Today we’d like to introduce you to Joyce Shen and Grace Zhu.
Hi Joyce and Grace, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
We started as a DECA project for our school’s chapter in which we had to use project management to carry out a community awareness event. We decided on the topic of bringing awareness to local Austin artists after conferring with some of our old human geography teachers, and while we didn’t have much knowledge on the topic to begin with – our campaign and project has led us to discover the welcoming and inspiring live music Austin scene. We’ve found hidden gems of not only extremely talented musicians but also venues with an overall great environment, and it motivates us to share the news with friends and family, as well as the general community.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Overall, the road’s been pretty smooth except for a few bumps. Finding an age-friendly event to promote and go to was not always the easiest task and we wanted to ensure that both the atmosphere and music would be appropriate for all ages to maximize inclusiveness. Further, as students, the Playback For Locals team is quite busy and it’s been hard to balance a work life as well as focusing attention to promote our campaign and other local artists.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
We are a non-profit-esque campaign that seeks to bring awareness to the local Austin live music scene. We know that it’s been a hard year for live music in Austin due to pandemic restrictions and as Austin has been reopening we just wanted to further promote local gigs and performances. We’re really happy to have been able to attend music events and explore the live Austin music scene. Many hours spent researching, finding the right gigs to go to, and learning about a bunch of different artists have led the team to expand their knowledge about the local Austin artist music scene and we’re more than elated to have been educated on the topic. Through our Instagram and Facebook platforms, we have been trying to promote artists and music events on the weekly as well as state facts about the music industry that might’ve been unknown.
Can you talk to us a bit about the role of luck?
We’ve definitely had our fair share of luck with many artists being willing to share their story as well as encouraging family, friends, and mentors. We’re also really privileged to be able to have this opportunity to explore and promote this topic and attend the music events that we do.
Contact Info:
- Email: playbackforlocals@gmail.com
- Website: https://linktr.ee/playbackforlocals
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/playbackforlocals/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Playback-For-Locals-103013242189162/
