Resisting Displacement and Cultural Erasure in the Live Music Capital

Written by Dr. Jeannelle Ramirez

For decades, Austin has long been known as the ‘Live Music Capital.’ But as the city rapidly changes, it is becoming more difficult to sustain local music traditions. How do we sustain live music and support musicians in the new Austin?

Texas Folklife has partnered with the Musicology and Ethnomusicology division at the University of Texas at Austin to help facilitate conversations with musicians and support research efforts in a nine-month City of Austin-supported research project on the local music ecosystem. 

Texas Folklife will help facilitate interviews with musicians, local music industry workers, and representatives from non-profit organizations that support the music community. The project will also involve a synthesis of cultural revitalization efforts that have been undertaken in other cities, such as Memphis, Nashville, and New Orleans, including a review of whitepapers and city-commissioned studies. The project will culminate in a report with policy recommendations for the City of Austin. 

This project brings together an experienced team of researchers, including Texas Folklife staff members Dr. Elisha Oliver, Dr. Jeannelle Ramirez, Dr. Kevin Parme, and Marco Guarino, as well as UT Austin professors Dr. Robin Moore, Dr. Charles Carson, and Dr. Sonia Seeman. UT graduate students Dimitrios Gkoulimaris, Catherine Heemann, and Diego Salinas will also contribute to the study.