World Music Encounters Closes Remarkable Journey

28Jul

world music encounters at St. David's comes to an end

A note from John Burnett:

We had a great run, but nothing lasts forever.

The remarkable team that produced World Music Encounters at St. David's has wrapped up our acclaimed music series after three super successful seasons. If you were there, you experienced the astounding performances: soundscapes from Japan, Indian classical music, a Ugandan singer/songwriter, the 12-piece all-female mariachi from San Antonio, a tango ensemble, a flamenco ensemble, and music from Brazil, West Africa, Peru, India, Cuba, Ireland, and Morocco. Every one of the 18 groups we booked told me the St. David's space and the warmth of the audience created, for them, one of their most memorable concerts.

Our first year, we were the shiny new thing on the Austin music scene. We received coverage from Fox 7 and KEYE, KUTX public media, CultureMap Austin, and the newsletters of the Austin Chamber of Commerce and the Long Center for the Performing Arts. The Downtown Austin Alliance--an early partner--awarded St. David's its first annual Downtown Vision Award in 2024 and we believe WME contributed to that honor.

Special thanks to Lori Blewett, St David's director of communications, for partnering with me to promote every concert. A huge abrazo to Patrick Senn, A/V chief, for the beautiful live sound mixes. Shoutout to Chef Ray Trono for wrangling the volunteers and leaving homemade cookies and brownies for the band members and their families. Huge hug to Alexa Washington for handling the ticket-taking in the church lobby. Much gratitude to Michael Holder and the facilities team for setting up and breaking down the stage…and staying late. Gracias to Margaret for being the band buddy and my music-loving partner in life. And finally, we so appreciate all the volunteers who ushered for every concert.

It was a God thing. There's no reason the series should've taken off like it did. As a lifelong journalist, I had absolutely no experience in producing live music events. We exposed Austin audiences to beautiful music from around the globe that they didn't know existed: such as the shakuhachi, the haunting Japanese bamboo flute, and the African kora, a 21-string harp-like instrument that sounds like a flowing river of melody.

In the end, declining audiences and the hefty time commitments for this volunteer executive producer convinced us to discontinue the series. The remaining money in the WME account--around $8,300--was split evenly between the St. David’s and Health Alliance for Austin Musicians.