User:Musical Bridges Around the World/sandbox

Musical Bridges Around the World (also known as "MBAW") is a 501(c)(3) performing and visual arts nonprofit organization based in San Antonio, TX, USA with the mission to celebrate shared humanity provide access to global arts for all.

History
Musical Bridges Around the World was founded in 1998 by Russian-born concert pianist Anya Grokhovski, DMA.

Moving to San Antonio & First Concert
In the 1990's, Anya and her then-husband and fellow concert pianist Valeri Grokhovski moved from the former USSR to San Antonio, TX, taking up positions at the University of Texas at San Antonio's Department of Music as a staff accompanist and piano professor, respectively.

In 1998, Anya decided to invite her favorite professor Vladimir Bochkarov from Russia to visit San Antonio, perform a concert and share her new home city with him. After delayed communications from Vladimir caused the performance venue to fall through, Anya scrambled to find a new place within just a week. She shared my concern with one of her students, Dr. Jan Puckett. “Don 't you worry,'' she said. '' We will have a house concert, invite our friends and ask them to donate and help pay for your teacher’s airfare.” Jan then spoke to her good friend and colleague Dr. Sheila Swartzman and the two of them helped to create the first concert of Musical Bridges Around the World.

House concerts were the first staple of Musical Bridges Around the World, but as the organization grew so did its programming and impact. Guests and supporters who happened to be lawyer and accountants encouraged and helped Anya incorporate the organization as well as applying for a 501(c)(3) nonprofit status.

Musica Viva, Kids to Concerts, and Main Stage (1998 - 2010s)
MBAW house concerts series became a mainstay, eventually being named the Musica Viva! concert series. But as Anya continued to bring international artists in, she realized there were ways that she could maximize the impact of their time in San Antonio. This would include educational and public concerts, under the programs Kids to Concerts and Main Stage.

The Kids to Concerts (now part of Musical Sprouts) educational concert series started in 2001 at the oldest official venue for Mexican culture in the U.S., Instituto Cultural de Mexico. Their performance hall sat around 180 people, and MBAW's first audiences were children from surrounding schools who walked to the concerts with their teachers. As the series grew, MBAW learned that many schools faced logistical challenges such as getting kids to the venue. As a result, the program pivoted to bring the concerts directly to the school, in their auditoriums, gyms, etc.

The Main Stage (now replaced by Musical Evenings at San Fernando Cathedral) public seasonal concert series began in the early 2000's in the McAlister Auditorium of San Antonio College. Like Musica Viva! and Kids to Concerts, it featured international artists that Anya brought perform in San Antonio. The series presented 38+ concerts and ran up until May 2013, after which MBAW's main concert season became the series Musical Evenings at San Fernando Cathedral.

MBAW Art Gallery & International Music Festival (2010s)
Besides music, Anya was an art collector with a lifelong love for the visual arts. When MBAW was producing Main Stage concerts at McAllister Auditorium, they would have small "art shows" and receptions in the lobby during intermission. So when the organization was growing enough in its financial capabilities to afford an office, Anya found potential in a Leon Springs space right outside the San Antonio that came with floor-to-ceiling windows, large open spaces and a beautiful location. It was perfect to be an office and an art gallery.

So in 2013, the MBAW Art Gallery was born, with its first exhibition titled "On The Way To Work" with artist Rex Hausmann. As of 2022, the gallery has presented over 30 different exhibitions.