Nexus Guidelines

Grants awarded in the following categories:

Eligibility 

Eligible Applicants – Applicants may apply directly or with a Fiscal Sponsor

• Individual Artists
• Arts Groups, including State of Texas Designated Arts Nonprofits

Eligibility Requirements – In addition to requirements for all AACME Funding applicants

• $150,000 max annual operating budget
• Artistic goals or creative mission is the production of arts and culture activities, which includes arts service providers that offer professional support to creatives
• Have evidence of at least one-year creative production history in Austin
• Produce events and/or activities that are open and advertised to Austin residents, visitors, and tourists
   

Ineligible Applicants – In addition to requirements for all AACME Funding applicants

• 501 (c) Nonprofit organizations
• Any applicant with annual operating budgets above $150,000.
• Applicants whose primary mission or vision is NOT rooted in producing arts and culture activities
• Applicants with less than one year production history in Austin (prior to application deadline)
• Applicants headquartered outside of Austin MSA
• Applicants producing work outside of the Austin Council Districts or Extra Territorial Jurisdiction
• City of Austin Employees

Expenses

Eligible Expenses – Includes, but not limited to, the following categories for grant-funded activities:

• Artist and administrator compensation
• Marketing & outreach
• Insurance
• Supplies
• Permits
• Venue or equipment rentals
• Production, performance and service fees
• Fiscal sponsor fee, if applicable (cannot exceed 10% of award)

Ineligible Expenses 

• Awardees are prohibited from “double dipping” (see definition in Appendix A of Guidelines) with their grant funds to cover the same expenses or activities. Each Grant Agreement will dictate what expenses are allowed during the grant agreement term. For example, “rent” can only be paid by one grant award
• Awardee travel costs, including gas, flights, hotels, tolls, parking, and ferries
• Curriculum development or programming, scholarly or academic research, and any related activities
• Food & hospitality
• Fundraisers, capital campaigns, and benefits, including entertainment and receptions
• Start-up costs of a new organization, for example, expenses associated with filing for an LLC, or nonprofit status
• Consultants who are also employees
• Payments to students or interns whose employment is tied to class credit
• Purchase of gifts, awards, cash prizes, scholarships, contributions, donations, or re-granting of funds
• Existing debts, fines, contingencies, penalties, interest, or litigation costs
• Equipment purchases and repairs

Evaluation Review and Scoring

Evaluation Review

Applications are evaluated by outside reviewers. All reviewers are trained in the application review process and evaluate applications based on defined grant criteria. Reviewers will provide written comments that will be made available to the applicant. A panel discussion will not be offered. All final scoring decisions are carefully reviewed ahead of final award decisions by ACME leadership.

Scoring

Category	Criteria	Available Points
Creative Work	Idea reflects the people, places, histories and cultures of Austin Work demonstrates clear intent, authenticity, and meaningful perspective	Up to 35
Capacity	Artist or group brings relevant experience, relationships, or cultural knowledge to support the work	Up to 35
Public Connection	Project is made for a specific audience or community in mind The project is accessible and invites people to experience it	Up to 30

Awardee Commitments 

If selected for a Nexus Award, awardees will be expected to complete the following per terms of their agreement:

• Initial Report – Must be completed to process Grant Agreement and first payment
  • Completion of Agreement Kick-Off Meeting and Quiz
  • Provide proposed activity and budget
• During Grant Agreement
  • Completion of a public activity
  • Post public activity to VisitAustin
  • Marketing compliance (use of required logo and publicity statement)
• Final Report – Due within 30 days of the final funded activity:
  • Proof of funds spent (e.g., receipts, financial statements)
  • Audience and participant data
  • Documentation that funded activities occurred
  • Proof of marketing compliance (use of required logo and publicity statement)
  • Completion of two (2) Miles Partnership Tourism Marketing Trainings

Nexus Application Preview

Application Questions  

Each answer allows for a maximum of 2,500 characters:

Creative Work (35 points) 

1. Describe your proposed activity. Answer should include:

• Describe your artistic vision and the creative focus or traditions that shape the work.
• Describe what makes your project unique, bold, or culturally important.
• Describe how the public will experience or engage with your project.

Capacity (35 points)

2. Describe how the public will experience or engage with your project. Answer should include:

• Introduce your key team members, their expertise and their role in the proposed activity.
• Highlight one or two examples of similar work you’ve completed successfully in Austin.

Public Connection (30 points) 

3. Who are the people served by your activities, and how do you reach them? Answer should include:

• Describe the community, audience, or participants you hope to reach.
• Share how you plan to invite people to experience or engage with your work. 

Nexus - History

The Nexus grant was originally developed with community support during the Cultural Funding Review from 2019-2022. Read the Cultural Funding Report (English, Spanish). The program was originally launched in 2023 under the purview of the Economic Development Department. 255 recipients were awarded across multiple disciplines in 4 funding cycles. A total of $1,275,000 was awarded into the Austin Arts ecosystem through the Nexus program. Across four funding cycles, 255 awards were made spanning multiple disciplines. Through the Nexus program, $1.3 million in funding commitments supported emerging individual artists, creative businesses and arts groups, and small nonprofit organizations.

Past Awardees

• 2025 - See the full list of the FY25 Nexus grant recipients.
• 2024 - See the full list of the Summer and Fall awardees or view a summary dashboard of the FY24 Nexus grant applicants and recipients.
• 2023 - See the full list of the 2023 Nexus grant recipients.