“I know about the Front Market, but I didn’t know Future Front did that.”
Unprompted variations of this phrase filled my ears again and again while reporting this column. In its 10 years as an arts nonprofit, founded by and for women and LGBTQIA+ creatives, Future Front has made a name for itself as an event producer, welcoming over 250,000 visitors to their annual makers market and holding 483 events since 2015 – including the yearly Front Festival, which once again welcomes filmmakers, musicians, and more to a weekend of programming Aug. 27-30. Behind the scenes the nonprofit has also become a crucial connecting point between Austin artists, arts organizations, and advocacy institutions, and corporations looking to support them.
At their second annual Creative Retreat, hosted by the LINE hotel, I chatted with one of their artists-in-residence who’s seen the organization’s facets firsthand. Kate Nuelle started out as a volunteer, tabling at the organization’s events. Through that work she earned a membership before becoming a part of their residency program and an event photographer for their occasions, including the retreat. In September, she’ll launch her debut photography book at the organization’s Eastside gallery space.
“It’s been really valuable for me as a visual artist,” she said of the residency. “Visual arts organizations that are here can feel a little bit intimidating.” Between bites of the retreat’s closing dinner, we discussed the various ways Austin’s arts scene can feel polarized between fine arts and commodified creative labor, leaving younger creatives unsure how to get a foot in the door. “Future Front is fantastic for that, especially for people who are very early in their career,” Nuelle told me later.
Around the LINE, the positive consequences of a connection to Future Front are easy to see. The lobby features two gallery spaces curated by the organization where artists might catch the eye of a buyer, brand manager Izzy Rademachir told me. Austin-based artists Manik Raj Nakra and Xochi Solis – the latter of whom recently stepped away from her role as Future Front’s founding board president – have become a part of the hotel’s art-centered brand, with pieces located in suites, hallways, and common areas.
“[Future Front is] really able to bring artists to the spaces that we develop [and] somehow leave benefiting from them,” says Rademachir. With outposts in Washington, D.C., and Los Angeles, the LINE isn’t an Austin original, but Rademachir is. Chatting about their partnership with Future Front, she can’t help but comment on shifts in the city, pointing out that embracing local talent in visitor-facing spaces isn’t as ubiquitous as many would like. “To see a Downtown establishment continue to proactively protect artist spaces is just something that – as a person from Austin – I have noticed is less [common],” she said.
In 2023, Emily Risinger at Downtown Austin Alliance and her team were also thinking about how Downtown could embrace and support creatives, asking each other a question many Downtown districts were struggling with: “How do we make sure that Downtown, the arts and culture ecosystem is basically thriving coming out of COVID-19?”
“We were looking for a consultant to help us answer that question,” Risinger explains. They found Future Front and, under the organization’s guidance, launched a two-year “community design and engagement process” gathering perspectives from artists and community members about what they wanted to see Downtown. The result was an extensive impact report and two-day festival, Vibe Downtown, that activated underutilized spaces on East Sixth for family-friendly daytime and nighttime events.
“Future Front acts as a link between those two worlds – the world of art and business.”
Hannah Varnell
“These forms of creative entrepreneurship really do take a village,” Risinger says. “One of the most beautiful things from my experience of getting to work with Future Front is they are really able to make these ecosystems happen and they come up with the coolest ways to help people learn about how to sustain these systems along the way.”
While more and more people are catching on to the nonprofit’s influence, some have watched it grow from the very beginning, when Founding Executive Director Jane Hervey launched a meetup for women creatives at the University of Texas called BossBabesATX.
“I have been aware of Jane pretty much since I moved to Austin over a decade ago,” says filmmaker and creative director Hannah Varnell. When Varnell got an opportunity to create a fashion show and market at Willie Nelson’s 2022 Lucktoberfest, she invited Hervey to help. “That was really the beginning of something that ended up taking off a lot for me, called Bloodbath Studio,” Varnell explains.
The multidisciplinary film and fashion project took shape as Future Front came on as a fiscal sponsor, helping Varnell navigate creative entrepreneurship and build business practices that felt in line with her artistic values. “Future Front acts as a link between those two worlds – the world of art and business,” says Varnell. “It’s a very complicated and confusing space, and it requires a lot of thought, time, and intention.”
Over the years, Varnell says watching BossBabesATX become Future Front and expand its capacity has informed her own expectations. “It’s very impressive to me the way that they’re able to execute – while still maintaining a level of deep humanity and appreciation and observation of what artists need to thrive.”
As they celebrate a decade of operations at the four-day Front Festival, the nonprofit continues to introduce itself to new faces and to help artists embrace their own multifacetedness. Bookended on Thursday and Sunday with the organization’s now-familiar Swim Sessions, a DJ-soundtracked pool dip at the LINE, the weekend nights dive into two different creative mediums. Friday, independent musicians will perform and discuss their work at Swan Dive, while Saturday features films from women and LGBTQIA directors and writers in Texas at the Contemporary – Laguna Gloria.
“I perform a lot and talking isn’t really something I get to do all the time,” up-and-coming local rapper LYNN told me with a laugh. The Alabama-born artist is eager to share her insights from years of performing in Austin as a part of Friday’s Building Your Own Stages panel – and hopefully gain some new fans through the conversation and her showcase performance. “I’m excited to get to know new people and see new acts and hear new music, and I hope they are too.”
Future Front’s collaborations, Hervey reminded me, are rooted in the joy of connection and discovery, paired with thoughtful, sustainable business practices that always aim to celebrate multiplicity.
“There’s all these artist-led, community-led projects and organizations [that] truly are the backbone of the local scene and [it’s] what teeters up to the broader economic infrastructure that makes this place creative – and a cultural destination,” Hervey said. “We don’t fit into boxes, and that’s because people don’t fit into boxes.”
The Front Festival unfolds across multiple venues Aug. 27-30.
This article appears in August 28 • 2026.
