Antone’s Record Shop is joining Warner Music Group and independent record stores across the nation in a pilot vinyl recycling program. Last month, a manufacturing study by WMG, GZ Media, and Abbey Road Studios found that recycled vinyl can be successfully reprocessed into high-quality new pressings, opening the door to reduce physical media’s carbon footprint and provide a new future for bargain bin duds and damaged records. Austinites can return damaged or unplayable vinyl records to Antone’s collection bin for evaluation by the program’s recovery partner, Virterras Materials.
Barrett’s Coffee owner Travis Kizer was recently featured in COFFEE The Universal Language, a PBS documentary series exploring the social and cultural significance of the caffeinated beverage in eight cities. In April, Food & Wine magazine dubbed Austin America’s No. 1 coffee city, highlighting community-centered coffee shops like Barrett’s, which hosts countless events at its St. Johns and North Loop locations and prioritizes thoughtful consumption in its sourcing. The coffee roaster purchases fair trade, organic certified, and women-produced beans directly from farms and brokers located across Honduras, Mexico, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Peru, and Ethiopia. The Austin stop with Kizer and his teammates highlights the bean-to-customer emphasis on fair treatment and connection at Barrett’s.
OSTILLO, a new art foundation founded by Austin-based developer and collector René Campos, will open in Rosewood on September 19. The multipurpose art and culture hub will feature an exhibition space, a library, and an outdoor performance area that will soon give the annual Eastside Kings Festival a permanent home. The organization’s opening visual arts exhibition, “Masquerade,” curated by founding director Sacha Zerbib, will connect international artists working across mediums and be accompanied by a public lecture series, led by art historian and director of exhibitions Dr. Jean Capeille.
White Rocks, an outdoor amphitheater modeled after – where else – Red Rocks in Colorado, was announced as the core of a new development by UMusic Hospitality & Lifestyle, a partner of Universal Music Group. The luxury development will include 150 hotel rooms, 600 private residences, and hotel amenities including a fitness center, rooftop pool, and parking garage, plus an interior performance venue, professional recording studio, a nightclub, comedy club, restaurants, bars, and a spa and wellness center in a 71-acre lot near Bee Caves. Construction is set to start in 2027. In the name of conservation, UMusic plans to keep more than 70 percent of the 71-acre site as open green space, according to a press release.
This article appears in July 3 • 2026.
