No Idea Festival

Home
United States
Austin, TX
No Idea Festival

No Idea Festival is an improvised music festival based in Austin, Texas. No Idea Festival is an annual festival of improvised music based in Austin, Texas.

Initiatiated in June 2003, No Idea's founding mission was to connect the creative music communities of Austin and Houston, Texas. Since that initial three-day festival, No Idea has expanded its mission of fostering new collaborations to artists from across the US, Mexico, Canada, Europe, Japan, and New Zealand. With an interest in collaborating with presenters, curators, and other culture generato

rs outside of Austin, No Idea has held events in several cities including: San Antonio, Houston, Marfa, Fort Worth, Dallas, New Orleans, Mexico City and Mérida, Yucatán. No Idea's curation focuses on three aspects of creative process it believes generative to the advancement of contemporary music: Festival curated first meetings, advancing existing collaborations, and establishing new groups. Artists articulate a wide variety of working methods and perform within several gradations of improvisation and composition. Audiences witness a broad spectrum of an artist's work as they move through their most established ensembles, developing groups, and new first-time meetings. Artists are often brought back to No Idea for multiple years to advance connections and enable a new music to flourish. Since 2009, No Idea has placed an increasing emphasis on working with musicians and sound artists from Mexico City's burgeoning contemporary music community. Our Seeds and Systems program aspires to create new pathways to establish enduring connections between US and Mexican artists. More information: noideafestival.com

02/09/2026

Colaboración entre Ken Vandermark y el grupo mexicano Mice Corpus + invitada especial Elena Pardo 📽️✨

Sábado 14 de febrero
2pm - 4pm
💡 Ensayo abierto + Masterclass
🎟️ 80 pesos
+
8pm
Concierto: Ken Vandermark + Mice Corpus y Elena Pardo
✨ Composiciones de Ken Vandermark
🎟️ 150 pesos

📍Galería Vórtice
210 Tabasco, Roma Norte, CDMX
🎟️🔗 Ticket link en bio

._.motta .xavier

02/05/2026

No Idea Residencia #2 c/ Ken Vandermark
JUEVES 12 FEB. 🌵Proyección: Músico de Daniel Kraus 🌵🌵Concierto: Ken Vandermark c/ Gustavo Nandayapa + Arturo Báez 🌵🌵🌵Charla: c/ Ken Vandermark

VIERNES FEB 13 Ken Vandermark solo (🍝+🍹+🎷

SÁBADO FEB 14 🪻Ensayo/Masterclass (2pm-4pm) 🪻🪻Concierto: Ken Vandermark c/ Mice Corpus (8pm)

Link 🔗 Boletos 🎟️ en Bio

.xavier ._.motta

02/02/2026

Ken Vandermark (sax) + Arturo Báez (contrabajo) y Gustavo Nandayapa (batería)

Proyección · Concierto · Q&A

📍 JUE 12 FEB | 20:00 h
🎟️ $250 - link en bio
(Tonalá 261, Roma Sur, CDMX)

-—
20:00 h
Proyección de Músico, dirigida por Daniel Kraus.
Documental sobre Ken Vandermark

21:00 h
Concierto en vivo: Ken Vandermark Trío, junto a Gustavo Nandayapa (batería) y Arturo Báez (contrabajo). Una colaboración inédita entre el saxofonista de Chicago y músicos mexicanos.

22:00 h
Charla con Ken Vandermark.

01/31/2026

RESIDENCIA NO IDEA #2
Ken Vandermark + Arturo Báez y Gustavo Nandayapa

20:00 h
Proyección de Músico, dirigida por Daniel Kraus.

21:00 h
Concierto en vivo: Ken Vandermark Trío, junto a Gustavo Nandayapa (batería) y Arturo Báez (contrabajo).
Una colaboración inédita entre el saxofonista de Chicago y una sólida sección rítmica mexicana.

22:00 h
Q&A con Ken Vandermark.
Conversación abierta sobre su trayectoria artística, su trabajo como gestor cultural y los retos de construir y sostener una vida creativa en la música contemporánea.

