ACME outlines Creative Reset phase 2 for 14–15 city cultural facilities; report targeted for August 2026

Candace Cooper, interim chief administrative officer for Austin Arts, Cultural, Music and Entertainment (ACME), briefed the commission on phase 2 of the Creative Reset, a facilities‑focused review aimed at unifying city cultural assets and improving access and affordability.

"Phase 2 deals with our facilities," Cooper said. "We launched it officially in October 2025. We conducted outreach, surveys, focus groups, open houses and 1‑on‑1 interviews, and we're finalizing preliminary data now." She told commissioners ACME is preparing a "roadshow" of findings to share with boards, commissions and community groups in March and April, and staff expect to publish a final report in August 2026.

Scope and aims: Cooper said ACME currently manages roughly 14–15 facilities (counting an additional house separately) that came from a prior consolidation with Parks and Recreation and that Phase 2 work includes facility vision plans, internal assessments, benchmarking against peer cities and identification of efficiencies and consistent operational practices.

Notable milestones and items under consideration: Cooper listed the Millennium Youth Entertainment Complex, the Montopolis vision process, and a planned transition of the "pink house" facility from the housing department into ACME's portfolio. She also reported that the MAC (a music facility discussed in the presentation) recently received a certificate of occupancy and will open in coming months.

Commissioner engagement and follow up: Commissioners raised questions about partnerships with school district properties that may become available, reuse of vacant school facilities for arts education and programming, and interim solutions to expand performance/rehearsal space while longer‑term facility work proceeds. Cooper said partnerships and site‑by‑site approaches are part of the review and that specific decisions about reusing school real estate had not yet been made.

Next steps: ACME will continue internal finalization of data in March, share findings with city leadership, return to the commission to gather what Cooper called "what did we miss?" feedback, and incorporate that input into the August 2026 report.