Austin Festival

Austin Festival

Summer Ezine 2021

Austin Festival | 1

E-zine Austin name Festival |2 |2

AustinE-zine Festival name |3 |3

E-zine Austin name Festival | 4 |4

Austin E-zine Festival name| 5| 5

Austin Festival | 6

Austin Festival | 7

Get Away From Austin Escape Austin but still feel at home

L

ively nature, unique buildings, unpredictable weather, weird stores and so much more stays in Austin, it’s all remarkable. But at times, all of this beauty can be overwhelming and you might want to get away and take a look at other places in Texas.

In Texas are some greatly admired

By: Nishtha Verma

Barton Hill Farms is a popular area in Bastrop to enjoy with family and friends. They offer more than 30 different activities, seasonal events, delicious fresh food and private cabanas. All of this, while keeping everybody safe from COVID-19 with regular cleaning, social distancing and limiting the capacity of the farm.

Pamela Swanson, owner of Barton Hill Farms, with her husband and two children, since 2012. She said that they have taken many precautions to keep everyone safe during this time. For example, capacity limits, social distancing and a “rigid cleaning regimen.”

These are a few children on a hay swing at Barton Hill Farms. Photo courtesy of Barton Hill Farms.

places to visit. For example, San Antonio. You can have a great time at the Legoland Discovery Center and the San Antonio Zoo. You can find pleasure in the natural beauty of Dripping Springs and take a dip in the Hamilton Pool.

Lake Travis is a very popular water body in Texas and offers many different activities that the whole family can be involved in. Bastrop, of course, is not too far and is a delightful stay for everybody.

Austin Festival | 8

“I make tremendous friendships, lifelong friendships. I think with all the people that we meet, the most fun is hearing the stories from the families that come back to visit us each season. They come from all over the country for family reunions,

they come to our farm,” Swanson said.

With your family and friends, you can relish numerous different activities such as the apple cannon, fishing, playing with the animals, trying to figure out a way out of the corn maze and even learning to take care of the farm animals.

All of these are wonderful forms of entertainment and are so enjoyable.

“One of our most popular activities is the apple cannon,” Swanson said, “These cannons have a trigger button that you push, you drop an apple in and then you press the compressor button and shoot high pressure, it thrusts an apple out into a target area.

And so it’s a lot of fun for people of all ages; We had our cannons made specifically for the average size person. They’re also light enough with good recyclable materials that children can navigate and easily maneuver.”

This is a small part of the pumpkin patch at Barton Hill Farms. Photo courtesy of Barton Hill Farms.

This is another beautiful day in Bastrop with a colorful sky. Photo courtesy of Dr. Horton-American Builders.

What has made them successful?

“I think our advantage is that we’re always listening to our customers.”

Swanson said “We do a lot of surveys. What are you looking for in a family outing? How far would you draw? What are your interests?

Things like that have made us successful. We’re not in it for the money. We do it because we love it.”

In the summer, they have 4 full time This is the bridge in downtown of Bastrop called the Colorado River Bridge. Photo courtesy of Dream Finders Homes.

employees, and 2 part time. In the fall, when it is time for their most famous event-the Fall Festival-they have around 100 to 150 employees working. They have been doing most of the labor themselves as a family all these years.

Their children are also helping out around the farm. Their daughter is 7 and their son is 10.

“You might see our kids helping

This is Mr. Lowe, who was a singer at Summer In The City.

Photo courtesy of Candice Gamble.

The family has kept this farm alive for 10 years, and have been very successful throughout that time by working exceedingly hard. Their journey is one to be heard. “We did not start the farm with a great deal of money. We bootstrapped it,” Swanson said.

Austin Festival | 9

Some singers at Barton Hill Farms. Photo courtesy of Barton Hill Farms.

take care of the animals. They’re very well versed in animal history,” Swanson said, “We have food service areas, and our kids really enjoy making lemonade and helping assemble the dishes that we serve on the farm. And they love to help make kettle corn.”

This shows how fun Barton Hill Farms can be for families!

