The 2024 Impact Report: A Year of Ritual
From welcoming 18,000 visitors to hosting more than 200 community events, we reached every milestone on our list. Continue reading for some of 2024’s highlights and takeaways.
2024 HAS BEEN Future Front’s biggest year yet. Let’s get into it.
From welcoming 18,000 visitors to hosting more than 200 community events, we reached every milestone on our list. Continue reading for some of 2024’s highlights and takeaways.
Our 5 big wins:
Our TOP 10 growth moments:
No. 1 — Across 50 public markets, festivals, shows & community programs in 2024, we welcomed 18,000 visitors, opening up $122,000 in commissions and contracts for 1,550+ independent creatives and artists in Texas.
No. 2— We hosted 100+ free creative community gatherings atThe Future Front House—from craft workshops and art shows (including Madly Involved, A Path of Impermanence and Bring It From The Back) to panels and performances. We were also able to waive our sliding scale rental fees for Austin residents nearly 75% of the time. This is something we’ve been working toward for 10 years!
No. 3 — Across The Front Market’s Spring and Fall Seasons, we exhibited 437 independent creatives, designers, makers, artists, small business owners and chefs from Texas. We also took The Front Market to our largest public venue yet—Waterloo Greenway—in Downtown Austin. This was a landmark moment for our team and the future of the program.
No. 4 — The Front Festival had another record-breaking year, supporting 65 women and LGBTQ+ artists and 1300 visitors across four days of independent music, film and art.
No. 5 — 112 volunteers, board members, community curators and collaborators joined us throughout the year to contribute 1500+ hours of support Future Front’s programs. (This is the largest number of active volunteers in Future Front’s 9-year history.)
No. 6 — We doubled this summer’s Community Clubs, which saw 23 different Future Front members curate and host free creative sessions for 500+ community members.
No. 7 — We presented 25+ community partnerships for free arts healing and creative education workshops, like Broad Studios’ Clubhouse’s Ceramics Fellowship (which provided 16 Austin residents with free six-week ceramics programs) and Black Girls In Art Spaces x Anga Haus Palette to Pixel Workshop (which provided free Augmented Reality training).
No. 8 — We worked with Highlander Center, Plan C, Mutual Love Rest Fest, WATER Lit and Project for Empty Space to host interactive art exhibits and community teach-ins on the artistic, cultural and creative impact of southern people’s struggles for justice and democracy. This year’s themes centered Community-Care, Reproductive Justice and Trans Joy.
No. 9 — Through the The WORK Conference, we brought together 300+ creative leaders in Austin to skill-build and resource-share around community-building, small business education, storytelling and adaptive leadership.
No. 10 — We were recognized for our work by a number of partners, sponsors and grant-makers, including the Texas Commission for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts (for the first time). We also received the City of Austin’s Cultural Arts Division and Economic Development Department Elevate Grant for a second year. We continued creative community design projects with Downtown Austin Alliance Foundation, The Contemporary Austin, The LINE Hotel Austin, Pease Park, Red River Cultural District, Waymo, Waterloo Greenway and more, too.
For a CLOSER look at this year, head to Future Front’s blog & Instagram (@futurefronttexas).
your attention maDE THIS POSSIBLE.
thank YOU TO our SPONSORS, GRANT-MAKERS, DONORS, VOLUNTEERS AND MEMBERS FOR THEIR SUPPORT.
Future Front’s 2024 Season was supported in part by The City of Austin Economic Development Department, the National Endowment for the Arts (ArtsHERE), Tito’s Handmade Vodka, Texas Commission on the Arts, Waymo, Waterloo Greenway, The LINE Hotel Austin, Pease Park Conservancy, Liquid Death, Distribution Hall, the Red River Cultural District, Moontower Rentals, the Downtown Austin Alliance Foundation, Topo Chico, as well as Future Front’s donors, volunteers, members and you!
thank YOU TO our MAGNIFICENT staff, board and advisors, too.
Thank you for another year nurturing local art and creativity in our everyday lives and dreams for the future
Do you want to get involved in 2025?
Become a member or donate to our end-of-year fundraiser. You can also explore all of the other ways to join us here.
The 2023 Impact Report: A Year of Homecoming
From opening The Future Front House to welcoming our largest number of visitors since 2019—we are so grateful for every (unexpected) moment of growth.
