Arts Alive San Antonio

by JASMINA WELLINGHOFF, Editor —

Evangelina G. Flores never had any professional training in the arts but she spontaneously developed an interest in painting and piano playing when she was a schoolgirl and responded to arts programs she saw on TV.

“I was the one person in my family who danced in front of the TV (while watching dance on screen) and directed symphonies while listening to records. I would just stand there, and conduct an invisible orchestra,” she recalled in a recent interview. And she also shared that after she got married, the first two “big” pieces the newlyweds acquired, were a sewing machine and a piano.

Today, Flores is the chairwoman of the Bexar County Performing Arts Center Foundation – the governing body of the Tobin Center for the Performing Arts – a responsibility she was more than happy to take on. Three other women have recently joined the board, for a total of 15 women, who now represent the majority on the governing body.

 “Women are stepping up to many leadership roles,” said the chairwoman. “They have the interest, the drive, and they make the time to invest in things like the arts. As you know, the Tobin is a non-profit organization, and even though we depend on our shows for a big part of our income, were it not for the board members’ expertise, networking, generosity and their knowledge of the economy, the success of the Tobin Center might have been much harder to achieve.”

“As for me, what attracted me was not only because this center was so important for the arts but also because it was so important for the economy of our city,” she said emphatically. “Both my late husband and my son served on the city council, and our property was a block away from the Tobin. So, it was particularly important for me in terms of what this great venue was bringing to our city, to our quality of life.”

Flores is a well-known local businesswoman, who with her late husband operated La Paloma del Rio restaurant on the River Walk, which later changed its name into Paloma Riverwalk Restaurant. She still owns Flores Riverwalk Properties, Ltd.  And she has been an active supporter of a number of local institutions, including the Parks Foundation, Fiesta San Antonio, and was a charter member of the Texas A&M-San Antonio Foundation.

Her association with the future Tobin Center started in 2009, when Bruce Bugg, one of the visionaries and a driving force behind the entire project, asked her to be a part of the planning board. She served as that body’s secretary for several years and later chair-elect before ascending to the top position. So, what are her priorities now? We asked.

“Well, we are in the middle of relaunching (operations) right now. “I want to make sure that we relaunch in a way that’s going to be effective all the way around,” explained Flores. “The Tobin Center is really the heart and pulse of the arts in San Antonio. We want to continue the education program, and we want to continue to have high quality performances, which has been a challenge lately because not that many performers were available in 2020. And thirdly, we want to make sure that the resident companies get the support that they need from us, since the Tobin is their home. And then, we want to make sure that the city is aware that the performing arts are alive and well here, and need the citizens’ support. Interviews like this one are helpful because, when it comes to philanthropy, the arts are never at the top of the list. So, I have always tried to convey to people, that this is an issue of quality of life, a gift we can give ourselves and our children for all time. Personally, that’s what drives me.”

The Tobin’s resident companies are the San Antonio Symphony, Ballet San Antonio, Opera San Antonio, YOSA- the Youth Orchestras of San Antonio, the Children Chorus of San Antonio and the Classical Music Institute.

This past weekend, the Symphony officially reopened the magnificent auditorium, known as H-E-B Hall, albeit with only 30 musicians on stage and 275 people in the audience, but there have been visiting live, in-person music performances for several weeks now. Things are looking up.

A big reason why the Tobin can again have live performances in front of actual people, is its ability to make entire rows of seats disappear at the press of a button, making it easy to keep people socially distant from each other. In that context, Flores remembered the discussions the board had about the “convertible floor” feature back in the planning stage. Some considered it too expensive. “But, in retrospect, it was one of the best decisions we’ve ever made,” she said with a laugh. In addition to social distancing, a plethora of other safety protocols are in place.

Though some shows have been cancelled in the Feb.-March period, others will proceed as announced, including HeartByrne on Feb. 13; Aaron Lewis on March 10 and Fox News contributor and former presidential press secretary, Dana Perino, on March 14. She will discuss her book for young women “Everything Will Be OK.” The mostly-outdoor murder-mystery parody “The Office” will be presented March 9-21.

As for Flores, she loves dance shows, and country music. Dolly Parton’s performance was definitely a high point. But she also enjoys sharing show experiences with her grandchildren, who now range in age from eight to adult.  Her two youngest granddaughters are fans of musicals and “The Nutcracker” ballet, she noted, and love to dress up to have “the theater experience.” The teens are all over the place and the college students go more for contemporary music, comedy and presentations such as the encounter with primatologist Jane Goodall.  

“Over the years, it has been fun for me to observe their range of interests, and how they go from one stage to another. Through that progression, you get to see what the Tobin offers for different age groups,” she said.