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Magik Theatre CEO Frank Villani talks about the theater’s needs, Wednesday, Sept. 14, 2022. The non-profit was formed in 1994. City officials are recommending grants for 136 artists and 46 arts nonprofits, funded with San Antonio's federal COVID-19 aid. The arts took a hit during the pandemic, so the city infused about $5 million to help keep them on their feet and ensure San Antonio doesn't lose its distinctive arts and culture personality. Magik Theater is one of the organizations that could receive an ARPA grant.

Magik Theatre’s Prop Master Lucian Hernandez, left, and Technical Director Pat Smith work on props for the upcoming production of “Eddie & Vinnie,” Wednesday, Sept. 14, 2022. City officials are recommending grants for 136 artists and 46 arts nonprofits, funded with San Antonio's federal COVID-19 aid. The arts took a hit during the pandemic, so the city infused about $5 million to help keep them on their feet and ensure San Antonio doesn't lose its distinctive arts and culture personality. Magik Theater is one of the organizations that could receive an ARPA grant.

Magik Theatre actors Amy Abrigo, left, and Venny Mortimer rehears for the upcoming production of “Eddie & Vinnie,” Wednesday, Sept. 14, 2022. City officials are recommending grants for 136 artists and 46 arts nonprofits, funded with San Antonio's federal COVID-19 aid. The arts took a hit during the pandemic, so the city infused about $5 million to help keep them on their feet and ensure San Antonio doesn't lose its distinctive arts and culture personality. Magik Theater is one of the organizations that could receive an ARPA grant.

Magik Theatre actors Amy Abrigo, right, and Venny Mortimer rehears for the upcoming production of “Eddie & Vinnie,” Wednesday, Sept. 14, 2022. City officials are recommending grants for 136 artists and 46 arts nonprofits, funded with San Antonio's federal COVID-19 aid. The arts took a hit during the pandemic, so the city infused about $5 million to help keep them on their feet and ensure San Antonio doesn't lose its distinctive arts and culture personality. Magik Theater is one of the organizations that could receive an ARPA grant.

Props are placed on any available space at the Magik theatre, Wednesday, Sept. 14, 2022. City officials are recommending grants for 136 artists and 46 arts nonprofits, funded with San Antonio's federal COVID-19 aid. The arts took a hit during the pandemic, so the city infused about $5 million to help keep them on their feet and ensure San Antonio doesn't lose its distinctive arts and culture personality. Magik Theater is one of the organizations that could receive an ARPA grant.

SAN ANTONIO — The Guadalupe Theater on the West Side anchors a city block covered in colorful tile, at the heart of San Antonio’s Mexican American arts scene.

It closed in 1970, undone in part by San Antonio leaders’ neglect of West Side institutions and the poverty of the community it was a part of.

But the theater reopened in 1984 with help from city government under then-Mayor Henry Cisneros, and it has since become part of the larger Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center campus, which runs along South Brazos Street between Guadalupe and San Fernando streets.

But nearly 40 years after its re-emergence — and a lot of work to rejuvenate the theater — Cristina Ballí, executive director of the Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center, feared the Guadalupe again would have to close.

On a weekday in summer 2020, Ballí was standing in her home office — working remotely because of the COVID pandemic, like many thousands of other employees in San Antonio at the time — when a city liaison called with the bad news.

San Antonio officials planned to withhold $115,000 from the amount typically granted to the Guadalupe in the city’s annual budget. Travel and workplace restrictions stemming from the pandemic had cut deeply into the city’s tourism fund, which includes money for the arts, and city leaders had to make draconian budget reductions.

“That was the moment when the bottom fell out,” Ballí said. “That was the biggest moment of crisis.”

But the arts nonprofit managed to survive without the city support. And now it’s getting a leg up.

This month, the Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center received $261,986 from the city through a grant program to support the arts, funded with federal COVID-19 relief dollars embedded in the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021. The arts complex received more than any other local arts organization.

The grant will make a huge difference to the center’s bottom line, Ballí said, adding, “We’re still catching up from our pre-COVID days.”

The Guadalupe is one of 46 arts nonprofits to receive ARPA funding. Nearly 140 individual artists also were awarded federal dollars. City Council approved the grants Sept. 29 in a 9-1 vote.

The program mirrors similar grants the city disbursed earlier in the pandemic with money from the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act.

In all, $4 million went to nonprofits and $1 million to individual artists. Artists received grants of up to $7,500.

The grant awards to nonprofits varied greatly.

San Antonio Mastersingers received the smallest amount — $3,261. Larger grants went to institutions such as the American Indians in Texas at the Colonial Missions, which got $256,310; Say Si, $256,128; the Esperanza Peace and Justice Center, $245,873; and the Witte Museum, $225,149.

Before COVID-19 struck, the Guadalupe brought in revenue of about $500,000, mostly through ticket sales, class tuition, rental fees and merchandise sales. In 2020, that fell by more than half to around $200,000.

