Funds raised on Austin City Limits Music Festival tickets are being distributed to projects keeping the city's parks in good shape. Austin Parks Foundation (APF) has named another round of recipients for its ACL Music Festival Grants.

“Every ACL Music Festival Grant reflects a meaningful partnership between this community and their parks,” said APF CEO Colin Wallis in a news release. “Thanks to the support of ACL Fest attendees and community leaders, we’re able to help bring diverse park enhancement projects to life — from trail improvements to inclusive play spaces and new shade infrastructure.”

There are two types of grant offered from ACL Fest earnings: Neighborhood Grants can be anything from $500 to $5,000, and Community Impact Grants increase in value from there. Some of the updates below have been or will be installed by volunteers, so the cost does not include set-up.

Newly awarded projects in the work:

• Mary Moore Searight Metropolitan Park – $4,600 for replacing disc golf baskets.
• Pillow Elementary & North Shoal Creek Community Garden – $19,000 for replacing picnic tables and garden beds, as well as restoring the eco-garden.
• Austin Nature & Science Center – $50,000 for both “Nature of Austin” exhibit hall and ADA accessibility updates.
• Mary Moore Searight Metropolitan Park – $128,000 for a shade structure over the swingset and toddler play area.

Prior projects that were recently finished:

• Rosewood Neighborhood Park – $5,500 for a "Wall of Honor" paying tribute to community coaches.
• Balcones District Park – $600 for replacing mulch logs that protect a wildflower meadow.
• Highland Neighborhood Park – $150,000 for a pedestrian bridge to Isabelle Drive.
• Dottie Jordan Neighborhood Park – $85,000 for a playground shade structure.
• Heritage Oaks Neighborhood Park – $26,500 for nature play elements as part of a national initiative.
• Barton Creek Greenbelt – $17,000 for Spyglass Trailhead updates including steps, erosion control, and connected paths.

In addition to individual projects, funds from ACL Music Festival help run It's My Park Day and Open Workdays, both initiatives for locals to work on parks as volunteers.

Funds are especially important this year as Austin parks lose $5.2 million in the city's new budget. These funds would have been used largely for park maintenance.

If ACL Fest's economic impact report follows the same schedule it has in past years, the 2025 numbers will become available to the public in May, 2026. The festival in 2024 resulted in a total of $8.4 million for parks. Over the course of the partnership with APF, ACL Fest has raised $71 million.