2023 was a milestone year for Future Front, y’all—and it’s time to get into it.
From opening The Future Front House to welcoming our largest number of visitors since 2019, we are so grateful for every (unexpected) moment of growth. Continue reading for some of our homegrown highlights of 2023.
✰ Our 3 big wins:
✰ Our TOP 10 growth moments:
No. 1 — We brought The Future Front House—a 2500 sq. ft. community space at 1900 12th St in historic Downtown East Austin—to life. Since we’ve opened our doors, The House has been home to 50 free creative community gatherings, like ceramics workshops and figure drawing clubs.
No. 2 — The Front Festival had a record-breaking year, with 1600 attendees supporting 33 women and LGBTQ+ artists across four days of independent music, film and art. (Including some of our biggest pool parties yet!)
No. 3 — Across The Front Market’s Spring and Fall Seasons, we exhibited 403 independent creatives, designers, makers, artists, small business owners and chefs from Texas.
No. 4 — 88 volunteers, board members, community curators and collaborators joined us throughout the year to contribute 850+ hours of support to the community.
No. 5 — We were recognized for our work by a number of community partners and grant-makers. We received the City of Austin’s Cultural Arts Division and Economic Development Department Creative Space Assistance and Elevate Grants for the first time and continued creative community design projects with Downtown Austin Alliance, The Contemporary Austin, OTHR Agency, The LINE Hotel Austin, Pease Park, Plan C and more.
No. 6 — We wrapped our strongest season of Community Clubs, which saw 11 different Future Front members curate and host free creative sessions for 300+ community members. Sweet!
No. 7 — We worked on community partnerships like Pride Picnic with Pease Park, Neon Rodeo with Neon Rainbows, Drag Storytime with The Little Gay Shop and Drag Sing-Alongs with Gothess Jasmine to increase opportunities for queer creatives and advocate for drag as valid and vital performance art in Texas.
No. 8 — Through the Creative Future of Texas Fund, we distributed $5,000 in micro-grants to independent creative community projects like ours, including Thee Gay Agenda, Abode Press, WATER Literature, Black Girls in Arts Spaces (Austin) and Pastiche House showcases.
No. 9 — We worked with 20 artists and community partners to present one last Texas Feminist Throwdown. Centering arts and activism, The Throwdown raised more than $14,000 in mutual aid for creative organizations dedicated to community health and civic rights.
No. 10 — All in all, across our 67 markets, festivals, shows and community gatherings in 2023, we welcomed 16,274 visitors, opening up 1,250+ opportunities and $115,000 in commissions and contracts for women and LGBTQ+ creatives in Texas.
Editor’s Note: You can read our quarterly impact reports and budgets in more detail here.
✰ your attention maDE THIS POSSIBLE!
We would like to thank our 2023 staff, board, friends and members for their support.
We are also grateful to our partners and friends—particularly Tito’s Handmade Vodka, THE DOWNTOWN AUSTIN ALLIANCE, The City of Austin’s Cultural Arts Division, The Line Austin, Pease Park, OTHR Agency and more—for their continued collaboration.
✹✹ Thank you for another year nurturing cultures of creativity, curiosity, community & intersectional design in Texas. ✹✹
Do you want to get involved in 2024?
Become a member or donate to our end-of-year fundraiser. You can also explore all of the other ways to join us here.
The 2022 Impact Report: Future Front's First (Full) Year
In 2022, Future Front was delightful, delicious and dangerously juicy! From welcoming a record-number of vendors at The Front Market to bringing back The Front Festival in its true form, this year was a big one.
This was our first full year as Future Front Texas, y’all.
And it was delicious, delightful and dangerously juicy! From welcoming a record-number of vendors at The Front Market to bringing back The Front Festival in its true form, this year was a big one.
Continue reading for some of our 2022 highlights—and set aside a minute to get cozy & celebrate.
Our 3 big wins:
Our TOP 10 growth moments:
No. 1 — We hosted our first full year of programming as Future Front, with more than 46 public markets, festivals, shows and community gatherings, opening up more than 1,250 opportunities for women and LGBTQ+ creatives.
