Mission
Southwest School of Art is a place of inclusion and a forum for ideas in South Texas. As a community of artists—beginners and professionals alike—our commitment is to stay true to the School’s four-decade-long legacy of innovative educational programs and commitment to historic and cultural preservation.
Our institutional mission is to teach, preserve, and advance the visual arts. We expand the creative potential of our community and connect cultures of the world through participatory learning experience. An additional part of our mission is to preserve the former Ursuline Convent and Academy as a place of historic significance.
About Us:
The Southwest School of Art is a nationally recognized leader in arts education.
The Southwest School of Art is a nationally-recognized leader in arts education, offering studio programs for more than 4,000 adults, children and teens annually. Classes and workshops are taught by outstanding local, regional and national artists in state-of-the-art facilities. In the fall of 2014, the school will begin offering a Bachelors of Fine Arts degree -- making it the only independent college of art in Texas.
At SSA you will find contemporary art exhibitions, lectures, and concerts, history-based Visitors Center Museum and a lunch café. During a typical year, more than 210,000 people attend events, view exhibits, take classes or visit historic site.
Located on two adjacent campuses, the school’s Ursuline Campus is the former home of the Ursuline Academy & Convent, originally founded in 1851 as the first school for girls in San Antonio. On this campus are the school’s extensive ceramics and weaving studios, its Young Artist Program area, and the tranquil gardens, arching pecan trees, and historic buildings that make Southwest School of Art San Antonio ’s “downtown oasis.”
