Today we’d like to introduce you to Lora Hurt.
Hi Lora, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
We’re Casey and Lora Hurt, and we’ve both always been creators. Casey is a musician and songwriter, and Lora is a songwriter and artist, so in many ways Art & Music has become a natural extension of who we are and what we love.
Art & Music started as a family business in Redmond in 2019, and we’ve been part of it from the beginning, including teaching music lessons and helping with the store. Over the years, our involvement grew, and in 2024 we took over the business and began shaping its next chapter together. For us, building the business has become another form of creating—one that allows us to use what we know and love to serve the community around us.
Today, our goal is pretty simple: we want Art & Music to be the go-to art and music store in Central Oregon. We offer music lessons, quality art supplies, stringed instruments and music gear, but what we really want to provide is knowledge, guidance and a great experience. We want people to be able to come in, try things, ask questions and feel comfortable whether they’re just getting started or have been creating for years.
At its heart, Art & Music is about helping people create, and we’re continuing to build the store around that idea.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Owning and operating a retail store was definitely a learning curve for us, and we hit the ground running. A big part of that journey has been defining what we want Art & Music to be—learning what our customers are looking for and curating the store around products we genuinely believe in and can stand behind.
Another part has simply been creating awareness that we’re here. We’ve had to learn how to become more visible in our community, build relationships, and help people discover that there is a local option for art supplies, instruments, music gear and lessons right here in Redmond.
We’re also running a brick-and-mortar store at a time when people can order almost anything online. That has made us think a lot about what we can offer that the internet can’t. For us, it’s the experience. We’re real people you can talk to, ask questions, try things with, and come back to when you need help. That personal connection has become a huge part of who we are.
We’ve learned a lot along the way while growing the business, raising our son, and still making room for our own creative lives. We’re continually figuring things out, but each challenge has helped us become clearer about the kind of store—and the kind of life—we want to build.
Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Art & Music?
What makes Art & Music unique is really right there in our name—we’re both a fine art store and a music store under one roof. That combination is something we’re incredibly proud to offer here in Central Oregon.
On the art side, we carry high-quality fine art materials from some of the most respected brands in the industry, with options for professional artists, students, hobbyists and people just getting started. One of our favorite things is being able to put great materials into people’s hands locally and help them understand the differences and find what works best for them.
On the music side, we specialize in guitars and other stringed instruments, amps, effects, accessories and music lessons. We’re proud to be authorized dealers for Fender, Taylor, Marshall and other great music brands, and we’re also a Fender Authorized Service Center. Being a small independent store that gets to partner with these major brands—and bring their products and support to our community—is something we don’t take for granted.
But the brands are only part of what we do. What really sets us apart is the experience. You can come in and play the guitar, plug into the amp, compare art materials, ask questions, take a lesson, or get help figuring out what you actually need. You don’t have to already know the terminology or exactly what you’re looking for. Beginners are just as welcome here as working artists and musicians.
Ultimately, we want Art & Music to be a knowledgeable local resource for creativity—a place people can come back to as they learn, grow and create.
Do you have any memories from childhood that you can share with us?
Funny enough, for both of us, some of our favorite childhood memories center around music. We both remember really listening to songs—not just enjoying them, but trying to figure out what made a song good. What were the different instruments doing? What were all those layers we were hearing? Why did certain songs make us feel something?
We still talk about that today because it shaped the way both of us listen to music and, even more, the way we create and write. There was something really special about discovering music that way—being curious about it before we even had the words to explain what we were hearing.
That same curiosity is something we love seeing in other people now. There’s a moment when someone finds an instrument they connect with and starts discovering what they can do with it. We see it especially with our students—learning an instrument can eventually turn into creating something of their own, sometimes even writing their first song.
It’s pretty amazing to realize that something we both loved so much as kids has found its way into so much of what we do today.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.artandmusicredmond.com
- Instagram: http://instagram.com/artandmusicredmond
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/artandmusicredmond
