About
Music. Movement. Media.
URBAN-15 is a San Antonio-based non-profit arts group that creates educational programs, events, and performances dedicated to music, movement, and media. Through the practice and performance of these three arts disciplines, URBAN-15 aims to inspire creativity, confidence, community, and culture.
The Name “URBAN-15”
Our name “URBAN-15” is a throwback to how the group began in 1974. It’s pretty self-explanatory, actually – URBAN-15 started out as a group of 15 artists (which were a diverse bunch of visual artists, sculptors, composers, filmmakers and dancers) creating performances, films, and human-scale, interactive art about and throughout the city of San Antonio. In other words, they were using the city of San Antonio as their medium. As their style evolved, the ensemble took their work all over the U.S. and Latin America.
In 1984, the URBAN-15 Group became a non-profit. They began to hold workshops and residencies in schools, community centers, and museums, as well as put on city-wide performances and events such as the Third Coast New Music Project, a concert series featuring local and internationally known musical composers and innovators from the U.S., Mexico, South America, Japan, and Europe. From there, the group has progressed into what you see today.
URBAN-15’s Ongoing Projects
-Carnaval de San Anto
In 1987, the Fiesta Commission contacted the URBAN-15 Group asking, “what can you do for us that’s fantastic?” In response, URBAN-15 created Carnaval de San Anto, a street dance and drum performance ensemble specializing in afro-brazilian and carribean carnaval rhythms. URBAN-15 CDSA has since become so popular that they have been regularly invited to annual San Antonio events, (like the Fiesta Flambeau Parade, Luminaria, and Jazz’SAlive), toured all over the U.S. and Mexico, and have proudly performed at the Clinton, Bush, and Obama Presidential Inaugurations. This has made URBAN-15’s Carnaval de San Anto a cultural ambassador of San Antonio.
Book URBAN-15’s Carnaval de San Anto for your event!
-Cultivation
“The Cultivation Project” is the umbrella term we use to describe our educational programs for the young talent in San Antonio. These programs are created and conducted year-round, and involve URBAN-15 instructors visiting schools and community centers to conduct drum and dance workshops, inviting children and seniors to the studio for drum and dance workshops, and holding events at the studio that encourage artistic and creative development. They usually result in a production held for an audience, either for the respective school or for the entire city.
Book URBAN-15’s teaching staff for a workshop
-Media Events
In addition to using our current studio at 2500 S. Presa as a rehearsal and class space, URBAN-15 uses it for media events such as film screenings, poetry readings, artists in residence workshops and other events related to the arts. URBAN-15 puts on most of these events, but we also rent the building to other non-profits and arts groups and help them with their events as well. Furthermore, our space is being fitted for a Tricaster, a camera capable of streaming broadcast quality video live over the internet. This powerful tool can eventually allow us to broadcast our classes and events, rent the equipment to other nonprofits for their outreach programs, and basically turn our studio into a hub of culture and creativity.
Rent our Facility for your event
More Than Just a Dance Group
While most people think of us solely for the performance ensemble Carnaval de San Anto, URBAN-15 is actually a little more than that.
Through Cultivation, URBAN-15 teaches music, movement, and media.
Through media events, URBAN-15 encourages the creation of music, movement, and media.
Through CDSA, URBAN-15 performs music, movement, and media.
When it comes to the creative process, others may focus on just the educationof the arts, just the encouragement, or just the execution. Here at the URBAN-15 Group, our mission is to produce original works that satisfy our community’s need to experience artistic excellence. We know that for most people, practicing just one part of the creative process isn’t enough, which is why we have programs that collectively focus on all three. This is what makes us exceptional - we feel that when people are exposed to all parts of the creative process, it fulfills their need for artistic excellence. It leads to higher quality creativity, which leads to more creative communties, which leads to a more vibrant, more dynamic culture for our city.