Nexus Grant Application Now Open

The Nexus Grant offers $5,000 grants for new and emerging local small organizations, individual artists, and small arts businesses to produce creative public projects. Grant funds may cover administrative costs, equipment and space rentals, marketing, and other eligible expenditures.  

Application Open: April 16 at 10 a.m. - May 14 at 7 p.m.

Before you apply, review the 

Application Assistance

The Economic Development Department is offering various ways for the community to learn about the Nexus Grant application process and eligibility.

*Spanish Language Assistance Available

Find helpful resources from our third-party administrators at The Long Center here. 

Submit Your Application Here

 

Funding Timeline

Nexus operates on the City’s fiscal calendar, which is October 1 – September 30. The pilot year will have two opportunities to apply. The dates of applicant’s proposed activities will determine when to apply. Successful applicants can receive Nexus funds once per fiscal year.  

  Spring/Summer Cycle  Fall/Winter Cycle 
Activities Occurring  June 1 – September 30  October 1 – March 31 
Application Opens  April 16, 2024 at 10 a.m. To be announced
Deadline  May 14, 2024 at 7 p.m.  To be announced
Panel Reviews May 2024 To be announced
Notification of Awards May 31, 2024 To be announced

 

Applications will be reviewed and scored by a panel of City of Austin Staff. Applicants will only receive points that apply to their project. Up to 100 points are available. We anticipate that most applications will not receive the maximum number of points available. 

Grant Guidelines

Download the Nexus Grant Guidelines in English (PDF,464 KB), Nexus Grant Guidelines in Spanish (PDF,456 KB) 

Eligible Applicants

 

Eligible Applicants

  • 501(c) nonprofit arts organization   
  • An individual artist aged 18 or older*   
  • A creative business*   
  • Applicant’s most recently completed fiscal year’s budget is $150,000 or less  
  • One year of operating history in the Austin metropolitan statistical area (MSA)  
  • 51% or more of the applicant’s creative production is within the Austin 10-1 districts or extraterritorial jurisdiction (ETJ)  
  • Applicant has not already received or is not currently receiving City funding for the same activities in the fiscal year in which they are applying   

*May apply directly or with a fiscal sponsor

Guide to Applying with a Fiscal Sponsor in English

Guide to Applying with a Fiscal Sponsor in Spanish

 

Ineligible Applicants

  • 501(c) non-profit organizations or that are not primarily an arts organization. 
  • Any applicant with annual operating budgets above $150,000.   
  • Applicant organizations outside of the Austin-Round Rock-Georgetown Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA). 
  • City of Austin Employees
Eligible Activities and Expenses

See Additional Program Details in English (PDF,362 KB), Additional Program Details in Spanish (PDF,519 KB) for a more detailed list of eligible and ineligible activities and expenses.

 

Eligible Activities

  • Exhibitions 
  • Performances 
  • Workshops and classes that include a performance or exhibition that is open to and marketed to tourists 
  • Public art projects that are installed on public or private property and accessible by the public 

 

Eligible Expenses

  • Administrative expenses and artist fees (including staff hours and contractor costs) 
  • Space rentals 
  • Equipment rentals (not purchases) 
  • Supplies and materials 
  • Marketing and promotion expenses 
  • Insurance costs 
  • Fiscal sponsor fee, if applicable (can not exceed 10% of award)

 

Application Details

Preview the application questions to help prepare. Applications will not be accepted via email or mail. The application must be submitted through the application home page only.

English Fillable Nexus Application Worksheet (Docx, 190 KB)

Spanish Fillable Nexus Application Worksheet (Docx, 186 KB)

Please note the worksheet template is not a substitute for the Submittable application.

Eligibility Questions

Series of Yes or No questions

  • Do you have “Delinquent Status” with the City of Austin Economic Development Department?
  • Are your annual expenses greater than $150,000?
  • Are you currently receiving City funding in the fiscal year you are applying?
  • Are you a City of Austin Employee?
  • Do you have a minimum of one-year of operating or event production history in the Austin Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA)? Ensure your address is in the Austin-Round Rock MSA by using the lookup tool.
  • Is 51% or more of your creative activity production history within the 10 Austin Council Districts or extraterritorial jurisdiction (ETJ)? Visit the Austin City Council District map to find your Council District.
  • Will your proposed activities occur within the 10 Austin Council Districts or extraterritorial jurisdiction (ETJ)? Visit the Austin City Council District map to find your Council District.
  • Will your activities occur between June 1, 2024 and September 30, 2024?
  • Will your proposed activities be open and accessible to tourists?
  • Did you start your non-profit/professional creative practice on or before April 1, 2023?
  • Do you understand that it is not the City or Create Austin's responsibility to advise on how a grant award might impact my individual tax situation?
Application Questions and Points

Criteria

Available Points

First-time Applicant

In the last 5 years (2019-2024), how many City of Austin Economic Development Department Cultural Arts Division Grants (Thrive, Elevate, Nexus, Core, Community Initiatives, Capacity Building, or Cultural Heritage Festivals Program) have you received? This does not include other City of Austin Economic Development Department Grants


If the application is on behalf of a sponsored project, the response should be based on the sponsored project’s funding history, not the fiscal sponsor’s.

