Ideas become empowered through human interaction. In a city defined by its diverse cultural heritage, DreamWeek is bridging the gap between people and ideas through an international summit on tolerance, equality, and social justice.
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SAN ANTONIO — The final days of Dreamweek San Antonio 2021 are underway. The annual event series celebrates the life and work of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
There are still dozens of in-person and virtual Dreamweek events for local families to check out now through January 24. Shokare Nakpodia, the founder of Dreamweek, joined News 4 San Antonio’s Evening Break to share what you can expect.
As hybrid-virtual-and-in-person DreamWeek 2021 kicked off Thursday, a new ultra-high-quality portrait exhibit opened as something of an eye-catching anchor to the pandemic-altered festivities.
The exhibit, A Collective Vision: Notable People of San Antonio, is the work of fine art portrait photographer Kevin G. Saunders and his studio. It features striking and often dramatic black and white portraits of 69 San Antonians that, in 2020, made important impacts or contributions. A Collective Vision will be available for viewing, in compliance with masking and other pandemic protocols, at Brick at Blue Star through Jan. 20. The exhibit is also available virtually in fully interactive 3D.
In selecting individuals for these commemorative portraits, Saunders elicited the help of DreamWeek President Shokare Nakpodia (himself a portrait subject) and others. The goal, he said, was to honor the efforts of a truly diverse array of community members, each of whom rose admirably to the occasion of an especially difficult year in their own way.
Portrait subjects include Mayor Ron Nirenberg, former Mayor Henry Cisneros, former U.S. representatives Will Hurd and Charlie González, Judge Peter Sakai, San Antonio Food Bank President Eric Cooper, philanthropist Gordon Hartman, CPS Energy President Paula Gold-Williams, and other business, civic, spiritual, and cultural leaders.
Nakpodia referred to the project, which Saunders did entirely pro bono as a community service, in glowing terms.
Upon learning about the project, he said he quickly “realized that what [Saunders] was trying to accomplish was going to be a tremendous asset for the entire city.”
He praised the project for not only focusing on “the usual suspects” but giving a broad look into the “genius of the community” by recognizing individuals that are doing important work with less visibility.
All individual glory aside, Nakpodia said that “everyone in the city deserves a portrait” for their everyday remarkableness.
Saunders said that what began as a way to use his talents and resources to honor exemplary community members became a profound experience of the true strength and dignity of these remarkable individuals.
With each “person that came through that door, my goal was to find their dignity and to capture it.”
Saunders described himself as a “person who sees the other side of people when I create their portraits” and as a “keeper of the secrets.”
He feels as though he has seen “a side of these leaders that others might not see” and “noticed across the board their strength, perseverance, and determination.”
“It has been inspirational to me to hear the stories of these people that have carried San Antonio,” Saunders said, shouting out one community leader in particular.
“Eric Cooper literally saved the community with the food bank,” Saunders said, noting that he made Cooper’s portrait “especially dramatic” because he “just felt so strongly that this guy has done truly amazing things for the community.”
The idea for the project, which came to Saunders last January, was to spotlight “business leaders, artistic leaders, civic leaders, religious leaders, cultural leaders, people that make our city great.”
Then, after meeting Nakpodia, Saunders became excited to broaden the scope of his project. Not only does he plan to continue doing portraits of remarkable San Antonians, but he also plans to expand the project nationally and even internationally.
Saunders’ core goal is rather simple: to celebrate people and their contribution by finding “people deserving of recognition and create a world-class legacy portrait for them.”
He takes special pride in making portraits of the “many who may not otherwise have resources for such a portrait.”
“There are people who like to buy my portraits because they are good,” Saunders said, “but there are also people who I want to honor.”
The San Antonio Report spoke to just a few of the portrait subjects to find out what the exhibit means to them.
Garrett T. Capps – an alternative country singer-songwriter and part-owner of the Lonesome Rose who has used his outsized and charming personality for good more than once over the past year – said that at first he “didn’t really know what to make of the idea” of having his portrait taken.
After (probably) joking that he hopes to “one day run for mayor, so this is a step in the right direction,” he confessed that he felt “honored to be alongside these influential and important figures in our community.”
