Shovels hit the dirt in Mueller on Tuesday as Creative Action and a group of partner arts nonprofits broke ground on the Community Arts Collaborative, a planned 25,000-square-foot shared facility near Marshall Middle School. The project is expected to open in fall 2027 and will serve as Creative Action's new headquarters.
According to KUT, the nonprofits have raised $11.5 million toward a $15 million goal and are now seeking philanthropists to help secure the remaining $3.5 million. The station's report names Creative Action, Art Spark Texas, Austin Bat Cave, Austin Soundwaves and Studio A Piano as the organizations that will share the building, though a Community Impact article from earlier this year listed six partners, including Latinitas, describing a somewhat different lineup. The evidence available does not clarify whether that reflects a change in plans or simply a different way of counting partners.
Per the same KUT account, Creative Action's Karen Lashelle said she had a vision to share the building with arts organizations with similar commitments and passion, and that the groups could build something together that none could accomplish alone. Lashelle added that she hopes the Community Arts Collaborative will make a visible statement about what Austin values, saying arts education is essential and that creativity, self-expression and belonging deserve a permanent place in young people's lives and in the city.
A Decades-Old Plan Finally Breaks Ground
Creative Action's executive director, Joe McIlwain, told the station that the organization and its partners had long looked forward to moving in together. The station's report notes that Creative Action acquired land next to Marshall Middle School decades ago through a public-private partnership with the city, aiming to create a space that worked with the school district and benefited children on the east side.
That land tie-in lines up with earlier reporting from Mueller Austin, which described the half-acre site as located near the intersection of Philomena and Tilley streets, just north of the Marshall Middle School campus. Creative Action has said the City of Austin selected it to receive a parcel of land adjacent to the neighborhood's public middle school, and Mueller Austin reported that both Austin ISD and Creative Action would be able to share creative and meeting spaces once the project is complete.
What's Planned Inside the Building
Per Mueller Austin, the planned building is two stories, with roughly 15,000 square feet of ground-floor creative activity, rehearsal and community gathering space, plus about 10,000 square feet upstairs for programming and administration. Creative Action describes the project on its own capital campaign page as a bold, two-story destination intended to serve as a shared home for the participating groups.
Austin Soundwaves, one of the planned tenants, says on its website that its dedicated center within the collaborative will feature acoustically designed rehearsal rooms, individual practice studios and a recording studio. Patrick Slevin, Austin Soundwaves' executive director, told KUT that the organizations' combined programs include writing, theater, visual arts, music, dance and filmmaking, and that the groups together serve thousands of students each year. Slevin said the group aims to create a national model for collaborative arts education in Austin.
Funding Figures Don't Fully Line Up
Not every account of the project's cost matches. While KUT reports the $15 million fundraising goal tied to the groundbreaking, a project listing from the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation gives the Creative Action Community Arts project an estimated cost of $9 million. Available evidence does not explain whether those figures cover the same scope of work, so it is unclear how the two numbers relate.
Creative Action's own capital campaign page says the effort is more than 76% funded, while Austin Soundwaves separately reports its own Music Transforms campaign — tied to its space within the collaborative — is more than 96% funded toward a $1.2 million goal. The building's design process also drew on direct input from the community it's meant to serve: according to Studio8 Architects, Creative Action's students and staff, both part-time and full-time, took part in interactive visioning sessions with the firm.
Part of a Broader Building Boom in Mueller
The arts collaborative lands amid a wave of construction activity in the fast-growing Mueller neighborhood. ATX Things reported that 61 construction and development records were filed in Mueller over the prior 12 months, totaling $63.2 million. The outlet separately listed a distinct $9 million Arts Education Building planned for Marshall Middle School at 4611 Tilley St., with permitting activity recorded through September 15.
For now, the Community Arts Collaborative remains a work in progress, with construction underway and organizers still working to close a multimillion-dollar funding gap before the doors are set to open to students and the public in fall 2027.
