New senior director of live music and entertainment Andy Langer wants to revitalize UT’s live music and entertainment scene – The Daily Texan

Thirty years after graduating, Andy Langer, a 1994 journalism graduate, returns to the university as executive director of live music and entertainment. Langer said that role is to connect Austin’s broader music scene to the campus through music-focused initiatives.

Before coming to UT, he hosted “Austin City Limits Radio,” worked as a writer for Texas Monthly and was music editor for Esquire for 15 years. Langer was hired to a full-time position this year and sat down with The Daily Texan to talk about his plans to shape the future of live music on campus.

The Daily Texan: You have had an impressive and varied career across all media. How do you think these experiences inform your role as senior director of live music and entertainment at UT Austin?

Andy Langer: This campus has a long history as part of Austin’s music scene and the city itself is the live music capital of the world. The music industry itself is a relatively small and isolated thing, and I’m a part of it on a national level. What I can do is use everything I know about the outside world and help bring those two things together. Everything I do is aimed at connecting these dots.

DT: What specific partnerships can the UT community expect from your efforts to connect Austin’s music scene with campus life?

AL: (On Monday we opened the concert club with the Moody Center. You can use your (UT) EID to log in to a website and receive an email with a code. You will then receive an offer for heavily discounted tickets at the Moody on select Fridays Center. This is important because concerts are expensive. Students have been largely priced out for shows where they still have inventory, they work with the artists and their management teams to offer students discounted tickets.

Two weeks ago I brought Andre 3000 to campus, and Andre 3000, as we know, has a flute record. André 3000 spent an hour and 15 minutes speaking to the 18 flute majors. The night before we bought them tickets to his performance at ACL Live, and André spoke to them the next day. He went to the football stadium and got a new jersey from Sarkisian. The football team will remember him running through their hallways for the rest of their lives.

DT: Looking forward, what are some specific goals you would like to achieve in your first year in this role?

AL: The goals and landmarks (that I have) are to connect the cultures of the campus and the city, and that is quite measurable. The immeasurable thing is what happens when you are one of the flute students who learn directly from André 3000 or talk to him about the flute – it is immeasurable. What this student experienced will not happen anywhere else. I’m not saying it won’t happen elsewhere because they don’t have me, but I’m saying we can do something like that here.