When A City Changes, What Does Investing In Artists, Creatives And Homegrown Culture Look Like?
In 2024, our team worked with the Downtown Austin Alliance Foundation to publish its first Artists and Creatives Thrive Report, exploring cultural investment in downtown Austin.
Continue reading for the report's findings and key insights.
Austin has a long and well-documented creative history.
As the city rapidly grows, centering Austin’s diverse creative communities in cultural planning continues to drive belonging, economic growth & long-lasting culture.
Simultaneously, this growth has posed many questions and barriers for cross-community traditions, arts access, ongoing public engagement in culture and impactful creative empowerment in austin’s built environment.
So, how can we rise to these challenges?
Downtown Austin Alliance’s Active Urbanism team engaged with Future Front Texas to use the 501c3 arts and culture organization’s community design frameworks & public engagement approaches to identify new responses, programmatic designs and impact metrics toward this question.
Project Goals
impact
Identify the desired impact of “Artists & Creatives Thrive” initiatives facilitated in downtown Austin by the Downtown Austin Alliance and Downtown Austin Alliance Foundation
FLAGSHIP VIBE
Inform programmatic options for new cultural initiatives that meet the desired impact metrics established by the report
ALIGNMENT
Recommend planning, engagement and programming efforts that expand downtown Austin’s creative community partnership & involvement
When artists and creatives thrive, culture thrives, too. So, when a city’s built environment rapidly changes, what should investing in culture — aka the vibe — look like? We asked independent creatives, artists and cultural producers themselves.
how public engagement occurred
3 Downtown Field Trips
with 50+ participants at DAA cultural programs & partner events
25+ Creative Community chats
with 50+ participants at DAA cultural programs & partner events
4 Active Urbanism COMMITTEE MEETINGS
with 15 public servants and 12+ AU Staff Meetings
public engagement timeline
Research Included Downtown Voices, Like:
What We Heard From Artists & Creatives
on what’s missing from downtown austin’s built environment:
“Public art experiences and creative activities that speak to the human experience, conviviality beyond art on the walls... opportunities that engage the muscle memory of physically moving through urban spaces with curiosity.”
artists AND creatives want to see SUSTAINED OPPORTUNITIES THAT model Cross-community collaboration AND open invitations to the public.
Ultimately, when it comes to the culture of our communities, the vibe must be more than visible art on our walls.
It must be modeled.
It must be experienced.
Why Are Creatives Important To The Culture of Public Spaces, like Downtown Austin?
Local Economy
Supports opportunities for emergence of hyperlocal small businesses and ongoing cultural tourism
Strong Brand
Encourages memory-building & organic storytelling
BELONGING
Includes stakeholders beyond development & business
What Kind of Creatives Make Culture?
& How Can Homegrown Culture Grow?
① How can you apply these findings to your own cultural programming and community engagement?
② Where can you make space for local art and creativity in your daily life—and plans for the future?
③ What does it look like to invest in the experience of community?
HERE’S HOW THESE FINDINGS WILL BE APPLIED IN DOWNTOWN AUSTIN:
Introducing $30K in micro-grants to fund local cultural experiences, establishing an application process and promoting grants through community channels
Fostering continuous engagement with local artists and creatives by hosting town hall meetings, forming partnerships with arts organizations and organizing networking events
Activating downtown public spaces to boost community interaction by organizing public art installations, as well as interactive events that include collaboration between urban planners and the local creative community
Creating arts and culture programs tailored to community needs by conducting surveys and focus groups, studying successful national programs and piloting new initiatives
Ensuring the availability of creative spaces and continuous funding by repurposing vacant buildings, establishing long-term funding sources and offering affordable studio spaces
behind this REPORT
This report reflects a year-long community design effort for Downtown Austin Alliance and Downtown Austin Alliance Foundation, facilitated by executive leaders from 501c3 arts and culture organization Future Front Texas.
Future Front LEADERSHIP TEAM
Jane Hervey, Lead
Xochi Solis, Lead
Downtown Austin Alliance Staff
Raasin McIntosh, Lead
Emily Risinger, Co-Lead
Amanda Baez
Jenell Moffett
Leta Harrison
Marilyn Willson
Downtown Austin Alliance Foundation Board of Directors
Dewitt Peart, Secretary, Downtown Austin
Jennifer Wiebrand, Gables Residential
Kevin Brown, DuBois Bryant & Campbell
Nick Moulinet, Chair, DPR Construction
SaulPaul, SaulPaul Productions, Foundation
Xavier Pena, St. David’s Foundation
Participating Active Urbanism Committee Members (DAA)
Nick Moulinet, Chair
Adrienne Brown
Albi Hasku
Andy Austin
Ashley Kegley-Whitehead
Dan Jefferson
Eric Schultz
Heather Hart Potts
Janis Daemmrich
Kevin Brown
Lindsay Palmer
Marissa Rivera
Martin Nembhard
Michael Girard
Rachel Blair
Rebecca Senchak
Sania Shifferd
SaulPaul
Xavier Peña
PRESENTING ORGANIZATIONS
The Downtown Austin Alliance (DAA) is the steward of a collective vision for downtown Austin and enhances every aspect of the downtown experience. DAA is on a mission to create, preserve and enhance the vibe, vitality and value of downtown Austin for everyone. Currently, the organization supports multiple programs for artists, creatives and cultural producers in Downtown Austin. Learn more about DAA at downtownaustin.com. Learn more about DAA’s programs for artists and creatives at downtownaustin.com/foundation/dasa.
The Downtown Austin Alliance Foundation is the 501(c)(3) non-profit charitable foundation of the Downtown Austin Alliance that serves underserved and underrepresented populations downtown, using art and cultural placemaking to cultivate a welcoming, safe and vibrant Downtown Austin by and for everyone. Foundation programs are made possible through the support of charitable contributions. The Downtown Austin Alliance absorbs all overhead and administrative expenses of the Foundation, ensuring 100% of donations go directly back to the community. Learn more at downtownaustin.com/foundation.
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.