Incorporated in 1990, Austin Classical Guitar began as a small volunteer organization. Now ACG is the largest classical guitar nonprofit organization in the U.S. producing more than 100 world-class performances annually and supporting nine core staff members.

Educational services in Austin schools have expanded from one school in 2001, to over 50 schools in 2015, and serve over 3,000 students in daily, for-credit classes. ACG's work in education includes court-involved youth at the Travis County Juvenile Center, young women at the Annunciation Maternity Home, and students at the Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired.

ACG reaches more than 15,000 audience members each year through their International, Summer, FlamencoAustin, Guitar Salon, Play!, and Classical Cactus concert series, along with free Community Concert Residencies.

On Saturday, August 1, ACG welcomes Brasil Guitar Duo, João Luiz and Douglas Lora, for a performance at AISD Performing Arts Center (1500 Barbara Jordan Boulevard, 78723). Brasil Guitar Duo are Concert Artist Guild-winning international touring and recording artists. Doors open at 6:30 pm for the Brazilian Cultural celebration! Brazilian art prints provided by Tesoros Trading Company, food by Boteco, and a live performance by Brazilian jazz musician Gabriel Santiago.

More information at www.austinclassicalguitar.org.

Austin Classical Guitar receives support from the City of Austin through the Organizational Support Program.

WORKSHOPS & TRAINING

Creating, Engaging and Maintaining EFFECTIVE Boards 

When: August 12, 9 am - 4 pm 

Known for his frank and often contrarian views of nonprofit practice, Barry Silverberg combines his 40 years of practical experience with a review of the literature on the legal and pragmatic realities of Boards to present and lead a discussion on how to create, engage and maintain effective Boards: the roles, responsibilities, authority and expectations of Board members and staff.   

http://sites.austincc.edu/npo/event/creating-engaging-and-maintaining-effective-boards/   

Social Media for Nonprofits

When: August 18, 9:30 am - 4:30 pm

Join nonprofit decision-makers and supporters in the Austin area to share practical tips and tools for fundraising, marketing, and advocacy. Speakers will address a variety of topics in a series of short, TED-meets-Twitter style talks and interactive workshops. Workshops and breakouts allow participants to get hands-on experience with measurement and designing compelling email newsletters.

http://socialmedia4nonprofits.org/austin/  

Grantmakers in the Arts 2015 Conference

Registration for the GIA 2015 Conference is now open. The conference will take place October 18 through October 21 at the Millennium Biltmore Hotel in downtown Los Angeles. Conference attendance is open to GIA members, and staff and trustees of organizations that are eligible for GIA membership. These include private, community, corporate, and family foundations; public-sector grantmakers; regranting organizations whose primary purpose is arts grantmaking; and individual donors who give through eligible organizations.

http://conference.giarts.org   

Registration is open for the National Arts Marketing Conference, November 6-9

Arts marketers, are you looking for innovative ways to break through the clutter and advance your organization to the next level? Elevate your marketing skills up and beyond, like the soaring mountain peaks of host city, Salt Lake City! This November 6-9, dive into topics ranging from digital strategy and branding to technology and engaging new audiences at the largest arts marketing conference in the United States. Register Now
National scholarship applications for the NAMP Conference are open! Visit the Scholarships page for information, eligibility guidelines, and to download the application. Deadline to submit an application is Friday, July 31.  

GRANTS

Rhizome Micrograms for Net Art
Deadline: 7/23/15
The browser is still Rhizomes favorite place to see art. They will be awarding five Microgrants of $500 for artists to create new browser-based artworks. This program is run as an open call. Submissions comprise a simple 150-word statement and a single sketch or image. Upon the close of the open call, the proposals will be considered by a special jury, with five Microgrants awarded. http://rhizome.org/editorial/2015/jun/24/internet-art-microgrants-2015/ 

Imagine Your Parks

Deadline: 7/23/15

Imagine Your Parks is a funding collaboration of the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Park Service to support projects that use the arts to engage people with memorable places and landscapes of the National Park System. This NEA/NPS collaboration celebrates the NEA's 50th anniversary in 2015 and the National Park Service's centennial in 2016.

http://arts.gov/grants-organizations/art-works/nea-nps-funding-collaboration 

AHL - Andrew & Barbara Choi Family Grant for artists of Korean heritage

Deadline: 7/31/15

The AHL Foundation is pleased to announce the launch of the AHL - Andrew & Barbara Choi Family Grant, an annual project grant of $5,000 awarded to recognize and support the accomplishments of talented artists of Korean heritage working in the United States. The main purpose of the grant is to support the artist's creative process and to cultivate innovative and challenging work through financial assistance during key moments in the development of an artist's career. Two most important criteria for the grant are artistic merit and its impact on contemporary art. This is a project specific grant and can only be used for the creation and exhibition/execution of a specific artwork/project. Artists cannot use this grant for their living expenses.

