fifty years live.
RED VELVET partnered with Austin PBS to celebrate 50 years of Austin City Limits: transforming a television milestone into an interactive cultural experience that brought music, memory, and community to life across Central Texas.
Experiential Design & Production
Logistics & Permitting
Mobile Vehicle Management
B2C Experience
6k+
participants engaging through live activations
94k+
website visits to aclturns50.com
1,750
organic social shares amplifying reach
context.
For half a century, Austin City Limits (ACL) has been more than a television show, it’s a living archive of American music and a pillar of public broadcasting. Produced by Austin PBS, ACL has showcased artists across every genre while staying true to its mission of accessibility and community connection. As public media faces increasing scrutiny, Austin PBS saw the 50th anniversary not merely as a nostalgic celebration, but as an opportunity to remind audiences why institutions like it still matter. The challenge was to honor five decades of groundbreaking performances while engaging a new generation of viewers and supporters who experience music in an ever-evolving digital landscape.
the ask.
Austin PBS enlisted RED VELVET to reimagine the ACL 50th anniversary beyond a static retrospective. The brief: design a mobile, interactive activation that could tour Central Texas, sparking renewed appreciation for public media and celebrating ACL’s cultural impact. The experience needed to connect fans emotionally to the show’s history, drive engagement with Austin PBS’s mission, and reach audiences across multiple touchpoints — from festival-goers and community event attendees to online visitors discovering ACL for the first time. Above all, it needed to embody ACL’s spirit of authenticity, creativity, and inclusion while highlighting how public media continues to amplify diverse voices and foster cultural connection.
solution.
RED VELVET designed the Austin PBS Cube: an immersive, traveling installation that brought ACL’s 50-year journey to life. Debuting at the ACL Festival, the custom-built cube featured vintage TVs looping iconic performances, a piece of the original ACL stage, and interactive elements like a live music trivia game and photo booth. Audiences could relive moments, make memories, and share their ACL story digitally. The cube then toured major Texas events including SXSW, the Red Poppy Festival, and ACL’s Hall of Fame celebration. Each stop deepened community connection through storytelling, nostalgia, and play. The activation’s digital extension, aclturns50.com, amplified reach — merging live engagement with online storytelling to ensure ACL’s legacy continues to resonate across generations.
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