Arts & Culture

Many local schools are beginning to think about graduation but SAY Sí, the afterschool youth program that says it “unfolds lives through art,” is getting ready to graduate 18 seniors in just a couple weeks.

“On Friday, May 2, which is the First Friday here in the Southtown Arts District, and it’s from 6 p.m.-9 p.m.,” said Artistic Executive Director Jon Hinojosa. He said that for the graduation, graduates’ art output will be showcased for all to see.

A new exhibit opens Friday combining art and fossil fuel extraction called Frackaso. The Esperanza Peace and Justice Center’s Marisol Cortez explained how it was named.

“In English it’s a play on fracas: a mess, a fracas. And in Spanish fracaso means an utter and abject failure,” Cortez said.

And then there’s fracking, which is the third and strongest meaning of this art show. The Esperanza sent out the word they wanted to do an exhibit with hydraulic fracturing as its muse, and people responded.   

Members of the Gateway Brass recently visited the TPR studios for a performance and conversation about their careers in music and in the U.S. Air Force. You can hear three songs recorded in our session at the bottom of this page.

The Southwest School of Art is putting on their Fiesta Arts Fair this weekend. It all happens under the pecans and crape myrtles in between the limestone buildings and shady walkways that make up the old Ursuline campus downtown.

“This weekend we have what some people say is their very favorite, or their only, Fiesta event, and that’s Fiesta Arts Fair," said Southwest School of Art President Paula Owen.

It seems that San Antonio built one of the most fascinating libraries in the world according to a new CNN iReport feature.

“We were one of several libraries, 27 libraries actually, that were viewed as fascinating libraries,” said Ramiro Salazar, director of the Central Library.

CNN iReport asked its readers to send in pictures to document their favorite libraries. Readers from Seattle to Dublin to Taipei to Prague to San Antonio sent pictures in.

"Obviously, we’re extremely pleased,” said Salazar.

The San Antonio Symphony is back in action this weekend, but they're not going to sound like they usually do. They won’t be playing Beethoven, Brahms or Bach, this weekend Fiesta Pops events have a little more picante than that.

“Fiesta Pops is our official Fiesta event, annually," said San Antonio Symphony Associate Conductor Akiko Fujimoto.

Rod Kennedy, who died early yesterday, was a giant, but a behind-the-scenes giant. I spoke to Kerrville Folk Festival Producer Dalis Allen.

“His passion led him to create what we now know as the Kerrville Folk Festival, which is in its 43rd year," Allen said. “He just understood that the artists that write their own songs didn’t have a whole lot of support and acknowledgement and encouragement.”

Ken Burns’ new film "The Address" debuts Tuesday, April 15, on KLRN. I caught up with Burns to find out what the film was about. While his focus is often on huge subjects, "The Address" is, in a way, about a very small one. Across the Connecticut River from Burns’ New Hampshire home is the tiny Greenwood School in Putney, Vermont.

“It’s a boarding school for kids very young, 11 to 17, who suffer from learning differences like dyslexia, dysgraphia, ADHD, a whole alphabet soup of learning issues,” explained Burns.

Every year the Witte Museum puts on a thematic Fiesta gown-oriented exhibition. Curator of Collections Amy Fulkerson lets us in on this year’s theme.

“A collection of gowns that are all inspired by fairy tales, stories or legends,” she said.

The gowns Fulkerson is talking about are highly elaborate, sequined, beaded Fiesta gowns with trains as long as 15 ft. These things look like they could’ve been worn at a royal coronation.

Last year’s gold medal winner of the Van Cliburn Piano Competition was Vadym Kholodenko, and he's coming to San Antonio for a performance.

"I am very proud to be one of the Cliburn winners and this competition is very important, actually," Kholodenko said. "It stands as one of the four or five biggest competitions in the world."

Arts San Antonio is bringing Kholodenko to the Lila Cockrell Theater this Thursday, April 17. He’s playing solo, but he’ll also be doing some duets.