This Sunday, Dec. 13, The Agarita Chamber Players will kickstart their new initiative that brings music to the people in outdoor settings for free. Named Humble Hall, it will take the four Agarita members to all ten districts of San Antonio, starting with District 1. The first concert will take place at the open-air garden behind the Witte Museum at …

By JASMINA WELLINGHOFF, Editor — After a longish search for a new executive director, the board of Luminaria has selected local arts advocate and marketing/PR specialist, Yadhira Lozano, as its new top executive. She succeeds Kathy Armstrong who led the organization for five years. “I think it’s great. It’s wonderful,” said Lozano who had applied a while back and was …

By JASMINA WELLINGHOFF, Editor — Come spring, you may have a unique opportunity to hear top-notch musicians play beautiful music at your neighborhood park or other outdoor space near you. The group that plans to do that is Agarita Chamber Players, a quartet of talented young musicians with a sterling classical music education and a growing reputation for innovative and …

Today’s poem, “Resurgence” by Chris Billings touches upon our current situation. Chris is a member and co-chair/co-host of the Sun Poet’s Society. ResurgenceBy Chris Billings They watched in wonderin disbeliefas the second waveapproached the shorebiggerfastermore violent than the firstfrom which they managed to escapewhile others weren’t so luckybut they were safethey said they were safethe officials said they were safebecause …

The Tobin Center for the Performing Arts will be alive with the sound of music and laughter in the next few days. First up is “Blood and Holly: Christmas West of the Pecos” featuring one of San Antonio’s favorite stage personalities, Jaston Williams of the Greater Tuna fame. In this new one-man show, “Jaston Williams remembers Christmas in childhood as …

BY JASMINA WELLINGHOFF, Editor — The museum reopened in late May. How has everything been going since? We closed March 13 and reopened May 26. We were one of the first museums in Texas to reopen after the shutdown. The Houston Fine Arts Museum was the first and it opened just a few days before SAMA did. And everything has been …

Historically, a yellow flag was displayed on ships to indicate the presence of contagious disease on board. Austin poet, Paul Hooker, borrows it for his poem “Yellow Flag” in a most poignant way. When he is not writing poetry, Paul is the Associate Dean of Ministerial Formation and Advanced Studies at the Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary. Yellow FlagBy Paul Hooker …

Following a long tradition, Ballet San Antonio will once again present everyone’s favorite holiday ballet, The Nutcracker, at the Tobin Center for the Performing Arts, starting the day after Thanksgiving.  It will be a modified Nutcracker with fewer dancers on stage to avoid crowding and close contact, but co-choreographer Easton Smith says there will be plenty of magic as great …

By JASMINA WELLINGHOFF, Editor Though so many live stage productions have been cancelled this year, that’s not going to be the case with Ballet San Antonio’s Nutcracker. It will be different, more high-tech, and a little tweaked all-round but it promises to be just as enchanting as always, with great dancing and computer-generated special effects. This is a “Nutcracker” for …

Today’s poem, “Plasma” is by Eugene “Gene” Novogrodsky, a Brownsville-based poet who writes “slices of the Texas-Mexico border” area, where he has lived for 32-plus years. PlasmaBy Eugene “Gene” Novogrodsky Shock! 5:36 a.m., hot, muggy, dark, and there they are:More than 50 people standing in front of the plasma ($40 an hour drawing) facility,And, some sitting on the sidewalk, some …