By Hernán Rozemberg SAN ANTONIO — No surprise that in a city so steeped in Mexican culture, traditional celebrations originating south of the border would have strong and lasting influences here. One omnipresent example is the annual celebration come every beginning of November: Día de los Muertos or also commonly known as Day of the Dead…

By Hernán Rozemberg SAN ANTONIO — About a year ago with the advent of the coronavirus pandemic in our community, Jeff Morden and staff were gearing up for their seventh performance of the year. It was one of The Public Theater of San Antonio’s large-scale musical productions, with a staff of three dozen artists and backstage crew. But…

By Hernán Rozemberg SAN ANTONIO — Jennifer Cook exudes passion and determination. Those are but a couple of the many strengths and values she brings to the San Antonio Area Foundation as our Senior Program Officer overseeing the Livable and Resilient Communities (LRC) impact area as part of our Community Engagement and Impact team.  Jennifer has been…

SAN ANTONIO – Just about a year ago, Mary Heathcott and her team were giddy following another successful First Friday event, hosting hundreds of people strolling gleefully through their art galleries all evening long. Heathcott and staff at Blue Star Contemporary were at the time also knee-deep in planning for “Red Dot Art Sale,” their top annual…

A proud fifth-generation Texan, Gavin Nichols was born and raised and Dallas but he’s proud to call San Antonio home since he has lived here for nearly four decades. Much of that time he spent working in IT for HEB. He sought to shift to the nonprofit sector, joining the Area Foundation’s Community Engagement and Impact…

As with any good coach, Pete Wesp has good pep talks in his arsenal. Right at the top of his list is schooling his athletes on the importance of developing a strong work ethic. To get his point across, Wesp reminds his charges about “Corky,” his best buddy from high school days. “You teach them…

The San Antonio Area Foundation is proud to team up with and support the San Antonio African American Community Fund (SAAAACF), one of our outreach funds. SAAAACF leadership couldn’t have been more thankful when construction company Vulcan Materials offered a $25,000 donation, since their many supporting nonprofits still suffered from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. The unexpected…

As time went by and with no relief in sight, Ben Tremillo began realizing what all that talk about the new normal he was hearing everywhere was all about. Weeks turned into months and the doors to the venerable artistic hub on San Antonio’s West Side known as San Anto Cultural Arts remain shuttered due to the relentless havoc…

I’ve had many close friends check in on me over the last few months. Given everything going on with racial unrest across the country, they just wanted to make sure I was doing OK. I appreciated their care and concern and I let them know as much. But I was also honest – no, I…

If you’re familiar with our mission and work, you likely know that we work with generous donors to help fund hundreds of wonderful nonprofit organizations across our community. What you may not have heard about are our dedicated and passionate staff members within our Community Engagement and Impact (CEI) team who work with those organizations in getting…