June 19, 2021, and had a lot of fun things to do. As the CDC (Center for Disease Control and Prevention) guidelines lightened the restrictions, there were no requirements to social distance or wear masks.

“There’s not going to be any social distancing, just because of the new

CDC recommendations that if you are vaccinated, there’s no longer a need for you to wear a mask or you can social distance at your discretion,” Gamble said, “It is up to individuals, if they haven’t gotten their vaccine to take the appropriate precautions, we have sanitizer, we’re gonna have them at each station

Barton Hill Farms is only one of the most amazing places in Texas. If the farm is not for you, don’t worry, there is so much more to visit; The entire city is always up to something.

Candice Gamble is the Community Event Manager of Bastrop. She has held this position for a few months and said that Summer in the City is the biggest event they have had since COVID started.

Summer in the City took place on

Austin Festival | 10

This is a photo of some of the corn they have at Barton Hill Farms. Photo courtesy of Barton Hill Farms.

readily available at all the tables that we’re going to have lining Main Street, we have bundles of bottles, they have Lysol, we’re going to have volunteers constantly wiping down those tables, when people get up and things like that.”

For this event, they arranged to block a small portion of Main Street and that is where they did the event. It was a massive street party!

The activities that people were able to do were draw with chalk in little spaces dedicated for their gorgeous little pictures, education about Juneteenth, listening to the Lost Times Sound’s music, laughing at Miss Poppy, who happened to be

This was one of the mini concerts at Summer In The City. Photo Courtesy of Candice Gamble. the people of Bastrop learn about the importance of Juneteenth and other crucial things.

This is a photo of a woman going Kayaking in a river in Bastrop.

Photo courtesy of Visit Bastrop.

“What we’ve done is we’ve offered free vendor spots to all of our community support groups, and so they can raise awareness for their causes while they’re in Summer in the City,” Gamble said, “And the only requirement we had for them was that they provided children’s activity. So they’re out there getting promotion because they’re out there able to talk to the community about their services, but also having fun.”

a clown, watching a puppet show, touching all kinds of trucks, playing a Dominoes and Spades tournament for a trophy, giant board games, putt putt golf and buying all kinds of unique and handmade products!

unique items. So, when people come out there, they’re buying something authentic. Authentically Bastrop because they’re all part of the Lost Times Art Center, which is a city asset. So I think it’s going to be really unique.”

“They’re all making handmade items,” Gamble said, “We didn’t want anything that was all the same, the same shirts or same bags or anything that you could get off Amazon or anything, we wanted

The tickets were all free and there was free promotion for all of the people with tents there. It helped all the vendors promote their businesses and educate the community about their topic. It was a great way to help

This was one of the greatest events of Bastrop, but there are so many more that will happen. Don’t think that if you could not make it, you have missed out on too much.

Gamble is a great event planner and will keep on bringing more events to the city!

All of these places are astonishing and you would have a blast visiting them. If you want to flee Austin for just a while but still feel at home, these options are some of the best.

Enjoy your trips!

Austin Festival | 11

Austin Festival | 12

Austin Festival | 13

DIVING DEEPER INTO AUSTIN EVENTS

What are music festivals and concerts all

By Luis Pizano about?

ACL stage in 2018 with Childish Gambino performing. Picture taken by Red Bull Austin Festival | 14

You rise toward the shining stage and see the energized people screaming your name.

You can’t see the end of the crowd and they are all waiting for you. In the starring night shimmering stars, too many lights blinding you and all of the smoke as you enter. It’s your turn to bring fire and begin the show.

Before the show even begins there are steps up to that point. The organizations behind each music festival or concert and the advertising, building, deadlines, and financial decisions. These festivals happen annually or smaller ones with shows every week. The festivals I will be focusing on are here in Austin because of the effort people put into this to entertain and make memories. Eileen Bristol is the owner of Sahara Lounge here in Austin, Texas and goes way back to 2011.

“We found a building that was suitable and we obtained the required licenses.” Bristol said.

