Recipients of Austin's Elevate Grant

The Elevate program "invests in cultural organizations, groups, and individual artists that create vibrant, publicly accessible artistic experiences," funding creative production, public programming, and operational/administrative expenses. It is one of four ACME grant programs funded by the City's Hotel Occupancy Tax (HOT), alongside the Austin Live Music Fund, Creative Space Assistance Program (CSAP), and Heritage Preservation Grant. [austintexas.gov/arts-culture/elevate; ACME funding]

Eligible activities explicitly include "creative production, public programming, operational and administrative needs, cultural events, media and digital arts projects, dance and movement-based work, literary arts, and more." [KUT, 2026-07-08]

Three applicant types are eligible

• 501(c)(3) arts nonprofits — no annual-budget cap.
• State-registered arts nonprofits & arts groups / creative businesses — up to $500K annual budget.
• Individual artists — up to $500K annual budget; may apply through a fiscal sponsor if they lack their own 501(c)(3).

Common threshold requirements: 2+ years of Austin creative-production history; events publicly advertised to Austin residents/visitors; headquartered in the Austin MSA with >50% of creative production inside the Austin 10-1 council districts or ETJ; and no more than one Cultural Arts Fund grant (Thrive, Elevate, Nexus, or Live Music) per City fiscal year. [austintexas.gov/arts-culture/elevate]

FY26 recipient counts

time-sensitive Award size scales with applicant type and annual expenses. Reported FY26/FY27 structure:

Note: published tier figures vary slightly across City pages and secondary aggregators; the $4,000–$80,000 range is from the official FY26 awards announcement. Confirm exact tiers in the current-cycle guidelines.

Elevate is heavily oversubscribed. For the FY26 cycle, ACME received 1,606–1,607 applications requesting $67M+ across its four programs and awarded 731 grants totaling $24M+ — roughly 36 cents awarded per dollar requested. [City 2026 awards release; ACME funding]

Elevate specifically funded 288 of those awards. FY27 opened with $11 million available for Elevate (down from $12.84M awarded in FY26), so competition is expected to remain intense. [KUT; austintexas.gov/arts-culture/elevate]

FY26 ACME awards reached all 10 council districts plus the ETJ and wider MSA. District 9 (central Austin, dense with arts venues) led with 125 awardees totaling $5,466,823. Recipient lists are published per district. [austintexas.gov/acme/grants-funding]

The eligibility rule that >50% of creative production occur within Austin's council districts or ETJ effectively concentrates recipients among organizations physically rooted in the city — a relevant constraint for venues and events on the city's edges (e.g., Brodie Homestead sits in south Austin/ETJ; confirm district placement when applying).

Elevate sits in the middle of ACME's three cultural-funding tiers — more accessible than Thrive, larger than Nexus.

Sources: austintexas.gov/arts-culture/funding-programs, /thrive, Nexus guidelines. Amounts time-sensitive.

• Liability insurance is required of all awardees. [createaustin.org/elevate]
• Payment in three tranches: 50% on completion of paperwork; 40% after completing a Miles Partnership class or posting to Visit Austin; 10% after final reporting verification. [createaustin.org/elevate]
• Terms: one- or two-year agreements; funding begins in January. [KUT]
• FY27 cycle: applications open July 7 – August 18, 2026 (6:59 p.m.) via Submittable; $11M available for Elevate. [austintexas.gov/arts-culture/elevate; KUT]
• Support offered: workshops, open office hours, one-on-one staff meetings, and instructional videos in English and Spanish. [KUT]

"These HOT-funded grants are not just awards, they are a reinvestment of visitor dollars back into the artists, musicians, cultural organizations and heritage stewards who make Austin a sought-out destination." — Angela Means, Director, Austin ACME [KUT]

For a movement-arts organization (flow/fire, aerial, acro, dance) — see the companion Founding a 501(c)(3) Movement Arts Nonprofit in Austin report — Elevate is a realistic core funding channel:

• You don't need your own 501(c)(3) to start. Individual artists and arts groups may apply through a fiscal sponsor (e.g., Austin Creative Alliance, Museum of Human Achievement), so a fiscally sponsored movement-arts project can access Elevate before incorporating.
• Dance and movement-based work is explicitly named as an eligible activity, and Dance is a small share of the pool (3.3% program-wide, 23 awardees) — a distinctive niche with limited internal competition.
• The recipient pool is strongly LGBTQ+ (26.6% program-wide), aligning with an LGBTQ+-affirming mission and the City's inclusive-evaluation emphasis.
• Plan for the requirements: 2+ years of documented Austin production history, liability insurance (already essential for fire/aerial), and >50% of production inside Austin/ETJ.
• Sequencing: start with Nexus ($5K–$10K) while young, graduate to Elevate as production history and budget grow, and target Thrive only after 5 years and a $60K+ budget.

• Elevate funds a broad, inclusive cross-section of Austin's creative sector — ~288 recipients/yr spanning nonprofits, creative businesses, and individual artists, in awards from $4,000 to $80,000.
• Music dominates ACME's overall numbers because of the separate Live Music Fund; within the arts grants proper, disciplines are far more balanced, and dance/movement is a defined, lower-competition niche.
• The pool is diverse and LGBTQ+-heavy by design, backed by an inclusive evaluation process the City actively promotes.
• It is very competitive (~36¢ awarded per requested dollar) — a strong, specific, Austin-rooted proposal with documented production history matters.