MAKE DOWNTOWN MORE BEAUTIFUL +PLAYFUL

Make Downtown More Beautiful +Playful

Art Everywhere

San Antonio has a rich artistic history which is more alive today than ever. We believe downtown is a place for extraordinary experiences; it’s where our memories are made and become the stories we tell.  And artists are some of our most cherished storytellers and memory-makers. Centro’s Art Everywhere Project celebrates artists by enabling them to bring more creativity, provocations and beauty into the public realm.  

This past year we continued to ‘make art happen.’ Installing 45 works of art added even more vibrancy, diversity and safety to downtown. The Art Everywhere Project is also an economic development tool. Serving as the local artists-to-business matchmaker, we optimized our turn-key art program so even more downtown businesses can say YES to art that works for them – and make it happen.  Beyond the visual arts, we sponsored dozens of music, film, performance and culinary arts events at Peacock Alley, La Zona and Travis Park.   

$613,000
INVESTED IN ART
7 ART WALK
TOURS HOSTED, TOTALING 150 ATTENDEES
45

WORKS OF ART INSTALLED

21,000+
VISITORS TO
“DIGITAL ART WALK TOUR”
15,800+
QR CODE SCANS FROM ART EVERYWHERE MURALS

LANDSCAPING

Centro installs and maintains landscaping and planters in the district to support property owners and businesses. We do this by supplementing existing City of San Antonio services to ensure a more beautiful, friendly, and vibrant overall environment.  

This year, we fully implemented a strategic plan for plant design and pot placement in the district. The design is low maintenance, requires less water, and provides shade and additional cultural value, including native trees, and perennial flowering plants. 

1,000

HANGING POTS MAINTAINED

250

TREES PLANTED DOWNTOWN

SHADE EQUITY

Shade is a civic resource that should be shared by all. Centro’s commissioned Shade Equity shade study is nearly complete and will be published by the Fall of this year.  Designed to better understand downtown’s shade needs and opportunities, it will help create positive impact on the future of San Antonio’s urban core. With climate change and high temperatures being a part of our future, the pedestrian experience is of the utmost importance.  

The study, with an open-source intent, will include a thorough assessment of conditions; it will also recommend design strategies and key shade interventions that will improve current heat island conditions downtown. With the ability for long-range implementation in both the private and public sectors, our aim is to have the study serve as the foundation for a shade policy at the City level. 

Peacock ALLEY

Events, Programming & Play Activations

Whether we’re putting up holiday lights and making it snow or partnering with artists, markers, and creative organizations to add music, art and play to our downtown, Centro is always finding creative ways to activate our streets, parks, and alleys. This year Centro delivered 162 engaging, playful, and puro events and activations in the center city for an estimated 180,0000 residents and visitors.

We supported the growth of new and tenured traditions at Travis Park including the Rotary Ice Rink and Taco Fest, hosted quarterly information sessions to eliminate barriers and inspired 70 NEW collaborative partnerships including Tech Bloc and BRUK OUT. We engaged in a community-wide open call to curate dynamic and inspiring animations from hyperlocals to expand our Peacock Alley Initiative and debut the new placemaking spot “La Zona”, located in the heart of the Zona Cultural District. 

70 New
Collaborations

180,000

Attendees

162

Events +
ACTIVATIONS

La Zona

The 2nd Annual Family Pride Night at Madison Square Park

Peacock Alley

HOLIDAY WONDERLAND 

Downtown San Antonio during the holiday season is truly magical, especially at Travis Park. This year’s Holiday programming, including the Rotary Ice Rink presented by Valero, was no exception. Despite unseasonably warm weather and a new emerging variant of COVID, locals and visitors alike were inspired to create new and honor tenured traditions at Travis Park. 

Through new partnership and agreements, including a Travis Park management agreement with the City of San Antonio and Service agreement between Rotary and Ice Rink Events, Centro proudly led the holiday operations and programming for the park October 2021 – February 2022. 

TIS’ THE SEASON

0
VISITORS TO TRAVIS PARK DURING THE HOLIDAYS
0
DIGITAL MEDIA
IMPRESSIONS
$ 0 +
IN MEDIA
COVERAGE
0
SKATERS AT
THE ROTARY
ICE RINK

Peacock ALLEY

The celebrated event series returned in Summer 2022, featuring over 30 local activators, representing artists, musicians, educators, artisans, and more.  

