SAN ANTONIO, TX.- After being closed to the public for over a year and a half due to COVID-19, the City of San Antonio’s Department of Arts & Culture is opening the doors to an integral space for the arts community. The Centro de Artes Gallery in Historic Market Square is officially reopening to the public on January 26, 2022.

The gallery, which is free to the public, will open with the New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA) Immigrant Artist Mentoring Program Exhibition – Round 2. This exhibit is inspired by the NYFA’s Immigrant Artist Mentoring Program, which pairs emerging foreign-born or first-generation artists with experienced artists for mentorship, development, and encouragement. The multi-disciplinary exhibition explores the unique and lived experiences of 34 San Antonio-based artists connected to the program and includes partnership with local organizations Blue Star Contemporary, San Antonio Art Museum, and SAY Sí, which collaborated with NYFA to implement the mentorship program.

“We are delighted to reopen the gallery doors to the community with such a powerful, impactful and important exhibit,” said Department of Arts & Culture Interim Executive Director Krystal Jones. “This exhibition reflects on the multilayered immigrant and first-generation experience shared by so many in our community. Centro de Artes provides a place for these stories to be told, stories that have historically been underrepresented in gallery spaces.”

The NYFA Immigrant Artist Mentoring Program Exhibition – Round 2 is a continuation of the first round of the exhibit, held at Centro de Artes in 2019. Both exhibits were selected as part of the Centro de Artes Call for Exhibitions managed by the Department of Arts & Culture in collaboration with the San Antonio Arts Commission and its Centro de Artes Committee. Guest curators and San Antonio-based artists Richard “Ricky” Armendariz, Kim Bishop, Luis Valderas, and Guillermina Zabala organized the exhibit, with the 34 participating artists representing 12 different countries from across the globe, including Argentina, Chile, Czechoslovakia, France, Germany, Iran, Japan, Kenya, and Venezuela, as well as the Mexico-United States border.

Artists participating in the NYFA Immigrant Artist Mentoring Program Exhibition – Round 2 include Fernando Andrade, Ricky Armendariz, Jose Balli, Kim Bishop, Hayfer Brea, Francisco Cortes, Juan de Dios Mora, Anna De Luna, Juan C. Escobedo, Anel Flores, Juan Flores, Sergio Flores, Brandy González, Beatriz Guzman Velasquez, Ernesto Ibanez, Julya Jara, Sergio Mata, Barbara Miñarro, Yoko Misu, Merle Mory, Anastassia Rabajille, Andrea V Rivas, Caroline Royall, Jesse Ruiz, Gloria Sánchez Hart, Sabine Senft, Hiromi Stringer, Luis Valderas, Jorge Villarreal, Anne Wallace, Naomi Wanjiku, Anahita Younesi, Guillermina Zabala and Claudia Zapata.

NYFA’s Immigrant Artist Mentoring Program paired immigrant artists working in all disciplines with artist mentors who provided individualized support for their mentees, guiding them to achieve specific goals and providing them with broader access to urban cultural centers through an exchange of ideas, resources and experiences. Discussions covered grant proposal ideas; how to approach curators, galleries, and presenting opportunities; social media best practices; networking and funding opportunities through arts institutions; and other local resources. Mentors also met regularly with mentees one-on-one to provide the artists with portfolio feedback, advice on studio and presentation techniques, and to help write and edit artist statements.

“Many of the participating artists have already contributed to the cultural landscape in San Antonio,’” said Executive Director of NYFA Michael L. Royce. “The Immigrant Artist Mentoring Program expands their ability to contribute, and this exhibition is the cumulation of what they have learned and created throughout the collaborative process.”

The exhibition opens Wednesday, January 26, 2022, and runs through July 3, 2022, at the City of San Antonio’s Centro de Artes Gallery, located in Historic Market Square at 101 S. Santa Rosa, 78207. The gallery and all exhibit events detailed below are free and open to the public.