“We advertised in the Austin Chronicle, made a facebook page and a website. Bands email me or sometimes I hear about a band and contact them for a performance.”

Bristol found a building and decided to advertise online and on the austin chronicle in Sahara lounge’s early days and finds bands by either contacting them or being contacted by the bands themselves.

“Deadlines and financial decisions are a challenge for me, but I usually get stuff done

Sahara Lounge building picture taken by the owners Bristol

on time.” Bristol said. “The neighborhood has changed a lot and we have fewer African American customers. We are of course busier than we were in the beginning.” Dealing with deadlines and financial decisions is tough enough and Bristol deals with them with a schedule. Sahara has gone through changes compared from when it was first made to now and she knows what has changed.

“The bartenders handle all the setup and sales, the janitorial staff keeps the place clean and I handle the managerial stuff.

We also have sound engineers that run sound for the shows.”

Bristol said. “A lot of our work is repetitive. We clean up from the night before, change the letters on the marquee and get everything set up for the new day.”

Every employee has their job to do and together keep everything running and organized for the next few days.

“A challenge, We had tremendous debt in the beginning. solved it with the Austin Festival | 15

help of an organization, ” Bristol said. “We want to increase the diversity. We have a good sound system but we want to make it even better. My son, Topaz, did the booking. I think the Moeller Brothers were our first band.”

Even with Sahara lounge’s

to advertise.” The FFTX team said. “We plan to keep the fair market nice and tidy in order to make it a good experience.”

The team made social media accounts and a website in order to advertise online and want to make the people at the festival comfortable.

Challenges there was a way and with the help of Topaz McGarrigle the second owner of Sahara Lounge the first band was found.

“We pay attention to our costs and also what other bars are charging.” Bristol said. “The budget all goes to the bands, minus the production cost of a sound engineer and door person.”

The Money that Sahara lounge does with is mostly for the bands and other things the Sahara lounge needs to fix or use. The team at Future front texas is the organization who made The front market festival that happens here in central Austin, Texas. “We made a website previously known as Bebas Babes ATX, made an instagram account and facebook

“We choose our artists by either them applying to us or we ask them to perform at the fair market.” the FFTX team said.

“Our events are for women and binary people because we know they experience increased

Austin Festival | 16

descrimination, profiling and unequal access to opportunity at work, within business ownership

and in our communities.” the FFTX team get their performers by asking or getting asked to perform. These performances also are for women and nonbinary people.

“We are a Texas-based nonprofit that amplifies and connects women and nonbinary creatives, entrepreneurs and leaders.” The FFTX team said. “All of the website, administrative, management and event costs are covered by a combination of program fees, ticket sales, donations and sponsorships.”

The beginning of the front market festival was made because they wanted to acknowledge women and with the shows and prices they are able to make more shows.

“We prioritise our mission which is to share stories, reflect the creative and community spaces we want to see in the world and make it easier to find teachers especially for women, femme and queer leaders.” The FFTX team said. “ We would make The front market festival annually but in 2020 when covid hit we didn’t do much until this year when we return.”

The FFTX team want to educate and complete their mission and with Covid-19 it made a delay but they plan to get right back up.

Sahara Lounge is located in 1413 Webberville Rd, Austin, TX 78721, 21 and older. Open wednesday, thursday, friday and saturday from 7pm-12 or 2am depending on which day.

The front market festival this year 2021 will be on august 21 and 22 centering artists, designers, and more.

Photo on page 16 is the stage at sahara Lounge. taken by A worker in sahara Lounge. the second picture in page 16 is the FFTX logo made by the team. Page 17 is the front market inside building taken by a volunteer at FFTX. Austin Festival | 17

Austin Festival | 18

Austin Festival | 19

Music Popularity Over The Years And What Influenced Them

By Aazish Ghani

Picture of an ACL celebration from a previous year.

Photo courtesy of roho foto.

Austin Festival | 20

we listen to, and that can differ from time to time. Sometimes you need some upbeat music when you need motivation or when you need to get something done, and other times you need some relaxing and chill music to wind down after a long or hard day.