18,000+

Attendees

$2,000,000

In Media
Coverate

400+

Attendees

$81,000+

In Media
Coverate

Family Pride Day

Family Pride Day returned to Madison Square Park for its third year. Attendance and media impact doubled over last year. The 2022 Grand Marshal was Angel Flores, transgender activist and athlete, and star of Season Six of Netflix’s “Queer Eye.” 

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LOCATIONS

  • Headquarters
    110 Broadway Street, Suite 230 San Antonio, TX 78205
  • Mon-Fri 8:30am - 5:30pm​
  • (210) 225-3862
  • Operations Center
  • 219 E Travis Street, San Antonio, TX 78205
  • Everyday 7:00am - 6:00pm
  • (210) 224-7747

NEWSLETTER

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Copyright All Rights Reserved © 2021 Centro SA |

MATT BROWN

PRESIDENT AND CEO

Matt is the lucky guy that gets to lead a team of passionate placemakers who work every day to make downtown San Antonio more beautiful, playful, prosperous, and welcoming. Since starting his career as an attorney, Matt accumulated 25+ years’ worth of experience in the private sector by founding play and creative companies; consulting for start-ups and Fortune 500s in strategy, innovation, and leadership; and serving as president and C-level executive for Scholastic, Klutz and LeapFrog, among others. Directly prior to moving to San Antonio, he was the Economic Development Director and Interim Land Use Director for Santa Fe, NM.  He and his daughter have visited 15 state capitals on their way to all 50! 

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Elizabeth Burt

DIRECTOR OF URBAN ACTIVATION + PLAY

Liz is a passionate underutilized space evangelist known for collaboration matchmaking + play based troublemaking (snow, pumpkins, and Parisian mimes included). She graduated from the University of Texas at San Antonio College of Public Policy studying Public Administration (#BirdsUp)! More recently, she oversaw the award winning Activate Houston Street Initiative, a placemaking action plan to reinvigorate the historic pedestrian corridor in the heart of Downtown, which is recognized as a Best Practice in Public Space Management by the International Downtown Association, for which she is also a proud Emerging Leader Fellow.

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Connie Garza

TACTICAL PLANNING COORDINATOR

Connie is a native San Antonian with roots planted deeply on San Antonio’s Southside. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in International Relations and Global Studies from the University of Texas at Austin. Passionate about building strong communities, Connie loves acting as a connector to small businesses, entrepreneurs, and people to help each other reach their goals and work together. She works inbetween the Cultural Placemaking team and the Mainstreet Economic Development team, bringing vibrancy and support to urban core businesses to make downtown the place to be. When not at work, you can usually find her at the local plant nursery buying another plant, exploring new cafes/breweries, and spending time with family.

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Laura Aldrich

MEMBERSHIP & STORY CATALYST

Laura (She/Her) has a Bachelor’s degree in Art History from the University of Texas at Austin where she fostered a deep love for communication, critical theory, & experiential spaces. Her heart lies in community, communication, & creative spaces for connection & collaboration.

She’s found much of her life’s direction in sharing her love for fitness & yoga alongside her deeply lived passion for social equity & women’s equality.

Laura has years of experience in developing & carrying out creative, strategic project management, marketing & membership-based sales as well as large-scale events & leadership training.

Outside of work she can often be found biking downtown with friends, adventuring with her sweet pup on the Greenway & casually perusing the cheese aisle at Central Market. She finds simple pleasures in unexpected live music, mochi, freshly bought pairs of matching socks & toppling the patriarchy.

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Priscilla Lopez

EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT

Priscilla or “P.Lo” as her teammates affectionately call her, has 20 years of corporate administrative experience. Priscilla attended The University of San Antonio with a focus on Business Administration. In her role as office “fixer,” she handles everything from communications and relationship management to IT sleuthing. On weekends you can find her enjoying a Truly poolside. She lives the vegan lifestyle and is  a proud member of the Peleton community.

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Jacqueline Lucio

DIRECTOR OF PID OPERATIONS

Jacque is a longtime downtowner with a deep passion for community service. She oversees Centro’s Clean & Safe and Homeless Outreach services, which aim to create a more beautiful, welcoming, inclusive, and hospitable downtown. For nearly two decades, Jacque has lived in downtown San Antonio and has been actively involved in the transformation of the urban core. Through her work with nonprofits, local government, and news media, she’s continually focused on championing more sustainable, diverse, and equitable communities. Jacque has led efforts to support asylum seekers, served as communications director for City Council District 5, and served in public affairs role for Clear Channel Outdoor San Antonio. Jacque studied Mass Communications and Mexican-American Studies at UTSA.

