URBAN-15
Carnaval de Los Muertos 2024
Join the URBAN-15 ensemble during their annual Día de Los Muertos Procession at Elmendorf Lake Park. Carnaval de Los Muertos is a magical spectacle of motion, imagery, sound, and color. The dancers in their costumes of embedded lights and the glowing banners personalized with photos, proceed in an illuminated procession that evokes floating spirits passing through our city.
URBAN-15 has appeared as Carnaval de Los Muertos since 1985; where they have offered a sense of the ethereal space between life and death. As a metaphor of today’s current events in which reality is easy to lose grasp of, this procession of impressionistic apparitions carries both the pain and joy of this era.
Occurring in conjunction with URBAN-15’s procession will be the 4th annual Día de Los Muertos
Lantern Release Celebration at Elmendorf Lake Park hosted by Westside Stories Magazine. Beginning at 5pm, visitors may expect vendors, arts & crafts, food and entertainment. For more information, contact organizer Yvonne Pena at (210) 872-7319 or email at westsidestoriesmagazine@gmail.com.
Day of The Dead at La Villita
Take part in the City of San Antonio’s official Day of The Dead Celebrations with URBAN-15! You can catch the URBAN-15 drum and dance ensemble in their spook-tacular hand-crafted costumes on October 26th at La Villita! But that’s not all, Day of The Dead celebrations will be taking place all weekend long at La Villita from Oct 25th – 27th, and will include activities for children and adults alike!
Luminaria 2024
It’s official! URBAN-15 and the Laser Wizard Tim Walsh will once again collaborate at this year’s Luminaria, this time to bring our audience the LARGEST LASER SHOW EVER IN SAN ANTONIO HISTORY!!
Join us on Saturday, October 19th for our most ambitious production to date: encompassing the entire North face of the Alamodome in Laser Beams! This “Laser Mapping” show will be controlled by Walsh while URBAN-15’s illuminated Dance and Drum ensemble perform original pieces! Just as last year, Walsh’s laser beams will be programmed to automatically react to specific instrumentations in our Drum ensemble, blending sounds and visuals in a surreal presentation.
Don’t miss out on what is sure to become a memorable moment in Luminaria and San Antonio history!
Saturday, October 19th @ 10pm CST
HEB Plaza at The Alamodome (located in front of North entrance)
Temporal Screening
An exclusive screening of one of URBAN-15’s most acclaimed works, “TEMPORAL”. “Temporal” is a ten-movement work commissioned by URBAN-15 in 1991. The work was created, directed and choreographed by Puerto Rican performance artist and dancer, Myrna Renaud during her five-month workshop residency at URBAN-15. “Temporal” is a vibrant visual and sound tableaux of life on a small Caribbean island. Each of the movements was choreographed to depict a community’s awareness that survival is at the mercy of the surrounding sea. Renaud explores the continuing cycle of Life, Death, and Recovery, using the URBAN-15 Ensemble as her creative instrument.
Screening begins Monday, September 16th at 8pm CST, and will run hourly through Monday, September 23rd at 8pm
The Movements Are:
1. Power of the Ocean / Oshun
2. Orbits of H20
3. A Beautiful Day
4. Gods at Play / Ogum
5. Huracán
6. Grief / Tracamandacas
7. Funeral Procession / Maracatu
8. A Call to Prayer / Moro
9. Joy To Be Alive / Comparsa
10. A Beautiful Day / Ritmo
URBAN-15’s Holiday Laser Show 2024
URBAN-15 will host its 19th Annual Holiday Laser Show in Our Lady of the Lake University’s Mabee Gymnasium, located within the University Wellness and Activities Center (UWAC) on Sunday, December 22, 2024. It is a multimedia spectacular of technology artforms with choreographed laser beams, colorful 3-D animation and light effects set to traditional holiday favorites and original electronic compositions.URBAN-15 once again is featuring the genius work of the Laser Wizard, Tim Walsh, with what has become the newest traditional Holiday event. This show is a blending of high-tech laser projections, animations and beam work, all choreographed with Holiday musical favorites. The show also features collaborative works of Tim Walsh and George Cisneros.
The Holiday Laser Show is presented at no charge to the community and features two shows on one day.
Tickets are limited, and may be reserved for free here. The Holiday Laser Show has become the new traditional holiday event in Central Texas after a two-year absence during 2020 and 2021, in respect for the City of San Antonio’s COVID-19 protocols and with an abundance of concern for the public safety of our audience. Originally slated to occur in Thiry Auditorium, the Holiday Laser Show was moved to a venue more accommodating of the large number of ticket reservations that have occurred in the last few weeks
Tickets are now available here!
