SAN ANTONIO – 2021 marks 40 years for the San Antonio Museum of Art and like so many businesses and organizations around the country, last year has not been easy. But SAMA was able to weather the storm and now has some exciting exhibits on the horizon.
“It was devastating, I mean, we already know that the arts funding is pretty lean, but our museum did a wonderful job looking after all our employees,” Chris Torgerson, tour & volunteer coordinator and museum educator for the San Antonio Museum of Art said.
When the San Antonio Museum of Art shut down last year it was a challenge to say the least.
“It has been tight, but thanks to our very generous board, we have been able to stay afloat. And the museum also received a PPP loan last year and that certainly helped,” Emily Sano, the co-interim director of SAMA said.
But as a sense of normalcy returns, so does the art!
“Well, we’ve got a full program. You may have heard that our “movie metal pop-up installation is going to be extended until June 20th,” Sano said.
There is the DeLorean replica from the “Back to the Future” film, the original Batmobile and so much more as just one of the exhibits that have been instrumental for the museum over the last year.
“We’ve pivoted to things like this really fantastic pop up exhibit. We have done a lot of online programing. We do art crawl and play dates. Those are the programs I facilitate and they used to be in person,” Torgerson said.
And that’s what this year has been, pivoting in creative and innovative ways to keep the community involved.
“We’ve done different types of online programs, including a happy hour, a virtual happy hour tour. We offer free tours to all pre-K through 12th grade Texas schools virtually by appointment,” Torgerson said.
Not only has the museum been able to stay afloat – they have gone above and beyond.
“We’ve led tours for schools in Philadelphia and Brooklyn that wouldn’t normally be able to access our collection. So there are some perks to it as well,” Torgerson said.
There are so many amazing exhibits with more on the way as there are big plans for the fall.
“They’ll be a surprise,” Sano said.
You can find the current and some of he upcoming exhibits by clicking here.