No. 2 — The Front Market hosted its first Spring and Fall Season for the first time since shutdown, welcoming a record number of 406 vendors across both seasons.
No. 3 — After three years scaled down or shut down, The Front Festival came back to its true form as a four-day, end-of-summer meeting of minds. The festival welcomed 800 attendees at The Line Hotel, The Contemporary and Parish ATX, exhibiting 33 artists.
No. 4 — More than 77 volunteers, board members, community curators and collaborators joined us throughout the year to fundraise $16,500+ for our programs and contribute 750 hours of support to the community.
No. 5 — For the first time ever, we worked on collaborative, community-based curatorial projects with The Contemporary Austin, Fusebox Festival, The Museum of Human Achievement, Luck Reunion, Visit.org and OTHR Agency. Through these projects, we connected creatives in our programs to new opportunities and nurtured community resources like free exhibition space and The Texan Feminist Throwdown. We also curated some of our most dynamic performances yet, featuring national names like La Goony Chonga and Juliana Huxtable.
No. 6 — We co-hosted our first-ever Pride Picnic with Pease Park, curating 30+ LGBTQ+ artists and small business owners, as well as two workshops on clay-making and plant-swapping with The Little Gay Shop and Black Trans Leadership Austin.
No. 7 — We turned our headquarters into a mini-residency, welcoming immersive takeovers from designer Lucid Voyage Boutique to community org Good Group ATX to installation artist Molly Sydnor.
No. 8 — We used all of our programs to support Texas community initiatives, from packing 100+ sexual and menstrual health kits with Birds ‘N Bees Box to coordinating 50 lunches between Free Lunch ATX and Austin EMS for vulnerable neighbors in our community.
No. 9 — We presented Texas-based filmmaker LINDSEY L33’s Abortion Pills Are Here To Stay. (The films have had more than 325,000 views in this year alone!)
No. 10 — We piloted our first iteration of Community Clubs, which saw 12 different Future Front members host free programming for more than 300 community members in Austin. Glorious!
Editor’s Note: You can read our quarterly impact reports in more detail here.
your attention maDE THIS POSSIBLE!
❤️🔥 We would like to thank our 2022 staff, board, friends and members for their support.
🌪️ We are also grateful to our partners and friends—particularly Tito’s Handmade Vodka, Anis Day & Night, The Line Hotel, OTHR Agency, Pease Park and Fusebox Festival—for their continued collaboration.
🤠 Together, we are nurturing vibrant spaces and opportunities for women and LGBTQ+ creatives in Texas, y’all!
Do you want to get involved in 2023?
Become a member or donate to our end-of-year fundraiser. You can also explore all of the other ways to join us here.
The 2021 Impact Report: A Year Of Rebirth
We said goodbye to Boss Babes ATX—and welcomed in a new era for our organization as Future Front. To our surprise, our impact has nearly doubled. (!!!)
We had no idea what that change would mean for our work. To our surprise, our impact nearly doubled. (!!!) It’s pretty dreamy.
Continue reading for some of this year’s highlights, and set aside a minute to celebrate.
Our 3 big wins:
Our TOP 10 growth moments:
We released our new name, Future Front, as well as our manifesto, which details our vision for a Texas where women and LGBTQ+ creatives are supported, celebrated and represented at the front.
We re-opened the org with The Front Market and Festival, which saw 4,500+ guests over the course of the weekend. (Shout out to our 15-person production and volunteer team, a 150+ vendor lineup and a 20+ artist lineup!)
We launched our membership and now have more than 200 incredible members.
We wrapped up our first-ever Creative Future of Texas Fund season, awarding $9000 to 10 different creative founders in Texas. Those founders included:
SAGE Studio — A Creative Space Supporting Artists With Disabilities
All the Sudden — A New Woodshop In East Austin + DIY Arts Space
Culture in Mind — A Latinx, Queer Psychotherapy Practice Supporting BIPOC Clients
Embrace Austin — A New Community Organizations Supporting LGBTQIA2+ Collectives in Austin
Mama Mangos Care — A Woman-Owned, Black-Owned Apothecary In Austin
Very Good Dance Theatre — A Queer-Led Theatre In Dallas
Torch Literary Arts — A Creative Writing Nonprofit For Black Women and Girls in Round Rock
Texas Latina Project — A Texas-Wide Film Collective Producing Their First Film
Golden Girl Productions — An Emerging, Black-Owned Documentary Film Studio in Austin
Harmonic Speech Therapy — A Speech Therapy Practice Offering Gender-Affirming Services in Austin
We debuted our new headquarters to the public and hosted 20+ workshops and gatherings, supporting creative learning, community-building and professional resilience.
