2024 Year in Review

2024 was a busy year for Terra Advocati! We began the year with a significant leadership transition as we welcomed a new Executive Director, Jess Mayes, a Director of Artistic and Transformative Practice, Marissa Ramirez, and four new board members, Nadia Gaona, Dr. Amelia King-Kostelac, Dr. Priscilla Solis Ybarra, and Bryan Hummel.

The leadership change resulted in countless hours of administrative paperwork but more importantly gave way to a period of introspective exploration of TA’s vision, mission, and goals. From this introspection we arrived at Regenerative Systems and Artistic and Transformative Practices as the two areas of our work we are most interested in studying, enacting, disrupting, imagining, and practicing. We imagined the various ways that our work could converge and diverge, the ways an artistic practice could inform regenerative practices and vice versa. We are excited about some of the many things we’ve learned throughout the year of projects, collaborations, dreaming, and co-creations. What follows are snapshots of the work we did in 2024. 

We began the Spring with the Huasteca Regenerative Agriculture Center (HRAC) continuing to broaden its scope of work as it ventured into the production of organic bio-fertilizer, expanded watershed regeneration field research with vetiver systems, and launched its worm composting operation. With these initiatives, the HRAC is laying the groundwork for transforming agricultural practices in the Huasteca region.

The Spring months also saw the inaugural launch of the Coalition for Regenerative Ecologies and Agriculture Fellowship, funded by the USDA. We joined UTSA professors and students at various site visits to learn more about the regenerative and agricultural practices implemented at small and large scale garden/food production projects.

With the financial support of the Alice Kleberg Reynolds Foundation, Marissa traveled to San Francisco, CA to attend the world premiere of Riding the Currents of the Wilding Wind. While there, she learned about producing theatre, building community with other artists, and creating art that transgresses disciplinary lines.  

We closed the Spring season with our annual Día de los Niños celebration at St. Philip’s College. This year we highlighted Danielle Daniel’s book Sometimes I Feel Like a Fox, which focuses on our non-human relatives and the similarities we might share with them. As always, we distributed copies of the book, which the children happily clasped as they sang to Yanaguana on their way back to their schools.   

The Summer kicked off with a trip to Veracruz, Mexico for the first iteration of our CREA Study Abroad Program. We traveled with 10 students, from both UTSA and St. Philip’s College, 3 professors, and one partner from Mexico. We visited incredible regenerative agricultural and permaculture projects, made long-lasting connections, and were inspired by the work and dedication of so many people fighting for the regeneration of our planet and ecosystems.

The Fall brought with it much awaited good news on several grants. We were awarded $18,000 by the City of San Antonio Office of Sustainability to design and install a Huerto Familiar at Galeria E.V.A., which was thankfully supplemented by a $5,000 grant from the Alice Kleberg Reynolds Foundation.

We also fiscally sponsored two good friends and collaborators: Veronica Castillo with Galeria E.V.A. who received a $15,000 grant from the Alice Kleberg Reynolds Foundation to continue developing the Tierra y Mujer project, and a todo dar productions who received the second half of the $60,000 grant for general operating support from the National Latinx Theater Initiative. 

The Winter found us exhausted and with many more lessons learned. We took the time to rest and to prepare for the new year, which meant preparing for the Huerto Familiar at Galeria E.V.A. We spent an afternoon helping clean and clear out the space for the future garden. Together, we made space for the promise of new seeds, new life.