Arlington is more than just the home of the Dallas Cowboys and Texas Rangers — it’s a creative hub where local artists thrive. From bars and coffee shops to the Levitt Pavilion and backyard areas offering a stage, aspiring stars can make a name for themselves within the community. The Football Team Creative was created in 2017 to bring UTA together through art and music, Lillian Durand, The Football Team Creative president, said. The group’s biggest events are their shows, whether held in a member’s house, local bar or restaurant. “Since UTA is lacking in that respect of having an actual football team, we wanted to do something that still brought the community together and created a campus culture,” she said. “Instead of doing sports-related events, we like to throw on art and music shows that help support the creative community in Arlington.” The team aims to give local artists their first paid gig and help provide them a starting point. They try to book bands native to Arlington, many being UTA students, as well as others throughout the Metroplex. “Every single band that we book, we pay them,” she said. “The reason we charge for our events is [because] we’re a nonprofit, so we don’t seek to really necessarily make money off of the events.” In a digitalized age where music is at your fingertips, Durand said live music is essential. She said the experience at shows creates a special bond with those around you. “It’s not just about listening to the music, but hearing the show live and with other people, there’s just a completely different energy to it,” she said. Dallas artist Niki Joans started her first college band, Summit Valley, in 2019 as a UTA student. Named after Summit Avenue, Joans and a few friends began practicing in a garage. Their first gig was a live-streamed show with The Football Team Creative in 2020, and after a three-hour live set at The Tipsy Oak on East Front Street in 2021, they started to gain traction. “Building a community was so important because that’s really what gave us the confidence to take care outside of Arlington,” Joans said. Since being in college, the band has gained over 800 followers on Instagram and listeners across the world. She said Arlington played a key role in their growth. “Being in Arlington, going to UTA, meeting the people that we met in the area, definitely really helped us to get on the path of taking things to the next level,” Joans said. Live performances allow artists to connect with their fans, something that she said isn’t tangible through listening to music digitally. “You can listen to anybody’s EP or album over the phone, but you are missing a big key component, I feel like, not being in person with your audience,” she said. Arlington Amplified, a nonprofit program supported by Levitt Pavilion Arlington, connects local artists, venues, businesses and industry professionals through its music ecosystem. The program started after the Texas Music Office designated Arlington, the 20th city in 2020, a Music Friendly Texas Certified Community. Initially named Music Friendly Community of Arlington, the program rebranded as Arlington Amplified. The Texas Music Office is the first and longest-running state music office in the nation, according to its website. In 2016, it created the Music Friendly Texas Certified Community Program and provides over 60 communities with networks for fostering industry development. Angela Peña, Levitt Pavilion communications and program development director, said Arlington Amplified promotes both local artists and Arlington venues, like J. Gilligan’s Bar & Grill and Grease Monkey Burger Shop, highlighting shows and concerts, as well as hosting their own events. Yeslyann Cruz, Arlington Amplified's social media manager, is actively promoting events and venues on their social media accounts. “We also do host networking events every other month where we can get the community together to network and socialize, and meet one another,” Cruz said. “Through these events, people have been a lot more receptive of Arlington Amplified and what it does for the community.” Peña said supporting local artists and musicians directly impacts the economy. Each event is an opportunity to create jobs, as artists need managers, graphic designers and agents. “It’s creating a more open and inviting environment, and it just brings a vibrant community together,” she said. Visitors who have a free night after a Cowboy’s game, concert or convention can find free, live music throughout Arlington with the Arlington Amplified community calendar. Artists submit their shows to be approved, and the information is given to the Convention and Visitors Bureau for those passing through town to find a show. “Every time you visit a city anywhere else, you want to do what the locals do, you don’t want to do the typical trendy things,” Peña said. “You want to go where the locals are.” During the COVID-19 pandemic, Fort Worth artist Rebecca “Beck Bucks” Luby wanted to experiment with music and find her own artistic value. Luby said the Metroplex’s music scene is small, so having a community in Arlington has been impactful. She connected with the Football Team Creative a few years ago and over time helped put on house shows. She said it’s a great organization for people wanting to experience different avenues. “It’s the mission statement, I think on music and Football Team [Creative], is to see your live music scene flourish by giving people the opportunity to make that happen,” Luby said. She said it was surreal getting her start in Arlington, the city where she was born and raised. She loved performing in an accepting environment. Although she isn’t currently performing live, Luby books shows for artists in the Metroplex and continues to create music. She said there’s nothing like live music because it gives musicians the chance to engage and talk to their fans. “I lived there for so long, and I loved it so much,” Luby said. “But also having an environment of people that you already know, and you’re also starting a movement, you’re in that movement, so that felt so good to do that.” @amandaLaldridge news-editor.shorthorn@uta.edu

