Asian American Resource Center - City of Austin

09/15/2026

📢 Nexus Grants from Austin Arts, Culture, Music and Entertainment are OPEN! These grants support emerging and established artists and arts groups with award amounts of $5,000 to $10,000 for 12-month grant agreement periods. Applications close Tuesday, October 13 at 6:59pm.

Learn more, find an upcoming workshop, and apply 👉 AustinTexas.gov/Nexus

The Nexus Grant is open and accepting applications starting today at 10 AM!

We’re proud to support the artists and creatives who make Austin vibrant and inspiring.

Workshops begin today, and our team is here to help through office hours and 1:1 appointments.

Apply now, applications close October 13 at 6:59 PM.
Learn more: AustinTexas.gov/Nexus

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¡El Subsidio Nexus está abierto y aceptando solicitudes desde hoy a las 10 AM!

Nos enorgullece apoyar a los artistas y creativos que hacen que Austin sea vibrante e inspirador.

Los talleres comienzan hoy, y nuestro equipo está aquí para ayudarte con horas de oficina y citas individuales.

Aplica ahora, las solicitudes cierran el 13 de octubre a las 6:59 PM.
Más información: AustinTexas.gov/Nexus

09/11/2026

💭 It's been almost one month since the fifth and final Tones Fest, and we're still thinking about how amazing it was seeing over 100 people gather at the AARC to celebrate local AAPI creatives! 🥹

💫Thank you to everyone who showed up to give this special event a heartfelt sendoff - and special thanks to our musical performers Zak P, Hexpartner, and francene rouelle; zine-making instructors Sarah Doan and Nathan Dinh; all of our vendors and community tablers HAAM - Health Alliance for Austin Musicians and ATX Artists for Social Impact; and last but not least one of the event's original co-creators, Marlon Hedrick.

Interested in learning more about the AARC's other programming and events? Check out our Eventbrite 👉 bit.ly/AARCEventbrite

🎬 Video credit: Marlon Hedrick

Alt text: A video of scenes from AARC's Tones Fest including musical performances and vendors in the ballroom and people crafting in the foyer.

09/07/2026

The Asian American Resource Center will be closed today, September 7, in observance of Labor Day.

09/03/2026

Join us for Hyphenated: An Asian American Book Club on Thursday, September 24 from 6 to 7:30pm for a discussion on My Documents by Kevin Nguyen!

My Documents is a fiction novel about a Vietnamese American family torn at intersection of ambition and assimilation. 📖 This discussion will be co-facilitated by Cindy Nguyen - introduction coming soon!

All meet ups are free, open to the public, and hosted in-person at the AARC. Must be 18+. No need to have finished the book to attend, though recommended. Learn more and RSVP 👉 bit.ly/AARCEventbrite

Alt text: Graphic with a picture of the cover of My Documents by Kevin Nguyen and a marbled pink background with a pink and blue border. City of Austin logo is in bottom right corner.

09/03/2026

‼️ Deadline Extended: The Dougherty Arts Center has extended the application deadline for the Ceramic Artist Residency application until Sunday, September 13 at 11:59pm! This residency program provides ceramic artists with the space, facilities, time, and professional engagement that will foster their skills as practicing artists.

Learn more and apply 👇

The Dougherty Arts Center is extending the deadline to apply to the 2027 Ceramic Artist Residency Program.

Applications Close: Sunday, September 13, 2026 at 11:59pm.

The Dougherty Arts Center’s Ceramic Artist Residency Program provides ceramic artists with the space, facilities, time, and professional interaction that will foster their ideas, skills, abilities, and focus as practicing artists.

If selected, artists will begin their residencies in January, 2027.

For more information visit https://doughertyartscenter.submittable.com/submit

08/28/2026

💫 Color Arc Productions returns to the AARC to present Romeo and Katrina: 2026 Live Script Reading on Saturday, September 26 from 3 to 5pm!

Romeo and Katrina, a musical set four years after Hurricane Katrina devastated the city of New Orleans, crosses the Mississippi River to bridge two lovers from Westbank and Eastbank New Orleans: Romeo Tran and Katrina "Trina" Batiste. Romeo and Trina's relationship grows amidst the backdrop of New Orleans' post-Katrina recovery and the Saints' storied ascent to Superbowl glory.

Script by Christine Hoang; musical accompaniment by Tyler Mabry; cast and crew talkback moderated by director Mikala Gibson.

This event is free and open to the public. Learn more and RSVP 👉 bit.ly/AARCEventbrite

This project is supported in part by an Elevate Grant of Austin Arts, Culture, Music and Entertainment.

Alt text: Graphic with a purple border with gold swirls and a picture of a fence with gold fleur de lis in front of a home in New Orleans. Text has details about Romeo and Katrina: 2026 Live Script Reading at the AARC. City of Austin logo is in bottom right corner.

