TEXAS ARTS & MUSIC FESTIVAL REVEALS FEATURED MURALIST, MUSIC LINEUP
The Texas Arts and Music Festival has announced the featured mural artist and entertainment lineup for the 2026 installment of the fall festival in downtown Brenham.
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Organizers say that this year, with the support of Main Street Brenham, the Gateway mural on Austin Street between Main and Alamo Streets will be redesigned. The original mural, featuring bluebonnets, butterflies and the words “Cool. Authentic. Texas.”, has for several years greeted visitors arriving from Highway 290 into downtown Brenham.
The original muralist, Anat Ronen, is coming back to Brenham to design and paint a new work of art for the space. Based out of Houston, she has created hundreds of pieces over her career. Her works can be found throughout the greater Houston area on highways, bridges, buildings, churches and schools, as well as other pieces displayed nationally and internationally.
Ronen’s commissions include work for NASA’s Johnson Space Center, where she painted a mural inside the building that houses the Crew and Thermal Systems Division, as well as a 250-foot mural at Blackshear Elementary School and a public art installation honoring essential workers at Discovery Green in Houston.
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As for the musical entertainment, the headlining act on the Saturday of the festival will be The Last Bandoleros out of San Antonio, playing at 8 p.m. The trio refers to their mix of rock, pop, country and Latin as “TexFlex”. They reached #6 on the iTunes album directly following their 2020 performance on ABC’s Good Morning America, and their Tex Flex Folklórico album ranked #5 on the Houston Chronicle’s 10 Albums of 2022.
Also set to perform on Saturday is Henry Invisible out of Austin, playing at 6:30 p.m. A one man funk band, Henry Invisible is a multi-instrumentalist producer who live-loops and layers vocal harmonies, guitar riffs, bass grooves, keyboards, drum machines and percussion for high-energy dance music that resembles a six-piece ensemble.
Another Saturday band will be The Guzzlers, starting at 4 p.m. They have opened for some of the biggest names in rock, country and blues and have performed as the house band for many large and famous venues in Houston, such as the Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo and Daikin Park.
Performing on the Sunday of the festival at 11:30 a.m. will be Washington County’s jazz octet, the Phil ‘N The Blanks jazz band, led by founder Phillip Lingenfelter.
The 11th Annual Texas Arts and Music Festival is set for October 16-18, with completion of the featured mural planned for October 19th. Along with the live music and live art exhibition, the festival will be hosting its third juried art show, in addition to several artist and vendor booths.
To learn more about the festival, including volunteer and sponsorship opportunities, visit https://texasartsandmusicfestival.com.