 Up to 10 Points

Key Constituencies & Creative Mission

Identify your key constituencies. How do you serve them through your artistic goals, creative mission, and experience producing public events?

For the purposes of this program, key constituencies that will be prioritized are community groups that are at immediate risk of cultural erasure and displacement within Austin and/or have been institutionally marginalized and under-funded by the City of Austin Cultural Arts Division.

Key constituencies are not necessarily just your audience. They may also include others who are deeply impacted by your work, like participating artists, staff, creative advisors and/or community groups, etc.

 

Answer must include:    

 Up to 15 Points

Cultural Leadership

Who holds decision-making power in your creative practice and how do you/they represent your key constituencies?

 

Your answer could include:

  • You, the individual artist applicant
  • Executive and Creative Leadership
  • Advisory Board
  • Creative Advisors
 Up to 15 Points

Cultural Activities

What are your proposed public activities?

 

Your answer should address:

  • Description of proposed activities (who, what, when, where)
  •  Desired outcome or impact of your proposed activities, including how equity is centered.
  • How key constituencies are involved in the development of the activities
     
 Up to 10 Points

Creative Collaboration

Provide the name(s) of creative collaborator(s) and their role(s) producing your proposed activities.

 Up to 10 Points

Accessibility

Describe the specialized accommodations and/or programming for individuals with disabilities that you intend to provide at your proposed activities, if any.
 

Your answer should address:

  • Specific services or adaptations you will provide
  • Name(s) of service provider and/or participation of a trained professional in administering services or adaptations
     

Accessibility accommodations that are “upon-request only” are not considered to be specialized.
Hosting activities in an ADA accessible facility, by itself, is also not considered to be specialized.
 

See Additional Program Details in English (PDF,362 KB), Additional Program Details in Spanish (PDF,519 KB) for more information on Accessibility resources

 Up to 10 Points

Language Accessibility

Describe the specialized language access accommodations or programming for non-English speaking communities that you intend to provide at your proposed activities, if any.
 

Your answer should address:

  • Specific services or adaptations you will provide (including the language(s) they will be provided in)
  • Name(s) of service providers and/or participation of a trained professional in administering services or adaptations
     

Accessibility accommodations that are “upon-request only” are not considered to be specialized.

 Up to 10 Points

Marketing

Describe how you will market your proposed activities.
 

Your answer should include your marketing platforms (ex: social media, web, newsletter, print, radio/tv, etc.) and specialized marketing efforts to reach:

  1. Audiences within your key constituencies
  2. New audiences within the City of Austin’s Priority Key Constituencies
  3. Audience members with disabilities and/or audience members whose primary language is not English
  4. Tourists
     

An applicant’s key constituencies are NOT required to align with the City’s priority key constituencies (as defined in the Additional Program Details in English (PDF,362 KB), Additional Program Details in Spanish (PDF,519 KB)) to receive points for Item 1. HOWEVER, Item 2 requires the applicant to reach NEW audiences within the City’s priority key constituencies that are not reached through Item 1.
 

Utilizing two or more forms of social media (ex: Facebook and Instagram) will only count as ONE marketing platform.

 Up to 10 Points

Budget (NOT A NARRATIVE - Just the budget table)

How will you use this grant to produce your proposed activities?
 

Your answer should address payment to artists and/or administrators and:

  1. Estimated expenses related to providing specialized accessibility and/or language access services
  2. Estimated expenses related to marketing to current or new audiences
  3. Explanation of expenses to produce your activities
  4. Budget should be reflective of this application
 Up to 10 Points
Total Up to 100 Points

 

Application Materials

Upload the following required documents to the Nexus application. 

Glossary of Important Terms

Here are just a few important definitions for helpful reference in understanding goals and priorities. For a full list of definitions please see the glossary of terms and definitions beginning on page 19 of the Additional Program Details in English (PDF,362 KB), Additional Program Details in Spanish (PDF,519 KB). 

 

Creative Business 

A creative business is an individual or a group whose primary activities are arts and culture based, and does not have a 501c non-profit status. Creative businesses with annual operating budgets below $500,000 can apply as an individual or arts group in Nexus and Elevate. 

