WORLD-CLASS REINVESTMENT RAISES BAR FOR CULTURE IN 78209
Organizations here in San Antonio whose mission is to enrich the lives of individuals of all ages through art, culture, education and recreation are all seeing increased numbers of visitors, membership and donations. Those same institutions are expanding their programming and outreach and enlarging their physical footprint. These organizations – McNay Art Museum, Witte Museum, San Antonio Botanical Garden, San Antonio Museum of Art and DoSeum – are also all located within a short distance from each other north of downtown, along the Broadway corridor. And the capacity of our local community to support their growth has been profound, as an estimated $200 million has been raised to help these institutions pursue their world-class visions.
“There’s been a seismic shift in the local cultural landscape,” said Witte Museum CEO/President Marise McDermott. “We see ourselves as part of San Antonio being a city on the rise.”
DoSeum CEO Vanessa Lacoss Hurd adds that the DoSeum would not be possible if not for the children’s museum’s long-time supporters and a growing segment of young families and other stakeholders excited by the local residential, recreational and commercial redevelopments.
“This is a very generous community. It’s inspired by powerful ideas that position San Antonio well on the national stage while preserving what’s near and dear to us locally,” Hurd said.
“These museums and gardens have had a core audience of affluent people, but that’s changing as more people of different backgrounds find value in what we do,” said San Antonio Botanical Garden development director Karen Kimball.
McNay Director William Chiego adds, “The McNay is a part of San Antonio’s cultural, recreational and educational revival because of the programs we offer that center on our exhibitions and permanent collection.”
McNay Art Museum
There have always been major fundraising and capital campaigns, but such ambitions reached a new level in the last decade when the McNay Art Museum started the rumblings of that aforementioned seismic shift by shepherding a $51 million capital campaign. The campaign had been the biggest of its kind to be completed in San Antonio through 2008, when the McNay opened the Jane and Arthur Stieren Center for Exhibitions, adding 45,000 square feet.
“The expansion of the McNay was driven by the need for dedicated galleries for special exhibitions and more galleries for a growing permanent collection,” said Chiego. “From 1991 until the Stieren Center opened, the collection grew from fewer than 10,000 to over 18,000 works of art. And the addition of the Stieren Center helped spur further growth through gifts and purchases, with the collection now numbering nearly 21,000 objects,” Chiego continued. “These kinds of capital projects such as the Stieren Center have given a place like the McNay more visibility and leverage in luring special exhibits and events.”
The McNay is creating strategic and master plans to guide future growth, which will include physical expansion on newly acquired nearby land. Like the McNay, other local museums and the botanical garden have been growing in many exciting ways. Witte Museum The Witte is currently undergoing a $100 million makeover that, come next year, will result in the opening of Mays Family Center for Exhibitions and Special Events and the Zachry Family Acequia Garden. The same makeover will yield the opening of several new permanent sections and galleries in 2017, including the H-E-B Lantern and Dinosaur Hall. Each new section will be a place of learning for students and young families. Aside from appealing to children and students, the Witte hosts a growing list of activities, such as Sunday Jazz at the Witte, Salud! and Cocktails and Culture, that bring in the grown-ups for entertainment and education.
“There’s been such a huge change in all this in the past five years, and more change is going to happen,” McDermott said.
Last year, the Witte opened the B. Naylor Morton Research and Collections Center to display the more than 300,000 artifacts in visible storage and to offer space for scholars, archivists and students to study the growing collection. McDermott sees the Witte’s star rising with all segments, especially because of the recreational and living opportunities near Brackenridge Park and along the San Antonio River’s Museum Reach. Awareness of what the Witte offers is greater than it’s ever been. McDermott said that is not lost on long-time patrons and new visitors alike. She explained that a record 42,000 students visited the museum this last school year despite the Witte’s main front entry being closed due to construction.
“That means we continue to serve a growing number of people, providing hands-on, real-life tangible experiences for families, children and young adults,” said McDermott.
San Antonio Botanical Garden
Across Broadway from the Witte lies the San Antonio Botanical Garden. It, too, has seen an expansion in programming, membership and visitors. The botanical garden strives to link people to the plant world through experience, education and research. That is particularly apparent in special exhibits and programs such as a vegetable garden where school children learn how to grow produce. The facility is also imaginatively expanding its outreach through concerts, food truck and beer events and occasional open access to dog owners.
“People are looking for something that’s culturally enriching,” said Karen Kimball. “The community has an understanding of the importance of these and more cultural activities. It’s more than learning happening here.”
Kimball adds that she finds more people wanting to contribute to the growth of the botanical garden and other cultural institutions on the Broadway corridor. The botanical garden is undergoing its first formal capital campaign. It has raised more than $16 million of a $21.8 million mission. The garden is expanding its footprint onto city-owned land on Funston Place that it manages with the San Antonio Botanical Society.
San Antonio Museum of Art
San Antonio Museum of Art (SAMA) continues to grow in different ways as well. It has benefited from the River Walk Museum Reach and the Pearl development. The museum, housed in the former Lone Star Beer Brewery, has varied programming to better reflect the dynamics of its expanding audience. Between 2013 and 2014, SAMA recorded its largest membership number at 6,415 and its highest yearly attendance at 161,878. It, too, saw a record surge of student visitors in that time. SAMA is seeing solid attendance with more lectures, musical performances, workshops and special events such as the monthly second Friday “Art Party.” Additionally, SAMA has raised its profile with families with interactive offerings meant especially for very young children and their caregivers.
“Dr. (Katherine) Luber has had phenomenal vision and has built a great environment for our existing patrons and a newer audience,” development director Kimberly Britton said about SAMA’s director.
“The exciting exhibitions and programming drive the environment and create something where people wanted to be.”
SAMA has undergone capital projects and is now launching a new endeavor, a $6.4 million relocation of the museum’s physical plant. SAMA is also planning a $500,000 project to repair areas around the fourth-floor skywalk to stabilize the climate-controlled environment for the art works there. “
We want to become even more of a cultural anchor for the area and San Antonio.” Britton added.
DoSeum
The DoSeum is the latest addition to the cultural offerings on Broadway. The new San Antonio children’s museum opened to big crowds in June, following a $46 million capital campaign marked by its relocation from downtown. While the DoSeum still educates children and young families through fun andhands-on learning opportunities, Hurd sees her institution as a community partner with wide outreach, thanks to varied programming for professional educators, teenagers and adults.
“People are engaged. Museums do well when they reach out to a variety of people of different demographics,” said Hurd. “Kids, parents and caregivers are a critical part of our audience, but we want to appeal beyond our core competencies. We define ourselves as a convener. We care about creating space where different peopleand different groups gather to brainstorm.”
Chiego agreed with his counterparts that each institution is developing its audience carefully and deliberately through new, varied programming.
“Audience building is the primary way to fulfill our mission to engage a diverse community in the discovery and enjoyment of the visual arts,” he added.
CONSISTENTLY VOTED ONE OF SAN ANTONIO’S TOP DENTISTS BY HIS PEERS
