San Antonio Museum of Art

The only encyclopedic art museum in Central and South Texas, the San Antonio Museum of Art (SAMA) houses more than 30,000 works spanning all continents and 5,000 years of human creative expression. The collection includes an unparalleled assemblage of Latin American art, with ~10,000 objects representing Arts of the Americas pre-1500, Colonial, Modern and Contemporary, and Popular art; the largest concentration of Asian art in Texas, with over 3,000 objects from China, Japan, Korea, India, and beyond; the foremost collection of art of the Ancient Mediterranean in the state, with important ancient Roman, Egyptian, Greek, Near Eastern, and Etruscan objects; and distinguished collections of American, European, and Modern and Contemporary art. SAMA acquired more than 100 artworks in 2023, strengthening its global collection and influence. The SAMA campus comprises 14 acres, 10 buildings, and 87,500 square feet of gallery space. Each year, the Museum presents several special exhibitions, longer-range focus presentations, collection-based installations, and related public programs.

SAMA creates and delivers meaningful interpretive and participatory educational programs that connect people to art, ideas, and each other through its dynamic exhibition calendar, comprehensive global collection, and other mission-driven offerings. With a variety of year-round experiences for adults, families, children and youth, college students and faculty, and others, the ~500 programs carried out by SAMA in 2023 included: a suite of docent-led public tours for preK-12, collegiate, and adult audiences; artist talks; artmaking initiatives; lectures and panel discussions; music, dance, and theatre performances; educator workshops; film screenings; early childhood learning experiences; memory programs; scholarly symposia; and lively family days and other intergenerational initiatives. All Museum programming is designed to motivate discovery, learning, creativity, reflection, and exchange through the lens of art, history, and world cultures.

The Museum's 2023 exhibitions included: the groundbreaking Roman Landscapes: Visions of Nature and Myth from Rome and Pompeii, the first exhibition in the U.S. to explore how humans depicted themselves in relation to nature through landscape imagery created between 100 BC and AD 250; Still Brewing Art, a celebration of SAMA's rich and colorful history as the iconic Lone Star Brewery, its innovation in adaptive reuse, and implications for the future; and American Made: Paintings and Sculpture from the DeMell Jacobsen Collection, which traversed 250 years of American art with more than 100 works by renowned artists such as Thomas Cole, John Singer Sargent, Elizabeth Catlett, Mary Cassatt, and Rembrandt Peale alongside lesser-known artists, many of them women and artists of color, shining a light on representation and questions surrounding it. Additionally, SAMA inaugurated its Gateway Series with Pase Usted, a vibrant, site-specific mural in the Great Hall by South Texas-bred artist Carlos Rosales-Silva, conceived to activate the Museum lobby and provide a 'gateway' to individual collections.

In 2023, on-site visitation was ~140,000, with many more visitors engaging in artworks and programming virtually. Based on annual Museum data, 44% of visitors to SAMA reside in San Antonio, Bexar County, and surrounding counties, approximately 40% are from elsewhere in Texas; and 19% are from outside the state. Approximately 48% of Museum visitors self-identify as Latino/a, or Indigenous; 35% as Caucasian; and 16% as African American, Asian, and other. Eight percent (8%) identify as military. Data from recent exhibitions indicate that approximately one-third of our visitors have household incomes less than $50,000 and lack a college education. While attracting all age groups, the Museum draws most strongly from the 35-54 age group, including family households with children. SAMA is open Tuesday-Sunday from 10 am-5pm, except Tuesday and Friday when it remains open until 7 pm. In line with SAMA's 'access for all' mission, Bexar County residents receive free general admission during weekly Free Hours on Tuesdays 4-7 pm and Sundays 10am-12pm. Children aged 12 and under receive free admission at all times. Free admission opportunities are integral to the Museum's charge to reach and engage all communities in Greater San Antonio, particularly those overlooked and under-resourced. To this end, SAMA also participates in two nationwide cultural admission programs for targeted individuals and families: Museums for All and Blue Star Museums. SAMA's membership currently numbers ~3,200 households, with participation and distinct benefits reflecting various membership levels.