Local arts groups praise Thrive funding, urge longer-term support and transition help

Four representatives from Austin arts nonprofits addressed the commission during public communication to describe how Thrive grants have helped stabilize organizations and to request deeper, longer-term supports.

Donovan Jones, executive director of the Austin Gay Men’s Chorus, credited Thrive with helping the chorus hire its first full-time executive director and invest in strategic marketing and infrastructure. “Thrive is what broke that cycle for us,” Jones said, describing the program as a turning point that let the organization “stop scrambling and start thriving.”

Deborah Orr, founder and director of Outreach Productions, a long-running East Austin arts and literacy nonprofit, said Thrive provides meaningful stability but cautioned that decades of under-resourcing cannot be fixed in two short grant cycles. Her remarks asked the commission and ACME to consider transitional supports, mentorship and grant-readiness workshops for Thrive alumni, and to rethink matching-fund rules that smaller groups struggle to meet.

Joan T. Stewart, longtime collaborator with Outreach Productions, described years of generational impact and urged commissioners to avoid dollar-for-dollar matching requirements that could hinder mission-driven grassroots organizations.

Tanya Penny, director of DanceAfricaFest and Lanaya Drummond Dance, urged the commission to remove a two-cycle-in-six-years limitation on Thrive eligibility. She said the cap jeopardizes staff retention, long-term planning, and efforts by small Black- and women-led organizations to scale sustainably.

Ending: Commissioners accepted the public comments and staff asked for electronic copies of the materials. Speakers asked staff and commissioners to consider program adjustments—transition supports, tiered funding structures and capacity-building—that would allow smaller and legacy grassroots organizations to sustain growth begun under Thrive.