Just as Hemisfair fifty years ago brought the Tower of the Americas, the City of San Antonio's Tricentennial celebration in 2018 will prompt the creation of millions of dollars of publicly and privately funded art which will become a part of the city for decades to come, News Radio 1200 WOAI reports.
Debbie Racca-Sittre, who heads the City's Department of Arts and Culture, says the public art which is planned for the celebration will be located around the city, and will feature a variety of forms and styles, from local and international artists.
She says one permanent fixture of the city will be the 'Gateway Monument,' which will be a sixty foot tall commemoration of the importance of the military to San Antonio's development.
"This is a sixty foot tall gateway structure, created by San Antoio artists, which will be located along Highway 90 at Southwest Military Drive," she said.
The San Antonio River Foundation is planning public art along the new Salado Creek Greenway, which is current under construction on the west end of San Antonio. Bexar County has also made planned for commemorative art.
The descendants of the Canary Islanders who were the first civilian residents of San Antonio, and who built San Fernando Cathedral, are also planning a unique art exhibition downtown.
"They are looking to raise funding for some statues that would depict the San Antonio founders, and those would be placed in front of the Bexar County Courthouse."
Another privately funded public art project will create an historic trail through downtown, called the 'Tricentennial Trail.'
"It is loosely going to be a trail from the Alamo to the Briscoe Museum, related to the Alamo history," Racca-Sittre said.
There are also plans for art to be placed around the Convention Center and Hemisfair.The Tricentennial Celebration begins with a special event on New Year's Eve, and will culminate with a week of observances, religious ceremonies, street parties, and events the first week in May.
Two events which occurred during that week 300 years ago are considered the founding of San Antonio as a civilian community, and not just as a Spanish military outpost.
On May 1, 1718, according to a statement certified to be preserved, Don Martin de Alarcon gave possession to Fray Antonio de Olivares of the Misión de San Antonio de Valero, later known as "The Alamo", based officially the mission.On May 5, was founded the Presidio San Antonio de Bexar, on the west side of the San Antonio River, the source of the present city of San Antonio Texas. The event was chaired by Martin de Alarcón, settling around 30 families in the surrounding area.