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ACME details Phase 2 of Creative Reset and funding-program fixes; consolidated application opens July 7
Summary
ACME staff said Creative Reset Phase 2 will focus on cultural facilities and community-engagement focus groups, and announced major changes to funding programs including a single application window July 7—Aug 18, automated tentative eligibility, community navigators and ambassadors to improve outreach and language access.
ACME (Arts, Culture, Music and Entertainment) staff presented Phase 2 of the Creative Reset and a set of reforms to cultural funding programs intended to simplify applications, expand outreach and speed contracting.
"Phase 2 focuses on the cultural facilities, the sites that we have, our museums, entertainment centers, etcetera," said Candace Cooper, ACME's interim chief administrative officer, as she outlined a community-engagement process that used surveys, focus groups and open houses to collect priorities such as reducing access barriers, improving language access and aligning staffing with demand. Cooper announced three focus-group sessions beginning the week after this meeting and said ACME plans to publish preliminary data in the coming weeks and a final Phase 2 report in July with a public report in August.
Staff then briefed commissioners on facility operations and rental procedures. Marjorie Flanagan (division manager) explained that some sites are open and actively programming (for example, the Mexican American Cultural Center is accepting reservations for calendar year 2027 access) while others remain closed or in transition (the Connolly/Yearwood "Pink House" is still undergoing legal processes). Flanagan described the rental process (temporary holds that expire after two weeks, required permits and deposits), cost-recovery pricing rules and a free community-space program limited to two uses per month for eligible groups.
On funding programs, Laura Odegaard (acting division manager, Cultural Affairs & Investments) gave a detailed plan to streamline four programs and the application experience. Major changes include eliminating the prior three-step intake process, automating tentative eligibility so eligible applicants can access the full application immediately, consolidating four program application windows (Austin Live Music Fund, Elevate, Heritage Preservation, Thrive) with a single deadline (July 7—Aug 18), and improving language access by rewriting application text to an eighth-grade reading level and instituting a shared Spanish word bank and secondary community review of translations.
Odegaard also described plans for community outreach: a two-tier model of paid Acme ambassadors (approx. $1,000 each, may still apply for funding) and community navigators (paid roles that cannot apply for funding), plus topic-specific workshops, how-to videos and templates to reduce documentation burdens. ACME will also attempt to automate eligibility checks for prior awardees to reduce duplicate verification work.
Commissioners asked about rental fees, staffing levels at facilities and whether legacy programs (e.g., the MAC residency) can be relaunched quickly; staff said some cost-recovery worksheets and fee schedules are council backup documents and that they will follow up with specific staffing and fee materials.
Separately, the commission tabled discussion of a proposed collaboration with the Coalition for Arts and Spanish-Language Theater (CAST) on the Latino Artists Access Program until the June meeting; that tabling motion passed with one commissioner opposed (Commissioner Hussaini).
