March Annual Events In Austin
Explore UT
Billed as "Explore UT: The Biggest Open House in Texas," Explore UT has been held as a free event in Austin at the University Of Texas Austin campus on the first Saturday of March since 2001. Explore UT is an opportunity for the Austin community, especially the young people of Austin, to see what the University of Texas is all about and to motivate schoolchildren from all over Texas to aspire to higher education. In 2011 more than 17,000 students between kindergarten and 12th grade from 302 schools in 106 Texas school districts attended Explore UT with their teachers. It is also used as a recruitment tool for the University of Texas and allows prospective students and their families to see the University’s literary and art collections, learn about its cutting-edge research, experience its history and traditions, and interact with faculty members, staffers and students. More than 400 demonstrations and activities are presented on the day of Explore UT including a campus scavenger hunt, campus walking tours, a children's international festival, marching with the Longhorn Band and special tours of the UT Tower. The date for the 2013 Explore UT is March 2, 2013.
HONK! TX Festival of Community Street Bands
An outgrowth of the Honk Festival established in Somerville, Massachusetts in 2006, Honk!TX brings together a nationwide community of activist marching bands and community-rooted union of art, activism, and music for a three day event in several different venues located in East and Central Austin. Austin’s own Minor Mishap Marching Band organized the first HONK!TX along with other local arts and culture groups for it's debut in 2011 and continues to be the driving force behind this annual event. Community street bands range in size from 4 to 40 members usually performing in public spaces without amplification or stages wearing band colors and home made uniforms and playing original, traditional, and borrowed music on a wide variety of instruments while encouraging lively audience participation. The repertoire and inspiration for community marching band music comes from a diverse set of folk music traditions, including New Orleans second line brass bands, European klezmer, Balkan and Romani music, and Brazilian Afro Bloc and Frevo traditions, as well as the passion and spirit of Mardi Gras and Carnaval. The dates for the 2013 Honk! Texas festival are Friday, March 22 through Sunday, March 25, 2013.
