San Antonio’s La Villita will come alive this weekend with a free event that transforms the historic landmark into a hub of vibrant music, food and art to celebrate 100 years of Black History Month.
The San Antonio African American Community Archive and Museum will host the SAAACAM Art Market 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Feb. 21 outside SAAACAM’s museum at La Villita, 218 S. Presa St.
Taylor Foots, SAAACAM’s exhibit space supervisor, said the art market began in 2024 to celebrate Black artists and provide a platform to promote and sell their work while bringing the community together. The event was inspired by the overall theme for that year’s Black History Month: “African Americans and the Arts.”
Another major reason for the event was to combat the lack of Black representation in La Villita and San Antonio as a whole. It was also intended to celebrate the contributions in San Antonio from Black artists.
“We wanted to bring some of that to this historic arts village in San Antonio, because there are so many talented Black artists, not just in San Antonio, but in South Texas as a whole,” Foots said in an interview Feb. 9.
The 10 featured artists at the event include Ismani Sun and Olivia Wilkerson-Carter. Sun will have prints, original oil paintings and live portrait sketches. Wilkerson-Carter will sell bandanas, buttons, keychains, linoleum prints and stickers.
The first two years of the event boasted around 100 attendees in 2024 and 185 in 2025, Foots said.
This year, the art market will include music and food for the first time.
DJ AZ Strong will play R&B, rap and family-friendly music. The SAAACAM Gospel Heritage Choir will perform at 2 p.m.
Concessions will include two Black-owned businesses: Big Smash Burgers “The Burger People” and SipIt, a drink truck that will serve sweet frozen drinks and daiquiris.
Foots said she hopes for a vibrant crowd of families, artists and art enthusiasts.
Foots says she finds potential artists and vendors through social media, community connections and word of mouth. Each potential vendor and artist must fill out a vendor request form and once approved, must pay $30, which covers mostly parking and a small portion of the funding for the event itself.
For more information, visit SAAACAM.org or call 210-437-1888.
This story was updated Feb. 20 to correct the URL for a website.
