Butler School Announces New Music Academy for Community

Even within what’s considered the Live Music Capital of the World, there has sometimes been a divide between the Austin music community and The University of Texas’ elite music school.

The Butler School of Music saw that divide and wanted to bridge it, so its leaders are creating the corporate-and-privately-funded UT Academy of Music.

The 60,000-square-foot facility will be built on the east side of I-35, near UFCU-Disch-Falk Field. It will include classrooms and rehearsal space, as well as a 300-seat concert hall.

And by design, its doors will be wide open to the community.

For more than 60 years, the Butler School has offered the much-replicated String Project, which provides Austin children lessons in violin, viola, double bass, and cello from graduate students supervised by faculty. Enrollment is capped at 250 children for lack of space; some 700 are regularly on the wait list.

The new academy will allow the String Project to expand. It also will house other non-credit programs, including the Informal Music Courses that provide private and group instruction to Austin adults and the Austin Live Music Academy that boosts musicians seeking careers in popular music.

Construction will begin once funds have been raised. No price tag has yet been placed on the project.

Photo courtesy of UT Public Affairs