Join Future Front for the launch party of Friends Fair 2026 at The Contemporary Austin — Jones Center.
Returning for its second year at The Loren Hotel on May 8 and 9, Friends Fair will launch with an intimate reception at The Contemporary Austin — Jones Center, presented in partnership with Future Front. Curated by Jane Hervey, the evening’s lineup reflects the overlapping friendships that define Austin’s analog art and live music scenes.
All are welcome. Scroll for details.
WHAT TO EXPECT
THE LINEUP
ALL NIGHT ★ Masked movement artists, featuring pieces by Mexic-Arte Changarrito Artist-In-Residence Carla Santillana and Essentials Creative member Fabian Alejandro Diaz
6 PM ★ All-vinyl set by Antone’s Nightclub photographer, live music curator and DJ Salihah Saadiq aka Foxxxy Brown
7:30 PM ★ Intimate art-rock performance by Austin Music Awards 2026 Best Vocalist BRUCE
HOW TO ATTEND
Tickets are $10 and include museum admission.
MEET THE LINEUP
Guest Performer
BRUCE
BRUCE is the new project of Carrie Fussell, the former front-woman of Calliope Musicals.
you're home alone in the shower; you're singing "all by myself" by celine dion at the top of your lungs while ice cold water prickles your skin into that of a chicken. from somewhere that seems far away, a stadium full of people throw flowers at your feet and chant your name.
your name is BRUCE.
BRUCE is an art rock project. BRUCE got ready for sunday school all by herself. her debut album "must love teeth" was released on july 11, 2025, and she released a live concert film by the same name on november 4, 2025. at the very end of 2025, BRUCE was nominated by the austin chronicle as best vocalist (which she won), best new band and most creative event. pretty cool, huh?
Guest Performer
Foxxxy Brown
Salihah Saadiq aka Foxxxy Brown is a local vinyl vixen who's all about a good time and a good groove.
Heavily inspired by the energy of 70s/90s and innovation of the modern sounds, she integrates the old with the new, providing a sweet sonic experience.
Her signature sounds include soul, hip-hop, funk and electronic/house.
Guest Artist
Carla Santillana
Carla Santillana is an artist and art educator from Brownsville, Texas, currently based in San Antonio. Working across oil painting, textiles, and sculptural forms, including handmade masks, her practice explores how emotion is held and expressed through the body. She is a 2026 Changarrito Resident at the Mexic-Arte Museum in Austin, and her work was featured on the cover of Bittersweet Memories, a publication by a Rio Grande Valley artist.
Guest Artist
Fabian Alejandro Diaz
Born in the small west Texas town of Andrews, Fabian Alejandro Diaz grew up in Aztec, New Mexico, in the four corners area on the Colorado border. He has called San Antonio home since 2008. An artist from the beginning, he works across several media, with tribal culture as the through line of his aesthetic. A fascination with adornment led him to experiment with accessorizing using whatever materials were on hand. Driven by the need to create, he continues to explore every avenue of his practice as he builds his brand, CASA DE OJOS.
Movement Artist
Taryn Lavery
Taryn Lavery, originally from Utah, is a freelance dancer, choreographer, cross-disciplinary design artist and co-founder/co-director of Austin’s BLiPSWiTCH— a project-based dance company focused on collaboration and site-specific performance works as an avenue to community expansion. She is a current dancer with Allysen Hooks Projects, Performa/Dance, RushTopFish and TY&CO, and has worked with ARCOS (2015-2022), Jennifer Sherburn (2016-2021), KDH Dance Company, Lisa Nicks, Justo Cisneros, Pearl Bhatnagar, Collide Arts, Dance Carousel, SEAM Project and more. Taryn has a creative philosophy rooted in the belief that the way we gather and share in exposition is an extension of process, and she fuses her classical background with a desire to revitalize modern dance for broader audiences, extracting a new form of contemporary performance.
Movement Artist
Aída Hernandez-Reyes
Aída Hernandez-Reyes is a freelance dancer, performer, choreographer and interdisciplinary art maker based in Austin, Texas. Their movement training spans from local Austin studios to programs with Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Alonzo King Lines Ballet, Sidra Bell, B12 and the University of Texas at Austin from which they received a BFA in dance and performance.