“I love San Antonio, and I try to contribute in every way I can,” he said. “And I think that has gone beyond playing music and organizing concerts.”
He even got Saunders to let him keep his trademark sunglasses on in the portrait.
Patricia Burr, chair of the University of the Incarnate Word’s school of business, said that Saunders’ “vision for this project is to be congratulated.”
She said that each portrait subject “knows that civic duty is expected and also understands how a community cannot thrive without everyone contributing to leadership, vision, and action.”
She also said that a renewed focus on the power of education to increase socioeconomic mobility and stabilize communities should be seen as “a continuing responsibility for all who are honored.”
González, the former congressman, said that “DreamWeek reminds us that so much remains to be done to achieve justice and equality.”
“While past achievements are recognized,” he said, “what is truly important is what we continue to do each and every day.”
Disclosure: San Antonio Report Editor Robert Rivard is featured in the portrait exhibit A Collective Vision: Notable People of San Antonio.
Despite coronavirus, DreamWeek 2021 kicks off ninth year of offering civil discourse, inclusive events in San Antonio / San Antonio Express-News
Local officials and community leaders called for 10 days of discussion, healing, and unity Thursday evening during the kickoff event of San Antonio’s annual diversity summit DreamWeek.
The hour-long event took place in person as well as virtually and featured elected officials, Black community leaders, and local artists who voiced hope for a positive 10-day summit and healing in a nation still reeling from an insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.
It is not a coincidence this year’s DreamWeek theme is “Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness,” DreamWeek founder Shokare Nakpodia said.
“We have something dynamic here [in San Antonio],” he said. “We have people who are Black, Hispanic, and white all living here together harmoniously for a long time.”
Following events at the U.S. Capitol last week and the galvanization of the Black Lives Matter movement this past spring, Nakpodia said he hopes people look toward San Antonio as an example of how people from different backgrounds can peacefully coexist.
“[This is] the city that has the largest MLK Jr. march in the nation,” he said. “Three-hundred-thousand people wake up on that Monday morning and go and march.”
Nakpodia said when he launched DreamWeek nine years ago he never imagined it would grow to the reach it has now. With this year’s event featuring over 140 virtual or in-person events, Nakpodia said his hope for this year’s summit is that it reaches even further, especially with so many of the week’s events being virtual.
Mayor Ron Nirenberg, who gave remarks on the event’s opening day, said he considers DreamWeek one of the most iconic events to arise in San Antonio in the past decade.
“It represents everything San Antonio should be,” Nirenberg said.
The mayor added that he feels DreamWeek has become one of the city’s greatest demonstrations of diversity and inclusion and allows for important discussions on civil rights. DreamWeek shows that especially through dialogue, music, and literature bonds can be formed among disparate social groups and unity can be achieved, he said.
“Our country desperately needs this type of discourse right now,” Nirenberg said.
Following the kickoff event, which was invitation-only and socially distanced inside the main auditorium at the Tobin Center for the Performing Arts, Nakpodia said he hopes this week acts as a reminder that people are more than just Democrats and Republicans.
“We need to get away from the idea of just two [types of people],” Nakpodia said.
Events Nakpodia said events he is particularly looking forward to over the 10-day summit include a panel called “Black is…” – which will discuss the different types of nationalities and cultures the word “Black” encompasses – and this year’s DreamHour Speaker Series, which will feature 30-plus individuals from the community who will share their experiences as descendants of important but under-recognized Black Americans.
The kickoff event Thursday evening also included an invocation from Pastor Charles Flowers, a poem reading from San Antonio Poet Laureate Andrea “Vocab” Anderson, remarks from Alice Viroslav, and songs by singer Naomi Sumtintosay Johnson.
For the ninth consecutive year, DreamWeek will celebrate the unveiling of its annual Notable People of San Antonio portrait collection, honoring the city’s civic, cultural, business, religious and political leaders.
The 2020 collection, titled “A Collective Vision,” was created by lauded photographer Kevin G. Saunders. He created in the exhibit of black-and-white portraits in collaboration with DreamVoice President Shokare Nakpodia.
