Beautiful Missions

The local arts and culture charities painting a beautiful future for San Antonio

Magik Theatre presents The Three Javelinas

These San Antonio arts and culture organizations are giving back to the community.

Photo courtesy of Magik Theatre

If any one thing defines San Antonio, it’s the rich tapestry of culture that threads the city’s storied past to its exciting future. San Antonio’s arts and culture nonprofits are helping strengthen this connection with services dedicated to preserving the city's art, music, and dance scenes. Find out how to help them in their mission below.

Need more inspiration? Check out our San Antonio Charity Guide and reading along as we highlight the stories of people doing good in South Texas.

Allgo
Mission: For over 30 years, Allgo has worked to create and sustain queer people of color activists, groups, organizations, and allies through artistic expression, promoting wellness, and grassroots organizing. Allgo celebrates and nurtures vibrant queer people of color communities in Texas and beyond by supporting artists and artistic expression; promoting health within a wellness model; and mobilizing and building coalitions among groups marginalized by race/ethnicity, gender/gender identity, and sexual orientation/sexual identity in order to enact change.
Get involved:Contact Allgo to sign up to become a member and make a pledge for a monthly or annual donation.
Big event:Statewide Queer People Of Color Activist Summit

Bihl Haus Arts
Mission: The motto of community-based Bihl Haus Arts — creating community through the arts — is founded on the belief that each person, when given a chance, can achieve significant personal, social, and cultural growth through the arts.
Get involved: Become a docent at the organization’s gallery by enrolling in at least one GO! Arts class.

Friends of the San Antonio Public Library
Mission: The San Antonio Public Library has always had friends, but the official Friends Group was inaugurated on March 23, 1964. The nonprofit organization supports the public library system through volunteer service and cultural and educational activities with a membership model that is open to all.
Get involved: Become a member and find volunteer opportunities here.
Big Event:The Arts and Letters Awards

Let’s Go to the Show
Mission: Let's Go to the Show bring hope and inspiration to abused, neglected, and at-risk children by providing free access to the performing arts. The organization partners with Child Advocates San Antonio (CASA) to provide over 600 tickets for CASA children to attend live performances at the Woodlawn Theatre, Children's Ballet of San Antonio, San Antonio Symphony, Ballet San Antonio, and The Magik Theatre. Two summer theater camp scholarships at the Woodlawn and Magik theaters are also provided.
Get involved: Donate here.

Musical Bridges Around the World
Mission: Musical Bridges Around the World is a nonprofit performing arts organization with the mission to unite, educate, and inspire through culturally diverse performing and visual arts programming. Musical Bridges programming allows the young, the old, the economically disadvantaged, and those from different cultures and countries to access their own cultural identity through the arts, free of charge. MBAW public programs reach over 80,000 people annually.
Get involved:Become a supporter through a variety of different subscription levels.

Phil Hardberger Park Conservancy
Mission: The Phil Hardberger Park Conservancy supports all aspects of the park, from planning activities to fundraising. This community-based organization is focused on working towards excellence in the development of the park and committed to creating a 311-acre natural area park complete with a nature center, dog parks, play areas and walking, hiking and biking trails.
Get involved: For more information and to fill out a volunteer form, head here.

Texas Public Radio
Mission: Texas Public Radio produces and distributes non-commercial informational, educational, cultural, and entertainment content for the people of Texas. TPR adheres to the highest standards of responsible journalism; its core values are to contribute to the appreciation of artistic expression, to respect diverse points of view, and to facilitate civil and constructive discourse.
Get involved: Sign up to volunteer or become a member.
Big event:Cinema Tuesdays

charity-guide

SPARE ART

North San Antonio gets crafty with new creative supplies shop

Photo by Ismael Rodriguez.

Local nonprofit Spare Parts recently opened its brick-and-mortar center for creative reuse.

One local nonprofit organization has spent years getting environmental accountability and community education down to a fine art. And now it’s getting crafty with a new brick-and-mortar shop in North San Antonio aimed to help locals to go green.

Spare Parts was founded in 2010 by executive director and longtime arts educator Mary Elizabeth Cantú to provide a creative spark for area students and schools lacking arts funding and resources. Through a variety of educational programs, public art exhibitions, events, and the organization’s traveling Mini Art Museum, Spare Parts has enlightened thousands of students and San Antonians, all while fostering reuse practices and sustainability, a key tenet of the nonprofit.

Spare Parts’ latest endeavor is another artistic triumph. Its new center for creative reuse, located at 13451 Wetmore Rd., is nothing less than a crafter’s delight. The shop features an impressive array of “pre-loved” and price-reduced artsy merchandise — from paint supplies and paper crafts to sewing items, beading and jewelry, school and office supplies, vintage gadgets, and crafting kits — all of which has been rescued from area landfills.

Cantú notes that proceeds from the new Spare Parts’ shop will enable the organization to further increase creative and educational experiences for San Antonio students and families. But even more so, she hopes the shop will help locals embrace the concept that one person’s trash can be another’s artistic treasure.

“There really isn’t any more room in the world for this stuff. Buying pre-loved at places like Spare Parts or other stores is a way to reduce the amount of things [people] feel that they need,” Cantú said in a recent interview with the San Antonio Sentinel. “We’re challenging people to rethink things around them, buy pre-loved, and find a way to be creative in their lives.”

In the time of COVID-19, however, getting the creative juices flowing isn’t as simple as popping into the Spare Parts shop. Though the center for creative reuse is open, the store is currently offering only weekend curbside pickup of items ordered through its website. But crafters shouldn’t despair, as Spare Parts is offering private in-person shopping experiences in the new year, with the first planned for January 16 and 17.

jewelry shopping kids charity openings sustainability