Metroplex residents have a variety of activities to choose from this upcoming week, including dog-friendly festivals, local live music and various sporting events. Entertainment Join Canine Companions, a nonprofit providing trained service dogs to adults, children and veterans with disabilities, for DogFest from 4 to 7 p.m. Sept. 14 at Community Beer Co. in Dallas. The family and pet-friendly festival will have music, vendors and activities. Registration for DogFest is free and can be done online. The Dallas Arboretum and Botanical Garden will kick off Hispanic Heritage Month with its seventh annual Hispanic Heritage Celebration on Sept. 14 and 15. The two-day event will feature a quinceañera fashion show, musical performances and cooking demonstrations. Tickets range from $10 to $16 and are available online. Taste test or compete with homemade salsas at On Tap’s third annual salsa competition from 1 to 3 p.m. Sept. 15 on North Mesquite Street. Entry fees are available online at $5 for tasters and $15 for competitors, with a prize of $100 for 1st place and $50 for the people’s choice award. Music K-pop group NCT Dream is bringing their Dream World Tour to Fort Worth at 8 p.m. Sept. 17 at Dickies Arena. Tickets are available through Ticketmaster starting at $75.50. As part of Levitt Pavilion’s free concert series, grab some friends to see Del Castillo with Los Juanos take the stage 7 p.m. Sept. 20. Attendees are encouraged to bring lawn chairs or blankets to take advantage of open lawn seating. Sports Head to Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth for the second round of the SuperMotocross World Championship Playoffs at 1:30 p.m. Sept. 14. Attendees can see top riders from the Monster Energy American Motorcyclist Association Supercross Championship and the Pro Motocross Championship. Tickets are available online, starting at $40. Cheer on the Texas Rangers as they face off against the Toronto Blue Jays at 7:05 p.m. Sept. 17 and 18 at Globe Life Field. Tickets can be purchased online for as low as $20, coupled with a dollar hot dog day promotion at the ballpark Sept. 18. news-editor.shorthorn@uta.edu

With nearly 40.1 million eligible voters, Generation Z will have a chance to impact the upcoming presidential election, with social media playing a vital role. In an online era, most election updates are shared throughout the internet. Whether it’s making a meme, a cartoon of a candidate, clips of speeches being reposted or social media accounts created to spread voter awareness and show support for their party, social media has played a pivotal role in the 2024 Kamala Harris and Donald Trump presidential election campaigns and may continue to impact the 8 million people aging into voter eligibility. Amanda Jordan, Department of Communication lecturer, said the 2008 presidential election was the first election where social media was available, but it wasn’t widely used. Its usage grew by the 2012 presidential election because of the shift in interest and candidate personalities, Democratic nominee Barack Obama and Republican nominee Mitt Romney. Over the past decade, Jordan has seen a big change in where students get information when they’re ready to vote. She said social media has become a place for communities to find information about current candidates, which can have its ups and downs. “[One of the bigger] downsides of elections and social media is, it’s very difficult to trust information that you find,” she said. “It’s difficult to trust information you find about anything, but really [in] politics, in the United States and globally, it is a buyer beware situation.” For a portion of Gen Z, this is the first presidential election they’ll be voting in, which can be intimidating, but having social media platforms encourage voting and explain the process can make going to the polls easier. Connecting people through social media with a shared interest, like singer Taylor Swift, can take a level of voting intimidation away. Emerald Medrano, UT - El Paso creative writing major, is one of the original co-founders of the social media account @Swifties4Kamala. The page aims to promote voting in fun ways, like making friendship bracelets or gathering with like-minded people to watch debates. Medrano said he wanted to bring “Swiftie culture” into politics, to provide comfort to new voters. During a moment of uncertainty after President Joe Biden announced that he stepped down from the race, Medrano turned to X in July 2024 to express his worries. “I have a lot of faith in Swifties, a lot of trust in the community I’m a part of online, that we could do something. So, I made a tweet that was like, ‘We should organize and get together and do something this election to promote voting,’” he said. Trump supporters have also created fandom and community groups such as Swifties for Trump, Moms for Liberty, Turning Point Action and the NELK Boys, a group of YouTubers advocating for Trump. “What I am seeing is a grassroots ability to get people to make sure they’re registered to vote,” Jordan said. “That was a door-to-door thing, and frankly, door-to-door anything is terrifying these days. Social media can take that out and allow you to reach more people, and that’s fantastic.” The NELK Boys consist of four