Few things are as evocative of San Antonio as conjunto music, the city’s after-hours pulse and rhythm all but syncopated to the genre’s infectious beat. For more than 20 years, Conjunto Heritage Taller (CHT) has strived to keep that musical legacy alive.

Established in 2002, the taller – Spanish for workshop – has provided low-cost music instruction while securing venues for students to perform publicly. Its mission: To preserve and perpetuate traditional conjunto music played with button accordion and bajo sexto.

“It’s like a family,” said Celeste Cavazos, CHT Interim Executive Director. “It builds community. We pride ourselves knowing our classes are intergenerational,” she added, pointing to the mix of older adults learning alongside young students.

The San Antonio Area Foundation highlights CHT’s cultural preservation mission and work during national Hispanic Heritage Month, supporting its work through funding within its Cultural Vibrancy grantmaking impact area.

“Conjunto Heritage Taller has impactful programs including lessons for youth, bajo sexto and accordion. They’re keeping our conjunto traditions alive,” noted Andrea Figueroa, Senior Program Officer with the Area Foundation’s Community Engagement and Impact team.

“Latinos represent over 64 percent of our community here in San Antonio, so it’s vital for the Area Foundation to not only celebrate our communities but to financially support the impactful organizations that everyday make a difference in the lives of Latinos,” Figueroa added.

Cavazos noted that Area Foundation funding has empowered the nonprofit to expand its lesson offerings and buy instruments that students are able to take home for practice.

Quintessentially puro San Anto, CHT boasts of a board reflective of the breadth of locally inspired achievement – from 24-year-old Rito Pena, Jr., winner of the “Big Squeeze” accordion competition in 2015 to St. Mary’s University alumnus and noted attorney Rosie Speedlin Gonzalez. Local legend Shelly Lares, a multiple Tejano Music Awards winner, serves on the advisory board.

Among the current flock of students is Sylvia Ytuarte, intent on mastering the accordion after an awkward foray with the guitar. Her traditional father preferred his sons play the accordion while insisting his daughters learn guitar.

“I hated it,” she said with a laugh. “The instrument made my arms reach out too far. My sister took to it like a duck to water, but the tips of my fingers always ended up hurting.”

After raising children of her own, Ytuarte lamented not having learned the accordion in homage to her late father. Social media would inadvertently yield the needed impetus to proceed. “I was scrolling on Facebook last year and saw this little kid from Roma [small Texas town on the U.S. Mexico border] playing accordion. I had not heard my dad’s song in 20-some years! It was so nice to see my dad’s song being played.”

The song, “Ofelia,” is one of her father’s numerous compositions and now as much a musical staple from heavily attended concert venues to low-key weekend neighborhood pachangas. Ytuarte’s father was conjunto music pioneer Jesse Guerrero, an accordion virtuoso and prolific composer who toured with Los Guadalupanos and other bands.

Inspired, Ytuarte enrolled for lessons at a makeshift classroom – the legendary Lerma’s conjunto music dance hall on San Antonio’s West Side – but was nonetheless nervous. Peeking inside, she saw musical-icon-turned-instructor Bene Medina holding court. “He was a good friend of my dad’s and knows all of my uncles!” she exclaimed.

Instantly, Ytuarte knew she was home. “He taught me my dad’s polka in a matter of months,” she said. “It’s just really been a true blessing.” She now fans the embers of her father’s music as the Area Foundation stokes the fire of our local cultural tradition.

Check out the Area Foundation blog to see many more stories on the many nonprofit partners supported thanks to the generosity of donors.

Tony Cantu is a member of the San Antonio Area Foundation Marketing & Communications Storytelling Ambassador contributor network.