BUDA — “The heart and soul of our city” is music and supporting the local artists who are beginning to flourish in the community, said Lysa Gonzlaez, director of community relations and destination services, as the city of Buda was recently designated by the Texas Music Office (TMO) as a Music Friendly Texas Certified Community.
The TMO created the only Music Friendly Community Program in the U.S. in 2016, which is now known as the Music Friendly Texas Certified Community Program, and since then, the program has grown into a fully operational network of now 75-plus certified communities across the state. This includes the cities of Dripping Springs, San Marcos, Wimberley and, now, Buda in Hays County.
Gonzalez shared that the city of Buda was looking at obtaining the music-friendly designation, as they recognized that there was a natural music autonomy that was beginning to grow, especially with a recent emphasis from the community toward music and the industry as a whole. This is even more true, as there are a variety of places that can be a venue to house music, such as Meridian, Nate’s, Willie’s Joint and Buda’s Backyard.
The Music Friendly Texas designation allows for Buda to be put on the map and lets other music industry professionals across the state know that the city is dedicated to being a music-friendly area to help musicians and venues connect,said Gonzalez. It will also provide resources to help the city find the production that it needs.
“When there are artists from other parts of the state that are looking to travel throughout, they help them get connected with our venues or the production companies that are here, all that information is given to them. So, when other venues or other cities are looking for production that can handle the sound that they're trying to do, they can connect them to our industry, as well,” Gonzalez said. “So, it's not just fostering that music just within our community, which is also so important, we want it to be recognized and we want to be able to for all of our industry professionals to be able to network and utilize each other, but it's also helping them expand their network statewide and be able to gain more business or gain more notoriety in the music industry.”
Approximately 15 miles away, the city of Austin has been known to have its own large music industry for decades and it — plus other industries as well — has continued to grow. However, because there are other industries that have “changed the landscape in Austin,” there have been some artists who have been residing in Buda, said Gonzalez.
“They started living here in Buda, so they have that close connection to Austin … We started to get that natural momentum from people that live here or have businesses here. They started doing that on their own,” she said. “They wanted to feed into the community that they live in, so they started creating their own opportunities to be able to share their art and be able to make a living here in Buda and the community has really embraced that.”
The city of Buda has seen a variety of different genres make their way into the local music scene, including country, folk-rock, blues and indie. But, they are always looking at welcoming more; the city has looked at inviting, over the next couple of years, Tejano, jazz, gospel and other types of musicians to perform at the amphitheater.
“We've been looking at a wide variety and making sure that our offerings are inclusive and include everybody in our community and beyond because this is also a tourism initiative and we want people to be able to come and enjoy Buda for all the talents we do have here,” Gonzalez said.
The goal is to create a place where musicians can live, thrive and share their talents with their community year-round, Gonzalez said.
As part of the TMO, the city of Buda will be participating in the statewide initiative, Make Music Day on Saturday, June 21, where artists across Texas — of all ages and genres — are invited to sign up and perform free concerts in public spaces. For Buda, Gonzalez said the city will be working with the local venues to host musicians throughout the day; she said there will be more details coming on the city’s social media channels and www.discoverbuda.com.
To learn more about the designation, visit www.gov.texas.gov/music/page/music-friendly-communities. Find details on events at the Buda Amphitheater and City Park at www.budaamphitheater.com/calendar.
