Dirty Projectors will perform live with the Austin Symphony Orchestra, and composer Graham Reynolds will debut a sweeping new work atop an East Austin parking garage as part of Fusebox Festival’s newly announced 2026 lineup.

Tickets for the five-day festival, which runs April 15-19 across Austin, go on sale today, February 17, at fuseboxlive.com.

Now entering its third decade, the performing arts festival is launching its first fully realized biennial edition, marking a shift from its longtime annual schedule to a more concentrated festival designed to support larger-scale and more ambitious projects. The festival, organizers say, aims to use the city as a stage, from art in expected places like art galleries and concert halls to unusual venues, such as basketball courts, parking garages, and the sides of buildings.

“Like so many of the artists we work with and love, we wanted to create something living and evolving,” says co-founder and artistic director Ron Berry, who calls Fusebox a "hybrid" festival. “It’s really about creating a space where artists and audiences can share ideas across art forms and geographies.”

Fusebox Festival partners with both individual artists and organizations such as Austin Symphony Orchestra, Texas Performing Arts, the Contemporary Austin, and Co-Lab Projects. Artists working across the arts — from art and film, to dance and music, to design and food — come together to both share work and spark dialogue.

Austin artists Mark Flood and Evcksun will bring their interdisciplinary collaboration to the Fusebox Festival in April. Photo courtesy Fusebox Festival

Among the headline performances, Brooklyn indie band Dirty Projectors will present a rare U.S. performance of Songs of the Earth, their acclaimed concept album, performed live with the Austin Symphony Orchestra. The collaboration pairs one of the genre's most adventurous bands, known for their kaleidoscopic soundscapes, with one of the city’s flagship cultural institutions.

Austin composer Graham Reynolds will premiere Spacetime Rodeo, a big-band composition inspired by the recent solar eclipse, on the top of an East Austin parking garage. Elsewhere, comedian and performer Chris Grace will curate his own “festival-within-a-festival,” featuring a multi-night lineup of comedy and music collaborations, including an appearance by Reggie Watts, the one-time band leader of CBS' The Late Late Show.

Novelitas de Ninas are a feminist musical soap opera performance appearing at the Fusebox Festival.Photo by Walter Wlodarczyk

Large-scale installation work also plays a central role in the 2026 edition. Rainforest Reverb, created by the collective Rolling Ryot, will transform a downtown parking garage into a four-story immersive layered rain forest soundscape, while choreographer Annie-B Parson’s dance film The Oath will be projected across buildings throughout the city in partnership with Women & Their Work.

Fusebox continues its longstanding emphasis on site-specific and socially engaged performance. Choreographer Jeremy Nedd will stage slidin’ thru on an outdoor basketball court, drawing on social dance traditions of the 1970s and ’80s. Japanese artist Ayaka Nakama will present the U.S. premiere of Hello, I’m Your New Neighbor. (Fly Me to Austin)., an intimate dance performance exploring themes of hospitality, migration, and belonging.

Not everything at Fusebox is a performance or an installation. For parties, workshops, and other interactive happenings, check out the full schedule.