“

I played a bit of piano not too much but I would say it’s enough to call it musical experience, and my cousin writes a lot of songs and sometimes I sing in some of those or I help him make beats for that so that would count as producing music.

“

O

ver the years, the taste in popular music has changed drastically from time to time. From around the 1700’s to 1830’s, classical music, which comprised of bands, orchestras and choirs, was the one of the only kinds of music, making it the most commonly listened to. But of course, that quickly changed as the years passed.

New genres of music were introduced as pop culture continued to develop. Around the 1850’s, a rendition of folk and country music was brought to light, and it suddenly boomed in popularity. A lot of this was thanks to the invention of the modern guitar and other instruments.

And as more time passed, we gained access to more technology, electronic music and instruments.

90’s rock was thanks to the culture that was present at the time, the electric guitar and the social aspect with bands and communities, while lofi music was a cheap method to making music at home with four-track machines.

Now in today’s world, we have so many different kinds of music, new and old. Whether it’s for an occupation, working out, relaxing or anything else, we all have our preference when it comes to what

- Isaac Boothe

Austin Festival | 21

“If I listen to it, I listen to it before games, it really hypes me up. Sometimes if I just wanna chill, I listen to chill music and it cools me down,” says Samuel Benjamin, the average highschool student. Many others feel the same way and find music to really help them in their day to day life, “It cures boredom”, says Shaan Bar-

for rap among younger teenagers and students. “I think I like rap”, says Benjamin after being asked about his favorite type of music. Apps and platforms such as Tik Tok and Instagram feature mostly rap songs in their algorithms, most likely due its popularity among social media users. Studies also have shown that 90% of

“I would say mine falls most under pop because I listen to a lot of songs on the radio, and just pop songs I guess,” says Isaac Boothe, a rising highschool student, after being asked about where his music taste falls under. If you turn on the radio, you will often find big titles that fall under the genre of Pop music, and there

man, a freshman in highschool.

“Ever since I was young, whenever I went out anywhere with my dad, he always turned on the radio, and that has influenced me so much.” says Barman. Nobody is born liking any type of music, or having a musical preference, the same way no one is born with any favorite food or drink. It’s about how you were brought up, and a lot of that has to do with your parents, and the adults around you when you were younger.

So that begs the question, how different is popular music taste between teenagers, and older adults?

Because of trends, social media influences and artists and performers, there has been a sudden spike in popularity

teenagers have used social media Whether it’s daily or very rarely. Regardless, this further explains the sudden uprising of a genre of music which really only debuted around the late 90’s and early 2000’s. Rap as we know it started out in New York City in the early 1970’s when DJ’s would be hired for local parties. The songs were originally similar to disco and funk, would be around 15 minutes per song and often had black performers. The style was a slow paced beat, but with quick wording, and as any other kind of music, it evolved to what is now loved and is popular among teenagers.

That being said, rap isn’t the only genre of music that gen-z loves in their playlists.

is where you can find a sense of what that kind of music is like. And although this is less popular among teenagers and kids, there are many cases of interests in rock, metal and 90’s music. And with that music, we find our target audience being older people.

Austin Festival | 22

Obviously music styles from the 90’s are going to be popular with older people because that’s what they grew up listening to, so it should be no surprise that rock, metal, and all other renditions of 90’s music takes the number one spot for adults when it comes to music. In the late 1960’s and early 1970’s, metal and rock was starting to make its way to the spotlight

from the United Kingdom, and soon after, from the United States. This is was only possible due to the invention of the electric guitar in the year 1936, and the normalization and popularity of it in the years of the 1960’s. Even kids were able to guess that this was popular among the older generation. “I think it’s coun-

songs. No wonder the genre has been around for so long, it’s so easily accessible.

And one type of genre that every adult has in their playlist is pop music from their time.

As I said before, the pop music genre includes the big hits from the bigger individual artists. These songs are often on the radio, and were even

ing up extra late and doing something with my friends, I’ll probably listen to music when I’m doing that,” says Boothe.

