What is The I’m With You Gala?
The 🌹I’m With You Gala🌹 is an invitation to care for the kind of art we want to exist in the world and an opportunity for Houston to put our own artists at the forefront of the music industry.
Hosted and curated by Georgia Park Studios and The Im With You Gala Committee, this Gala brings together an incredible lineup of live music, a DJ, dancing, art, food, hospitality, and some surprises for an elevated experience built with the same care and intention we believe independent artists deserve.
If you’ve ever been to a Georgia Park Studios event, you know how we roll, we don’t play. Think bigger but the same thoughtful details. Intentional and thoughtful hospitality. Live entertainment. A room designed for people to actually connect with one another and with the art. At Georgia Park Studios, we operate with care, precision, and thoughtfulness.
Think GLOBAL. This is a chance for Houston to be part of the making. We want Houston to have a hand in making artists be heard far beyond our city. Every ticket and every contribution is an act of belief in an artist, the people who make it possible, and the communities that keep it alive.
Why a Gala?
The path to building a career in music is always changing. There was a time when record labels found and made artists with resources, distribution, promotion, and infrastructure required to reach a larger audience. Streaming has given artists the ability to release music on their own but artists are increasingly expected to arrive with momentum already behind them: an audience, a market, a body of work, a visual identity, streams, ticket sales, content, and proof that people are paying attention. Labels will not even turn their heads unless the artist has proven that they can guarantee the label a profit.
So the 🌹I'm With You Gala🌹 poses a different question: What if the community could build the momentum?
What if Houston could help identify extraordinary artists who are already doing the work and collectively give them the resources, audience, visibility, and support to reach the next level? That is the idea behind the 🌹I'm With You Gala🌹. This year is just the beginning.
A Note From Our Founder
If I need a resource, I want to become a resource for others.
As a self-made artist, I keep coming back to one thought: We’re already doing the work. Why not invite the community to play some of the role that traditional music infrastructure has played?
And then I started thinking bigger.
Why couldn’t we build a recurring event that supports artists we believe in, especially artists who are clearly already doing everything they can to make their dreams real?
Many of you have been part of my music journey since the beginning. You’ve watched me work on this record for more than two years. You’ve watched me raise money, play shows, build audiences, create opportunities, and keep finding ways to move the music forward. And I know I’m not the only artist fighting for their dreams.
The conclusion I keep coming back to is simple: if I need a resource, I want to become a resource for others.
That is what I want the 🌹I'm With You Gala🌹 to become. This year, the Gala will help launch my record and give this next chapter of my career the strongest possible foundation. But I want this to be the inaugural year of something Houston can build together: a community-powered platform capable of putting one of our rising artists at the forefront each year and helping launch them toward what comes next.
I want to bring other artists up with me. I want the Houston public to have a real hand in making careers. Every door I manage to open for myself, I want to hold open for the people coming behind me who are doing the work too.
And we’re already moving. The bill is built. We are finalizing the venue from three gorgeous options and offers. Tickets are already selling. Now we’re building the room.
Come be part of the making. 🌹
– Sara Van Buskirk
A Note From Our I’m With You
Gala Committee Leader
Let’s give back to Sara the same depth of community and connection that her music makes us feel.
At Sara’s shows I see so much connection. I see people, strangers, hugging each other. At the Solar Flare Music Festival I saw someone catch a lyric and turned to the stranger next to them and say “that lyric just said something I have never been able to put in words.” That’s Sara’s music. That is what is so special about live music and being in a room together. Sara plays music that cracks us wide open and we all get to exist inside that moment together. But when the show is over, we are often forced outside of the moment that we built together. Having a record that you can take home will give life to these moments beyond the room you heard it in, beyond the moment you heard it live. Once the record is released you can play it in your kitchen or your car or whenever you need to come back to yourself or to each other.
It is important to note what it takes to release a record. Writing, recording, mixing, mastering, album art are only one portion of what it takes. To release a record for career longevity it takes care and intention beyond the making of the album. The live show and gathering for experiences is a huge part of having the market for the music to be heard once released. What these artists are doing is labor! This is work! It is a labor of love for sure, but it is their job and what their work does brings so much to our life and makes our life fuller! So, it’s really important they get paid.
Making all of this happen and getting music out into the world is going to take all of us in this Houston community giving back to Sara the same depth of community and connection that her music makes us feel.
I am THRILLED to present to you the first ever I’m With You Gala, a place where you will feel the care and depth of community an artist like Sara brings with their music and get the opportunity to give right back.
– Caroline Duble
What Does It Take To Make An Album?
Can’t make this year’s Gala date, but want to support?