The nonprofit is inching its way back. It saw $341,000 in income from Jan. 1 through July, Ballí said. The COVID-19 relief grant will help bridge the gap and allow the organization to make a few building and programming upgrades.

The Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center offers dance and music classes in traditional mariachi and conjunto music as well as Mexican folklorico and Spanish flamenco dance. It hosts what it says is the nation’s longest-running Latino film festival. It puts on visual art exhibitions and is home to a bookstore focused on Latino literature that holds readings and other events.

On a hot day in late September, the Guadalupe’s music studio — which includes a recording studio and an array of instruments — was ready for kids to arrive. In just a few hours, it would fill with children arriving after school for music lessons. The studio would remain full until late that night.

The studio was largely empty at the height of the pandemic.

“We serve lots of working-class, middle-class Mexican Americans who don’t necessarily attend other programs at some of the other cultural institutions,” Ballí said. “And if we’re not here, they don’t get their programs.”

At the corner of Hemisfair near the Southtown neighborhood, Frank Villani bustles around the Magik Theatre from room to room.

The theater was humming with activity. Employees were building scenery backstage or rehearsing in the basement for an upcoming performance. All the props are handmade, from the stuffed version of a “Frozen” character to tigers and lambs and skeletons.

It takes as much as $150,000 just to keep the lights on at the theater, said Villani, the theater’s CEO.

When COVID-19 hit, the Magik Theatre lost $620,000 in ticket revenue.

This year, it has generated $240,000 in ticket revenue — a far cry from the $700,000 in sales the Magik Theatre made before COVID-19. And the organization doesn’t expect sales to fully recover next year either.

The theater employs 31 people now but furloughed about 17 employees early in the pandemic. When it began bringing workers back, it instituted a 20 percent pay cut across the board so it could to return everyone to their jobs. The theater was able to eventually scrap the reduction and retroactively pay employees the money they’d lost, Villani said.

The Magik Theatre received a variety of federal relief funds throughout the pandemic. It received a loan from the Paycheck Protection Program, federal aid disbursed by Bexar County and other grants.

“The theater would not be around” without the federal relief, Villani said.

The $150,591 that the Magik Theatre is receiving from the city’s ARPA grant will replace some ticket revenue and allow the organization to pull off a full season of performances.

In the “before days,” school buses would line up outside the front door. Now the field trips are less frequent, and the theater has cut down on the number of shows it stages during the week.

In the theater’s basement, actors rehearsed for an upcoming show, “Eddie & Vinnie.” Running from Oct. 15 to 28, it’s about a young boy with dyslexia, one of the first such shows ever, Villani said.

“So much of what we do is about letting young people see what the world can be,” he said.

Ariel Luna Anais has been working professionally as an artist and exhibiting her pieces at shows for more than a decade. She also had a job at Central Market at the time. When the COVID pandemic struck, art was the last thing on her mind.

“At the end of the day, every single one of us was so exhausted,” said Anais, who goes by she/her and they/them pronouns interchangeably. “Especially at the beginning, when nobody knew how to stay safe necessarily. It felt like there was a cloud of danger just constantly looming.”

After a long time trying to figure out how to continue selling her art through the pandemic, Anais was shocked to learn the city awarded them a $7,500 grant from its ARPA fund.

Some of their shows had been canceled over the last two years. Because of the economic uncertainty earlier in the pandemic, buying canvas or other materials to create new art hadn’t been the highest priority.

Anais works in painting, drawing, video and tattoo design, and selling her work helps with living expenses.

“My paycheck is reliant upon my keeping up with my skill and staying out there,” they said.

Displaying her artwork on social media has been important to marketing her pieces. But it’s just not the same as a conversation at a gallery in which Anais can convey something interesting about how she created the potential work the buyer is looking at. That kind of engagement pulls people in and can help solidify a sale.

With fewer in-person shows these days — and art buyers tightening their belts and becoming more selective about their purchases — sales are more difficult.

“People are trying to make wise choices, and that affects artists,” Anais said. “Obviously, I understand that. But I’ve had people interested in work, and they lose their jobs. At that point, that’s definitely not on their list of priorities.”

Anais isn’t sure yet how they will spend the city’s grant. But they are considering professional development training, equipment updates and more.

When it comes time to exhibit a drawing, artists often cover the cost of framing upfront. For a dozen drawings, it can add up. Anais also may spend the funds on framing artwork for display at exhibits.

“I can’t wait to go out and make stuff,” Anais said. “I have a different attitude after receiving this (grant) about applying to new opportunities.”

Megan Stringer joined the Express-News in October 2021 as the City Hall reporter. She previously reported on workplace issues for the Wichita Eagle in Kansas, where she wrote extensively about local police union contract negotiations and an overwhelmed state unemployment system in the pandemic. While in Kansas, Megan was a corps member with Report for America, a national journalism service organization. She has also covered business and economic development for the Wausau Daily Herald in Wisconsin. Megan holds a bachelor's degree in journalism from DePaul University. She grew up in St. Louis.