Austin Classical Guitar Celebrates 35 Years

Just off Old Manor Road, behind General Marshall Middle School, sits an unassuming warehouse many Mueller residents might overlook. Yet behind those plain walls lies a working film studio complete with the full set of Iron City, the sprawling dystopian world built for Robert Rodriguez’s 2019 film Alita: Battle Angel. On September 27, that unique setting became the site of Austin Classical Guitar’s 35th season celebration. Troublemaker Studios, rarely open to the public, offered the space for the event, transforming its cinematic streetscape into an atmospheric stage. Guests dined on paella and sipped sangria while celebratory performances from the Austin Flamenco Academy and Crockett High School’s Mariachi de Oro filled the air. The evening culminated with a mesmerizing set by world-renowned flamenco guitarist Grisha, ACG’s 2025–26 artist in residence, who officially launched the organization’s new season, “Spark.”

The celebration offered a rare glimpse into one of Austin’s most iconic creative spaces and into the story of how a homegrown filmmaker helped anchor part of Hollywood in Central Texas. Troublemaker Studios was founded by Robert Rodriguez, a San Antonio native and University of Texas at Austin alumnus, whose work helped define the city’s modern film identity. Rodriguez credits his UT film professor, Charles Ramírez Berg, with shaping his cinematic perspective and fueling his independent spirit.

A Striking Location Walking through the Iron City set today, the scale of that vision is striking. The cobbled streets and faux-metal gates frame colorful shopfronts and building facades, covered with multilingual signage advertising cafés, healers, and scrap merchants. The result is a world that feels both ancient and futuristic. It is truly an immersive illusion of a society rebuilt from ruins. When Alita: Battle Angel was filmed there, its $200-million budget made it the most expensive production ever shot in Texas. That achievement stands out in a state that continues to lag neighboring New Mexico and Georgia in attracting productions with competitive film incentives.

The Texas Film Commission, founded in 1971, once helped make the state a powerhouse for production. Between 1970 and 1990, nearly 350 films were shot across Texas, bolstering local economies as crews spent on lodging, catering, and services. But over the past decade, as other states increased their financial incentives, Texas’s competitiveness has waned. In 2014, the Texas Moving Image Industry Incentive Program operated on a $95 million budget, offering rebates of up to 20 percent on qualified in-state expenditures. Two years later, legislators cut that figure by more than half. The result was a gradual migration of film productions elsewhere, with a few notable exceptions.

Supporting Texas Filmmaking Filmmakers like Rodriguez and fellow Austinite Richard Linklater have continued to keep their cameras rolling in Texas. Since reorganizing his company as Troublemaker Studios in 2000, Rodriguez has filmed at least portions of every project in the state. In that light, Alita: Battle Angel stands as both a spectacle of science fiction and a statement of faith in Texas filmmaking. The rare peek inside Troublemaker Studios made Austin Classical Guitar’s event an unusual treat. Beneath the glow of the Iron City lights, guests celebrated the intersection of two of Austin’s great creative forces: music and film. For many attendees, the evening offered more than a concert; it revealed an alternate world tucked quietly into the Mueller neighborhood, a reminder that in Austin, imagination often hides in plain sight.

December 2025

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