These multiple comparisons show that although the kinds of music that young listeners and older listeners listen to are different, the amount of time spent listening to music is generally the same.

try, or pop,” said Benjamin, “Or rock and metal because back in the 80’s or 1900’s a lot of that happened.”

Not only was Benjamin right about the rock and metal part, but also about the country, more specifically, the country and folk music. Now, this genre of music has been around for a while now, and is one of the oldest, yet more popular styles of music. Some of the first cases of country and folk music come from the early 1840’s, when owning an acoustic guitar was expensive and a status symbol, due to its rarity. Nowadays, getting your hands on an acoustic guitar is fairly simple and inexpensive, and since a guitar and a few chords is all you need to play your favorite country and folk

when the adults were kids. influncers for young listeners The car radio was invented in the early 1940’s but almost no cars had them at the time.

Over the years big car manufacturers started to implement them in all of their models, and boom, the millennials now had access to their favorite pop titles, just from the click of a button.

“I play music for around two to four hours a day, and my dad usually tunes in, we like the same kind of music,” says Barman.

“I would say one to two hours a day,” says Benjamin.

And “On average, I’d say I have music playing in the background anywhere from sometimes 1 hour to 3 hours if I’m doing something that’s Photo courtesy of moonlightfrogs pretty long. Or if I’m stay-

Billie Eillish is one of the biggest

on Pinterest

Austin Festival | 23

Music Festivals In Austin!

And any kind of music you want Aazish Ghani Country and Folk Photo courtesy of Nikita Maykov from POND5

-On Friday August 20, Gary Allen will be preforming at the Nutty Brown Amphitheatre from 6-11 PM. -On Tuesday October 12, Barton Creek CC WGA Member Guests will have a concert at the Barton Creek Country Club from 5:30-7:30 PM. -On Thursday November 4, Chris Stapleton will be preforming at the Frank C. Erwin, Jr, Special Events Center.

Photo courtesy of Novocom.top

Rock and Metal -On Sunday August 22, Willie Nelson & Family, Chris Stapleton, Ryan Bingham, and others will be preforming at the Germania Insurance Amphitheatre from 4-8 PM. -On Friday September24, Brothers Osborne will be preforming at Stubb’s Bar-B-Q from 6:30 PM-1 AM. -On Saturday October 23, Styx will play at the Nutty Brown Amphitheatre at 6PM.

Austin Festival | 24

Pop

Photo courtesy of Jesselaineh from Pinterest

-On Saturday August 21, Hennything ATX is preforming at the Austin American Statesman from 3-10 PM. -On Sunday September 12, Glass Animals will be having their Dreamland tour at the Waterloo Neighborhood park from 6 PM-12 AM. -On Thursday October 28, LEVITATION will be in downtown Austin Texas, from 6 PM-12 AM.

-On Friday August 13, Lucki will be performing their Almost There tour at the Empire Control Room and Garage from 8 PM-2 AM. -On Monday September 27, Tech N9ne will be preforming at Emo’s Austin from 7 PM- 12 AM -On Friday October 15, Fat Tony and Cadence Weapon will be preforming at The Far Out Lounge and Stage from 7 PM-12 AM.

-On Saturday August 7, Latoya Luckett will preform at The Victory Grill in Austin from 7:30-11p.m.

-On Friday September 24, JSMN will be preforming at the Historic Scoot Inn 8p.m.-1a.m.

-On Saturday October 30, Damien Escobar will preform at the One World Theatre from 7-10p.m.

Rap

Photo courtesy of vaytpark from EveryPixel

R&B and Soul Photo courtesy of Annie Hernandez from Pinterest

Austin Festival | 25

BEST FOOD

AT ACL

A few of our local vendors at Austin City Limits

ACL food vendors lined up with people ordering food. Credit: CultureMap Austin

You’ve been enjoying the music at ACL and your favorite artists are right in front of you. After a while you’ll be hungry, but not to worry, Austin has some of the best food you can enjoy right after the event!