http://www.ahlfoundation.org/andrew-barbara-choi-family-grant  

David Charles Horon Prize for Emerging Playwrights
Deadline: 8/15/15
The Yale Drama Series is an annual, international competition for emerging playwrights. The winner is awarded the David Charles Horn Prize of $10,000, publication of the winning play by Yale University Press and a staged reading. The reading of the 2014 winning play will take place at Lincoln Center Theater in New York City. https://yup.submittable.com/submit 

Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship Accepting Applications from Artists

Deadline: 9/19/15

NEA Our Town Grant
Deadline: Step 1 9/21/15

The Our Town grant program supports creative placemaking projects that help to transform communities into lively, beautiful, and resilient places with the arts at their core. Creative placemaking is when artists, arts organizations, and community development practitioners deliberately integrate arts and culture into community revitalization work - placing arts at the table with land-use, transportation, economic development, education, housing, infrastructure, and public safety strategies. This funding supports local efforts to enhance quality of life and opportunity for existing residents, increase creative activity, and create a distinct sense of place.

Our Town offers support for projects in two areas:

Arts Engagement, Cultural Planning, and Design Projects.
These projects represent the distinct character and quality of their communities. These projects require a partnership between a nonprofit organization and a local government entity, with one of the partners being a cultural organization. Matching grants range from $25,000 to $200,000.

Projects that Build Knowledge About Creative Placemaking. 

These projects are available to arts and design service organizations, and industry or university organizations that provide technical assistance to those doing place-based work. Matching grants range from $25,000 to $100,000.
http://tinyurl.com/nqnshkl

Hearst Foundations Cultural Grants

Deadline: Rolling

The Hearst Foundations fund cultural institutions that offer meaningful programs in the arts, prioritizing those which enable engagement by young people and create a lasting impression. The Foundations also fund select programs nurturing and developing artistic talent. Cultural grants are available for program, capital, and some general and endowment support. Preference will be given to organizations that offer artist development and training and arts education programs that address the lack of arts programming in K-12 curricula. Organizations must have a 501(c)(3) operating status and be working within the United States. Organizations must be able to demonstrate long-term impact on the populations they serve and have an operating budget of more than $1 million.

http://www.hearstfdn.org/funding-priorities/culture/overview 

CALLS FOR ENTRIES

Printmaking Exhibition Open Call
Deadline: 8/3/15
Deep-Breath is an open call from Local Project (Long Island City, NY) for artists working on printmaking in all its forms. From intaglio, xylography, lino-cut to screen printing and beyond. The goal is to celebrate printing, the serial reproduction of an image and the relevance of printmaking as a form of expression. All printmaking techniques will be accepted, but we will giving priority to works on paper, limited edition, short run and mono-print works. http://localproject.org/open-calls/ 

Austin Art Boards
Deadline: 8/14/15
Apply now for the Austin Art Boards Billboard Arts Project. Images must sized to 6"x24" on 10"x28" black or matte board. All entries must be turned in as hard copies to Jerry's ArtARama by August 14th. http://austinartboards.org 

David Charles Horon Prize for Emerging Playwrights
Deadline: 8/15/15
The Yale Drama Series is an annual, international competition for emerging playwrights. The winner is awarded the David Charles Horn Prize of $10,000, publication of the winning play by Yale University Press and a staged reading. The reading of the 2014 winning play will take place at Lincoln Center Theater in New York City. https://yup.submittable.com/submit  

The Texas Observer Short Story Contest 2015

Deadline: 8/16/15

The 2015 Texas Observer Short Story Contest is now open for submissions. The winner receives a $1,000 cash prize and publication in print and online in The Texas Observer. Contest is open to any and all participants regardless of location. No restrictions on genre; entries with a Texas setting or theme are encouraged. Stories should not exceed 2,500 words. Entry fee is $25 per submission.

http://tinyurl.com/ppz3ooa

Women & Their Work
Deadline: 8/19/15

Women & Their Work seeks artists who create inventive, high-caliber contemporary art that breaks new ground or proposes innovative approaches to form and content. Selections are based on an evaluation of the work; we look for a strong, consistent aesthetic vision. We encourage artists to create new work for exhibition. The work in the application should demonstrate that you are capable in vision and scope of creating a powerful solo exhibition that commands the 1,700 square foot gallery. Women artists residing in Texas who have not had a solo exhibition at Women & Their Work within the past five years are eligible. http://tinyurl.com/ncz3c5l 

