It’s time to better appreciate Lubbock’s arts and music community

There are few metropolitan areas in Texas with an arts and music scene so robust that it can rival ours in Lubbock.

Individuals that do? Austin, Dallas, Fort Well worth, Houston, and San Antonio — all of which are significantly, substantially more substantial than our 257,000 inhabitants and considerably, considerably more accessible to the talent pool than our dusty metropolis that sits on the other side of the point out.

I know most of you are in all probability asking yourself what the hell I’m conversing about at this issue … how could I even look at Lubbock to Austin? If that’s the scenario, it is since you’ve not but immersed oneself into this stunning, vivid community which is sprawling with all-natural-born and tricky-attained expertise.

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If you didn’t by now know, we have a thriving music scene with bands like Ronnie and the Redwoods, which was a finalist in the SXSW Jam in the Van opposition, and Previously mentioned the Empire, who composed the songs for “Desire with Me” – an award-winning documentary manufactured by the nearby PBS station – amid quite a few other talents.

On any specified night time, dozens of places in Lubbock will have lined up bands and solo artists for are living new music. And most weekends, there will be some house demonstrate, where dozens of admirers will pack out the house to pay attention to their neighborhood favorites.

We also have numerous festivals in the course of the year, together with the Lubbock Reside: Festival for the Arts, which brings together performing arts, local songs sets, visual arts and culinary arts.

And the Buddy Holly Corridor brings some of the major music acts in the globe to our downtown. This yr by itself, we’ll have seen Peter Frampton, Boyz II Gentlemen, Bob Dylan and Odd Al.

Not to mention, some of the best found their abilities proper here.

John Denver, Pat Inexperienced and Susan Graham all attended Texas Tech — and Josh Abbott, Waylon Jennings, Natalie Maines, and of study course, the iconic Buddy Holly have been all born in this region.

As a journalist for Texas Month to month after stated, “Long before Austin was the Are living Songs Money of the Globe, a cotton-pickin’ Large Plains city put Texas on the map.”

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In terms of the neighborhood arts scene, just look all around it is in all places.

Of program, you know about the First Friday Art Path, which delivers in dozens, if not hundreds, of artists and hundreds of people each month. And as you get nearer to downtown, you can expect to see vibrant murals, walkways and storm drains.

But did you know that we have 3 artwork vending machines across the town? Virtually, a vending device wherever you can purchase artwork from dozens of area ceramists, illustrators and jewellery-makers.

Did you know about the bimonthly Moonlight Markets or the semiannual Oddities Art Market? These situations commonly showcase more unique performs than these that you would see on Initially Friday.

Meanwhile, the East Lubbock Art Residence gives totally free art lessons and workshops to anyone who wishes to be an artist — exclusively communities of coloration.

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However, significantly way too a lot of of us get this part of Lubbock for granted. Until finally not long ago, I know I did.

I usually noticed these gatherings as social gatherings alternatively than people’s livelihoods — or at the very least, that is what lots of hope will develop into of it.

But a couple weeks ago, I acquired the prospect to collaborate with a area artist for a 1st Friday task, and every bit of my absolutely free time — outside the house of perform and school — involved this undertaking.

Even still, I have a 2-calendar year-old at home, so I could not keep right up until 3 a.m. like lots of of the other collaborators did, a number of situations, while having to wake up at 6 a.m. for their entire-time occupation. Additionally, I previously experienced the the vast majority provides for my particular person collaboration the other folks didn’t.

Irrespective, I invested 15 to 20 hrs in the very hot studio, that experienced no air conditioning, helping develop this. And at the stop of the day, folks came in, glanced and walked absent. And that was it.

This is some thing your nearby artists and musicians experience each time they develop. They shell out several hours cultivating their works for you to appreciate for two minutes tops, and they invest hundreds of pounds or a lot more for following-to-almost nothing in return.

All over again, most of these artists are deeply educated and educated in these fields but shell out someplace else functioning a day-job just to maintain their expenses paid.

Quite a few will blame the artists for finding such a ‘wasteful’ diploma, but it really is not reasonable to blame the artists. All of us eat art on a everyday basis, so it is time to abandon the mentality that their educations ended up a waste.

As a substitute, if you see some thing you like, look at tipping the artist — or probably even obtain something.

This posting originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Addison: It is time to take pleasure in Lubbock area arts, new music community