When it comes to Austin, the city is most well known for its tacos and BBQ. The ACL festival has Austin Festival | 26

vendors at the event, and restaurants nearby that can serve you some top quality BBQ and tacos.

A taco spot that’s been coming to festivals for over five years is Tacodeli. Tacodeli is a local Austin taco shop that has been making delicious food since 1999. Tacodeli hand-makes tacos everyday with high quality ingredients and has

a variety of foods to choose from.

Their top selling taco is the Cowboy Taco, a highly recommended food item to get. Make sure to get to the Tacodeli stand quickly, because with the condensed menu, Tacodeli sells out quickly. Because of COVID, Tacodeli hasn’t been seen at recent festivals, including ACL. However, they are excited to

Tacodeli Tacos just came out of the kitchen Credit: Tacodeli

extreme impacts.

“Tacodeli will be resuming going to festivals this year, however. You can find Tacodeli at ACL Live, Taco Libre, ACL festival, and ACL Tapings” Apodaca said.

During COVID-19 Tacodeli did not rely on catering anywhere as much as Amy’s Icecream so they didn’t have to switch up there and invent a lot of new ways to bring in revenue to keep Tacodeli stable.

“Festivals are mostly a marketing opportunity and way for us to provide a fun event for our team members.” Apodaca said. be back for ACL 2021 to serve you Because Tacodeli does not heavily an authentic Austin Taco! rely on catering doesn’t mean they During COVID-19, Tacodeli had to don’t bring many special things out do things differently. for ACL. Mostly the most popular Kellie Apodaca, the Social Media items for ACL. They do however Specialist at Tacodeli told me that, bring one special item only to be “Most of our Revenue comes from seen at ACL. our 12 locations across Texas so “Our menu is intensive so we take while we didn’t get the pleasure of the tacos we think will have the participating in festivals, we were best quality at the festival such as still able to bring in the majority of our Frontera Fundidos, bean and our revenue.” cheese and we added nachos since During COVID-19 Tacodeli had a those are great festival finger foods.” majority of sales coming from their Apodaca said stores that they were able to get You should stop by Tacodeli then through COVID-19 without any because of their special nachos they Tacodeli stand at Austin City Limits Credit: Tacodeli

only bring out for ACL. That means these Tacodeli nachos are a once a year thing.

Tacodeli was not at the 2020 Austin City Limits, but will resume attending this year.

A cold Amy’s Icecream “Frosted” credit: Amy’s Icecream

“We have officially applied” Apodaca said After a taco, you may be in the mood for dessert, maybe something cold for the Texas heat. Amy’s Ice Cream is the perfect place for you!

Amy’s Ice Cream has been around since 1984, and is known for their Mexican Vanilla flavor of ice cream.

Amy’s Ice Cream participates in lots of events around town, from small events to the popular and large ACL festival. They have an average of 40 to 50 people working at the stand, whether it’s making the ice cream, or scooping it. Amy’s ice cream has a wide range of flavors. They can do scoops of ice cream, milkshakes, and they even have alternatives to dairy. Amy’s Ice Cream carries a ton of toppings that they can mix into your ice cream or other desserts to customize your own flavor. They Austin Festival | 27

Amy’s Icecream Austin City Limits stand with Employees Credit:Amys Icecream

have many candies, nuts, and even sauces like Hot Fudge.

ACL is a huge, popular event that takes place here. Not only is it a huge opportunity for artists to show off, but for businesses too.

Andrew McKinney, who runs Amy’s Ice Cream catering said that ACL and other events are a huge part of their sales. A store present at ACL can do 130k-140k during the 6 days at the festival.

An average Amy’s Ice Cream store does around 1k-2k a day. However, when COVID-19 surfaced, a lot of businesses took a hit to sales. Since Amy’s Ice Cream does so much catering, they had to rethink how they did business.

Amy’s Ice Cream decided to use a food truck, which made delivering ice cream at various events easier and kept the people buying it safe.