The nonprofit DreamVoice facilitates DreamWeek, a weeklong series of events aimed at advancing tolerance, equality and diversity across cultures and communities.
“This is a signature, milestone event from my long career that I am proud to share with all of our community and beyond,” Saunders said in a release. “San Antonio’s 2020 Notable People are simply inspiring. I hope everyone enjoys the beauty of their spirits.”
The 2020 honorees include Tobin Center for the Performing Arts CEO Michael Fresher, alt-country artist Garret T. Capps, Texas Public Radio CEO Joyce Slocum and retired Fiesta San Antonio Commission Executive Director Amy Shaw.
The Notable People exhibit will open in-person and virtually Thursday, January 14. The in-person exhibition at The Cube at the Brick Event Center in the Blue Star Arts Complex is free with a reception scheduled from 6-9 p.m.
Saunders will also be at the gallery from 6-9 p.m., January 15-20.
The virtual gallery can be viewed at either the project’s Facebook page or Saunders’ website.
Following a significant news year that saw the reawakening of the Black Lives Matter movement, this year’s pandemic-adjusted DreamWeek will focus on telling the generational stories from local communities of color as well as defining “Blackness.”
San Antonio’s ninth annual DreamWeek will kick off Thursday, Jan. 14, with a small live opening ceremony with remarks from Mayor Ron Nirenberg and a recital by San Antonio Poet Laureate Andrea “Vocab” Sanderson, and will continue through Jan. 24. This year’s theme will be “Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness,” with a focus on celebrating civil and civic engagements, said DreamVoice President Shokare Nakpodia.
“Coming off a year in which many lives were lost in a global pandemic, in which the struggles and challenges of Black life in America were brought to focus through protest, and in a time in which many believe that government action infringes on their individual liberty, we as a community seek more than ever a pathway for the pursuit of happiness for all,” Nakpodia said.
The 10-day summit will consist of roughly 110 indoor, outdoor, and virtual events and will include exhibits, panel discussions, and individual presentations at six locations with COVID-19 precautions in place, said DreamWeek Program Director Lillian Guindy.
The event, which runs from January 14-24, is mostly free and open to the public – and will be virtual due to the pandemic.
SAN ANTONIO — If you’re looking to do a deep dive on San Antonio history, learn about lesser-known people who have had a substantial impact on the U.S. or just want to find a great outdoors spot to explore in our area – DreamWeek could be the answer.
There are more than 100 events planned for the 10-day annual event, most of which will be virtual because of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. This year’s theme is “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”
DreamWeek is hailed as a summit of hundreds of events presented by local organizations and individuals with one purpose: “to foster the free exchange of ideas on universal issues affecting the human race.”
DreamWeek has something for everyone in San Antonio
The event, which runs from January 14-24, is mostly free and open to the public – and will be virtual due to the pandemic.
SAN ANTONIO — If you’re looking to do a deep dive on San Antonio history, learn about lesser-known people who have had a substantial impact on the U.S. or just want to find a great outdoors spot to explore in our area – DreamWeek could be the answer.
There are more than 100 events planned for the 10-day annual event, most of which will be virtual because of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. This year’s theme is “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”
DreamWeek is hailed as a summit of hundreds of events presented by local organizations and individuals with one purpose: “to foster the free exchange of ideas on universal issues affecting the human race.”
Organizers of DreamWeek also point to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s vision – saying it sets the foundations of tolerance, equality and diversity by creating dialogue across cultures and communities. It began in 2010 as a small movement and in 2011 DreamVoice was established by Shokare Nakpodia. The first DreamWeek summit was presented with 20 partners and 35 events.
Lilly Guindy is the program manager for Dream Voice, which has sponsored the event for the past nine years.
“The aim is to invite all to participate in an open and welcoming arena, where real-world issues are engaged in a well-balanced manner, with the understanding that the truest voices will always prevail,” Guindy said. “Events take a variety of forms: from symposiums, panel discussions and debates to film screenings, concerts and art exhibits, DreamWeek is a community in reflection. It is about diversity, equality and inclusion.”
