In this story we feature our wide range of music-related grants, including award events, performances, fundraisers, and services and other resources to support musicians.
Celebrating Texas Music
Texas has some of the best music in the whole country! WoodNext helps celebrate and support music in Texas in many ways. We honor musicians by co-sponsoring the Texas Heritage Songwriters Association’s annual Hall of Fame event and Texas Cultural Trust’s biennial Medal of Arts awards recognizing Texans who have contributed significantly to the arts. We also sponsor Austin PBS’s Austin City Limits, which showcases popular musicians from every genre and has aired for 52 seasons—longer than any other music TV show in America! In addition, we fund Texas Songwriter U, which develops aspiring songwriters, and Sun Radio, a solar-powered network of 11 radio stations that play classic Texas music.
At Texas A&M, we sponsored the Wood Stage, an outdoor pavilion in Aggie Park that hosts professional and student concerts and gatherings, including College GameDay and SEC Nation broadcasts, and Big Event kickoffs. WoodNext also supports the music program’s production studio, where students can learn how to record music and work with music industry professionals. And WoodNext is also co-funding the creation of a bronze statue which will honor two iconic Texas singer-songwriters, Lyle Lovett and Robert Earl Keen, who met at Texas A&M.
Music for a Cause
Music can support our communities in ways beyond enjoyment alone. WoodNext regularly sponsors concerts to raise funds for important causes. After the Texas Hill Country floods in 2025, we sponsored Band Together Texas to raise funds for relief and rebuilding in Central Texas. We also donated to these Hill Country relief efforts through Applause for the Cause, a concert organized by singer-songwriter Robert Earl Keen, and George Strait’s Vaqueros del Mar Texas Flood Relief event. Following Texas’s 2021 winter storms, we supported the just keep livin Foundation’s We’re Texas fundraiser. Just keep livin Foundation’s founder, Matthew McConaughey, also runs an annual fundraising concert in partnership with recording artist Jack Ingram and football coach Mack Brown. Mack, Jack & McConaughey (MJ&M), which WoodNext has sponsored for several years, benefits children’s education, health, and wellness.
Beyond fundraising, music can be a great channel to deliver services. For example, our Austin grantee Sparks for Success works with children whose parents are in prison, to teach the students life skills through music therapy and private music lessons. Another grantee Swan Songs fulfills musical “last wishes” for individuals nearing the end of life, giving them private concerts in their homes or healthcare facilities.
Services for Musicians
Music is not always an easy career and we support two groups to provide services for musicians in need. The Health Alliance for Austin Musicians for provides affordable healthcare access for low-income, working musicians, since musicians can’t get employer-sponsored healthcare through gig work. Our grantee Housing Opportunities for Musicians and Entertainers provides housing for aging Austin-area musicians who have helped to put the city on the musical map but may have been unable to save enough for retirement.