📍 JUE 12 FEB | 20:00 h
🎟️ $250 · $300

Ticket Link en Bio
Cupo limitado!! . . . . . . . . . . . . .
KEN VANDERMARK es un compositor e improvisador, saxofonista/clarinetista, curador y escritor; en 1999 recibió una beca MacArthur en música. Se mudó a Chicago desde Boston en 1989 y ha trabajado de manera continua desde principios de los años noventa, tanto como intérprete como organizador en Norteamérica, Europa, América Latina, Japón y Etiopía, grabando en una amplia variedad de contextos junto a muchos músicos reconocidos internacionalmente. Ken cofundó Catalytic Sound en 2012, una organización dedicada a la sostenibilidad económica de los músicos improvisadores creativos, y desde entonces es su director. En 2014 inició Audiographic Records, un sello discográfico independiente. Desde junio de 2015, Ken es cocurador de Option, una serie de música e entrevistas que se realiza en Experimental Sound Studio en Chicago.

ARTURO BÁEZ VELÁZQUEZ, originario de Lázaro Cárdenas, Michoacán, es un reconocido bajista y contrabajista que ha dejado una marca profunda en la escena del jazz tanto en México como a nivel internacional. Ha tocado en escenarios emblemáticos como el Auditorio Nacional, el Palacio de Bellas Artes, y el Carnegie Hall en Nueva York, además de participar en prestigiosos festivales de jazz en países como Estados Unidos, Japón, Indonesia, Francia y Bulgaria.

GUSTAVO NANDAYAPA es un destacado baterista y percusionista mexicano, originario de Chiapas. Inició su formación musical a los cinco años, bajo la tutela de su abuelo, y continuó sus estudios en diversas instituciones, incluido el Conservatorio de Ámsterdam.

12/03/2025

Day #2 was a doozy….
No Idea 2025 at + October 25
Super thanks to everyone who came out to the afternoon talk at Alien Majesty Bookstore and those who took part in the evening’s libations, BBQ and music 🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍
📸✨Rhizomes Films
Erik Mares + Andrea Rodea
DUOS
Christina Carter + Joe McPhee
Fred Moten + Brandon López
Juan García .garciabass + Bhob Rainey
Michael Foster .star + Richard Kamerman
+
David Watson (solo!!)
Artwork: Christina Carter
Design: Danae Silva

12/01/2025

No Idea Festival 2025 Night #1
in Austin, TX
Friday, October 24
Brandon Lopez + Michael Foster .star + Joe McPhee + Fred Moten + Dromez + Richard Kamerman
🎥✨Rhizomes Films
The opening night in Austin featured two first-time collaborations, including the inaugural meeting between poet Fred Moten and avant-angel Joe McPhee +++ Dromez and Richard Kamerman ✨🥊
Thank you EVERYONE for contributing presence and good energy to what was an incredible start to our 19th edition of the festival!!… as resonant and necessary as ever 🤍🤍

artwork: Christina Carter
design: Danae Silva + T Putnam Hill

10/26/2025

📆 Today! Sunday, Oct. 26

Continuing our tradition of presenting music in idiosyncratic, distinctive spaces for our Sunday program, No Idea 2025 presents:

For Lenny
Conceived as a continuous piece winding through 3 distinct locations in the Bouldin Creek neighborhood, For Lenny moves through 2 houses to a rugged, unconsidered patch of the Bouldin Creek Greenbelt.

The piece features a mixture of first-time duos, solos, and silence.

— For Lenny is an homage to the 3-block radius where No Idea was conceived in 2003

Set 1 - Juan García + Michael Foster (first-time duo)
Ben’s house - 1709 South 5th Street

Set 2 - Bhob Rainey
Stella + Leon’s house - 1017-A West Milton Street

Set 3 - David Watson + Rebecca Novak (first-time duo)

That spot in the Greenbelt on S. 7th with the broken cross, kinda by Ralph’s old place…

10/22/2025

NO IDEA FESTIVAL Night #1 Austin
FRIDAY, OCT 24 at Alienated Majesty Books
Tickets 🎟️ + Info 💡>> bio + noideafestival.com

DROMEZ
Dromez is the intermedia artist Liz Gomez of Austin, TX. She has toured extensively across the United States producing menacing and erratic power electronics, effectively integrating feedback, junk metal, analog electronics, and loops, with her characteristic strident amplified shrieks.

