Music is Art Festival Moving to Buffalo’s Outer Harbor

For the second time this year, Music is Art has announced a new location for this year’s all-day festival.

Instead of taking place at RiverWorks, where the festival has occurred for the past several years, this year’s event, on Saturday, September 21, will now be at the new Outer Harbor Terminal B and Lakeside Lawn venue. Earlier this year, the festival’s location for 2024 was announced as a return to its North Buffalo roots, near the art museum and Buffalo State University.

In a video posted to Music is Art’s official Instagram page Tuesday morning, founder and Goo Goo Dolls bassist Robby Takac said the move to the 17-acre property is an exciting one.

“Over the past couple of months, we’ve been putting things together over at the AKG and Buffalo State and we found we just couldn’t bring you the experience you’ve come to expect from Music is Art on the confines of the grounds,” he says. Both Buff State and the AKG have been invited to join the festival at the Outer Harbor and Takac promises to build on the event’s 21 years of success and showcasing local music and creative talent “without compromising the energy and character of the event.”

The new location allows for “26 stages with hundreds of musical acts, dancers, DJs, performance artists, over 50 displaying artists, dozens of live art installations, circus arts, kids activities, food trucks, vendors and libations,” the organization says, calling the Outer Harbor “a perfectly amazing canvas to showcase our W NY creative community.”

And to help those who have concerns about the limited road options for arriving to the festival, which has faced long waits for getting into and leaving RiverWorks in past years, “ample free and paid parking options for nearly 2,000 cars, along with shuttle services, bike accommodations and VIP experiences will all be available.”

This is the 22^nd year for the event, taking place in early to mid-September each year since 2003 (there was a virtual musician event during 2020 when social distancing was a must and there was no safe way to host the event in-person). Originally located at the corner of Franklin and Allen streets, it has become one of the most well-attended, popular events for Buffalo’s creative population, with hundreds of volunteers helping to make the day run smoothly. More information on this year’s event can be found at www.musicisarg.org/festival.