diff --git a/libraries/render-utils/src/text/Font.cpp b/libraries/render-utils/src/text/Font.cpp
index c6a7da3a1a..f51a779066 100644
--- a/libraries/render-utils/src/text/Font.cpp
+++ b/libraries/render-utils/src/text/Font.cpp
@@ -14,6 +14,8 @@
 #include "../RenderUtilsLogging.h"
 #include "FontFamilies.h"
 
+static std::mutex fontMutex;
+
 struct TextureVertex {
     glm::vec2 pos;
     glm::vec2 tex;
@@ -56,6 +58,7 @@ Font::Pointer Font::load(QIODevice& fontFile) {
 }
 
 Font::Pointer Font::load(const QString& family) {
+    std::lock_guard<std::mutex> lock(fontMutex);
     if (!LOADED_FONTS.contains(family)) {
 
         static const QString SDFF_COURIER_PRIME_FILENAME{ ":/CourierPrime.sdff" };
diff --git a/libraries/render-utils/src/text/Font.h b/libraries/render-utils/src/text/Font.h
index 5b6b4f2a43..2b61f19492 100644
--- a/libraries/render-utils/src/text/Font.h
+++ b/libraries/render-utils/src/text/Font.h
@@ -31,10 +31,10 @@ public:
         const glm::vec4* color, EffectType effectType,
         const glm::vec2& bound, bool layered = false);
 
-    static Pointer load(QIODevice& fontFile);
     static Pointer load(const QString& family);
 
 private:
+    static Pointer load(QIODevice& fontFile);
     QStringList tokenizeForWrapping(const QString& str) const;
     QStringList splitLines(const QString& str) const;
     glm::vec2 computeTokenExtent(const QString& str) const;