Last year, DreamWeek included 200 events with 185 partners participating in 150 locations. This year, however, there are 110 events lined up so far.
“DreamWeek2021 will kick off with the opening ceremony as we celebrate with remarks from Mayor Ron Nirenberg and recital by San Antonio Poet Laureate Andrea Vocab Sanderson,” Guindy said. “The DreamHour Speaker Series (The Descendant Series) which will focus on descendants of African-American, Tejano and Indigenous peoples featuring individuals from the community who contributed to making America a global power – without recognition or compensation.”
Guindy added there will be an unveiling of the exhibit, Notable People of San Antonio 2020 Collection: “A Collective Vision” by Portrait Artist Kevin G. Saunders, honoring civic, cultural, business, religious and political leaders of our city from 6 to 9 p.m. January 14-20.
This year, there’s also a panel discussion being held by Texas Children in Nature partners in San Antonio about the benefits of children spending time in nature. It will focus on why children who learn and play outdoors are healthier, happier and smarter. Other agencies will also share how they are working in the community to create opportunities for children and families to spend time in nature.
To learn more about DreamWeek and sign up for specific events, click here or call (210) 444-2315.
DreamWeek, San Antonio’s annual celebration of the multicultural legacy of Martin Luther King Jr., is in its ninth year, and its calendar is as full as ever. The only 2021 caveat is that many of its events have moved into the virtual sphere.
Local organizations will use virtual discussions to build civic engagement around issues of tolerance, equality and diversity, all fitting into DreamWeek’s 2021 theme of “Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.”
Here’s a selection of events happening during the ten-day summit. For details on other DreamWeek-affiliated events, visit dreamweek.org.
THU | 1/14
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in Mental Health
Hosted by the Center for Health Care Services, this panel discussion will center around ways for organizations to incorporate mental health initiatives and better support employee wellbeing. Free, 10-11 a.m., Zoom, chcsf.org.
SAT | 1/16
Police Accountability is Non-Negotiable
Board members of police accountability group Fix SAPD will discuss police oversight in San Antonio and ways citizens can take action. Topics include a petition drive by the group, SAPD collective bargaining and Texas’ proposed George Floyd Act. Free, noon-1 p.m., Facebook Live, facebook.com/fixsapdtx.
MON | 1/18 – FRI | 1/22
Advocating for Equality and Justice for Immigrants Under the Biden Administration
The Migrant Center for Human Rights is hosting a five-part podcast series discussing the incoming Biden Administration’s likely approach to immigration policy and how citizens can advocate for positive change. Free (donations encouraged), 8:30-9 a.m. Monday-Friday, migrantcenter.org/advocating-for-equality-and-justice.
WED | 1/20
Envisioning Liberation: Palestine and Black Lives Matter
San Antonio’s chapter of Jewish Voice for Peace will facilitate a panel discussion on the pursuit of happiness during the fight for civil rights. Speakers will highlight examples from the struggles of Palestinians and Black Americans to show how movements can work in parallel. Free (donations encouraged), 6- 7:30 p.m., Zoom, facebook.com/JewishVoiceforPeaceSA.
THU | 1/21
Changing Outcomes Through Education and Outreach: Gender Socialization and Rape Culture
As part of a series of talks running January 14-21, presenter Nia Davis from the Rape Crisis Center will discuss the impact of societal and cultural gender norms that place values and expectations on males and females. Free, 10-11 a.m., Zoom, rapecrisis.com/events/gender-socialization-rape-culture-4.
SAT | 1/23
Disarm Hate: The Deadly Intersection of Guns and Hate Crimes
This panel discussion organized by the Bexar County chapter of Mom’s Demand Action for Gun Sense in America will explore the deadly intersection between guns and hate crimes. Community leaders from diverse backgrounds will discuss how marginalized groups are disproportionally affected by gun violence. Free, 3-4:30 p.m., Zoom, momsdemandaction.org.
DreamWeek 2021 is moving the celebrations to the virtual platform this year, and although things look a bit different than in years past, there are still some exciting events happening that you can attend safely and from the comfort of your own home. Shokare Nakpodia, shares all about the upcoming celebrations!
