Hot Headlines

Netflix star opens new taco restaurant in East Austin, plus more popular stories

Esdras Ochoa is part of the team opening Reunión 19.

Photo courtesy of Reunión 19 Esdras Ochoa

Editor's note: It's that time again — time to check in with our top stories of the week. From a new Los Angeles-style taqueria to an unbelievable underground house in South Austin, these are the stories that captured our attention over the past seven days.

1. Netflix star opens new Los Angeles-style taco restaurant in East Austin. Four Los Angeles chefs — including Esdras Ochoa, who appeared on Netflix's The Final Table — are opening a restaurant in East Austin. Reunión 19 "focuses on West Coast-inspired adaptations of classic Mexican food and tacos."

2. Oldest barbecue joint in Texas heats up Austin suburb with new restaurant. Southside Market & Barbeque has begun construction on its newest restaurant in Hutto's Co-op District. Our content partners at KVUE have the full scoop.

3. Barton Creek bunker digs up new life as modern architecture marvel. Learn the surreal, slightly strange history of one of Austin's most unique homes.

4. Journey to this magnificent medieval-style castle just 100 miles away from Austin. Have you ever wondered what it would be like to live like royalty? Turns out, there’s a man in Belville, a small city located about 100 miles east of Austin, doing just that — and you can visit him.

5. Downtown Austin courthouse draws ugly criticism in new Trump executive order. Architecture has always been polarizing, but we didn't really expect the Trump administration to get so involved. A draft of a new executive order dubbed “Making Federal Buildings Beautiful Again” is seeking to eliminate modern architecture from federal buildings, and Austin's downtown courthouse was called out among the offenders.

hot-headlines

Beyond Books

Austin's Central Library announces open call for artists for future gallery exhibits

Austin Public Library/Flickr

The Central Library is calling all artists.

People can learn a lot at the library. Besides all the books, magazines, online resources, and in-person programming, Austinites enjoy a buffet of rotating art exhibits that populate the gallery at the Central Library downtown, publicizing local artists and teaching visitors about the culture around them.

Now the ever-changing Austin Public Library is looking for another new exhibit sometime in 2024 between January and September, and inviting artists to apply through February 28.

Good news for artists who crave freedom, and frustrating news for artists who love something to bounce off of: This engagement offers few to no parameters. There is no explicit theme, but the library does claim a mission in a press release about the call for artists.

“The mission of the Central Library Gallery is to support local artists and art communities, raise awareness of contemporary and diverse forms of art, and to provide exhibitions in which a wide variety of identities and interests are represented,” said the release.

The Central Library website lists four current exhibitions: Hannah Hannah lends some expressionist portraits, Release the Puppets tells stories in a classic and playful medium, the Austin American-Statesman explores Austin communities of color through photographs, and a traveling exhibition documents Pride parades of the past.

The call is addressed to “artists, collectives, curators and beyond,” further widening the possibilities, but still restricting them to applicants residing in Texas. Applicants should consider the size of the gallery (2,700 square feet) and a few logistical stipulations, including that pieces may not be hung from the ceiling, and that walls may be painted.

When the jury — made up of local artists and others in the industry — announces a winning proposal in March 2023, the artist will be offered a stipend to complete the work. All project costs are the exhibitor’s responsibility, so this stipend is not unlike an advance, except that the project will not continue to generate revenue at the library.

Applications are open now through 11:59 pm on February 28, 2023. Applicants may make their proposals via submittable.com.

arts library texas galleries