Speaker 1: On the record is brought to you by Steve and Adele do follow Speaker 2: San Antonio is a fast growing fast moving community with something new happening every day.

And that's why each week we go on the record with the Newsmakers who are driving this change.

Then we gather at the reporters round table to talk about the latest news stories with the journalists behind those stories.

Join us now as we go on Speaker 1: Hi everybody.

And thank you for joining us for this week's edition of on the record.

I'm Randy Beamer, and we want to update you first of all, on the situation with the strike of the musicians of the San Antonio symphony, they have been holding some talks with the representatives of the symphony with an arbitrator or mediator, and joining us with the latest now is Corey coward, who is a executive director of the symphony.

Now just last Friday, you terminated the longtime music, conductor, Sebastian Lang Lessing for violating his contract, explain to people why you did this.

Speaker 2: Sure.

So this, what this is really about is just a breach of contract of a standard term that is in really all guest artists, guests, conductor contracts that the San Antonio symphony has as well as orchestras across the country.

And in the fall of, I think 2018 as Sebastian was transitioning from a music director to music director of Meredith the contract that he signed was a music director of Meredith and guest conductor contract.

So that it was basically a breach of the terms in that contract that are, Speaker 1: And he announced that he is going to conduct the musicians of the San Antonio symphony who are doing while they're on strike on their concerts and that's against the contract because he takes issue with that.

Speaker 2: Yes, it's really kind of other appearances.

It's not necessarily anything about even what organizations are, are, are aren't.

We are doing everything we can to, to resolve this strike, to get to a contract that we can sustainably and repeatedly bring live music back to back to San Antonio, back into the Tobin Speaker 1: Contract negotiations.

Now Speaker 2: In, in February of 20 of this year, we, we started negotiations with, with federal mediators and we've had, we now have three federal mediators that are involved with us.

Our last meeting that we had was on March 8th, we have been working to get back to, to meetings.

We believe that we're coming closer and closer to, to resolve this last week.

We proposed six times that the, to meet with the musicians and we're just waiting for them to have Speaker 1: Changes in your proposal because you're cutting the orchestra.

You want to cut it from 72 to 40 something and then put the others in part-time and cut the wages.

Speaker 2: Yeah, so we, that was our proposal.

As, I mean, back in September, we've made multiple, multiple proposals since then the most recent proposal and all of this is on our website, but the most recent proposal is to have kind of a parody of contract, which means any of the salaried musicians have the same contract of, of a minimum compliment of 50 musicians.

And currently right now we have, I think, 14 open positions in the orchestra as we're looking at next season.

And some of these were open positions as far back as 1920, Speaker 1: As you try to, you know, keep some of the concert season going before June 4th and the end of it, is it a good idea to fire the longtime conductor?

Because it doesn't feel like you're getting any closer and you're making more enemies or getting more animosity from members of the community as well as the musicians right now.

Speaker 2: Yeah.

So going back to this, you know, as a breach of contract, and what we're trying to do is to preserve as much as we can of this season.

And as we have, as we've been communicating with our donors, with our patrons, with our ticket holders who have tickets for concerts that are on the exact same day at the exact same time that we're, as we're saying, we are working to get to this contract.

We believe in everything that we're, you know, we're talking about with the, through the mediators and with the musicians union that we're doing everything we can to salvage that and creating, you know, that type of confusion is, is, is not helpful for the entire organization, the community.

Speaker 1: What kind of odds do you think you'll get together before the June 4th last scheduled concert?

At this point, Speaker 2: I am hopeful that we'll be able to get the, have the musicians agree to a date in the coming weeks.

And then hopefully we're, we're, we're able to be back up for these concerts Speaker 1: For everybody else.

We've had members of the representatives of the musicians on we've had you on.

I hope the next time you're all together and playing Speaker 2: Absolutely Speaker 1: High instead of being here for this.

Well, thank you very much.

Cory coward, executive director of the San Antonio symphony.

Thanks.

Speaker 2: Thank you so much.

