Their mission: Advance, connect and advocate for Austin’s arts, cultural, and creative communities to strengthen and protect the character, quality of life, and economic prosperity of our region.
Austin Creative Alliance (ACA) is an organization that strives to strengthen and support the Austin creative community and does so in a variety of ways. Members of ACA, whether an independent artist or organization, receive access to a variety of helpful services that support success in their creative endeavors. For individual artists (in music, film, visual and performing arts), members are connected to a vast creative network of ACA staff that are available to assist with career management and establishing goals. There are also opportunities in fiscal sponsorship for projects that align with ACA’s commitment to nurturing the Austin culture and community through the arts. ACA additionally provides studio space at affordable prices for emerging and established artists.
Creative organizations, in addition to aspects of the services already mentioned, receive assistance in project management and access to the ACA gathering space for an affordable price to host events. ACA assists small theaters with the payroll side of productions to allow the company to focus more fully on their art.
ACA also sponsors a variety of programs including an annual unified audition. All actors, union and non-union, are encouraged to attend and audition before multiple Texas directors and agents at once. They have also organized a relief fund for artists suffering financially from the COVID-19 pandemic. We spoke with Jenny Lavery of Austin Creative Alliance to hear in her own words what Austin Creative Alliance does, why she loves Austin and use her power to vote, and also got her to tell us what Halloween treat is the best.
What does your organization do?
Advance, Connect, and Advocate for Austin's arts, cultural, and creative communities to strengthen and protect the character, quality of life, and economic prosperity of our region.
Why do you love Austin?
I love how vibrant and the arts scene is! It's a city of makers and doers.
Why do you vote? (If you do. If not, that's okay.)
I vote to voice my opinions. I vote to protect the things I care about. I vote to enact the world that I want to live in.
Who is one of your favorite Austin entertainment groups? (Ex. an artist, musician or band, creatives, filmmaker. You can name more than one)
There are too many to choose from! To name a tiny fraction: We've got musicians like Vanessa Lively, Mishap Marching Band, SaulPaul; muralists like JJ Muzacz and Raisen in the Sun; theatres like TILT, Theatre en Bloc, and Paper Chairs; dancers like Forklift Dance, Ballet Afrique, and Anu Naimpally; visual artists like Gender Portraits, Free Rent Crew, and Jean Pierre Verdijo; poets like Ebony Stewart, Christopher Michael; filmmakers like Jeffrey Da'Shade Johnson, Ariel LaGuette, and Funmi Ogunro, and the list goes on!Â
Who's your favorite Austin business or restaurant?
Creative Action, Art from the Streets, and BossBabesATX are all doing amazing work in Austin!
Who's your favorite non-profit organization in Austin, aside from the one you represent? The ones above! What's your favorite Halloween treat?
Reeses, duh!