Red Bull Music Academy and Red Bull Radio will both close after 21 years this fall, the company announced today. Both entities will cease operations by Oct. 31.
The move does not affect the Red Bull Festival, which was formerly associated with the Academy but separated; the festival announced a robust lineup for its New York incarnation next month and Tokyo later in the spring.
“After 20 years of supporting artists worldwide with its music program in a rapidly changing world, Red Bull will maintain its purpose of providing a global platform to promote creativity — but it is changing the means of delivery,” the company said in a statement. “Red Bull will be moving away from a strongly centralized approach, will gradually phase out the existing structure and will implement a new setup which empowers existing Red Bull country teams and utilizes local expertise. Red Bull will continue to explore new ways to support promising and cutting-edge artists wherever they may be.”
Launched in Berlin in 1998, the festival offered wildly ambitious programming that was left-of-center even for music snobs, offering programming ranging from a Brian Eno sound/visual installation to Q&As with A$AP Rocky, Iggy Pop and Erykah Badu, among many others. It is probably safe to say that the festival, which was staged in New York, London, Madrid, Paris and elsewhere, was by far the most adventurous of its size in the world. For its month-long New York incarnation, it even published a daily newspaper some years.
Yadastar’s Many Ameri and Torsten Schmidt confirmed the split in a statement released on Twitter. They thank their employees, patrons, contributors, Red Bull and many others. “We met more fascinating minds and characters than we could have ever imagined. For that we are grateful. Now we are very much looking forward to seeing you and people like you again. The world is full of great ideas. This was one.”