Speaker 1: You might've heard about a new piece of art in downtown San Antonio generated some controversy.

One eight was installed earlier this year, but to find out more about what it really is, I'm going to talk to one of the people behind it.

Andy Rodriguez is vice president of cultural placemaking at Centro, San Antonio and arts organization, all kinds of different things that you do in the downtown area.

First of all, about this piece of art, it is one of dozens of pieces of art that you're working on getting to San Antonio right now.

Tell us about how that whole project Oh, thanks.

You know, art everywhere is a project that Sentia we created back in April of 2020.

And we're so proud of it.

As you probably know, Centro, we care for downtown.

We are the advocates and evangelists for downtown placemaking, but we care for it in so many different ways.

We care for downtown.

Like it's our own Greek tourists and clean up the area.

But now this is a whole different part of what you Do.

Yes, What's that sculpture.

First of all, that people either loved or got confused.

It's a statue it's actually of Lennon with mouse, tongue top his head.

And it's kind of a, a sarcastic, funny view of communism.

It's actually a protest sculpture, I think, but the brothers, the gal brothers were from China and the sculpture was actually made in China, but made its way over to the Vancouver BIA, Nali.

And they were looking for a place to place it.

And James lift shoots had the opportunity to bring it to San Antonio.

So he did so and all did on his private property, The private property on west commerce.

It's a, and you had to have some space because 20 feet tall steel with a little Mao on top of a building.

Yeah.

We call it the gal.

That's the easiest way to explain it.

And the art is actually now nestled within this little placemaking space called LA zona.

It's located with Angela and uncle Dora, which is our TCA designated cultural district.

But we like to use art as place-making catalyst.

And it's a great way to spark conversation.

You might love something, you might hate it, but, And now people are getting an idea, oh, it was StarTech and sarcastic.

It's not glorifying your mile, but it's also one of dozens of pieces that, that you are supporting in San Antonio, even though it's on private property.

Absolutely.

In fact, that's how our art everywhere program works.

Our department of arts and culture does a fantastic job of installing art in public spaces, but in the private sector, there's a need for art.

And if you bend downtown or at least not recently, it's kind of beige.

And so the idea of installing and, and supporting local artists is really, really exciting.

And now the word placemaking, you've used several times now explain what that is.

Cause it's not just events you put on or art exhibits or sculpture.

How do you describe that to people?

Well, you know, it's interesting, it's kind of a new buzzword now, but placemaking is actually where you create an experience and that's important to us in downtown because we want people to come back.

We want people to feel this, you know, kind of shock and excitement and, and you know, energy.

Yes.

And, and happiness.

And so this idea of placemaking actually helps people remember what we're doing.

And so we use, we lose hyper-local vendors.

We use hyper-local, you know, art and things that really show who we are as a, as a city, as a culture.

So it's, it's pretty exciting.

We've really enjoyed it.

You put on some unusual events, I guess you'd call them and peacock alley on the west side of downtown and you're moving to, or I'm sorry, the east side of downtown.

Now you're moving to the west side and that is going to be real hub.

It is, it is indeed.

And it's really exciting because if you think about it, we, that actually stretches from market square to main Plaza.

So Houston street, commerce street, Dolorosa street, all of that has been kind of unloved for a while.

But now with some amazing partners, San Pedro Creek, I limited a theater, Margaret square, you TSA school of data science, Texas public radio.

It's going to be something in two weeks After all the construction, because right now, and during the pandemic, which is convenient, there's a lot of construction.

And if people want to find out more, maybe artists who'd like to get support, where do they go?

They can go to our website, www dot Centro, essay.org/art everywhere.

Well, Thank you very much.

Andy Rodriguez appreciate your Coming in.

Thank you so much, Randy.

The history of the very first people to live in the San Antonio area, thousands of years ago, and all of their descendants even to this day.

Well, that history is being rewritten right now.

It's quietly being revised and reinterpreted due to new discoveries that include more and more DNA evidence.

Well, I'm working on a project right now to document a surprising history of Brackenridge park.

