Spring rains have given more than burgeoning wildflowers to San Antonio. The San Antonio Botanical Garden is partnering with KRTU FM 91.7, Trinity University’s jazz-centric radio station, to bring live music to the garden’s grounds each month through September.
The Garden Nights series will feature local jazz and indie artists beginning April 3 with the Toro Flores Quintet. The series continues May 8 with guitarist Dan Carillo & MAYA, and the still-developing schedule includes música brasileira with Katchie Cartwright and Marco Antonio Santos on July 10.
The music will be accompanied by food trucks and a local vendors market assembled by the botanical garden, and other music acts will be announced as the schedule fills out. Garden Nights events are accessible with regular garden admission.
KRTU General Manager J.J. Lopez said each Garden Nights event will feature local and regional artists, “which is something that we always want to promote and celebrate. … It’s the type of programming that our donors and listeners and supporters have come to appreciate with all of our other partnerships, so it’s very much in that spirit.”
The botanical garden partnership adds another venue to KRTU’s live outdoor music programming. Each fall, the station runs the Jazz’SAlive festival in a downtown park. Programming also includes shows at the Japanese Tea Garden in partnership with the San Antonio Parks Foundation, occasional rooftop jazz concerts at Artpace and events in Ruby City’s Chris Park.
Lopez said such partnerships help KRTU bring its music programming beyond its broadcast and out into the city.
“What really brings us all together is this idea that we’re a service to the community,” he said of the station’s nonprofit partners. Garden Nights will help fulfill “our mission to create engaging, enriching, educational and family-friendly programming,” Lopez said.
