Dallas looks to energize its downtown streets with live music through a busking program that offers performances and career development for local musicians.
Dallas looks to energize its downtown streets with live music through a busking program that offers performances and career development for local musicians.
Dallas looks to energize its downtown streets with live music through a busking program that offers performances and career development for local musicians.
DALLAS — Dallas is adding a new soundtrack to its downtown streets through an official busking program that connects local musicians with public performance spaces while providing career development opportunities.
Singer-songwriter Dev Wulf is among the musicians participating in the Dallas Music Office’s busking initiative, performing for downtown visitors and workers.
“It feels like I’ve connected with Dallas in a whole new way,” said Wulf.
The Dallas Sounds Amplified program, overseen by Dallas Music Office Director Kristina Kirkenaer-Hart, required musicians to audition in January for the opportunity.
“It was much like American Idol, one song only — they had one chance to show us their best!” Kirkenaer-Hart said.
Selected performers are assigned specific locations and times throughout downtown where they can legally perform for tips. Without this official sanction, street performers “run a risk of being ticketed,” according to Kirkenaer-Hart.
The program offers more than just performance spots.
Participants receive professional development opportunities, including one-on-one sessions with producers, networking events, and marketing and branding training.
“We job them out so they’ll get gigs through our office this year,” said Kirkenaer-Hart. “We’re building their professional roster during this time and to me, that’s going to have a lot more longevity than just if we were just paying them to play.”
For musicians like Wulf, these connections are invaluable.
“It’s great to have access to stages that you didn’t really have access to,” he said, describing the arrangement as “a win-win.” The program provides him with resources he “didn’t necessarily have in the past.”
The initiative appears to enhance the downtown experience for visitors as well. Tourists Hanna Nitzlader and Mara Grabichler encountered one of the performances while grabbing a coffee.
“He plays the guitar really good, like wow! And has an awesome voice,” Nitzlader commented. Grabichler added it was “very cool” to experience, “kind of like a free concert.”
Modeled after a similar program in New York, Dallas Sounds Amplified aims to improve downtown safety by bringing more people outside and reducing dead zones in public spaces.
“It’s really good for the city,” said Kirkenaer-Hart.
Currently, performers can be found in several locations across Downtown, and the program will expand to the Deep Ellum entertainment district this fall.
Kirkenaer-Hart envisions music becoming part of Dallas’s reputation.
“When people think of Dallas, I want that to be synonymous as well,” she said, adding that eventually “it won’t be a surprise” to encounter live performances throughout the city.
Wulf encourages people who enjoy his music to “check out other talented artists performing across the city at places like Pegasus Park, Main Street Garden” and other locations. For him, the program provides “an opportunity to kind of feel out the magic of Dallas and introduce my songs to people who have never really seen me before or heard me before.”
As Kirkenaer-Hart summed up the initiative’s community impact: “Music is just the thing that brings everyone together. I mean, who doesn’t love some good music and some sunshine?”