Just when San Antonio’s legion of lovers thought she couldn’t be any more colorful and welcoming, the charm bar is rising, giving groups even more reason to discover the warm and unique heart of this diverse city.
Aside from an expansion of the city’s world-famous River Walk, which is being extended over the next several years, and new and renovated hotels (see Happenings sidebar), San Antonio is unveiling new and improved cultural offerings.
At the core of the city’s appeal is its eclectic, artful nature. In markets, museums, gardens, performing arts venues, annual fiestas, galleries, and artists’ studios and workshops, there are myriad ways to enjoy local creative expression. Groups can do more than regard the arts scene, however. Private events may be staged inside many of the unique artistic spaces.
“The color and character of our city is evident within the public art of our convention center,” says Kari Eustace, director of CVB services for the San Antonio CVB. “Even the carpeting is a work of art. You won’t find anything sterile in San Antonio.”
New and Noteworthy
With its expanding cultural draws, it’s no mystery why readers of American Style magazine named San Antonio one of the country’s top arts destinations for the fourth year since 2002.
At the top of the city’s arts stops is the new hot-pink Museo Alameda Smithsonian, an affiliate of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. The base of the museum is The Alameda, a circa-1949 movie palace that was the largest Latino entertainment site of that era. The new attraction, located in Historic Market Square, which is undergoing a $3 million restoration, combines art, history, cultural education, and live performances. The museum’s galleries exhibit art and objects that tell the story of Latinos in the Americas. The facility features 20,000 square feet of exhibition space and indoor and outdoor event venues for up to 150 people.
Culinary Latin American art is also upstage now, as the Culinary Institute of America (CIA) fulfills plans to elevate Latin cuisine through its new program, the CIA’s Center for Foods of the Americas (CFA). The CFA pilot program opened in San Antonio’s historic Pearl Brewery in 2006, and a new campus for the program is now under construction. The CFA will prepare Latino students and other aspiring chefs to enter the culinary profession.
Culture Connection
Ever since the Alamo became San Antonio’s icon of architectural preservation, the city has reclaimed many of its buildings for 21st century uses.
The San Antonio Museum of Art, for instance, is housed in a former brewery. One of its wings holds the Nelson A. Rockefeller Center for Latin American Art collection, the nation’s most comprehensive collection of art depicting and reflecting Latin American culture. The 30,000-square-foot center celebrates the cultures of Mexico, Central America and South America. Also on display are Spanish, contemporary, folk, and pre-Columbian art.
Van Gogh, Monet, Picasso, Matisse, O’Keeffe, Goya, and Renoir are featured artists in the McNay Art Museum, a former Mediterranean-style mansion where galleries spotlight French and European paintings, as well as Gothic, medieval and Indian paintings alongside modern sculpture and American art. An emerging $51 million, 45,000-square-foot expansion of the McNay will enable the museum to host nationally acclaimed exhibitions.
French nuns built a riverside convent in 1848, and today the building houses the Southwest School of Art and Craft. Groups that have private events in this venue enjoy its serene gardens, chapel and gazebo, as well as the option to arrive via river barge.
Attendees can savor the historic Old World atmosphere of La Villita, an exquisite district of meandering pathways near the river that lead to cozy galleries and artists’ studios.
Groups can check out the contemporary pieces at the Blue Star Arts Space in Southtown, once a warehouse district. Especially during First Friday Art Walks, it can be a reminder of Paris’ Montmartre or New York’s Soho art districts.
For offbeat arts consumption, some visitors enjoy mural tours through neighborhoods on San Antonio’s west side. The murals project is sponsored by an organization that seeks to encourage art expression among young people and others who live in underprivileged circumstances.
Moving Art
From mariachis in Market Square to elegant classical concerts, the performing arts infuse San Antonio with even more color.
Some performing arts options offer memorable platforms for private events. One example is the restored Majestic Theatre, a stunning vintage movie palace on historic Houston Street. Besides showcasing symphony, concerts and Broadway shows, its three spacious lobbies and large stage accommodate dinners, receptions or private concerts for up to 2,000 people.
Another reclaimed vintage movie house, Charlene McComb’s Empire Theater, built in 1914, is a great gilded stage for general sessions or private entertainment and dinners for up to 850.
Meanwhile, the Historic Sunken Garden Theater in Brackenridge Park has hosted outdoor symphony, jazz, dance, drama, and pop music performances for decades, and its nearly 900 permanent seats are available for private events.
Gardens Galore
Horticultural art is a highlight of the San Antonio Botanical Gardens, a 33-acre oasis of lush vegetation and native Texas plantings, displaying flora from three regions of the state. A third of the gardens are formal in design, including an aquatic garden, an herb garden and an old-fashioned garden. A Biblical Garden is filled with fig trees, date palms and other plant life mentioned in the Bible. The site’s Lucile Halsell Conservatory is a 90,000-square-foot complex of greenhouses. Created by acclaimed designer Emilio Ambasz, it has earned awards from architectural publications.
Taking visitors into another serene world is the Japanese Tea Gardens at Brackenridge Park, a site transformed from a former cement plant and rock quarry. The site’s outstanding floral displays are replanted annually by the city and feature a variety of plants, from hibiscus to ornamental cabbage. Ponds with irregular shapes harbor giant goldfish and water lilies that reflect flashes of color from plants and trees. Pebble pathways and bridges lead visitors through the gardens, and a waterfall drops 60 feet from a high cliff into a pool.
More In Store
Even though culture infuses just about every site and venue in San Antonio, the city does not rest on its laurels.
“We are always looking for ways to make things better for our visitors by adding fun and color to the city experience,” Eustace says. “It’s our nature to preserve and reinvent along the way.”
To that end, another major art space, Briscoe Western Art Museum, is coming in mid-2009. The $18 million project, a renovation of the former San Antonio Library and Hertzberg Circus Museum, will feature dedicated meeting space.
With a major extension project of the San Antonio River Walk, visitors will also have easier access to San Antonio’s four historic missions on the south end and to museums and cultural attractions on the north end. The Museum Reach portion of the project will be completed by early 2009 and include walkways, overlooks, boat landings, stairs, accessible ramps, lighting, and additional water features. When the Mission Reach portion is done in 2012, the famed River Walk will extend 13 miles.
For More Info
San Antonio CVB 210.207.6700
www.sanantoniocvb.com