East Austin Studio Tour Open Call

Deadline: 7/20/15 - 8/20/15

Applications for the 2015 East Austin Studio Tour will open on July 20, 2015. EAST is a free, annual, art event occurring November 14-15 & 21-22, 2015, providing artists with an opportunity to engage with the public in the unique spaces where Austin's art is made, celebrated, and exhibited. Artists may apply online at east.bigmedium.org between July 20 and August 20, 2015. An early application fee of $150 will be available until Monday, July 27. After that date, the regular fee will be $175.

Curator Competition / International Visual Arts Festival inSPIRACJE 2016 (Poland)

Deadline: 8/31/15

The organizers of inSPIRACJE International Visual Arts Festival invite artists, curators or curatorial teams to take part in the Curator Competition, one of the biggest events in the area of visual arts in Poland. The inSPIRACJE The Curator Competition is a unique opportunity for people with different levels of experience and for innovative projects in the area of visual arts. http://en.inspiracje.art.pl/ 

The Dougherty Arts Center is seeking applications for the Julia C. Butridge Gallery

Deadline: 9/18/15

Calling all visual artists and arts groups: The Dougherty Arts Center is seeking applications for the Julia C. Butridge Gallery for the 2016 season. Emerging and seasoned visual artists and arts organizations working in any medium are invited to apply. The gallery features 1800 square feet of exhibit space and 170 linear feet of wall space with a new track lighting system, located in the heart of the arts district adjacent to the Long Center and Butler Park. Applicants will be notified by November 1, 2015 for the 2016 season.  http://tinyurl.com/or825df 

The Annual Smithsonian Craft Show
Deadline: 9/20/15
A juried exhibition and sale of contemporary American crafts and design. Three jurors who are experts in the field and newly selected each year choose 120 artists from a large pool of applicants. Previous exhibitors must re-apply each year. No one is grandfathered into the show. There is no quota for any category of Craft Art. Artists are selected on the basis of the originality, artistic conception, and quality of their work. The show is produced by the Smithsonian Women's Committee. Proceeds from the Show fund grants that benefit the Smithsonian's education, outreach, and research programs. http://tinyurl.com/o9ujxfw 

NCECA 2016 National Student Juried Exhibition
Deadline: 9/23/15

he NCECA 50th Anniversary Conference, Makers, Mentors and Milestones, will be held in Kansas City, MO at the Kansas City Convention Center, March 16-19, 2016. In conjunction with the conference, the Leedy-Voulkos Art Center will host the 2016 NCECA National Student Juried Exhibition March 4 - April 30, 2016. The 2016 NCECA NSJE is open to full-time undergraduate, graduate and post-baccalaureate students (as defined by their home institution) enrolled in the United States of America. The applicant must be working towards a degree or be a post-baccalaureate in art at the time of submittal. http://tinyurl.com/qgad89c  

Art + Autism Call for Art

Deadline: 10/1/15

Call for Projects Traverse Vidéo

Deadline: 10/15/15

Traverse Vidéo programs experimental films, art video, installations, photography, and performance. Submit your application for the 19th edition, March 2016 in Toulouse, France. www.traverse-video.org

RESIDENCIES

ArtSmith Culture and Travel Writer Residency (Laredo, TX)

Deadline: 7/31/15

Spend three days soaking in the rich, Spanish colonial history and culture of Laredo, Texas. The residency, designed for culture and travel writers, will be an intense, three-day cultural immersion for up to five selected fellows to join travel writer Tiffany Owens, photographer Bob Johnson, and Artsmith director and writer Jill McCabe Johnson as they explore the city and its environs. http://orcasartsmith.org 

Yaddo Residency Applications (Saratoga Springs, NY)
Deadline: 8/1/15
Yaddo offers residencies to professional creative artists from all nations and backgrounds working in one or more of the following media: choreography, film, literature, musical composition, painting, performance art, photography, printmaking, sculpture, and video. http://yaddo.org/

Call for Caldera's 2015-2016 Artists in Schools (Oregon)
Deadline: 8/1/15
Applications are now being accepted for artists of any discipline experienced in teaching in a middle school setting. If accepted, artists will teach one-week residencies in Caldera's partner schools. Residencies culminate at the end of the week with a presentation, exhibit, or permanent installation at the school. http://calderaarts.org/caldera   