Aída has worked with Jesse Zaritt, Michiyaya, Valleto, Sarah J Bartholomew, Mama Duke, Thee Gay Agenda, Andrew Schneider and Annie Saunders, Kelsey Oliver, Joy Alpuerto Ritter, ARCOS, Salvage Vanguard Theater, Performa/Dance, JKJK, and more. Their creative process is inspired by a motivation to build stamina, rest, be upside down, craft and diy, punk around, appreciate the mundane and notice the sublime, and examine and embody their multiracial queer experience of the world around them.
PLAN YOUR VISIT
The Contemporary Austin — Jones Center is located at 700 Congress Avenue.
When you visit The Contemporary Austin – Jones Center, you are greeted by a glittering work of art floating above the roofline and visible from the street below. This now-iconic sculpture, Jim Hodges’s With Liberty and Justice for All (A Work in Progress), sets the stage for what you will experience inside: a dynamic schedule of exhibitions in nearly 8,000 square-feet of museum space.
Designed by architect Paul Lewis of Lewis.Tsurumaki.Lewis, The Contemporary Austin – Jones Center includes two floors of exhibition space and a stunning rooftop deck—the Moody Rooftop—home to exhibition-related films, performances, family programs, and tours, along with some of the most creative private events in the city.
AVAILABLE LANGUAGES — ASL interpreters can be provided upon request. Si necesita traducción al español para participar en este evento, envíenos un correo electrónico a hello@futurefronttexas.org.
OUR COMMUNITY SAFETY GUIDELINES —
All Future Front staff, volunteers and guests will be required to practice mutual respect, as well as demonstrate an alignment with Future Front’s code of conduct and values: futurefronttexas.org/values.
Capacity is limited to reduce crowding of any kind and all events will be held in primarily outdoor and open-air spaces or have access to proper ventilations and well-maintained A/C systems.
At Future Front events, all guests are expected to follow Austin-local health and safety guidelines for gatherings, as well as practice consideration with the consumption of tobacco, alcohol and any other legal, mind-altering or dangerous substances and objects. This includes:
As Future Front strives to be a good neighbor, we also discourage the use of tobacco products on the property of nearby businesses and residences, to improve air quality, throughout our events.
Tobacco use and electronic smoking device use are not permitted at any time within Future Front properties and event spaces at least 15 ft from entrances, exits, operational windows, or ventilation system intake vents.
Littering of tobacco-related products on the grounds or parking lots is also prohibited.
Concealed or open weapons and firearms (including handguns) are not allowed at any Future Front venues.
GOT QUESTIONS? Shoot us a note at hello@futurefronttexas.org. We're happy to help and will get back to you!
BEHIND THIS EVENT
Friends Fair is an independent art fair, organized by Ivester Contemporary, Martha’s, McLennon Pen Co., and Northern–Southern (the Friends of Galleries) for the city of Austin.
2026 participating galleries and projects include:
Homegrown in Austin, Future Front is an award-winning cultural space and public exhibition series—with women and LGBTQ+ creatives at the front.
As a 501c3 arts and culture nonprofit, we produce two annual community-led exhibitions, The Front Market and The Front Festival, platforming independent artists and creatives across disciplines in Texas. Beyond our flagship exhibitions, we host seasonal shows and workshops at our creative space in East Austin, welcoming 20,000+ visitors per year.
Through these programs and a diverse network of partnerships, we invite the public (including you) to dream of a future where local art and creativity thrive in Texas—where we see ourselves and our cultures reflected in our communities.
FUTURE FRONT IS SUPPORTED IN PART BY an Elevate Grant of Austin Arts, Culture, Music and Entertainment, Tito’s Handmade Vodka, Texas Commission on the Arts, The LINE Hotel Austin, Pease Park Conservancy, Preservation Austin, Movability,ART FOR ALL, Partiful, Moontower Rentals, Distribution Hall, Miscellaneous Rentals, Thirstday Tequila, the Red River Cultural District, Topo Chico, as well as Future Front’s donors and members.