No Idea Festival _Dallas

$15 pre-sale
$25 door
We are proud to once more host the Dallas evening of the Austin-based No Idea Festival! This year’s edition features artists working at the peripheries of Free Improvisation, Composition, Noise, Free Jazz, Sonic Intervention, and, now in its 19th year, the power of words and voice. Poet and cultural theorist Fred Moten and double bassist Brandon Lopez arrive from New York for their Texas debut. Aaron Gonzalez and Joshua Cañate (bass, saxophone, drums) perform together for the first time, and Sherrie Zantea will ignite the evening with her slam work. The Dallas program is a curatorial collaboration between No Idea, porous sonorous, and Deep Vellum Publishing.
Fred Moten + Brandon Lopez (NYC)
Aaron González + Joshua Cañate (North Texas)
Sherrie Zantea (Dallas)

Click here for the full No Idea Festival Program (Austin/Dallas)

October 23-26, 2025.

FRED MOTEN
Cultural theorist, poet, and scholar whose work explores critical theory, black studies, and performance studies. A 2020 MacArthur Fellow and 2016 Guggenheim Fellow, Moten is Professor of Performance Studies at New York University and Distinguished Professor Emeritus at University of California, Riverside; he previously taught at Duke University, and the University of Iowa. His scholarly texts include The Undercommons: Fugitive Planning & Black Study which was co-authored with Stefano Harney, In the Break: The Aesthetics of the Black Radical Tradition, and The Universal Machine. He has published numerous poetry collections, including The Little Edges, The Feel Trio, B Jenkins, and Hughson's Tavern.
BRANDON LOPEZ
New York-based composer and bassist working at the fringes of jazz, free improvisation, noise and new music. From the New York Philharmonic's David Geffen Hall to the DIY basements of Brooklyn, Lopez has worked beside many luminaries of jazz, classical, poetry, and experimental music, including Fred Moten, John Zorn, Okkyung Lee, Ingrid Laubrock, Tyshawn Sorey, Bill Nace, Cecilia Lopez, Sun Ra Arkestra, Susan Alcorn, Mette Rasmussen, and many others. Accolades include Downbeat’s 2025 Rising Star on double bass, Artist in Residence at Roulette (2019–2020 ) and Issue Project Room (2018).
SHERRIE ZANTEA
Has been writing and performing poetry for over 25 years. Current CEO of the Dallas Poetry Slam Organization and founder of Poetchella International Festival. One of the lead instructors for the Literary Arts in the DFW School Districts. She created a teaching artist program for Dallas Poetry Slam that partners with youth organizations in the country. Former Program Director for The Writer’s Garret and one of the Learning Partners for Big Thought Youth Development Non-Profit and facilitates workshops with schools and universities across the county. Sherrie has published a poetry/recipe book “Heirlooms” and “Oak Cliff-Hangers, Stories from a Snowglobe”.
AARON GONZÁLEZ
Aaron Gonzalez is a composer, teacher, performance artist, and player of all kinds of basses. The elder son of Dennis Gonzalez and brother of Stefan, he co-founded the family trio Yells at Eels and performs with Humanization Quartet (with Stefan, Luís Lopes, and Rodrigo Amado). His current project, Firelife Trio, brings him together with Danny Kamins and Stefan. Aaron has collaborated with Famoudou Don Moye, Alvin Fielder, Louis Moholo-Moholo, Ra Kalam Bob Moses, Ingebrigt Håker-Flaten, Eugene Chadbourne, Gregg Prickett, Tom Carter, and many others. With Stefan, he also co-leads the Dennis Gonzalez Legacy Band.
JOSHUA CAÑATE
Saxophonist/drummer with deep Ft Worth roots. His work as part of Trio Glossia, Flesh Narc, and Same Brain, is incredibly fresh, spontaneous, and powerful.
“Tends to float like Roy Haynes (his brushwork is especially noteworthy)… Cañate conjures the spirit of Tony Williams…” Ken Shimamoto

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