08/28/2026

📢 Calling established and emerging artists in ceramics! Applications for the Dougherty Arts Center's 2027 Ceramic Artist Residency Program are open until Friday, September 4 at 11:59pm. Learn more and apply 👉 https://doughertyartscenter.submittable.com/submit

The Dougherty Arts Center (DAC) is an award-winning cultural arts center in the heart of Austin, TX.

08/24/2026

👋 Meet Pradhitha Boppana, our second guest speaker for Being and Belonging, happening at the AARC TOMORROW, August 25 from 6 to 8pm! Pradhitha and fellow guest speaker Jenn Xia will be guiding us in a discussion on The Future of Asian America.

Pradhitha is a le***an telugu poet and community member residing on the indigenous land of the Jumanos, Coahuiltecan, Nʉmʉnʉʉ Sookobitʉ (Comanche), Ndé Kónitsąąíí ]Gokíyaa (Lipan Apache), and Tonkawa people. 🏳️‍🌈

🗨 What draws you to community-based work?
What first led me to community based work was trying to preserve a community based lgbtq center at my university and care for my friends impacted by state violence.

Community based work continually asks me to question and challenge my fears of belonging and beliefs of worth and deservingness. Community based work also challenges me to imagine outside of the worldview I was brought up with. Community based work shows me a kind of care that is rooted in a shared responsibility for each other's wellbeing. Community based work introduces me to the belief that we can all have something to offer and that we don't require permission to initiate our agency. Community based work teaches me the framework of collective decision making. Through community based work, I learn about the breadth of possibility.

Being and Belonging is an educational pop up series exploring Asian American history, culture, and arts. This series is free and open to everyone ages 18+. Light refreshments provided! Learn more and join the waitlist 👉 bit.ly/AARCEventbrite

Alt text: 1) Picture of Pradhitha and four friends standing in front of trees and hanging paper lanterns. They are wearing face masks and looking at the camera smiling. 2) Graphic with a quote from Pradhitha.

08/21/2026

👋 Welcome back to the Asian American Resource Center for part 2 of our tour of rentable spaces! Come along with our staff to check out our conference room, classrooms, and one of our free community rooms.

✏ We have four 300 square feet classrooms available for rent. Each classroom can seat approximately 16 to 20 people and includes tables and chairs, a ceiling mounted projector, screen, dry-erase board, and HDMI connection.

💻 Our conference room overlooks the zen garden and can seat up to 22 people. It is equipped with conference chairs and tables and state of the art equipment including a conference telephone, TV and soundbar, HDMI connection, and more.

🫶 We offer two free community rooms for non-commercial, informational, educational, cultural, and civic needs. Community room 8 can seat up to 40 people and features tile flooring, hand washing sink, TV, and whiteboard. Community room 1 can seat up to 20 people and features a whiteboard and TV. All rooms include tables and chairs.

Learn more and reserve a space at the AARC 👉 bit.ly/AARCRentals

Alt text: Video game-themed video of AARC staff standing outside of the AARC waving to the camera and walking into the building. Video cuts to staff walking and pointing to features of a classroom, conference room, and community room. Bubbles above staff have pixelated text with information about each space.

08/20/2026

👋 Introducing one of our guest speakers for our next Being and Belonging session on Tuesday, August 25... Jenn Xia!

🌸 Jenn (she/her) is a Chinese-American artist who believes in art and interpersonal relationships as a pathway to explore how we can make life more loving. She believes in beauty as a practice, not merely in creating something beautiful to look at, but in making life worth living. In her free time, you can find her cafe-crawling her way through Austin and pausing to look at pretty foliage and shadows on the sidewalk.

🗨 What draws you to do community-based work?
What pulls me towards community-based work is really not knowing any other way to live life. So many people have nurtured me, opened their lives up to me and shown me a tender hand and that has made my life something I want to be part of. Every conversation I have with a curious child, every time my partner and I open our doors to a meal for a friend, every seed I plant, is an invitation to do the same. To be in each other's lives and to be better for it.

Being and Belonging is an educational pop up series exploring Asian American history, culture, and arts. This series is free and open to everyone ages 18+. Light refreshments provided! Learn more and join the waitlist 👉 bit.ly/AARCEventbrite

Alt text: 1) Graphic with a picture of Jenn standing in front of a stack of books and a calendar on the wall. She's crossing her hands in front of her and smirking at the camera. Text reads Being and Belonging, Asian American History Pop Up: The Future of Asian America, August 25 2026 from 6 to 8pm. 2) Quote from Jenn on a baby blue background. 3) A collage of two pictures - one of Jenn with three friends, all smiling at the camera, and another of Jenn standing behind a table with her art.