SAN ANTONIO – Centro’s San Antonio’s “Art Everywhere” program is using art as a place-making tool and is using the projects to get more people downtown and engaged in the Alamo City. That in turn, helps the local economy, organizers of the project say.
The program, which started up during the pandemic, and the city are both seeeing big dividends. The Art Everywhere project celebrates art and artists, by “incorporating art into the public realm”.
“We started it (the project) back in 2020. So it was during COVID. We’re wondering like, ‘oh, gosh, is this a luxury?’ But the outpouring of public support was so tremendous that we realized this is a necessity for us. So in addition to the economic impact, art really tells our stories. It kind of elaborates on who we are as a culture, as a city, and just makes us cool. So we decided to continue and we’re going to be celebrating our third anniversary this year,” Ani Rodriguez, with Cento San Antonio said.
For the three year anniversary, Centro is looking for 50 more pieces of art to go up around the city. Centro San Antonio’s website says the art adds vibrancy and a more global quality of life, which promotes a creative economy and acts as a magnet for businesses, residents, visitors, and foot traffic.
“So what we do is we install art on private buildings and private spaces to really help business owners, to help the economy, to help downtown and just get people down here and make it more vibrant and cool. This actually used to be a corner driveway. You can kind of see where people would drive up to drop off their luggage, but now it’s a place where you can come and have a margarita. The Hyatt loves the space. You can have some chips and look at the art and just feel how cool our city is. It’s like some place like, you know, Miami or Chicago. So we really love it,” Rodriguez said.
You can learn more about the art project, by clicking here.