Here's what to expect at the inaugural, free Peoples Street Music & Film Festival

John Oliva, Corpus Christi Caller Times
·3 min read

Business owners of Peoples Street in downtown Corpus Christi will soon bring a free event that has the arts at the forefront.

The inaugural Peoples Street Music & Film Festival is set to take place throughout the weekend starting 5:30 p.m. Friday.

In July 2021, Peoples Street threw a block party to bring the community together after the COVID-19 pandemic struck.

Carlos Cooper, Carlos Villarreal and Ceirra Riley — owners of Hybrid Records, Produce Goods and Commons in downtown Corpus Christi, respectively — came together in April of this year with an idea to bring the arts to downtown. Cooper said the three-day festival is an extension of the block party.

Residents wait in line for the reopening of Hybrid Records at the store's new location, 417 Peoples St., on Record Store Day, April 23, 2022, in Corpus Christi, Texas.
Residents wait in line for the reopening of Hybrid Records at the store's new location, 417 Peoples St., on Record Store Day, April 23, 2022, in Corpus Christi, Texas.

"We thought that was really sick and wanted to make it a whole weekend event," Cooper said. "We wanted to have more of the focus on a proper music and film festival and bring people in from out of town. That means a bigger scale, bigger budget and bigger sets."

Cooper said while there are plenty of festivals that occur throughout Corpus Christi yearly, none are focused on the arts. He said having a free "interdisciplinary" event is something people will travel out of town for.

The trio's goal for the free event? To create a Corpus Christi version of Austin's South by Southwest.

"Our idea is to be community driven and community supported with an emphasis on Texas," Cooper said. "Next year, we want to have multiple stages, a bigger lineup, multiple venues for screening films and more films. All of it needs to be big and on par with what you'd expect at a huge festival anywhere else."

Schedule for events, lineup

  • Friday: Timed with Downtown Corpus Christi's monthly ArtWalk, the Peoples Street Music & Film Festival will kick off festivities with vendors, food trucks and live entertainment. Starting at 5:30 p.m., people will be able to hear music from singers, bands and DJs including DJ JELLOxSHOT, DJ Edica, Ambrose Brown, Moniq, Duel, Wolfbat, Chris 56 and New Ends.

  • Saturday: From noon to 5 p.m., short films and music videos will be played for attendees to view. They will also be judged by a three-person panel including professors at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi and Del Mar College. Once the films are over, live music will take the stage including performances from Total Death Mechanics, Oldie Hawn, Virginia Creeper, Glare, Up Dog, Money Chicha and El Dusty.

  • Sunday: Starting at noon, the festival will head to BUS on North Chaparral Street with more vendors, food trucks and an awards ceremony from the film portion of the event. Music will be played from Chulita Vinyl Club, an DJ collective made up of "women, gender-non-conforming, non-binary, LGBTQ+ and self-identifying people of color," until the ceremony ends at 3 p.m.

For more information, visit peoplesstreetfestival.com.

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John Oliva covers entertainment and community news in South Texas. Contact him at john.oliva@caller.com or Twitter @johnpoliva.

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This article originally appeared on Corpus Christi Caller Times: Peoples Street Music & Film Festival: Here's what to expect