Austin awarded $75K grant for artist to aid in highway coverings program

AUSTIN (KXAN) — The City of Austin is using a $75,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts to hire a local artist for its upcoming Our Future 35 highway coverings program.

The NEA revealed more than 1,000 recipients had been selected for the awards on Wednesday, with more than $37 million in grant funding available through the second round of its Fiscal Year 2024 grants, per a city news release.

The City of Austin's Transportation and Public Works Department, Cultural Arts Division and Economic Development Department will oversee the Our Future 35 Cap and Stitch Program's Artist in Residence program. That program will select either a local artist or local artist group to oversee artistic elements for the highway caps.

"The Artist in Residence will work closely with the Our Future 35 planning team over the course of two years, producing and integrating art into public engagement events and culminating with a capstone or showcase event," the release read in part. "The artist will also potentially generate temporary installations or activations along construction corridors, pending the program’s status in Spring 2026."

The City's Our Future 35 program comes as the Texas Department of Transportation gears up for its Interstate 35 expansion project near downtown Austin later this year. That $4.5 billion, eight-mile project will revamp the interstate from U.S Hwy. 290 East to State Hwy. 71 and Ben White Boulevard.

Updates regarding the Artist in Residence program will be posted online.