AlyssaSan Antonio nonprofit, SAY Sí, announced its relocation to the Westside of San Antonio today with an all-new and expanded campus, opening in late 2020. The local nonprofit, founded 25 years ago in 1994, combats a lack of sufficient arts education by offering comprehensive arts education for its students through working artists and mentors throughout the community.
SAY Sí’s diverse programming and state of the art technology and resources make the arts program one of the best in the world. The organization’s year-round program allows students to grow their craft longer than other similar programs. SAY Sí offers programming for middle school and high school students in various art disciplines like visual arts, theatre arts, new media, film + photography, as well as off-site multidisciplinary programming with various community-partners.
It’s new location, a former industrial warehouse located at 1310 S. Brazos, will boast nearly 98,000 square feet of space that will allow for the integration of three new programs into their existing offerings, including Culinary Arts, Digital Music Composition and Journalism. The space will maintain its original industrial design and will also house interchangeable murals that will feature collaborative student and community works. Further, a garden located on the property will supply food for the Culinary Arts program’s planned onsite restaurant.
As someone who had a difficult time in the schooling system, I feel Say Sí’s mission has the power to change the course of many children’s lives for the better. Without a way to express ourselves through art, children can easily find themselves involved in activities that are illegal and dangerous, when really they just need a community that respects and listens to them.
Currently, SAY Sí’s tuition-free programs serve more than 200 middle and high-school aged students in all 12 districts of San Antonio at their 24,000 square foot venue, as well as 3,000 San Antonio youth annually through SAY Sí’s Artists Building Communities (ABC) program. With the relocation to SAY Sí’s new campus, SAY Sí will be able to meet the demand for increased program enrollment by enhancing its campus by more than four times its original square footage, while also maintaining its commitment to serving San Antonio’s inner-city youth.
An official opening date will be coming later in 2020. For more information on SAY Sí, please visit saysi.org.
Interior renderings courtesy of Gensler and exterior renderings courtesy of MP Studio.