Antone’s, Austin’s home of the blues for half a century, has announced that it has re-upped its leasing agreement, keeping the landmark in place for another 50 years. Additionally, Rally Austin, a real estate nonprofit that collaborates with the city through the Austin Cultural Trust program, has given the club $1.3 million to build the “Antone’s World Famous Museum of the Blues.”
Antone’s co-owner Will Bridges and his team announced the recently signed 50-year lease for the club’s downtown location, an upcoming museum on the building’s second story, and the establishment of the Antone’s Forever Fund to preserve the venue’s legacy for the next 50 years and, hopefully, beyond. The announcement puts into focus a potential 100th anniversary in the future, which would mean Antone’s truly would live on for newer generations.
“People of our generation will be the 89-year-old bluesmen at that time,” Zach Ernst, head booker for Antone’s, told The Austin Chronicle. “There are some kids who are 15, 20, 25 that are really the real deal, and hopefully Antone’s can be a home for them.”…