FEBRUARY 26, 2025 — As the UTSA Institute of Texan Cultures (ITC) prepares for its new home in the Frost Tower later this year, the museum’s staff is developing new strategies to connect with the community and tell the story of Texas' rich cultural heritage. One new initiative is Texas Sounds, a monthly digital playlist celebrating the musicians who have shaped the state’s cultural landscape. The January playlist paid tribute to artists who exited the stage in 2024, and the February list honors the early pioneers of San Antonio jazz and swing music.
Residing on ITC’s YouTube channel, Texas Sounds is a collaboration with Jason Longoria ’11, a San Antonio native, Texas music history expert and UTSA alumnus. In this feature, Longoria shares untold stories, rare insights and historical perspectives about the artists who helped define the Texas soundscape.
“Jason brings critical insight to Texas’s unique music history and culture,” said Bianca Alvarez, the ITC’s head curator. “His contributions will highlight the incredible diversity of musical traditions in Texas and their lasting influence on today’s sounds.”
The February 2025 Texas Sounds playlist features the pioneers of Texas jazz and swing. The band, Don Albert and His Ten Pals, rose to great acclaim. Albert opened San Antonio’s legendary Keyhole Club in 1944.
Longoria is dedicated to preserving local music history and has served on the boards of the Conjunto Heritage Taller and the South Texas Museum of Popular Culture, where he helped organize events and exhibits celebrating Texas’s musical heritage.
“I love sharing and learning about all things related to local music,” said Longoria. “I am excited to work with the ITC to highlight the voices and stories that make our city’s music scene so unique.”
Alvarez explained that objects and exhibits are a good starting point, but online platforms like social media can take those objects to another level of storytelling that reaches broader audiences and explores why these items are significant.
Clifford “Boots” Douglas started out drumming in the Southern Melody Boys and by 1930 started his own swing band, Boots and His Buddies.
“Museums’ roles have changed over the years,” said Alvarez. “We can explore a wide breadth of ideas in a digital space and expand each of those ideas with extraordinary depth, creating new ways for people to interact with and absorb information. A first pressing of a classic album is a fantastic museum artifact. When we link to a digital space where visitors can listen to that classic album, it changes from an object to an experience.”
Alvarez continued, “Digital spaces change how we look at the world around us. The goal is to spark curiosity. When we see something that catches our attention and we want more information, we look it up online. This leads us down the rabbit hole of learning more about the things that fascinate us and—hopefully—draw points of connectivity to each other.”
The future ITC space at the Frost Tower will feature expanded digital components and interactive experiences designed to engage the public in new ways. To stay up to date, visit TexanCultures.utsa.edu or follow @TexanCultures on social media.
UTSA Today is produced by University Communications and Marketing, the official news source of The University of Texas at San Antonio. Send your feedback to news@utsa.edu. Keep up-to-date on UTSA news by visiting UTSA Today. Connect with UTSA online at Facebook, Twitter, Youtube and Instagram.
Día en la Sombrilla, formerly Fiesta UTSA, is a festival hosted each spring as a part of Fiesta® San Antonio events. Sponsored by Roadrunner Productions, the event features music, food, confetti, games, event t-shirts, and more.
Sombrilla Plaza, Main CampusCovidence is a systematic & scoping review tool used to streamline the process of screening and reviewing articles. Using this software, research teams can easily import studies, perform automatic deduplication, and extract data using templates. This workshop will show attendees how to start a review in Covidence, add collaborators, and get started on screening.
Virtual (Zoom)In this workshop, attendees will be introduced to Pandas, a Python tool for working with data easily. It makes it simple to organize and analyze information when data is organized and categorized, like spreadsheets or tables.
Group Spot B, John Peace LibraryEach fall and spring semester, students convene at the Main Campus at UTSA with booths, ideas and prototypes. A crowd of judges, local organizations, students, faculty and sponsors walk around and talk to the students about their projects and ask questions. Students get the real-life experience of "pitching" their project with hopes of getting funding or support to move to the next level.
UTSA Convocation Center, Main CampusJoin the doctoral candidates for the Doctoral Conferreal Ceremony and celebrate their accomplishments.
Arts Building Recital Hall, Main CampusCelebrate the graduates from the Carlos Alvarez College of Business, College of Education and Human Development, Margie and Bill Klesse College of Engineering and Integrated Design and University College.
AlamodomeCelebrate the graduates from the College for Health, Community and Policy, College of Liberal and Fine Arts and College of Sciences.
AlamodomeThe University of Texas at San Antonio is dedicated to the advancement of knowledge through research and discovery, teaching and learning, community engagement and public service. As an institution of access and excellence, UTSA embraces multicultural traditions and serves as a center for intellectual and creative resources as well as a catalyst for socioeconomic development and the commercialization of intellectual property - for Texas, the nation and the world.
To be a premier public research university, providing access to educational excellence and preparing citizen leaders for the global environment.
We encourage an environment of dialogue and discovery, where integrity, excellence, respect, collaboration and innovation are fostered.
