Music:
Looking Back: Black Pumas co-founder and UT alumnus Adrian Quesada released “Home Free,” a film soundtrack donating proceeds to the unhoused Austin community. Cactus Cafe also celebrated its 45th anniversary with a series of performances by current and former students, such as David Garza. Live music wholesomeness was also prevalent at the continued springtime tradition of the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center’s Tuesday Twilights.
Looking forward: The iHeartCountry Festival will return to the Moody Center on May 3 with headliners Brooks & Dunn, Thomas Rhett and Rascal Flatts. The ACL festival will return Oct. 3-5 and Oct. 10-12 after a high bar was set with Chappell Roan, Tyler, The Creator and blink-182 last year.
Film
Looking back: Reporters toured The Criterion Closet, its first time out of New York, when it came to Austin in March. Reporters also interviewed seasoned film industry members such as Matthew McConaughey, Finn Wolfhard, Daisy Ridley, Zoey Deutch and Jack Quaid throughout the semester. Additionally, the Longhorn Denius Student Film Showcase offered student filmmakers a platform for their films at South By Southwest, with standouts such as Angel Rodriguez’s “Feliz Cumpleaños” and Musila Munuve’s “Madawa.”
Looking forward: The annual Austin Film Festival will run Oct. 23-30. The “Chad Powers” comedy show, co-created and starring former UT student Glen Powell, is also slated to release in fall 2025.
Student and city life
Looking back: A team of 16 reporters covered the SXSW festivals, with it being the last year the festival will be nine days long and in the previous Austin Convention Center. Community members also uniquely practiced activism, such as with alumna Summer Willis crawling the Austin Half Marathon for sexual assault survivor awareness and studio art senior Scott Cobb organizing “The Last Art Show Before Fascism.”
Looking forward: Lorne Michaels’ Saturday Night Live archive will be on view at the Harry Ransom Center beginning Sept. 20.