And this week I have a kind of preview of that.

It's a quick look at how thousands of people are now discovering their indigenous roots that are deep in San Antonio history.

Speaker 2: I've done it when I was a teenager with my parents and we started the tradition Sunday, the whole family gets together and become, oh Speaker 1: Yeah, this is traditional Camping at Bracken Ridge park.

Over Easter weekend is a tradition.

So many families have enjoyed here for decades Speaker 2: And each other's company having a great time.

Speaker 1: And with each passing year, more people are having their DNA tested.

There are companies like ancestry.com or 23.

And me, and they're discovering that some of their own ancestors were native Americans who may have lived right here along the San Antonio river, hundreds, even thousands of years ago, Did that.

What is that?

23 genetic.

And I'm like 56% native American.

I was very surprised I expected most of that information to be from Mexico or, but a lot of it was native American.

So I was shocked.

I was very, very shocked, But these days scientists are not surprised that many here who identify as Mexican-American descended, at least in part from some of the tribes of south Texas and Northern Mexico together called Quavo Texans though.

It wasn't too long ago when even archeologists were taught that the native groups who'd lived in the San Antonio area for some 12,000 years, mostly died out after the Spanish came through epidemics or they left or forcibly moved.

Speaker 2: Like when I first started studying anthropology, the general rule of thumb was that all the native Americans were gone.

Mainly they had, you know, disease or whatever, Speaker 1: But K Heinz who later was a city of San Antonio archeologists quickly found out that wasn't true at all.

The early church and government records included the names and sometimes tribes of native people, including women who often married Spanish soldiers.

Speaker 2: And I started working in the archives with John Leanne and I started seeing those burial records and those death records and stuff.

And then, so, you know, that is evolved over 45, 50 years.

We now realize that wasn't right at all.

You know, many of the citizens that live here today are descended from those native Americans.

You know, so easy thing.

It, things change through time, right?

We learn new things Speaker 1: And many are now learning about their possible native heritage at powwows like this one and mission county park during Fiesta, it brought together representatives of tribes from across north America And in her work overseeing archeological bigs all over this area.

Kay Heinz herself has also uncovered evidence that may yet prove some natives here were much more sophisticated or organized than experts thought, building permanent dwellings.

Speaker 2: One of the most exciting things.

I think that that came to light when I was at the city was the, the mission reach project.

Well, we found two sites down there and radiocarbon dates put one of those, our cat.

So, you know, five, 6,000 years ago and one late prehistoric.

And we believe now they were, they were actually houses that they had constructed.

It's what we call a hook hall.

That really kind of is a very new concept to many of us as archeologists that they actually were building and constructing homes thousands of years ago.

Now it hasn't been, it hasn't been proved up yet, but we believe that is highly, highly probable Speaker 1: And newly discovered.

Evidence also brings a new perspective on the dozens of tribes that were here when the Spanish arrived more than 300 years ago.

And who helped them build the first to Sekiya or irrigation ditch?

There are different sources.

I was able to attract down 55 different indigenous groups were used to build the irrigation ditch.

And there's 55 are from the birth records.

Marriage records in death, death records of the Alamo itself, Dr. Ricardo Romo, former president of UCSA is also a historian and helped write.

What's called a cultural landscape report of Brackenridge park.

Part of an emphasize the importance of those tribes, including a pie and Pacoima and so many more though.

Often the records didn't bother to recognize people as more than simply Indios Indians.

No, those are four fathers.

Those are the founders.

The founders of San Antonio are not the two priests and the 18 soldiers that were stationed here.

The founders of San Antonio are the indigenous who built the first they're the builders of the first 50 years, which makes San Antonio successful.

Speaker 2: So I'm working somebody's tree right now.

Speaker 1: Ramon Vasquez is president of the group called American Indians of Texas at the Spanish colonial missions founded more than 30 years ago.

They do a lot of work in the community with parenting classes, wellness and cultural programs, advocating for native Americans and research.

They can use the DNA evidence in your ancestry.com profile to compare with information they have.

