Arts Alive San Antonio

By JASMINA WELLINGHOFF, Editor —

Just before we spoke with Witte Museum’s CEO, Marise McDermott, Tuesday afternoon, she had just completed a tour of the museum with the Witte’s trustees and their families. They were the first visitors to see the ready-for-reopening Witte, the oldest and the most-family-friendly San Antonio museum which has been part of the community since 1926. Members were invited to explore the buildings and riverside grounds the next day, May 27, and the general public will be welcomed Saturday, May 30.

“As soon as we closed on Friday, March 13, we created a re-opening task force to work on how we could reopen the museum and be confident that our team would be safe and our visitors would be safe,” said McDermott. “We have multigenerational visitors, so we wanted to be confident that when we reopen everyone would be safe.”

 The first order of business was to walk around the premises to figure out how to experience the exhibits with safety measures in place, including enough room for people to spread out both inside and outdoors, and without touching the normally interactive elements. The latter issue was ingeniously solved by acquiring stylus pens to give visitors for button pushing and other interactive moves. Some parts of the museum complex are not yet ready for reopening, including the popular H-E-B Body Adventure which is still undergoing renovation.

Though the Witte will reopen at 25 % capacity, that’s still 1,800 people, pointed out McDermott. Distancing remains critical for safety, so, to make it easy to follow the rules, the staff created clever floor designs six feet apart from each other. No guessing necessary.  The final decision to reopen at this time also took into consideration the relatively small number of COVID-19 cases in the region.

“The Witte is practically the second home for many San Antonians,” noted McDermott. “We are ready for Saturday. A museum is for the people. A museum without people is disorienting.”

“We are the first museums in the country to reopen, “she added, referring to San Antonio museums. “We are on the cutting edge, locally.”

In addition to permanent displays, visitors will have the pleasure to discover new shows, such as “King of the Beasts,” an exhibit that came here from the Nevada Museum of Art and was originally supposed to open in April. It’s a unique collection of artworks focusing on African lions and the “majestic mountain lions of Texas.” Described as “a study of the African lion” by the Nevada museum, “King of the Beasts” features paintings by prominent wildlife painter John Banovich, who is also an advocate for the preservation of the natural habitat of lions whose population is down to about 20,000 world-wide.  The Witte has added additional content that examines “the evolutionary relationship of today’s big cats with the prehistoric American lion and saber-tooth cats that lived in what is now Texas 13,000 years ago.” Some skeletons, lion skulls and 3-D “animals” will be on view as well, said McDermott.

Later in the summer, two other special shows will be opening: “Fiesta Couture: Behind the Seams” and “Witte Forever.” “Behind the Seams” focuses on the work of the artisans, seamstresses and artists who create the elaborate costumes worn by the Order of the Alamo’s court ladies. And “Witte Forever” will tell the story of the museum itself, past, present and future.

Food trucks will be parked outside to for those who would like to enjoy an alfresco picnic.

To buy tickets online go to my.wittemuseum.org/events