Canadian friends who make prank videos on YouTube. On the 8.17 million subscriber platform, they’ve sold t-shirts and have had Donald Trump Jr. on their podcast supporting the former president’s campaign. The channel uses its platform to discuss the upcoming election, showing its young subscribers a personal side of the Republican Party. Younger people are the least likely to vote because issues regarding homeownership or paying taxes don’t apply to them yet, but if candidates are saying anything that interests these voters, it will entice them to vote for them, said Rebecca Deen, senior associate dean in the College of Liberal Arts and political science professor. For example, Harris’ campaign discusses reproductive freedom and economic crises, whereas Trump emphasizes strength and cracks down on crime. Although there have been memes and posts on social media poking fun at both candidates and the election, it’s the way they hold themselves and react to the media that will catch voters' attention, Deen said. “Media has always been a powerful tool,” Medrano said. “Media is how we frame what we see and the narratives of who these people are, what they’ll bring to our country.” Deen said candidates need to meet the media landscape; they have to be able to use it to their advantage. “Presidential candidates, politicians — all politicians, but especially presidential candidates — have to navigate the media landscape that they’re in,” Deen said. “It’s not that it’s become more positive or that [Harris] turned it positive. She’s just been able to navigate very adeptly through the media world that she’s lived in.” On social platform X, the verified account @trumpswiftie has nearly 20,000 followers and uses their platforms to connect Trump-supporting Swifties to discuss the upcoming election. The account often posts memes and reposts informational media on its page. Launched by Trump, Truth Social is a platform that encourages free, open and honest expression without discrimination based on political ideology, according to the Associated Press. In August, Trump reposted photos of various AI-generated Swifties for Trump supporters on his Truth Social account saying, “I accept!,” showing formal support to voters. Following the Sept. 10 presidential debate, Swift took to her social media to announce her disproval of the false AI endorsements created with her likeness and announced her endorsement for Harris. "The simplest way to combat misinformation is with the truth," Swift wrote in an Instagram post. Freelance producer Irene Kim, co-founder and executive director of @Swifties4Kamala, said using existing fandom culture to share resources has been effective to hopefully make receiving election information fun. “I felt like this was a really good chance for us to work together on something else we care a lot about, which is protecting each other’s rights,” Kim said. Serving as a modern-day version of political cartoons, memes and election trends have been essential to this campaign, among all parties. “This is how political movements start,” Kim said. “It’s just from the people you know and trust, and so it felt like a really good opportunity here.” @Swifties4Kamala wants to make things digestible and accessible, reaching people who may not have been educated otherwise. “We’re not taught a lot of this in school. We really should be, but we’re not,” Kim said. “I think it’s very valid that if you don’t understand something, you’re not really going to be a part of it.” Working with Social Goods, a nonprofit organization that donates its merchandise sale profits to voter registration efforts, @Swifties4Kamala has amassed over 41,000 voter registration checks and shares information with over 75,000 followers on their X page alone. While various groups focus on providing information to the public, Jordan said to still verify your facts, because even though a social media group says something, that doesn’t automatically make it true. “I don’t think any single candidate is perfect, and that makes things hard,” Kim said. “But I think what we need to do in this situation is go with what works best.” @amandaLaldridge @_itsjinelle life-editor.shorthorn@uta.edu

Residents can enjoy galleries, conceptual performances, music and tours throughout the Metroplex. Entertainment View the “Woven Narrative” gallery by artist Paulette Martsolf from 6 to 8 p.m. Sept. 6 at the Umbrella Gallery in Dallas. The gallery will be hosted through Oct. 18 with free admission. Enjoy A New Colorful Tour of Deep Ellum with Dezman “Dezi 5” Lehman, founder of the Dallas Entertainment Awards, starting 3 p.m. Sept. 7. The event is free to attend every Saturday and will begin at the Dallas Community Center, taking attendees down Elm, Main and Crowdus streets while exploring Deep Ellum’s history. Tres Artes “The Painter and the Poet,” at 8 p.m. Sept. 7 at the Latino Cultural Center in Dallas. The performance follows the story of a forbidden love with conceptual choreography, costuming and music as actors delve into the provocative history of Spain and the LGBTQ+ community. Doors open at 7:30 p.m. and tickets can be purchased online starting at $25. Enter a fairytale with glass slippers, wayward princes and midnight spells 8 p.m. Sept. 13 at the Winspear Opera House in Dallas for its ballet adaptation of Cinderella. Tickets can be purchased online starting at $25. Music Part of Levitt’s free concert series, join locals 7 p.m. Sept. 8 at Levitt Pavilion on Abram Street to see artists Hankins, Riley Gilbreath & Lonestar Blue, and The Vintage Yell take the stage. Attendees are encouraged to bring lawn chairs or blankets to take advantage of open seating on the lawn. Enjoy rock group LoveBites’ debut world tour, The Thin Line Between Love and Hate, from 7 to 11 p.m. Sept. 8 at The Echo Lounge & Music Hall in Dallas. Tickets can be purchased online starting at $42. @XenaDuly news-editor.shorthorn@uta.edu

