ACME outlines 'Creative Reset', says >1,000 applications and ~$24M in grants; commissioners push for recipient data
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Summary
Assistant Director Morgan Messick told the commission that ACME centralized arts funding last year, ran its first unified application cycle and received over 1,000 applications; staff said awards totaling about $24 million will be announced imminently while demand roughly totals $65 million, prompting commissioners to request more recipient data and a short-term working group.
Morgan Messick, assistant director of the City of Austin’s new Arts, Culture, Music & Entertainment department (ACME), presented a one-year progress report to the Austin Tourism Commission on March 11 and described the department’s Creative Reset strategic process, recent grant work and next steps.
Messick said ACME was created in February 2025 to centralize programming and funding for arts, culture, music and entertainment across previously separate departments. The department restructured grant programs (heritage preservation, Live Music Fund, Nexus, Elevate, Thrive and the Creative Space Assistance Program) under a single application system launched in October 2025. “We received, well over 1,000 applications,” Messick said, and staff were wrapping up scoring and review with announcements planned the following Monday.
Messick said ACME’s preliminary figure for grant awards this cycle is over $24,000,000. She also told commissioners that total requests were roughly $65,000,000, underscoring the funding gap and the competitive nature of the grants. Messick described partnerships (a third‑party administrative relationship with the Long Center) and said that, compared with prior processes, ACME reduced the time from award announcement to payment: “I think it would be around 90 days … and we’ve gotten it down to, I think, 10 to 15 business days with the Long Center.”
Commissioners asked for clarity on scoring rubrics (Messick said rubrics are published in program guidelines), outreach to small organizations (ACME acknowledged limited communications staff and described partner-led outreach and walkabouts), and how tourism criteria are incorporated (applications require audience and tourism indicators and contract reporting includes audience origin data). Commissioners repeatedly requested more granular recipient and distribution data; Messick said the department will publish dashboards and is preparing award announcements and materials the commission can review.
The commission discussed forming a short-term working group to dig into grant administration, transparency and whether the department needs additional budgeted staff for finance, HR and communications. Chair and staff agreed to place a working-group item on the April agenda and to circulate data and supporting materials in advance when possible.
Messick closed by asking for ongoing partnership and offering follow-up meetings to address specific questions about administrative processes, program reporting and planned phases of the Creative Reset strategic plan (with final plan targeted for publication by September 2026).