SAN ANTONIO — Agarita's new season of collaborative concerts and community engagement doesn't officially start until September, but the local four-piece chamber ensemble has already tuned up a big win: a three-year, $45,000 grant from the San Antonio Area Foundation to help fund operations.
Marisa Bushman, a violist for Agarita – which also features pianist Daniel Anastasio, cellist Ignacio Gallego and violinist Sarah Silver Manzke – said the grant was a validation of their efforts to provide free, accessible exposure to musical arts in the city. Over five seasons, the quartet has played for more than 27,000 audience members, often accompanied by guest musicians.
"Having the stamp of approval from the foundation really puts Agarita on the map as an organization people should be paying attention to," she said. "The work we've done over the past five years is starting to culminate in really big community support."
That work has grown exponentially, from seven concerts in Agarita's first season in 2018 to more than 60 last year. Bushman says the ensemble is vying to surpass that number this year through its various arms, including the return of its pandemic-inspired Humble Hall series, which allows Agarita the literal mobility to play at parks and businesses in each of San Antonio's 10 districts.
It also includes Agarita Inspires!, an educational initiative launched last year to foster musical creativity and investment in San Antonio's students. Agarita at the time said it was shooting to connect with 36,000 students through Agarita Inspires! by 2025; Bushman says they're on track to meet that mark.
"A lot of the feedback was, ‘Wow, this made me understand so much more about what I’m learning in school,'" Bushman said about the inaugural season of Agarita Inspires!. "We do a post-assessment with them, and I think about 98% of the kids wanted to see Agarita come back to the school.”
Agarita Inspires! and Humble Hall events will continue to be announced as the season goes on. The crux of Agarita's year, however, is anchored around six now-scheduled concerts whose programs run the gamut, from epic Beethoven compositions and Gershwin rhapsodies to John Williams' most famous Hollywood themes.
The shows also continue the group's tradition of collaborating with other musicians and artistic institutions. Some of those collaborators are coming from out of town, like Spain's Pablo Sáinz Villegas and Colombia's Santiago Cañón Valencia, to provide the younger audience members of a Hispanic-majority San Antonio community an opportunity to connect with musicians who look like them.
They also include cultural organizations like the Public Theater of San Antonio and the Witte Museum, with whom Agarita is partnering to provide experiences that transcend just music.
"Music is a natural storyteller, and art can be a storyteller for music," Bushman said. "Partnering with these local institutions, it really reaffirms what is happening in the arts in our town.”
It all kicks off Sept. 2 at UIW's Bennack Concert Hall, where Agarita will perform alongside two members of the Parker Quartet, a Grammy-winning group that Bushman calls "one of the finest of our generation." Tickets are free but seating must be secured ahead of time here.
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