Creating Spaces for Connection
By Michelle Vasquez | Photography by Kinsley Danielle
Terrin Fuhrmann is no stranger to overcoming hardship. Raised in San Antonio, he lost his father at four and his sister at fifteen. The grief of those early losses shaped him deeply, but so did the people who refused to give up on him.
“I was angry,” he recalls. “I was forever in the principal’s office at Central Catholic. But even though I didn’t deserve his respect most of the time, the assistant principal, Eddie Ybarra, always showed me respect. That really helped shape the man I am today.” That experience, coupled with the focus that Central Catholic puts on leadership and service, has led him to be a leader in his community on a business and civic level.
That man is now a creative force in San Antonio’s hospitality scene, the founder of Elsewhere, an outdoor bar and gathering space along the Riverwalk that feels more like a whimsical escape than a bar. It is filled with foliage and open spaces to play games and spend quality time with friends and family. The project has been so successful, Fuhrmann and his team are launching a second location with six acres of green space and a 53-foot Ferris wheel imported from Turkey.
“I’ve always been focused on experience,” he says. “Anyone can serve a beer. I want to curate an atmosphere where people can feel peace, joy, or connection. That’s the art of it.”
Fuhrmann’s artistry isn’t limited to hospitality. He’s deeply involved in local philanthropy and public service. He serves on the board of Visit San Antonio, helping guide the future of the Riverwalk, and with Mission Heritage Partners, working to preserve the city’s historic missions. But perhaps his most heartfelt work is with the country’s oldest primate sanctuary, Primarily Primates, located just outside the city.
It all started with a childhood obsession: the 1980s film Project X, starring a chimp named Virgil. “I Googled what happened to Virgil years later and found out he was living right here,” Fuhrmann says. “I showed up with eight bags of groceries and never left.”
He now volunteers regularly at Primarily Primates, serves on the board, and has even tattooed chimpanzee DNA on his arm. “These animals taught me more about leadership and empathy than anything else,” he says. “Watching them resolve conflict, grieve, and comfort each other is profound.”
That lesson in empathy stays with him in business, too. “To lead well, you have to take care of your people,” he says. “It’s not just about putting out fires. It’s about making sure everyone feels seen, heard, and safe.” Primates are masters at that, allowing conflict to resolve itself naturally while empathizing with other chimpanzees; they are amazing at illustrating human values of leadership in service, as Terrin tells it.
Beyond work and service, Fuhrmann is a devoted collector and creator of art, an interest rooted in his family’s history. His grandparents once owned a gallery in New York, and a resident artist, Gino Hollander, even painted portraits of both his mother and him. “That creative energy has always been in my life,” he says. “It’s part of how I see the world.” As Terrin sits for this interview, he is surrounded by a mélange of art he has curated and procured over the years.
He brings that same creativity to Elsewhere, where whimsical touches like a ‘Be Kind’ sign, topiary giraffes, and scent machines create a multisensory experience. “I want people to sit for a few hours, unwind, and feel surrounded by beauty and kindness,” he says.
When asked to describe himself, he pauses, then smiles. “Creative and painfully self-aware. I’ve made a lot of mistakes, but I keep learning. I try to be better every day.”
With a heart for community, an eye for design, and a fearless sense of curiosity and compassion, Terrin Fuhrmann is helping shape a San Antonio that’s more inclusive, more imaginative, and, most of all, more kind.