Artpace's International Artist-in-Residence Program

Deadline: 8/26/15

Artpace hosts three residencies annually for its International Artist-in-Residence program. Each residency features one Texas artist, one national artist, and one international artist, selected by a notable guest curator. Each eight-week residency culminates in a two-month exhibition on site at Artpace. The work created at Artpace goes on to show at some of the world's most distinguished venues, often presenting a pivotal moment in an artist's career. An Artpace residency includes travel expenses, a living stipend, a materials budget, an apartment, and studio/exhibition space. Resident artists have access to fully equipped wood and metal workshops and a video-editing workstation, in addition to technical and administrative support. http://tinyurl.com/p38kklx  

Curator Competition / International Visual Arts Festival inSPIRACJE 2016 (Poland)

Deadline: 8/31/15

Open Call for 2016 Artist-in-Residence Program at Denali National Park and Preserve, Alaska

Deadline: 9/30/15
Since 2001, a total of 60 accomplished artists, writers, and composers have participated in the Artist-in-Residence program at Denali National Park and Preserve, Alaska. Following a 10-day residency, each volunteers to lead a public outreach activity with visitors and to donate one piece of finished artwork to the program collection. For a two-year trial period beginning with this open call for residencies in 2016, the program will explore a preference for digital and performance-based donations rather than physical pieces for the program collection. Artists are challenged to create artwork and activities for visitors that offer a fresh and innovative perspective of the park drawn from their own experience. http://tinyurl.com/oar3g9l   

Buzzfeed's Emerging Writers Fellowship (New York) 

Deadline: 10/1/15

Buzzfeed is offering a four-month program, starting January 2016, that will provide mentorship and experience to promising future writers. During this fellowship, writers will be involved in pitching, reporting, and writing while also participating in workshops and panel discussions with various editors in the industry. This fellowship hopes to help writers succeed as future freelancers and staff at media organizations. The work that is produced by the fellows will be published by Buzzfeed. The fellows will also receive a $12,000 stipend and will work with the senior editorial staff out of the New York office.

http://www.buzzfeed.com/saeedjones/buzzfeed-emerging-writers-fellowship#.ks9EXw1qv 

OTHER OPPORTUNITIES

Perform at the Dougherty

The Dougherty Arts Center Theatre is now accepting applications for their 2016 Theatre Season! The DAC has been home to local, national and international performing artists since 1978. Bring your next film festival, dance recital, live concert or staged performance to our stage and become a part of an Austin tradition. Enjoy an affordable, attractive 150-seat proscenium theatre (3,700 sq. ft) complete with lighting and sound systems, box office and concession areas, dressing rooms, gallery entrance and outdoor marquee. It is perfect for small intimate meetings or full scale productions. Call 512-974-4045 or email lucy.miller-downing@austintexas.gov for availability.

Creative Action Seeks After School Teaching Artists

Deadline to apply: July 22

Begins early August

New Mural at Center for Creative Action 

Creative Action's Teen Program Color Squad is working hard on a mural along the back of the Center for Creative Action, to be unveiled this fall. This was a year-long project for the group. They visited with neighbors in the Chestnut community and worked with the Austin African American Cultural Heritage District to create a design that reflected the history of the neighborhood. If you ride the MetroRail, keep an eye out for the mural near the MLK Station!
See more in-progress photos on Facebook.

photo by Creative Action / Color Squad

Willie Nelson wins prestigious national prize honoring long and legendary career

CultureMap Austin, 7/9/15

The Library of Congress has announced that Willie Nelson will receive this year's prestigious Gershwin Prize for Popular Song. The national award honors singers, songwriters and musicians who have spent their lives shaping our country's cultural landscape. With this latest award, Nelson joins the ranks of previous Gershwin Prize winners, including Stevie Wonder, Paul McCartney, Paul Simon, Carole King and Billy Joel. http://tinyurl.com/q65foj2 

Innovative Austin music factory hopes to keep the local scene alive

KVUE, 7/16/15, http://tinyurl.com/pd64sba 

Update on the 84th Legislative Session

The 84th session of the Texas legislature ended on June 1. Texans for the Arts has listed some of the outcomes of that session as it affects the arts. Visit their site to learn more and find out how you can be involved with arts advocacy: http://www.texansforthearts.com/  

Save the Date! 

Austin Nonprofit Career Fair

When: August 26, 9 am - 1 pm
Where: Austin Community College, Eastview Campus

Visit nonprofitaustin.org/job-fair for more information, a full list of participating employers, and to view available job postings.