 

Cultural Displacement

Cultural displacement occurs through changes in the aspects of a neighborhood that have provided long-time residents with a sense of belonging and allowed residents to live their lives in familiar ways.    

As the scale of residential change advances, and shops and services shift to focus on new residents, remaining residents may feel a sense of dislocation despite physically remaining in the neighborhood. This may also reflect the changing racial or ethnic character of the neighborhood—not just its class composition.  

 

Cultural Erasure

Cultural erasure is when, because of cultural displacement, key aspects of neighborhoods that allow both current and future residents to feel at home go missing. Current and future residents lose access to opportunities in the neighborhood and the scale of change erases key aspects of the neighborhood that allows residents to feel at home. Content was developed in collaboration with the City of Austin's Equity Office and industry resources. 

 

Fiscal Sponsor

A nonprofit corporation with 501(c) status that applies for financial support on behalf of another organization or individual in order to enable the latter to receive the benefits of tax-exempt status. There are several forms that fiscal sponsorship can take, but in every case, the fiscal sponsor takes responsibility for external parties that the funding will be utilized for tax-exempt, charitable purposes as defined in the internal revenue code. 

 

Intersectionality

The term intersectionality was coined by Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw to highlight the overlapping vulnerabilities that are at play in shaping the life chances of some of society's most vulnerable populations, for example: women who are poor, of color, or who are undocumented.   
 
Intersectionality describes the many ways in which various forms of discriminations can intersect, creating special vulnerabilities for some. Vulnerabilities related to systemic and institutional racism are an integral part of intersectionality. 

 

Key Constituencies

The people deeply impacted by your work, which may include your audience, community members, and/or participating artists and administrators. These ‘key constituencies’ are identified and named by the applicant.

For the purposes of this program, key constituencies that will be prioritized are community groups that are at immediate risk of cultural erasure and displacement within Austin and/or have been institutionally marginalized and under-funded by the City of Austin Cultural Arts Division. Any reference to ‘key constituencies’ in a program application and scoring rubric will be referring to the community groups that meet this definition and that has been directly identified by the applicant.

This may refer to Black/African American, Native American, Asian, Hispanic/Latino, Middle Eastern, and Pacific Islander, the LGBTQIA, and disability communities.

NOTE: Audience served is NOT the same as ‘key constituencies’ as the audience served may or may not include communities that are at immediate risk of cultural erasure and displacement within Austin and/or have been institutionally marginalized. 

 

Application Scoring

Applications will be reviewed and scored by an internal panel of City Staff. Panels will not be available for public viewing, however applicants may request reviewer comments after awards have been announced. Applicants will only receive points that apply to their proposal based on the scoring rubric; we anticipate that most applications will not receive the maximum number of points available. The number of awards that are approved is subject to the availability of funds. We expect to award approximately 50 grants per cycle. 

Nexus Detailed Scoring Rubric in English (PDF, 740 KB)

Nexus Detailed Scoring Rubric in Spanish (PDF, 424 KB)

 

Grant Awardee Commitments

In addition to application proposals, the following information will also be required.  

Reporting Requirements

A final report is due within thirty days of the final activity date. Workshops on how to complete your report will be made available and supporting materials can be found in the Contractor Library.

The report will require but is not limited to:  

  • Proof of award monies expended
  • Audience attendance
  • Proof the funded activities were executed   
  • Proof that marketing requirements were met 

 

Apply Now

Submit Your Application Here

Create an Account

Click here to create an account with Submittable and begin your Nexus application.

Application Resources

All Cultural Funding Programs are administered by Create Austin, a service of our third-party administrators at the Long Center for the Performing Arts. The Create Austin website hosts a variety of resources for Nexus applicants including the Program Guidelines, a fillable application template, a detailed breakdown of the application, and more. Access the Create Austin Resource Hub.

Review the Application Assistance section at the top of the page for assistance opportunities provided by the City of Austin’s Cultural Arts Division. 

2023-2024 Nexus Grant Awardees and Grant Dashboard

Download the Fall/Winter Nexus Grant Awardee list (PDF, 134 KB).

In August of 2023, almost 200 applications were reviewed and scored by a panel of City of Austin Employees. After the panel review, the top 51 scoring applications were recommended for funding.  

View a summary dashboard of demographics for the 2023 Nexus Grant applicants and awardees.

Thrive, Elevate, and Nexus cultural funding programs were developed in consultation with Austin’s creative community over the past 3 years. Funding will prioritize equity through a combination of seed funding, broad sector support, and targeted investment. Read the Cultural Funding Report in English (PDF, 1.8 MB), Cultural Funding Report in Spanish (PDF, 2.2 MB).