Purpose:

The Artist Access Program is overseen by the City of Austin Department of Arts, Culture, Music and Entertainment. The purpose of the Artist Access Program is to provide free or low-cost use of space, available equipment and staff expertise to artists and musicians through an annual adjudicated process. Space can be used for rehearsals, performances, workshops or to create smaller works of art at the following Cultural Arts Facilities:

• Asian American Resource Center
• Dougherty Arts Center and Zilker Hillside Theater
• George Washington Carver Museam and Cultural Center

Overview: 

The Artist Access Program was created out of a directive from City Council to utilize Hotel Occupancy Tax’s Cultural Arts funds to provide space and support at the four City-owned cultural centers. Applicants are ranked by an impartial panel made up of professional artists from Austin using an established criterion and provided free rehearsal space as well as performance space at a reduced rental rate of $1 per ticket sold. 

Qualifcations:

Applicants must live in Austin or ETJ (Extra-territorial jurisdiction) and be a working artist. Check out GIS Maps if you’d like to find out if your location qualifies and provides programs and services for citizens of Austin and/or the ETZ and be open and marketing broadly to residents, visitors and tourists. 

ApplicationProcess: 

1. Read the guidelines
2. Check your eligibility. 
3. Fill out an application once you have confirmed your eligibility. 
4. Submit by April 13, 2026 at 11:59pm by clicking the submit button on the SUBMITTABLE form OR mail a paper application and support materials to ARTIST ACCESS PROGRAM, 1110 BARTON SPRINGS ROAD, AUSTIN TX 78704. All materials must arrive by the deadline.

Review and Selection Process:

1. Artists are ranked by the panel in a public process. Panelists may have questions for the applicants during their review. 
2. Staff will contact top scorers to negotiate and schedule dates. (Note that we may not be able to schedule all applicants due to the volume of artists applying for this program.)
3. Once scheduling is completed to everyone's satisfaction, the applicant signs a rental contract with an AAP Addendum confirming that they will abide by the program rules and follow the laws of the land. 

For Information or questions email lucy.miller-downing@austintexas.gov

Textile and fiber arts have existed since the beginning of human history; it has acted as a medium of storytelling and community building for centuries. 

For the Heritage Month Exhibit at Asian American Resource Center (AARC) this year, we are looking for artists to showcase their stories of migration, immigration, and assimilation through textile and fiber arts. Using the physical properties of this medium, flexibility and fluidity, we are looking for artists who can install their work in a glass-case-setting to create a scene, highlighting their narrative to its maximum potential by creating their own small world within the AARC. 

Traditional textile and fiber art works are encouraged, but we are also excited to see how artists can combine traditional fine art mediums, such as painting, sculpture, and printmaking with fiber/textile art to explore this exhibit’s theme.

Artists selected from this open call will have the opportunity to collaborate with this year’s Guest Community Curator, Mai Deguchi, in creating a series of temporary site-specific installations at the AARC, culminating in an Exhibition opening on May 2nd, 2026, alongside the AARC’s signature annual event CelebrAsia. The Exhibition will close to the public on June 6th, 2026. 

Guest Community Curator Bio:

Mai Deguchi is a multidisciplinary artist and art educator based in Austin, TX. Her work explores ideas of memory, identity, and migration through printmaking, drawing, painting, and fiber arts. Having immigrated to the United States as an older teenager, Deguchi combines elements and characteristics of both Japanese and American cultures to create a seamless and complex composition that often consists of indoor and outdoor spaces. 

Deguchi’s recent interest and research in fiber arts, particularly in crocheting, knitting, and quilting, motivated her to come up with this exhibit’s theme. Historically, textile and fiber arts have acted as mediums to tell stories and build community, and Deguchi is excited to showcase ideas of migration through this medium and see what stories the people of Austin hold. 

Open Call Application Guidelines: 

• Applications for the AARC’s 2026 Heritage Month Open Call must be completed through the AARC’s Submittable Portal
• Deadline for Application submissions is March 31st, 2026 | 11:59PM. 
• Open Call Applicants will be notified of selection decisions in early April, 2026. 
• Application materials submitted outside of the Submittable Open Call Portal and deadline will not be reviewed. 
• Applications will be graded on the quality and relevance of the Artist's submitted portfolio images and writing to this year's Heritage Month Exhibition Theme: Experiences of Migration and Integration in Austin, TX through fiber/textile-arts. 
• Artists must have reliable transportation to and from the AARC for install, de-install, and exhibit programming.  

Application Requirements:

• Artist Name and Address
• Artist Bio: 3-5 Sentences: Include a brief description of the physical media you currently work in, along with brief descriptions of the ideas behind work included in your portfolio submission). 
• Artist C.V: 1 Page, PDF: Please include relevant experiences based on your past work installing artwork, creating site-specific installations, participating in exhibitions, and/or facilitating community-based public programming: workshops, panels, artist talks, etc.
• Artist Portfolio: Please submit 5-10 quality images of your work (finished or in progress). Jpeg or png. files only.
• Artist Short Answer Questions: 

1. Please describe your experiences with installation-based work. Where have you installed before? What was that process like for you?
2. Please describe in detail (include: material, scale, installation methods, etc.) how you envision your installation to look like at the AARC. 
3. Please explain in a paragraph how the work you have submitted and/or your artist practice is relevant to the theme of migration and integration. How do the fiber art materials contribute to the overall meaning of your work?

Questions: 

• If you have any questions or need assistance with the application, please email AARC@AustinTexas.gov. The City of Austin is committed to compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act. Reasonable modifications and equal access to communications will be provided upon request. For assistance, please contact (512) 974-3914 or Relay Texas 7-1-1.