RICHARD KAMERMAN
Richard Kamerman has been breaking electronics and crashing computers while trying to coax interesting and unpredictable sounds out of them since the early 2000s. Occasionally, he has also presented himself as a more serious composer of re-performable written music. Keywords: amplification, magnification, obfuscation, systems design, game theory, patterns, human error, accident, failure. Increasingly over the years, storytelling has also become an integral facet of his performance practice. Although a firm believer in the axiom that “one man’s trash is another man’s treasure,” he ceased collecting his instruments from piles of junk left on the curb several years ago, fearing he might bring home bedbugs.

Recordings of his solo or collaborative works have been released by Erstwhile Records, Pilgrim Talk, Contour Editions, RRRecords, and Engraved Glass, among others. Kamerman has performed or had his music performed throughout the US as well as internationally in Canada, Germany, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, Australia and Chile.

10/20/2025

THIS WEEK !!
No Idea Festival 2025, the 19th edition (!!)
Oct 23 • Dallas || Oct 24-26 • Austin
Ticket // Info: noideafestival.com + link in bio
Follow 👀

ARTISTS
Fred Moten | Joe McPhee | Brandon López | Michael Foster .star | Richard Kamerman | Bhob Rainey | Juan García .garciabass | David Watson | Christina Carter | DROMEZ | Aaron González .lickin.mother.lover | Joshua Cañate | Sherrie Zantea | Rebecca Novak | DJ Mutarrancho

Gratitude to our partners: Alienated Majesty Books | porous sonorous .sonorous | The Wild Detectives | Deep Vellum

Much 🤍 to our Bar No Idea 🍹sponsors: Saint Arnold Brewing | Tito’s Vodka | Topo Chico | Barrett’s Coffee

Artwork: Christina Carter from her book For Want of Walls, courtesy of Unifactor

Design: Danae Silva + T Putnam Hill

Inspiration: Lenteja !!
🤍🐶🤍🐶🤍🐶🤍
This project is supported in part by the City of Austin Economic Development

10/12/2025

No Idea Festival 2025 presents a constellation of artists working in the peripheries of Free Improvisation, Composition, Noise, Free Jazz, and Sonic Intervention.

Fred Moten, Brandon López, Joe McPhee, Christina Carter, Michael Foster, Richard Kamerman, DROMEZ, Bhob Rainey, Juan García, and David Watson will move through No Idea’s format of established groups, emerging collaborations, and festival curated first-meetings.

📍 Alienated Majesty Books, Scottish Rite Theater + house concerts in Bouldin Creek.
🗓 October 24–26, 2025 (Austin program)
🎟 Tickets and full details → noideafestival.com

09/25/2025

No Idea Festival 2025
October 23 • Dallas
October 24-26 • Austin
Tickets + Info: noideafestival.com (+links in bio)

Artists working in the fields of Free Improvisation, Composition, Free Jazz, Noise, and Sonic Intervention.

Fred Moten • Brandon López • Joe McPhee • Michael Foster • Richard Kamerman • Bhob Rainey • Juan García • David Watson • Christina Carter • DROMEZ • Aaron González • Joshua Cañate • Sherrie Zantea • DJ Mutarrancho

Venues:
* Dallas
The Wild Detectives
* Austin
Alienated Majesty Books
Scottish Rite Theater
Bouldin Creek House Concerts

Artwork by Christina Carter, courtesy of Outlandish Press
Gratitude to the Bar No Idea supporters:
Barrett's Coffee
Topo Chico
Tito's Vodka

Address

Austin, TX

Website

http://noideafestival.com/

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when No Idea Festival posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Business

Send a message to No Idea Festival:

Shortcuts

Want your business to be the top-listed Event/venue in Austin?