$62 million lost across arts and culture groups in San Antonio since pandemic began

More than 40 organizations have come together to figure out how to keep arts alive

SAN ANTONIO – The arts and culture groups in San Antonio are known for their vibrancy, but right now they are experiencing some of the biggest financial blows in our community from the pandemic.

CAUSA, or Culture and Art United for San Antonio, is a group of more than forty organizations that have come together to figure out the local economic impact of COVID-19 and ways for the groups to survive.

A recent study has shown that one in three arts and cultures museums or groups will not be in existence in the next three years because of the pandemic.

“That’s a devastating number for the arts community in the US and that will also effect the arts and culture organizations in San Antonio,” Riley Robinson, the director of Artpace San Antonio said.

Robinson hopes his organization will not be forced to shutdown. The non-profit has provided a space for artists to live, create and display art for 25 years. It’s why Artpace joined CAUSA to find ways for the community to help.

“We’d like you to go to arts organizations, the ones that are open and see what they are doing,” Robinson said. “We’d like you to give and we’d like you to advocate for the arts organizations in San Antonio.”

CAUSA is made up of places like the San Antonio Museum of Art, Ballet San Antonio and the Tobin Center.

It has found that $62 million has been lost in the arts community since March. That’s a big loss, considering the group says $4.8 billion is generated by the groups in San Antonio annually.

Robinson said the community needs art and culture more than we may realize.

“It’s something that uplifts people during this time, a lot of these arts organizations have done great work to deliver on their mission and make their work accessible,” Robinson said.

“It’s a driver for our community,” he said. “At the end of the day we need to go see something. We need stimulation for our people, for our children, for us. We need to go see things. See things in a different way and that’s what the arts do really well.”

But even once the pandemic is gone, these organizations will need the communities continued support to be sustainable.

“So we all need to celebrate the vaccine but arts and cultures to get them going again, it’s going to take a year or two to get them going and I’m afraid some of them won’t last that period,” Robinson said.


About the Authors:

Sarah Acosta is a weekend Good Morning San Antonio anchor and a general assignments reporter at KSAT12. She joined the news team in April 2018 as a morning reporter for GMSA and is a native South Texan.

Gaby has been a news producer since 2019. She graduated from the University of North Texas with a Media Arts degree and previously worked at KIII-TV in Corpus Christi.