Important: Tickets must be reserved ahead of time online via the Universe Ticket Service here. Due to limited seating, downloaded ticket must be shown upon entry (print or on phone). These will be verified by front of house staff. Reservations will not be made at the door.
Free Event: A Tribute to La Música Chicana
RSVP For Free Here
In celebration of URBAN-15’s 50th anniversary events, Robert Rivera Ojeda and the City of San Antonio’s Department of Arts & Culture presents “Tribute To La Musica Chicana, The History and Influences on Music by Mexican American Musicians.” Performed by Robert Ojeda’s Bronze Band, this tribute forms part of a musical performance art piece series chronicling the influence and history on the Mexican American culture from the Indigenous, to the 1930s up to 1960.
Join us live at the URBAN-15 Studio on Saturday, August 10th from 5-7pm CST for a musical journey across the rich history of Mexican American sounds.
Robert Ojeda, a respected musician, educator, and historian, states that the Tribute to La Musica Chicana is to fill the gap in San Antonio’s music history by preserving, promoting, and performing the music of San Antonio’s history. He is a 2024 grantee of the City of San Antonio’s Department of Arts & Culture Individual Artist Grant. These grants support a diverse portfolio of artists in their creation of new original work in the literary arts, media arts, multi-disciplinary arts, performing arts, and visual arts. Ojeda is thankful to the City of San Antonio’s Department of Arts & Culture in recognizing the need to showcase music and histories of Mexican American music. The Bronze Band is a group of seasoned musicians that will perform a myriad of genres created over the years, including Indigenous, Tex-Mex, Chicano rhythm and blues, country-western swing, cumbias, boleros, oldies and much more that reflects the creations by Mexican American musicians. Ojeda, Musical Director, will introduce each song with historical information.
The Big Give 2024
On Wednesday Sep. 18th at 6 PM through Thursday Sep. 19th at 6 PM, URBAN-15 invites you to participate in the 2024 Big Give! Your generous donation during this grand charity event will be used to award winners of two of URBAN-15’s biggest events; Mega Corazon and The Josiah Media Festival, as well as the many artists who deserve recognition for their talented contributions to our community and organization.
Each year, URBAN-15 awards the winners of Mega Corazon the Gregg Barrios Precious Words Prize, along with a $500 cash award. Past winners have included some of the greatest poets in the nation, such as former San Antonio Poet Laureate Andrea “Vocab” Sanderson, Jessica Tilton-Zertuche, and Amalia Ortiz. In addition to Mega Corazon, URBAN-15 also hosts The Josiah Media Festival, which highlights creative works made exclusively by artists 21 years old or younger. The cultivation of this young artistic talent is made possible by generous donations that allow URBAN-15 to award Josiah finalists a cash prize. Through both Mega Corazon and The Josiah Media Festival, artists of all ages are encouraged to continue along their artistic path and reach great heights. It is programs such as the Big Give that allow URBAN-15 to raise the funds these creators deserve.
This year, The Big Give and multiple partners have collaborated to feature “Match Minutes”, during which your donation may be effectively doubled by these organizations. Donors are encouraged to input their payment information 5-10 minutes before the designated “Match Minute” and completing the payment when your computer or phone clock reach the correct time.
There are many “Match Minutes” to choose from, you can find them all here!
We humbly ask for your donations to keep these great programs going. Your gift will stimulate growth in our arts community and encourage brilliant minds to create great works.
Donate to URBAN-15 by clicking here
Pollinator Festival 2024
Join URBAN-15’s Dance Ensemble once again for the 9th annual Monarch Butterfly and Pollinator Festival, Saturday October 5 at Brackenridge Park, adjacent to the San Antonio Zoo entrance! URBAN-15’s butterfly-wing-clad dancers will begin their performance around the festival grounds at 10:30am!
For more details, Visit: Brackenridge Park Conservancy
Brackenridge Park
3700 N St Mary’s St, San Antonio, TX 78209
Manhattan Short Film Festival 2024
The URBAN-15 Group is happy to once again be one of 500 venues across the globe to host the 27th Annual Manhattan Short Film Festival! This brilliant festival with roots in the streets of New York City screens ten films from filmmakers all around the world on Sep 27-28th & Oct 4-5th. Join URBAN-15 in celebration of their 22nd year participating in this festival and enjoy these compelling works brought to life at their studio’s big screen!
View the official Program below!
Tickets are now available here
URBAN-15’s Semi-Centennial Celebration