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Matt Sirgo

DIRECTOR OF STORYTELLING

Matt graduated from Texas Tech University in 2016 with a Dual Major in Media Strategies and Honors Arts & Letters with a minor in Italian (Benvenuto a tutti!). Matt oversees the marketing, public relations, and digital content for Centro. After sharing the story of Downtown San Antonio on digital channels, he enjoys creating TikToks about LGBTQ+ media. His mug graces a Fiesta Mural on the St. Mary’s Strip just north of Downtown. You can’t miss it. 

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Andi Rodriguez

VICE PRESIDENT OF CULTURAL PLACEMAKING

Andi is a long-time urban champion and leads Centro ‘people projects’ which tell our stories and bring us joy, such as Centro’s Art Everywhere and Zona Cultural. Serving on the Leadership Council of Urban Land Institute, she is a former city Planning Commissioner, Founding Chair of the Hemisfair Conservancy, Co-founder of Power of Preservation/PROM, former Chair of the Mayor’s Commission on the Status of Women and immediate past Chair of Leadership San Antonio. Andi considers herself a servant leader; she has an MS in Architecture/Urban Planning, and enjoys advocating for the unifying power of art, history, and public space.

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Jakob Villareal

STAFF GRANT WRITER

Currently studying for a B.A. in English at A&M San Antonio and Majoring in Writing & Rhetoric, Jakob is a key player in securing additional funding for Centro’s many projects and initiatives. Jakob acts as a matchmaking service for Centro’s projects and Initiatives. Using his intimate knowledge of our goals and ideals, he seeks to find the perfect match of project and potential funding organization. When he’s not busy fundraising Jakob also fills the roll of Game Master, host the team’s various get–togethers and keeping the party going with games galore. He spends his free time painting miniatures, and is an avid Dungeons and Dragons & Table Top RPG enthusiast.

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JanIe Garza

OFFICE MANAGER

Janie is a native of Corpus Christi, TX and has made San Antonio her home since 2012. Her 15+ years’ experience allows her to serve a broad range of functions that allow the organization to operate efficiently, including, accounts receivable/payable, record management, information technology, office management, and assisting with human resources. Outside of the office she enjoys spending time with her family, visiting local art museums, and enjoying a German beer in Southtown.

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Michael Cirlos

JEDI CAMERAMAN

Michael began his studies and volunteer work at Webster University Thailand with a focus on international relations and Buddhism. After returning to San Antonio and graduating from UTSA, Michael began photographing and telling the stories of people in Downtown San Antonio to help connect and increase awareness of our vibrant urban culture. Michael’s work has appeared in several news media organizations, and has produced digital content for small- and large-scale marketing campaigns for Red Bull, COSA Department of Arts and Culture, World Heritage Office, National Park Service, and others. Michael is a former Pecha Kucha San Antonio Speaker, best-selling author at Trinity University Press, entrepreneur, and adventurer.

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Sarah Esserlieu

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR

Sarah is a passionate urbanist who has spent the majority of her career on downtown revitalization efforts. Downtown is the best part of any city where you can find the finest history, culture, life, and beauty. Sarah has a Master of Science in Urban and Regional Planning from the University of Texas at San Antonio and a Bachelor of Arts in International Studies from the University of California, San Diego. Sarah enjoys visiting small local businesses, enjoying foodie culture, cooking, hiking, and visiting the cities of the world. 

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Edward A. Romero

CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER

Eddie is responsible for understanding community needs through research and dialogue, serving the organization’s community development and advocacy efforts while delivering Public Improvement District services and marketing campaigns. Eddie earned a B.S. in Mass Communications from Texas State University and a M.A. in Interactive Communication and Design from the University of the Incarnate Word. He has spent the past eight years leading Centro in multiple capacities, including membership, events, marketing, community engagement, and district operations.

Copy and paste the following url in your browser to listen to Eddie’s “Downtown” playlist: https://spoti.fi/30fSerZ. 

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KANDICE PERKINS

FINANCIAL DIRECTOR

Kandice is a Sunnyvale, CA native and has made San Antonio her home since 2014. She graduated from University of Argosy in 2016 with a Bachelor of Science in Accounting and continued to complete her Master’s in Business Administration from University of Phoenix 2020. She has worked in downtown San Antonio for years, bringing 15+ years of accounting experience to the organization and has been tasked with promoting and developing the city’s urban core. When not at the office, she enjoys spending time with her family and friends, managing her family’s businesses, and enjoys cooking and baking.  

“The only way to do great work is to love what you do.” – Steve Jobs 

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