Accretion of matter onto supermassive black holes manifests in active galactic nuclei (AGN). The processes related to the AGN phase are believed to impact the evolution of their host galaxies and vice versa, but the associated physical mechanisms are poorly understood. To address this question, the Close AGN Reference Survey (CARS, www.cars-survey.org) has assembled a rich, hyperdimensional dataset of 33 luminous, unobscured AGN at redshifts between 0.01 < z < 0.06. This dataset, anchored by VLT/MUSE datacubes, is complemented by observations from ALMA, VLA, HST, and Chandra. I will present the key results from the CARS survey, the first public data release, ongoing projects, and future prospects of the collaboration. Additionally, I will provide an outlook on the scientific goals of the novel MUSE large program TENSION-QSO, which is complementary to CARS and for which observations will commence in October this year.