ARTS & LIFE Nonprofit

exhibit awarded $500,000

Contemporary at Blue Star awarded largest grant in its history

Arte de San Antonio

By Lauren Hernandez Staff Writer

Fueled by the cancellation of the first contemporary art exhibition in San Antonio, six art enthusiasts and artists formed the Contemporary at Blue Star, a grassroots art exhibition that is now the longest-running nonprofit space for contemporary art in San Antonio.

Recently, the Contemporary received a $500,000 grant from the Kronkosky Charitable Foundation. This is the largest financial contribution in the nonprofit’s 36-year history.

“The grant will have a transformative impact on the organization and will help the Contemporary at Blue Star plan for an endowment and the next 36 years,” Press Representative of the Contemporary, Daniela Oliver de Portillo, explained. It will also be used to grow the program’s technological infrastructure, organizational capacity and youth arts education programs.

Additionally, the grant will be used to renovate the MOSAIC Student Artist Program’s studio and gallery to make it a more welcoming space with an ever-increasing amount of opportunities for young artists. MOSAIC is an after-school, tuition-free visual arts program that provides high school students with the opportunity to build their careers as professional artists.

Brianna Berlanga, a San Antonio artist who was a part of the MOSAIC program in high school explained that “what the Contemporary at Blue Star does for young artists is not only needed but inspiring.”

As a result, this capacity-building grant will allow the Contemporary to continue to grow and engage the public in discussing critical, cultural and social issues through its exhibitions, educational programs and public events.