Front Community Clay Fellows
This fellowship emerged in 2024 as a pay-it-forward project—generously funded by the independent artists behind the women-owned Broad Studios Club House—to make ceramics more financially accessible as an artistic practice and form of creative entrepreneurship.
We're back for another year of clay, community and creative growth—welcoming a new class of fellows to The Broad Studios Club House x Future Front Community Clay Fellowship.
This fellowship emerged in 2024 as a pay-it-forward project—generously funded by the independent artists behind the women-owned Broad Studios Club House—to make ceramics more financially accessible as an artistic practice and form of creative entrepreneurship. In 2026, the program received 170 applications for 12 funded six-week classes.
Selected through a community-led, ranked-choice selection process, we're thrilled to introduce this year's cohort of 12 Community Clay Fellows.
Photo courtesy of Broad Studios Club House
MEET THIS YEAR’S RECIPIENTS:
Make it stand out
Broad Studios Club House x Future Front Community Clay Fellows
Melissa Martinez
Lyra Reign
Jessy Wilson
Carlos Moreno
Sarah Calvin
Taylor Edwards
Kelsey Phelan
Ana Martinez
Kalle Duncan
Rabia Meghani
Megan Baker
Maryam Abdullahi
ABOUT BROAD STUDIOS CLUB HOUSE:
Broad Studios Club House is a team of ceramic/multidisciplinary artists who opened up a ceramics studio and learning space to create a community where artists at every level can feel welcomed, empowered, and inspired. Learn more here.
ABOUT FUTURE FRONT:
Homegrown in Austin, Future Front is an award-winning cultural space and public exhibition series—with women and LGBTQ+ creatives at the front.
As a 501c3 arts and culture nonprofit, we produce two annual community-led exhibitions, The Front Market and The Front Festival, platforming independent artists and creatives across disciplines in Texas. Beyond our flagship exhibitions, we host seasonal shows and workshops at our creative space in East Austin, welcoming 20,000+ visitors per year.
Through these programs and a diverse network of partnerships, we invite the public (including you) to dream of a future where local art and creativity thrive in Texas—where we see ourselves and our cultures reflected in our communities.
FUTURE FRONT IS SUPPORTED IN PART BY an Elevate Grant of Austin Arts, Culture, Music and Entertainment, Tito’s Handmade Vodka, Texas Commission on the Arts, The LINE Hotel Austin, Pease Park Conservancy, Preservation Austin, Zoox, Movability,ART FOR ALL, Partiful, Moontower Rentals, Distribution Hall, Miscellaneous Rentals, Thirstday Tequila, the Red River Cultural District, Topo Chico, as well as Future Front’s donors and members.
P.S. WANT TO GET INVOLVED IN FUTURE UPCOMING CALLS?
Check back year-round.
Visit Our East Austin Location on 12th Street
Future Front’s community studio is located at 1900 E 12th Street (also known as Dozen Street) within East Austin’s historic African-American Cultural Heritage District.
Future Front’s community studio is located at 1900 E 12th Street (also known as Dozen Street) within East Austin’s historic African-American Cultural Heritage District.
Located in East Austin between I-35 (West), Manor Road (North), Airport Boulevard (East) and East 7th Street (South), this district is more than just a geographic area—it is a living narrative of resilience, creativity, and community pride that has shaped the identity of Austin for generations.
As we learned from conversations with former Six Square Executive Director Nefertitti Jackmon, Preservation Austin board member Miriam Conner and KAZI Station Manager Reno Dudley, historic East Austin has been defined by much more than the ramifications of the City of Austin’s 1928 City Plan, the rising pressures of gentrification, as well as the recent (and controversial) acquisition of 70% of land parcels on 12th Street by developers at Eureka Holdings.
