Founder Robby Takac said the festival will feature 20 stages with a variety of music, including rock, jazz, country, heavy metal, and EDM.
BUFFALO, N.Y. — The Music is Art Festival is returning to Buffalo this weekend for its 24th year, bringing together music, art, and culture in a free, all-day celebration at Terminal B.
The festival, founded by Goo Goo Dolls bassist and Buffalo native Robby Takac, will feature more than 800 musicians along with DJs, dancers, live artists, sculptors, a fashion show, food trucks, and vendors.
Takac said the festival will feature 20 stages with a variety of music, including rock, jazz, country, heavy metal and EDM.
“It’s our 24th year this year, crazy enough, we have, like you mentioned, 20 stages like rock music, jazz music, country music. Heavy metal, EDM, all sorts of stuff, and that’s just music,” Takac said.
The festival will also feature performance artists, circus arts, dancers and a kids’ area that includes a Battle of the Bands competition. The kids who participate will later play on the main stage.
“The whole idea with this is just to have a free one day, a demonstration of kind of a lot of what goes on in our local creative community here,” Takac said.
The festival has included wrestling in recent years, but Takac said it will not be part of this year’s event. Attendees can instead see aerial dancers and performers, as well as the Flow Group, which performs juggling and fire juggling.
Takac said the festival is designed for people of all ages.
“We have tons of food trucks, tons of vendors, dozens and dozens and dozens of artists, live artists, sculptors, a fashion show,” Takac said. “We try to take all that stuff and sort of mix it together so people get once again a great. Taste of all the flavors that we have here to offer in Buffalo, Western New York.”
Takac said supporting young people through art and music has been an important part of the organization’s mission since the festival began.
“That was the idea long ago, you know, when we did our first festival. We realized there was some energy in the local music scene here, so we started to work with some local organizations and the Music is Art organization was born and we’ve been putting instruments in people’s hands now for 24 years and running jazz programs and our Music is Art Alliance and the Battle of the bands and many other things,” Takac said.
The Music is Art Festival will take place Saturday, Sept. 12, from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. at Terminal B. Admission is free.
Takac also discussed the Goo Goo Dolls’ 40th anniversary. The Buffalo History Museum is putting together a retrospective called “Long Way Home,” which opens Sept. 16 and will remain on display for a year.
The Goo Goo Dolls also have several upcoming performances, including the Sea.Hear.Now Festival in New Jersey, Oceans Calling in Maryland, and the Formula One race in Singapore.
Takac said the band also has a major tour planned that has not yet been announced. He said it is expected to be announced Oct. 8.