This became the home delivery service during the pandemic.

“Not a single person at Amy’s Ice Cream lost their job because of COVID-19,” McKinney said.

Today, Amy’s Ice Cream is back to normal, catering for everyone and being able to go back to events and have their store locations open to the public. The home delivery now plays a role in Amy’s Ice Cream business standpoint, so you can still get your ice cream delivered to you.

Even though ACL was cancelled for 2020, people are looking forward to ACL returning this year! Food vendors are already signing up to be at ACL 2021 to sell their local Austin food at Austin City Limits.

Austin City Limits will be occurring on Friday, Oct. 1, 2021, through Sunday Oct. 10, 2021, at Zilker Park.

Austin Festival | 28

Amy’s Ice cream ACL stand Credit: Amy’s Ice cream

Austin Festival | 29

E-zine name | 30 Austin Festival | 30

E-zine name | 31 Austin Festival | 31

Lights

Camera

Theatre!

How COVID-19 affected Austin theatre companies By: Celeste Palacios

You are sitting in your room, greenscreen behind you, waiting for your cue to start.

Desk lamps pointed at your face, taking nearly 20 minutes to find the right angle so the lighting matches your co-stars’. You check once

again that your microphone is out of frame and that your makeup shows properly on camera. A voice cuts through the silence. Three, two, one.

You turn on your microphone and your camera and start the scene with your colleague.

Technical staff and actors are preforming a play outdoors for an audience.

Image courtesy of Rupert Reyes Austin Festival | 32

This is how rehearsal and production was like for many actors, directors and production staff in Austin.

Since the Coronavirus started spreading in late 2019, theatre companies have struggled to find a way to entertain people in safe and interesting ways.

Many companies shared the art through platforms such

as livestreams and online forums. For example, selling tickets, and in return sharing links and passwords to the livestream or Zoom. In this article, two different theater companies will share about how theatrical production has changed for them within the paast few years.

to create more stuff.” Reyes said about directing a show on Zoom for the first time. He wanted to know more about Zoom before directing a show and learn how to use it. “In time as an actor, the audience

“Learning how to do plays on Zoom, which is the format that I’ve used the most.”

Said Rupert Reyes.

He is the founder and director at Teatro Vivo, an Austin theater company. “I know other formats, but Zoom is one that I use. Primarily [I’m] learning how to use that technology and not getting frustrated with the technology.”

Reyes explained how he uses the audience to gauge how the play is going. He uses their reactions in scenes and dialogues to fix or change things for the next production.

Without an active live audience, it’s difficult to adjust the show to make it better in the next run.

“In theatre we love the cathartic the show must go on.. now the TVs and laptops..there’s no swell of energy to hear what’s going on, you miss that special thing about live performance,” said Austin Manning, who is a technical and production director at ZACH theatre, another Austin theatre company.

Reyes talked about the difficulties of acting over Zoom, especially while directing a play.

“I wish I’d known all the things that I learned by the end of that, I wish I had known at the beginning of that, in terms of the things you can do with Zoom and how

I lost a big element of my performance.”

is like a character for me. I can feel the audience, I know whether they’re following my story, I feel whether they are doing it down.” Reyes said “So without the audience,

Manning felt that running a virtual production was differentfrom an in person one. Without the audience, he felt that a large part of the performance was missing.

“All theater artists have had

Rupert Reyes, founder and director at Teatro Vivo Image courtesy of Rupert Reyes Austin Festival | 33

Technical staff surround an actor, filming a take for a preformance that will later be edited and livestreamed.

Image courtesy of Rupert Reyes Austin Festival | 34

to go through this change,” Reyes said. He found Zoom rehearsals easier. here was no commute or worry about any accidents ha virtual production was different from an in person one. Without the audience, he felt that a large part of the performance was missing.

“All theater artists have had to go through this change,” Reyes said. He found Zoom rehearsals easier. There such as internet connections and audio quality.