But the waiting list for that work is multiplying.

Speaker 2: 100 applications is waiting.

I haven't even gotten to yet.

We have a DNA data bank that we use.

So ancestry now it's expanding its regions for indigenous blood, Northeastern, Mexico, and south Texas.

And now it's got a, it's created a new subcategory in the south Texas that says San Antonio, which means that more and more people have showing interest and that their indigenous bloodline has roots in, in this area.

Speaker 1: And more than just DNA evidence is now available to help people confirm any possible link to mission Indians of this area.

Speaker 2: What are the best things to spend yours did?

Was it documented everything?

And so I can go through the documents now, which before used to have to go and travel to these places in Mexico or the D or Spain different churches that held these records.

And now because of technology everything's online, even our own records of the missions of San Antonio have been uploaded onto ancestry.com.

And now you can find the, you know, the actual, a photocopy of the actual record itself.

And we've guesstimated that there are probably a hundred thousand descendants of the mission of the families that came out of the missions of San Antonio alone.

That doesn't mean that they recognize themselves as that.

Speaker 1: I wouldn't be surprised if more people, when they do these genetic, the very easy to do, but it's not until you do it.

You realize, you know, what's there.

Speaker 2: And what we're seeing is that DNA's confirming those numbers.

If there's any takeaway.

I think people should start thinking about the influence of the American Indians that occupied this land for 10,000 years had of the success of the early settlers, then that we are still relevant.

The work that we do, we call it reversing extinction.

Speaker 1: It's nice to know that, you know, you're walking along where some of the people that whether you came from them or not walked through here.

Now that group, the American Indians in Texas at the Spanish colonial missions with are getting ready to move into a new building this fall.

And they hope to make more of their culture, their archives available to the public.

And again, I'm still working on that history of Brackenridge park.

I'll let you know what an airs right here on Kayla Ren, TV, anchor, and reporter.

Oh no.

Myra Arthur from case sat is joining us.

And I thank you for being here Al you have something different that you do on case at, and we want to talk about that in a special episode that actually won an award about domestic violence.

Tell us about this case.

That explains.

Yeah.

Well, Randy, thank you for having me.

It's a pleasure to be here.

Yes.

So case that explains it is a show that does a deeper dive on a lot of stories.

You might've seen things that are making headlines already, that you've wondered, Hey, I wish we had some more context to that.

Or a traditional news story format just doesn't allow for more in depth reporting on.

So we could look at things that are already making news or just things that are happening around town that we've noticed our viewers have noticed and sent us questions about.

So it's something that really provides more perspective Instead of a 32nd minute story, Instead of something that's two minutes or less, we could dive into something for 10 minutes or less in some cases.

So this particular episode case that explains what you need to know about protective orders in bear county, looked at the rampant domestic violence problem that this area has.

And I know it's something you've reported on over The years or within the past couple of weeks, don't worry about the numbers.

And they just, I mean, COVID made it increase even more.

So, so this was a look at, let's go beyond the, the crime scene that, you know, news typically covers where police tell us that one intimate partner has attacked another.

And we talk about the horrible details of that Or the numbers Or the numbers.

Yes.

Yeah.

Statistics.

This looked at let's talk to some real people behind those scenarios.

And in particular, we were, I was honored to tell the story of two women who survived incredibly abusive relationships.

And sometimes people hear those numbers and they say, well, she should just leave.

It's a horrible, or he should just leave.

It's a horrible situation.

Get out of there, but they explain why it is so much more complicated than that, that domestic violence, one survivor we talked to who was brave enough to share her name, show her face.

She talked about how it is a subtle pattern of abuse that builds up over time and Physical, Not just physical.

I mean, she used the example of her abuser would say, well, why do you need to go hang out with your sister this evening?

I want to spend time with you.

I love you so much that I, I want to be with you who doesn't want to hear that.

Everybody would love to hear that, but she says, it just happens again.

And again and again, in her case.

So you get cut off people, stop inviting you to come to things.

