Submit To Our Annual Open Call for Artists.

Annually, Future Front offers a range of commissions and exhibition opportunities, amplifying independent artists, musicians, filmmakers, DJS, cultural producers and creatives living and working in Texas.

WE ACCEPT WORK ACROSS FIVE CREATIVE DISCIPLINES:

  • Music (including DJs)

  • Film

  • Visual Art

  • Community Arts

  • Performance Art

HOW TO APPLY:

Submissions are closed for the following programs.

① The Front Festival's Independent Music Showcase
② The Front Festival's Independent Film Showcase
③ Future Front's Visual Artist Residency (2026/27)
④ Future Front's DJ Residency (2026/27)
⑤Future Front’s General Programming (2027 Season)

APPLICATIONS REOPEN IN 2027

2026 Open Call Opportunities

  • Every year at The Front Festival, we book one musical performance, featuring a submission from our community.

    If selected for this opportunity, you will be included as a paid opener at The Front Festival Music Showcase in the Red River Cultural District on August 28, 2026. You will also receive weekend festival passes for you and your guests.

    *You must be a musician based in Texas to be eligible for this opportunity.

  • Every year at The Front Festival, we present a film program featuring 75% submissions from the Future Front community—from feature films and music videos to shorts and experimental works.

    If selected for this opportunity, your film will be screened at The Front Festival Film Showcase on the Contemporary Austin’s Laguna Gloria Grounds on August 29, 2026.

    Future Front will cover all associated costs with the screening. (There is no submission or screening fee.) We will also provide weekend festival passes for you and your guests.

    *You must be a filmmaker based in Texas to be eligible for this opportunity.

  • Annually, we work with 15 visual artist and DJs in residence.

    Collaborating within our programs or with our partners—like The Contemporary Austin, Bumble, The Line Hotel, Pease Park, Fusebox Festival, The Museum of Human Achievement—our resident artists work with us to create everything from workshop series to custom playlists to life-size installations.

    All opportunities listed above include varying paid commissions, honorariums and stipends throughout the year. For additional details on The Residency, please head to futurefronttexas.org/residency.

    *You must be a visual artist based in Austin, Texas to be eligible for this opportunity.

  • Annually, we work with 15 visual artist and DJs in residence.

    Collaborating within our programs or with our partners—like The Contemporary Austin, Bumble, The Line Hotel, Pease Park, Fusebox Festival, The Museum of Human Achievement—our resident artists work with us to create everything from workshop series to custom playlists to life-size installations.

    All opportunities listed above include varying paid commissions, honorariums and stipends throughout the year. For additional details on The Residency, please head to futurefronttexas.org/residency.

    *You must be a DJ based in Austin, Texas to be eligible for this opportunity.

  • As a 501c3 arts and culture no profit, we produce year-round art shows and creative workshops at our creative space in historic East Austin.

    Through these programs and a diverse network of partnerships, we invite the public to dream of a future where creativity and curiosity thrive in Texas—where we see ourselves and our cultures reflected in our communities.

    If you are interested in general opportunities wit Future Front year-round, please select this option.

    Artists will be contacted with opportunities as they arise on a rolling basis.

Learn More About Future Front.

Featured
Visit Our East Austin Location on 12th Street
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.

Friends Fair Partners With Future Front and The Contemporary Austin On Its Second-Year Launch
Friends Fair Partners With Future Front and The Contemporary Austin On Its Second-Year Launch

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Introducing Future Front's 2026 Governing Board
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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.

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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.

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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.

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On Analog Art, Austin Music And Third Spaces: Future Front Takes Over TOMO Mags for Women’s History Month

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Thousands of Austin families joined us for a beautiful day in Austin’s first (and oldest) public park.

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Presented by Future Front, Open Call was the 2025 Group Show for Future Front’s Artist Residency.

Introducing 2026 Broad Studios x Future Front Community Clay Fellows
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.

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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.