In collaboration with Colors of Austin Counseling, we funded $7,000+ in pro-bono counseling sessions for 15 leaders working toward racial justice.
We collaborated on our first-ever fiscally sponsored project in collaboration with For The Gworls, a community resource facilitating creative opportunities and safe spaces for Black trans women experiencing displacement.
Our board and leadership staff distributed 2,000+ gallons of water and 1,000+ meals with the Austin EMS Association during Storm Uri to Austin Area Urban League, The Mutual Aid Complex Care Clinic, IDEA Rundberg’s warming shelter, 10,000 Fearless First Responders and Austin Community Advancement Brigade. We also hosted a restorative stretch and meditation for the community at-large, following the storm.
We celebrated new fundraising partnerships with Austin FC and AppSumo—raising over $20,000 through our collaborations with each company.
We planned, produced and presented our first-ever holiday season of The Front Market, showcasing more than 190 creative and small business vendors in Texas.
Editor’s Note: You can read our quarterly impact reports in more detail here.
your attention maDE THIS POSSIBLE.
We would like to thank our 2021 staff, board, friends and members for their support. We are also grateful to our partners and friends—particularly Tito’s Handmade Vodka, Giant Noise, Austin FC, AppSumo and The Line Hotel—for their continued collaboration.
Together, we are nurturing vibrant spaces, resources and opportunities for women and LGBTQ+ creatives, founders and leaders in Texas.
Do you want to get involved in 2022?
Become a member or donate to our end-of-year fundraiser. You can also explore all of the other ways to join us here.
The 2020 Impact Report: A Year Of Showing Up
Thanks to you, thanks to this community and thanks to our resilient as hell team, we are still here. In 2020, we supported $40,000+ in commissions and grants.
In 2020, we were collectively tasked with the work of reimagining our worlds.
And you showed up. You connected to us, to each other and to the communities we serve. And that energy made what we do possible. We hope you have stayed safe, well and as supported as you can. Continue reading for a recap of our impact (aka your impact) this year.
Here are three things you made possible for bbatx this year:
Our organization had some major growth moments in 2020, thanks to you, too:
We stepped up our approach to advocacy and community-care. Our team distributed year-long anti-racism resources, partnered with Art+Action to get the word out about the 2020 Census and teamed up with the City of Austin to distribute $3.5 million in COVID-19 grants with the Creative Worker Relief Grant.
We launched The Creative Future of Texas micro-fund with our friends at Tito’s Handmade Vodka.
Our team officially expanded to four staff members, and our new Board President, Xochi Solis, stepped into her role. We also worked to restructure our budgets and ensure that all staff members received 100% free health care through bbatx in 2020.
We partnered with therapist and social worker Sandra Olarte-Hayes to connect 24 racial justice community leaders with pro bono therapy support in August and September 2020.
We worked with 15 Texas women and nonbinary artists in our digital residency to produce work online and off—including a dynamic installation with Aimée M. Everett at The Line Hotel.
We moved into our own headquarters and are working to open the location to the public in 2021.
We transformed our store to better support the community, with the introduction of new initiatives like THE CRAFTHER BOX.
We put out our first-ever data-informed study on supportive leadership environments, What We Need To Do Our Best Work. You can grab a copy here.
You can also read our full impact report, quarter over quarter, here.
As you can see — your support, attention, time and energy make a huge difference.
We would like to thank our 2020 staff, board and committee members for their support. We are also grateful to our partners and friends—particularly Tito’s Handmade Vodka, Giant Noise, the Texas MSTC and MBA Programs, the Stand With Austin Fund and Bumble—for their continued collaboration.
Together, we are increasing the number of opportunities for women and nonbinary creatives, entrepreneurs and leaders in Texas to find support, share their work and grow.
Do you want to get involved in 2021?
Become a member or donate to our end-of-year fundraiser. You can also explore all of the other ways to contribute here.