No one, your circle becomes your abuser.

No, one's checking on you.

No, one's finding out, you know, what's your life really like?

So that's how her situation started.

And then the isolation gets Worse.

It gets worse.

And in the case of another survivor, we talked to, COVID made that isolation, even more intense kids, weren't going to school.

Kids were home, both husband and wife were home.

And this woman said she felt like she could not leave her kids home with her abuser.

She described it as being an Alliance den and COVID is what finally pushed her.

She was with this man for 30 years, what finally pushed her to get help.

And she turned to the bear county family justice center, which she had turned to before, but backed out because of fear, which is very, very common in these situations.

And the family justice center is, as you said, a one-stop shop down at the old courthouse building people don't realize there are a ton of resources out there.

There are so many resources out there.

And this, this center is unique.

I think it's one of three, like it in the state and you call it a one-stop shop.

And I mean, it is, there are things there that you would think, I don't really know if that pertains to domestic violence, there's a food pantry.

There, there is a clothing donation center where women or men who are leaving quickly because they've seized an opportunity to get away from their abuser.

They don't have time to grab clothes for the kids.

They may only be leaving with what's on their back.

So there are services that make this transition for them easier.

They do a violence assessment there to find out, okay, what, what is the level of intimidation or physical violence that you have been subjected to?

They do an assessment test to find out, okay, you know, your abuser may be on the risk of, or may be on the verge of potentially causing something fatal.

They do a lot there to help victims become survivors and take that.

Yeah.

So you just, they, they think, well, a police officer's going to come and my life's going to end as I know it.

What do I do?

And then also after an abuser or accused abuser is brought in there, they have intervention that can also get people back together with their families, but also make sure they're on the straight and narrow.

Yeah.

Yes.

And you know, a big question that survivors or victims often have is, okay, well, what are the police going to do for me?

What is the DA's office or an attorney really going to do for me?

And so we talked to a lot of the people who work there at the bear county justice center, whether they are attorneys, whether they're somebody who's doing the intake, that assessment, whether it's somebody who is in law enforcement, they're talking about all the steps that they take to get somebody away from their abuser, including a protective order.

And yeah, there's the criticism that, I mean, it's a piece of paper.

What is it?

What is it really going to do?

And some of the people at the justice center acknowledged that in some cases, in some ways, sure, it's a piece of paper, but the way that it empowers a victim to say, I am taking steps to document the fact that you were causing me and my family harm.

That is so often a first step to letting them know that somebody is on their side, they have the law on their side.

And here is this piece of paper, this record to prove that, And there are even resources there for their kids.

If they have to go to court, people wonder about that.

Is it going to, can I get there?

Can I do this Childcare?

I mean, that is a, that's a huge roadblock for people in a lot of different scenarios, but especially somebody who's trying to escape an abusive situation, they may not have that support net that a lot of people take for granted.

Well, the case had explained is not only a great idea, but you just won this award, the Gracie award, which is pretty prestigious award.

Well, thank you.

Yes, it's a Gracie award.

It's a national award named after Gracie Allen.

You know, the side kicked George Burns.

So it's, it's all about content produced by about, or for women.

And this episode in particular, at the time, our team was 95% women, which is something that I'm proud of.

But obviously the topic is one that is really focused on empowering women, even though I think it's important to point out that men can certainly be victims of abuse as well.

And in this case, I'd explained it also is moving to a different kind of format.

You're going to be on the six 30 news, every a couple, a couple of days a week, right?

So this used to be just a streaming platform that we use.

So you'd find it on case.com or our case at plus app.

But now we're going to put it in front of some more eyeballs on our six 30 portion of our newscast.

Yes, it's K S a T. I know I used to work at channel four, channel five.

I know nine.

Oh, well, good.

Well, Thank you very much, Myra Arthur of the K set 12 and thank you for joining us for this edition of on the record.

You can see this show again, or previous shows as well as our podcast@taylorand.org.

And we'll see you next time.

On the record is brought to you by Steve and Adele do follow.