Despite the lack of visible investment from local government and institutions (only 16% total of landmarks in all of Austin are BIPOC) in preserving East Austin’s history, the area’s roots are vibrantly tied to:
cultural centers and historic spaces like:
community-powered radio station KAZI 88.7
The Dedrick Hamilton House (where The African American Cultural and Heritage Facility now stands)
Austin’s first university and HBCU Huston-Tillotson University
nationally known icons like Ray Charles, Tina Turner, Jackie Robinson and Dr. JJ Seabrook
The African American Cultural Heritage District in Austin, Texas, stands as a powerful reminder of the rich history, culture, and contributions of the African American community to the city. Planning a visit? Book a tour with Black Austin Tours.
We’re neighbors to many creative spaces and small businesses, as well as organizations that champion the District’s heritage. Scroll and click on each image for more details.
Future Front is open to all on East 12th Street.
Our 1940s building is nestled within Austin’s African-American Cultural Heritage District, and we hope to live up to the legacy of our block.
From soil to cement, our building has a long history that precedes us (from its first owner Vera Barton to the We Rise mural). We acknowledge and honor our neighborhood’s German immigration origins in the 1800s), legacy of Black entrepreneurs following the 1928 City Plan in the 1950s, as well as the diverse Indigenous peoples and all elders—past, present and future—who have shaped and continue to shape this land on which we gather, too.
We invite you to celebrate their active cultural contributions and traditions. Make space and tend good relations here and now.
Through this creative space in East Austin and our flagship programs, we create:
Educational opportunities for creative skill-building and creative wellness
Fund community cultural events
Develop community-building educational resources
Offer subsidized access to arts and culture public space
Nurture free, public arts programming
Experiment with community-driven and creative place-making and place-keeping models—together.
Chúng Mình Collective Raises $3,000 Through Inaugural Cultural Cookbook Launch at Future Front
One-part zine launch and one-part dinner, the night’s proceeds amplified NOURISHED, a collection of diasporic recipes, while fundraising for local immigrant- and refugee-serving organizations.
During our Fall 2025 Season, our Community Studio on 1900 E 12th hosted grassroots organization Chúng Mình Collective’s inaugural cookbook fundraiser.
One-part zine launch and one-part dinner, the night’s proceeds amplified NOURISHED, a collection of diasporic recipes, while fundraising for local immigrant- and refugee-serving organizations. Celebrated by a crowd of 75 visitors and friends, NOURISHED sold 100+ copies in just a few days.
ENJOY THIS VISUAL RECAP.
All photos by Casey Tang (@capturedbytang). Courtesy of chúng mình collective
Curious about Chúng Mình Collective?
Learn more and stay connected here: https://www.instagram.com/chungminhcollective/?hl=en
PS — Want to get involved with Future Front?
Our programs model the value of local art and creativity in our everyday lives and dreams for the future.
Become a member or donate. You can also explore all of the other ways to join us here.
On Scent As Memory: A Contemporary Art and Olfactory Exhibition
Curated by Carlos Moreno, Scent Fair Austin encouraged an exploration of grief, nature and ritual, encouraging reflections on the community traditions of scent and its connection to movements of resistance.
During our Fall 2025 Season, Future Front hosted Scent Fair, an inaugural artist-led olfactory experience, connecting scent, memory and creative expression.
Curated by Carlos Moreno of Barrio Pop Studio, this guest show partnered with Austin-based artists Nam Joti Kaur Khalsa and Paloma Mayorga to showcase their works Sophia: A Tribute to Grief and haciendo y deshaciendo / doing and undoing. The exhibit also featured an interactive experience and creative workshop, Scents of Memory: An Invitation to Feel, facilitated by Austin-based maker (and former exhibitor at The Front Market) Hannah Jackson of Acquired Taste.
Connecting sense and feeling, Scent Fair Austin encouraged an exploration of grief, nature and ritual, encouraging reflections on the community traditions of scent and its connection to movements of resistance.
ENJOY THIS VISUAL RECAP.
All photos by Jesse Rodriguez. Courtesy of Barrio Pop Studio
Curious about Scent Fair Austin?
Learn more and stay connected here: https://www.instagram.com/scentfairaustin/
PS — Want to get involved with Future Front?
Our programs model the value of local art and creativity in our everyday lives and dreams for the future.
Become a member or donate. You can also explore all of the other ways to join us here.