The committee served as a direct link to City Council to receive updates on progress and set benchmarks, he said.Ī Tricentennial Commission meeting in December 2017 Credit: Bonnie Arbittier / San Antonio Report The Contreras turnaround “T hat’s the primary reason I set up the Arts, Culture, and Heritage Committee.” “T here was not enough supervision in terms of the city’s direct involvement ,” Nirenberg said. 13, 2017, about five months after the resignation of Asia Ciaravino, the commission’s chief operating officer. He resigned as the commission’s CEO on Nov. Then he faced more questions about the handling of an exclusive media contract and the functionality of the Tricentennial website and calendar.
The five Council members on the committee posed questions about finances that Benavides and a fundraising consultant could not fully answer.Įven before that, Benavides had said funding could not be raised in time for the Tricentennial to secure a $1.2 million contract for a music festival. … T hanks to great cooperation within the private sector we were able to overcome that obstacle.” Related: With 138 Days Left Until 2018, Tricentennial Seeking $4.8 MillionĬoncerns about fundraising efforts for the Tricentennial were highlighted in August 2017 during the first meeting of the Council’s Arts, Culture, and Heritage Committee. “… I and my colleagues put many other things aside to ensure that we would have the funds raised to execute the effort. “Failure was not an option,” Nirenberg added. As Nirenberg took office, City Council also had six new members. The timing of municipal elections also proved a challenge, with a 2016 mayoral race that went to a runoff and resulted in incumbent Mayor Ivy Taylor’s loss. “I remember bugging Mayor Castro about getting started about Tricentennial year planning,” said Nirenberg, who was the District 8 Council representative at the time. “Three hundred years from now, I would advise that mayor to get started a few years in advance.” “But the product we ended up having was great.” “It was a miss from a standpoint of what could have been done,” Brockhouse said. City leaders, including Benavides, commented at the time that perhaps the groundwork should have started sooner.
The City launched the Tricentennial Commission in late 2015, with fundraising efforts starting in earnest in late 2016. “You can air-drop Carlos into any department in the City and he’s going to be successful,” Brockhouse said. “It could have been a total disaster,” said Councilman Greg Brockhouse (D6), who criticized how ill-informed City Council and the community was about the Tricentennial Commission’s early struggles. One year, about 500 partners, 700 officially events (more than 100 unique for the Tricentennial year), and more than $21 million later, the Tricentennial Commission will conclude the year by partnering with the SA Parks Foundation for a special year wrap-up video and fireworks at the Tower of the Americas on New Year’s Eve. Whoops! There was an error and we couldn't process your subscription.
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