Dear Honorable Mayor, Council Members and City Manager,

The Austin Arts Commission needs City Council to restore its mission. Austin City Code § 2-1-103 grants this Commission a broad statutory oversight role. This role was diminished through the Cultural Funding Review Process. Specifically, the interim report includes a Staff “Action Step” to “Recalibrate the role of the Arts Commission from a directive role to a supportive one.”

The problem is that Department staff does not hold the authority to change the role of a statutorily established City Commission. Yet, this “Action Step” was implemented, sidelining the Arts Commission to bystander status, allowing staff complete discretion to make consequential changes to Cultural Funding despite widespread community concerns.

Members of the Cultural Community have expressed that they have lost faith in the Arts Commission. City-collected data and commentary showing broad dissatisfaction with the changes to Cultural Arts Funding was suppressed by the Arts Commission, never released publicly, nor shared with Council. It was revealed through a Public Information Request. Just recently, focus groups conducted by Measure Austin expressed “mistrust” of the Arts Commission, as reported in the Austin Monitor, February 4, 2025.

Grant program changes massively disrupted the Arts ecosystem when it was at its most vulnerable, as reported in the Austin Chronicle, October 24, 2024. These missteps have cost jobs, shuttered organizations with long histories of service to culturally specific communities, and greatly reduced free arts participation opportunities for Austin residents and visitors. The Arts Commission should have done more to bring these issues to light with City Council. 

The hard work of restoring a well-managed cultural funding process will require an empowered, knowledgeable Arts Commission, once again aligned with the community. Therefore, we, the undersigned, respectfully request that Council assist in restoring community confidence in the Arts Commission by reforming its membership while reiterating its oversight role in cultural funding and responsiveness to community input.

Please consider your appointments to the Arts Commission with an emphasis toward people focused on service, free of conflicts of interest and who prioritize community impact. The Arts Commission should once again center best practices in grant program design, convey accurate community feedback to City Council, and resume its long held duty to actively and diligently oversee cultural funding on your behalf.

Thank you for considering this community input.

Sincerely yours,

Austin Creative Alliance Directors, Members and Community Endorsers