Arts & Culture

Just Call Me By My Name: UT Students Reflect on Their Identity

byJennifer Errico

A name is the first glimpse into a person’s character. It, too, is one’s brand.

Names correlate with self-worth, personality and status. According to author Ralph Ellison, it is through our names how we first place ourselves in this world.

Three University of Texas at Austin students share how their names shaped their identities, often not without struggle.

At Mexic-Arte, Activists and Artists Pay Tribute To Chicano Movement, Culture

byPamela Hall Vance

East Austin community activist Paul Hernandez left such an imprint on Austin that his image adorns the walls outside Mexic-Arte Museum. The mural’s completion coincided with the opening Friday of an art exhibit dedicated to the Chicano political and civil rights movement of a half-century ago that sought to end discrimination against Mexican Americans.

 The photographs at the entry of the exhibit, “Chicano/a Art, Movimiento y Más en Austen, Tejas 1960s to 1980s,” capture Hernandez and other activists in the Austin community working to bring about change. 

How Austin’s LGBTQ Community Hopes to Recover from COVID’s Cultural Vacuum

byKrissi Reeves

As venues, bars and theaters shut their doors and cultural funding dried up because of COVID, many Austin LGBTQ arts organizers struggled to keep their heads above water and found it increasingly difficult to connect with their communities. 

Austin Rapper Sees Busking as Steppingstone to Success

byBrandon Jenkins

On Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights, Karl Anthony arrives on West Sixth Street around 11:15 p.m. in a silver Jeep Wrangler. He parks alongside the curb, turns his hazard lights on and sets up two amplifiers, lighting equipment and a microphone — all of which are needed to prepare for a three-hour shift rapping to the crowd of revelers, some of whom toss money into a box in front of Anthony. On a good evening, he can make more than $1,200.

Amid Pandemic and Stress, UT Freshman Finds Safe Place in Songwriting

byLauren Goodman

http://reportingtexas.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/IMG_4500.mov When Bird Anderson started writing songs around 7 years old, they were about things around her like Legos. Growing up, her house was often filled with the noise of banging drums, guitars or banjos as her father taught Bird and her three brothers to play different instruments. “[Songwriting] developed more into how I like […]

A Podcast: James White’s Legacy Unbroken at The Broken Spoke

byDanielle Streetenberger and Sarah Velasquez

James White, the founder of the The Broken Spoke, died almost a year ago in January 2021. But his presence and vision lives on through the vibrato of cowboy boots two-stepping across the legendary honky-tonk’s dance floor to the wail of traditional country music. Reporting Texas’ Danielle Streetenberger and Sarah Velasquez sat down with White’s […]

14 Years and a Reversed Veto Later, Dog Advocates Get Their Animal Cruelty Law

byCristela Jones

A new Texas law requires drinking water for outdoor animals, prohibits the use of chain restraints and eliminates a 24-hour waiting period that kept animal control officers from addressing tethered animal situations immediately.

Austin Theater Groups Look to Post-Pandemic Future

byVeronica Apodaca

Live theater felt the effects of the pandemic deeply.

NFTs are leveling the playing field for Black artists. Here’s why.

byPamela Hall Vance

This new digital marketplace came into the public eye in the past year. It is now opening doors for Black artists in Central Texas who might have struggled to sell their work in traditional galleries and navigate an art world with museum collections that have been reported to be more than 85% white.

Archery Gaining Popularity in Central Texas

byZacharia E. Washington

People’s desire to provide their own meat and to get outside during the COVID-19 pandemic, combined with the influence of movies featuring archery and celebrities promoting the sport, fueled an increase in archery participation.

Dia de los Muertos Provides Opportunity to Celebrate, Educate

byTaryn Courville

The scenery is a burst of color. Lines of patterned flags blow in the wind and paper marigolds decorate altars and hair. Performers walk around covered in face paint, dressed in traditional Mexican dresses or Aztec costumes. The sound of mariachi, drums and shell embellished ankle cuffs fills the area. Attendees of the Dia de […]

Austin Veteran Arts Festival aims to reduce suicide through the arts

byLauren Girgis

Vietnam combat veteran Glenn Towery won a gold medal in 2014’s National Veterans Creative Arts Festival, an annual competition using creative arts as rehabilitative treatment to help veterans recover from and cope with disabilities. “When I came back, I felt so good,” Towery said. “And I thought, ‘Wow, I wish everybody could experience what I […]