When rehearsing with bad internet, more often than not The Zoom would lag to the point where you missed your cue. If the lighting was too different from other people, there would be a stark contrast in the livestream.

“One of the big frustrating things and I’ve had conversation with other theater artists is that if you’re doing theater on Zoom, it is a theater or is a panel.”

Reyes said “And I think that a lot of times, we wasted a lot of energy trying to make it theater, trying to make it look like it was a play. And it’s not. It’s not a play.” “... We wasted a lot of time trying to make it theater, trying to make it look like it was a play. And it’s not. It’s not a play.“ Reyes saw how virtual productions were similar to

filming movies. He said that he had to try to make any shows that he directed over a camera look like movies.

“You want to have the audio to be clear, you want good images.“ Reyes said, talking about directing a show over Zoom. “I thought it was really effective, a lot more effective, smaller number of actors, I think it’s really difficult to do production with demands of accuracy.”

Along with that, there were staggered arrival times, where people would arrive to shows and rehearsals at different intervals of time.

Actors were separated into A, B and C groups. Actors were separated into small groups and didn’t interact when it wasn’t necessary. Staff would make sure that there wasn’t a COVID case on site, going as much as to filming scenes out of order if someone was not feeling well.

Now that they are using cameras instead of a stage, Reyes talked about how less people in a show works better over Zoom. It’s better for safety and efficiency reasons.

“There might be a COVID21... there might be something we as producers can’t control” Manning said “It’ll help [to] have a backup”

At ZACH Theatre, they are doing something similar: filming their shows and editing them together to create a virtual production. Instead of a large group of staff, which usually varies from 30 to 50 people, they had a small group, somewhere from seven to eight. Shows and actors were given a two week waiting period before performing again in contrast to before COVID where they were back to back.

Moving forward in the future, there might be more precautions than before Coronavirus. General cleaning will be maintained, and testing for viruses before shows, both for the actors and audience. There would be quick checks for temperature and general wellness of every audience member at the doors of the theatre. Staggered arriving times will hopefully be kept, helping parking flow and safety for pedestrians walking to the theatre. Masks will always be welcomed and encouraged for audience members. The quarantine era is coming to a close in Austin, and public spaces are opening up again. So here’s to safety, wellness and fun for the summer of 2021.

Manning stated that for safety precautions, they required testing for everyone, masks and sanitation on all shared surfaces. “If a prop was used for filming… there was an individual to wipe it down.”

Manning said.

Austin Festival | 35

ACL Events and History Interesting and fun things that have happened over Austin City Limits' fun history By: Celeste Palacios ACL has an interesting history, from the way itʼs

progressed in popularity to the memorable things that happened during the event itself. On this timeline, you will see interesting fun facts that have happened during ACL.

2002- Inspired by the TV show, Charles Attal and Charlie Jones orginized the first ACL music festival with 25,00 people showing up, over the span of two days.

2005- When dust kicked up by people made it difficult to breathe, along with dry 100+ degree heat, this ACL was dubbed the dust bowl.

2004-- ACL was expanded to 8 stages and 3 days. Around 75,000 people showed up total.

Fun fact: Nearly half one million people showup to ACL each year!

Austin Festival | 36

2006- Texting lines were added along with sprinklers and mist sprayesrs so that the attendees wouldnʼt overheat.

Fun fact: In 2005, Austin City Limits won Pollstarʼs Festival of the year award.

2007- Two fires ignited during a performance. One was quickly distinguished, while the other majorly injured some people

2019- The audience capacity rate nearly overflowed as Lizzo perforemed at one of the stages in ACL. 40,000 people were supposedly there at the concert.

2020- Unfortuntately, due to the COVID-19 outbreak, the 2020 ACL Festival was cancelled.

2013- The austin city council members unanimously voted to expand ACL to two weekends.

Fun fact: ACL has only been canceled twice before! 2009 due to rain and flooding, 2020 from COVID. Austin Festival | 37

E-zine nameFestival | 46 | 38 Austin

Austin E-zine Festivalname | 39 | 47

Austin Festival | 40