Residents have a selection of music, cultural celebrations and family-friendly events to look forward to in the Metroplex this week. Music From 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. Aug. 29 to 31 and 3 to 5 p.m. Sept. 1, head to the Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center to relive the magic of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire with a live symphony orchestra performance of Patrick Doyle’s score. Prepare for dragons, merpeople and all the excitement of the Triwizard Tournament. Ticket prices vary and can be purchased on their website. Crown the Empire is coming to the House of Blues Dallas from 6 to 11 p.m. Aug. 31 for a night of live music. Before or after the show, attendees can spend time in the Foundation Room and explore what the venue has to offer. Ticket prices start at $17.75 and can be purchased online. Entertainment Celebrate Labor Day weekend at the Dallas Arboretum and Botanical Garden from Aug. 31 to Sept. 2. This family-friendly event offers a Window to the Wild bird showcase from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. Sunday, a daily Country Critters Petting Zoo from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., and daily performances from noon to 2 p.m. Ticket prices vary and can be purchased on their website. Check out Dallas’ Best Taco and Margaritas Tour at the Dallas Bites and Sights Tours from 12:30 to 4:30 p.m. Aug. 31. Residents can taste a variety of award-winning, gourmet and eclectic tacos at four stops while sipping on margaritas. Tickets are $85 and can be purchased online. Admission is 21+ only. Head to Flag Pole Hill Park from 4 to 9 p.m. Sept. 7 for the Dallas Moon Festival. Attendees can dive into the rich tapestry of Asian culture with authentic street food, traditional dance and music, and interactive workshops. There’s fun for everyone, including children’s activities and plenty of shopping. Admission is free. @taylor._.sansom news-editor.shorthorn@uta.edu

Sabrina Carpenter kept it Short n’ Sweet with a runtime of 36 minutes and 13 seconds, “to be exact,” on her sixth studio album. Carpenter gave fans 12 tracks of heartbreak, self-discovery and confidence to listen to Friday, along with her viral summer hits “Espresso” and “Please Please Please.” Those who ordered the limited edition vinyl version of the album will hear an additional 13th track, “Needless to Say.” In comparison to her fifth studio album, emails i can’t send, Carpenter said Short n’ Sweet is its “hot older sister” and her second “big girl” album, according to Variety. Death becomes Carpenter and actress Jenna Ortega as they star in the thrilling music video for “Taste,” highlighting cult-classic scenes from movies like Kill Bill, Psycho, Death Becomes Her and Child’s Play. Horror and humor blend as Carpenter sings about how if her ex-partner has a new girlfriend, played by Ortega, then she’ll have to taste Carpenter too, as they fight to the death. She writes, “I heard you’re back together and if that’s true/ You’ll just have to taste me when he’s kissin’ you/ If you want forever, I bet you do/ Just know you’ll taste me too.” While Carpenter and Ortega share a kiss in the “Taste” music video, she serves up some “moanin’ and bitchin’” in her country song “Slim Pickins” where she sings about how there aren’t many good men left to pick from. The 25-year-old singer introduced upbeat synth-pop tempos with finger-picking rhythms in a personal favorite, “Good Graces,” as well as “Sharpest Tool” and “Coincidence,” where she combines country with pop like Madonna’s 2000 “Don’t Tell Me,” from the Music album. As she did in “Please Please Please,” the former Disney Channel actress likely addresses her relationship with Irish actor Barry Keoghan in “Bed Chem.” She sings, “Who’s the cute boy with the white jacket and the thick accent,” and “Who’s the cute guy with the wide, blue eyes,” which speak to the likeness of Keoghan’s characteristics. The love story continues with “Espresso,” where she sings about someone thinking about her every night and continuously calling her. Carpenter’s raunchy, synth-pop and upbeat 10th track possibly references Juno, the 2007 coming-of-age movie about teen pregnancy. Some fans believe Carpenter means she’s so attracted to the person she’s singing about, she would let him get her pregnant. She sings, “If you love me right, then who knows?/ I might let you make me Juno/ You know I just might/ Let you lock me down tonight.” While this album holds soon-to-be pop hits, Carpenter rounds out “Sabrina Summer,” with a slowed tempo in “Dumb & Poetic,” “Lie to Girls” and “Don’t Smile.” In these, Carpenter addresses her heartache and mistakes from past relationships. As Short n’ Sweet starts with Carpenter’s hatred for the new girl her ex-partner is with, it ends with her mourning a relationship, saying she wants him to miss her in “Don’t Smile.” She sings, “Don’t smile because it happened, baby/ Cry because it’s over/ Oh, you’re supposed to think about me/ Every time you hold her.” When announcing the album in June, Carpenter said in an Instagram post, “This project is quite special to me and I hope it’ll be something special to you too.” After giving her album a “Taste,” I can say with confidence that Carpenter made Short n’ Sweet something she and her fans can be proud of. It’s no “Coincidence” that the “pop princess” has kept fans in her “Good Graces,” after releasing another hit album. @amandaLaldridge news-editor.shorthorn@uta.edu