Community invited Thursday night for open house, public celebration
(Seguin) – Spurs Spirit will be in Seguin this Thursday night as doors to the newly refreshed and renovated Teatro De Artes De Juan Seguin Cultural Arts Center officially reopen. The open house, being held in conjunction with Spurs Way and Frost Bank, is set to debut the safety renovations funded by a $100,000 grant.
Teatro Executive Director, Dr. Yvonne De La Rosa, is thankful to the Spurs, National Basketball Association, and Frost Bank for recognizing the commitment Teatro has made in Seguin over the last 42 years. She says winning one of only two $100,000 grants illustrates the value that the organization has had in not only preserving history but ensuring its future.
“We were awarded a Spurs and Frost Bank safety renovation grant. Back in February, we were notified, and they came for a walk through in March and we began the work at the building in June. So, we had a new fence put up in the front for safety for the kids and their families as they are coming to be dropped off for the classes. Also, the kitchen was very much renovated into being a commercial kitchen which will help with our fundraisers and being able to have events at our cultural arts center. We also have a new roof that is being put on. So definitely, the building will look different when you arrive. The roof is to help with the drainage of the water that was seeping under our building and was causing it to do a little bit of shifting. So, this new roof will help with the flat rock roof that we had prior. The other piece is the ADA ramp that we got installed at the back of the building. We didn’t have a ramp back there and we were always needing to put things in and out of the kitchen,” said De La Rosa.t
De La Rosa says tonight’s open house is an important milestone for the community. She says it signifies a path forward.
“With the post-World War II budling which was the Our Lady of Guadalupe Church No. 2 and in 1996 it was moved to its current location and we’ve kept it as close as to we could keep it from the 1950s and so we know that people always come into the Teatro Cultural Arts Center and say, ‘I got married here. I had my quincenera here. I was baptized here. It’s where I got my Holy Communion and we always keep in mind the community that came way before us in that building and we want to open up the building to invite the public to see the new renovations that have been completed but to let them know that they are still welcome in the building – to stop by anytime to witness our classes or come to our culinary classes which we will revive in the 2025-2026 season with a new commercial kitchen. We want people to come and experience the impact that the Spurs and Frost Bank have made in our community to see that our community is worth investing in and ensuring that our children have a safe place to be,” said De La Rosa.
De La Rosa says she hopes to see everyone at tonight’s event and says this time, it will be the Spurs who will be cheering on Seguin from the sidelines.
“We will open the doors at 5 o’clock and then the dignitaries from the Spurs, Frost, Teatro as well as the Hispanic Chamber and Chamber of Commerce and Mayor Donna Dodgen will be there to do a quick welcome and thank you for all that have taken part in the building. We will then have a special furry guest from the Spurs that will arrive at around 5:25 p.m. as well as the Spurs Hype Squad. They will be conducting a different dance – traditional hip-hop dancing but with a Latin flair. We will have coloring stations for arts and crafts and as this is all going on, we will tours so people can ask us questions. We have been blessed with Rodriguez Renovation who has taken on this grand renovation and then at 6 o’clock our Ballet Folklorico will perform. At 6:10, the Mariachi Juan Seguin and at 6:20 we have specifically asked for Danza Guadalupana to come in and bless the building with their dance,” said De La Rosa.
Teatro De Artes De Juan Seguin was founded on July 9, 1982, as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.
The mission of Teatro De Artes De Juan Seguin is to promote a better understanding of the Mexican American culture and its people by the teaching, study, practice, and performance of the arts and humanities.
The Teatro Cultural Arts Center is located at 921 W. New Braunfels St.