The NEW Austin Project

In 2016-2017 I conducted over 70 interviews with nearly 40 different individuals who experienced and/or played a part in the transformation of the city of Austin from sleepy college town to a modern urban center.  I also conducted a number of ethnographic observations.  These interviews touch on many topics that have played an important role in shaping our contemporary Austin.  They tell the story of the 1980’s arrival of Microelectronics and Computer Technology Corporation (MCC) and the first inklings that Austin could become a tech hub, as well of the venture capitalists that made it so. The interviews span the Armadillo World Headquarters to today’s ACL Moody Theater.  They include the history of Roy’s Taxi, a Latino-owned, iconic Austin business, and gentrification -- the transformation of Rainey Street from quiet Chicano neighborhood to a center for hipster nightlife and bachelorette parties from out of state. Many of the architects whose visions have made Austin arguably the most changed city in contemporary America (all in the span of some 15 years) have shared their stories of this transformation through their architectural projects.  No account of Austin would be complete without the veterans of the environmental wars of the 1990’s, from Save Our Springs to the developers they fought.  I’ve also interviewed many of Austin’s political leaders, musicians and other artists including those who first envisioned Austin as a creative center for the literarily inclined and for the musicians who helped make our city the “Live Music Capital of the World.” Many of the people I’ve interviewed are household names in Austin, others you may have never heard of, but they’ve all been participants in the events that have transformed Austin’s identity.

The interviews I’ve done on the New Austin project are a rich documentation of our city’s history since the 1980’s, reflecting many voices and experiences.  I will be placing the interviews, along with all documents and resources that I have gathered along the way, in the Ricardo Ainslie Archive which is part of the Benson Library Collection at the University of Texas at Austin.  Writers and scholars will have access to these materials in the future.