Celebrate Historic Preservation Month in San Antonio

5 San Antonio events to celebrate Preservation Month in historic fashion

Events such as Paseo por El Westside teach children the power of preservation through traditional music.

Courtesy/Lupito Acuna

May is Preservation Month nationwide, and San Antonio is celebrating in historic fashion. The city’s Office of Historic Preservation formally kicked off the festivities on May 2 with a birthday party for the Kress Building, which turns 80 years old this month.

Art Deco in style, the Kress Building was constructed originally as a five-and-dime store, and its big signs and exterior touches reflect San Antonio’s Spanish Colonial influence. Part of the Kress Building accommodated the former San Antonio Children’s Museum until it relocated to Broadway as The Doseum. GrayStreet Partners, a local developer, is now turning the Kress Building into the city’s first downtown food hall.

But the Kress birthday party isn't the only big event lined up for May. All month long the public is invited to help celebrate Preservation Month in many other ways, ranging from sound baths to art shows.

Sound Bath and Poetry at Japanese Tea Garden — May 8
Join the regulars at the weekly wellness activity in this serene setting. A sound bath and meditation begins at 6 pm, followed by a poetry reading. Attendees may bring their own mat or chair to lie or sit down. Admission is free.

Ballet Folklorico Festival — May 12
Ballet Folklorico de San Antonio presents traditional dances and mariachi performances along the River Walk. The Arneson River Theater performance runs from 6:30-9:30 pm, and admission is $7.

38th annual Tejano Conjunto Festival— May 15-19
The Tejano Conjunto Festival is a mid-spring mainstay for local fans of the two regional musical genres, which are near and dear to generations of San Antonians. The festival is the longest running of its kind in the country. Various activities take place at Guadalupe Theater May 15-16 and at Rosedale Park on May 18-19.

Armed Forces River Parade— May 18
The eighth annual parade returns to the River Walk in celebration 300-plus years of tradition in Military City, USA. Admission is free to the river parade, which is representative of all military branches, and begins at 6 pm.

4th annual Festival of the Arts — May 23
Sarah King Elementary School (1001 Ceralvo St.) transforms into a makeshift art gallery during Preservation Month. This is a free, multimedia display of original creative works by student and neighborhood artists. The public event runs from 5-7 pm, and includes interactive art activities, music, storytelling, and more.

preservation music river-walk

Texas Film Icons

San Antonio's Michelle Rodriguez among celebs honored at Texas Film Awards

Photo by Lauren Slusher

Vin Diesel came to support his co-star Michelle Rodriguez at the Texas Film Awards.

The Texas capital is busy with visitors from all over, including San Antonio. In addition to some San Antonians playing sets at South by Southwest, one of San Antonio's own, Michelle Rodriguez was just featured in the Texas Film Awards. Honoring legends of the Texas film industry, the annual fundraising event in Austin inducted new members into the Texas Film Hall of Fame, which is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year.

Coinciding with the 40th anniversary of the Austin Film Society (AFS), the milestone year for the Texas Film Hall of Fame welcomed new members Michelle Rodriguez, Tim and Karrie League, and Noah Hawley. Before the event, CultureMap caught up with AFS founder and film director Richard Linklater about the anniversary.

Richard Linklater Texas Film Awards Richard LinklaterPhoto by David Brendan Hall

“It’s very cool,” he said, “Forty years is wild. You can’t help but reflect back to year one. We grew with Austin: as Austin has grown, so have we.”

Sharing the impact of AFS grants on stage during the event, Linklater elaborated further on this symbiotic growth.

“The rising tide of Austin lifted our boat, and we grew when we needed to [without] losing our fundamental film freakiness," Linklater said. "Forty years in, I know two things to be true: community is everything. Watching movies together connects us and builds that community. And, the love and appreciation of cinema knows no bounds: if you nurture it, it feeds you back ten fold.”

Linklater is on a recent awards streak, having been honored with a Texas Medal of Arts Award in late February.

Robert Rodriguez and Michelle RodriguezPhoto by Lauren Slusher

He also introduced a surprise guest to the event, Vin Diesel, who co-starred with Rodriguez in the Fast and Furious franchise. Sauntering onto the stage in a black cowboy hat, Diesel shared that he recently discovered his Texan roots and that their Texan identity was one of many things that bind him to Rodriguez as his ride-or-die.

Vin Diesel Texas Film Awards Vin DieselDavid Brendan Hall

Actor and one-time Austinite Elijah Wood presented the award to Tim and Karrie League, founders of the Alamo Drafthouse and Fantastic Fest.

Elijah Wood Tim and Karrie League Texas Film Awards Elijah Wood, Tim and Karrie LeaguePhoto by Lauren Slusher

Wood praised the Leagues for their impact not just on the Austin film industry but the wider film community by redefining what a theater could be, “a place that embraces both first-run studio films, independent and international gems, and the most obscure oddities dug from the archives; a place where you can pair dinner with a movie; where themed screenings create memories beyond the film itself.”

For the final award of the night, Atlanta actress Zazie Beetz and Fargo actor David Rysdahl presented the award to writer and producer Noah Hawley, who is currently working on Fargo and Alien: Earth.

David Rysdahl, Noah Hawley, and Zazie BeetzPhoto by Lauren Slusher

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