ACME’s Artist Access Program is now open for applications through April 13. By partnering with creative spaces across the city, like the Asian American Resource Center, Dougherty Arts Center, the George Washington Carver Museum, and Zilker Hillside Theater, the city office provides free or low-cost spaces and equipment for artists to organize rehearsals, performances, workshops, and more. Artists working in music, visual arts, theatre, and multimedia projects who live in Austin or the extraterritorial zone are eligible to apply.
Smash by Smashwest became the latest frustrated recipients of South by Southwest’s comprehensive public relations surveillance on March 16, when a post advertising the counterfestival was reported for misuse of the festival’s name and removed from Instagram. The grassroots festival opposes SXSW’s ties to military contractors, big tech, and gentrification through live music, screenings, workshops, and protests. According to a press release from Smash by Smashwest organizers, Instagram removal notifications identified that SXSW is now using an AI-driven brand protection service, BrandShield, to flag and remove posts using the SXSW name without permission.
Café Fleurs de Nuit, a Parisian-inspired union between Blanton Museum of Art and Justine’s Brasserie, is scheduled to open in fall 2026 on the museum grounds. Serving a weekend brunch and a Saturday dinner menu, the cafe will be open 10am to 5pm Sunday through Friday and until 10pm on Saturday nights. Justine’s owner Justine Gilcrease says the sister cafe will have a distinct identity, designed by Uchi and La Condesa designer Joel Mozersky and inspired by the French modernism renaissance with an expansive patio incorporating views of Ellsworth Kelly’s Austin and the museum’s grounds.
FloMob, the influential Nineties Austin hip-hop group, were honored earlier this month in a proclamation from the city of Austin, marking March 12, 2026 as FloMob Day. Led by longtime artist Big Ced, the rap outfit is credited with bringing a West Coast sound to Austin’s hip-hop scene and then putting that scene on the national map. “When we started, Austin was known for country western. It definitely wasn’t known for hip-hop. We’d noticed that all of the major artists that we liked would skip over Austin,” co-founder and group leader Cedrick “Big Ced” Mason told the Chronicle in 2023, when the group was entered into the History Center’s Austin Hip Hop Honors. “In 2000, we ended up getting a full-page article in Blaze Magazine, and that was humongous for us. It just seemed like things started changing. Now Snoop Dogg was coming [to Austin], now Scarface was coming. It felt like Austin was now on the map, and that we’d met one of our goals. With hip-hop, if you don’t know where you come from, how do you know where you’re going, right?” Big Ced’s 2025 album For My City (ATX Anthem) encapsulates this spirit, ever present ahead of this most recent recognition.
This article appears in March 27 • 2026.
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