Andi Rodriguez
The Art of Possibility
By Dawn Robinette, APR, Fellow PRSA | Photography by Suzanne Pack
Andi Rodriguez believes in possibility. It is there when she walks through downtown San Antonio, looking at an empty wall and imagining art. She sees it in a vacant storefront that could become a gathering place, in an artist waiting for an opportunity, and in the connections that happen when people share the same space.
And it is there in the way Rodriguez approaches life: with an almost irrepressible belief that something good can happen if someone is simply willing to try.
“I think optimism and possibility kind of go hand in hand,” she says. “It’s always a yes until it’s a no. If you start operating on that principle, it becomes like a muscle. It’s a habit. You look for the good. You think that things are possible.”
That outlook has fueled a life devoted to San Antonio and, most recently, her work as vice president of cultural placemaking at Centro San Antonio, where she created Art Everywhere. Since its launch in 2020, the initiative has installed more than 200 works by paid local artists on walls, windows, alleys and other spaces throughout downtown.
Yet for Rodriguez, the art is about much more than transforming a wall. It is about transforming how people experience a place – and one another.
“I am at heart a human that wants to connect other humans,” she says. “I believe in the goodness in people and that by finding common ground, we can get through it together.”
Rodriguez moved to San Antonio from Chicago 35 years ago for a job, expecting to stay only a couple of years. She began volunteering at what was then Santa Rosa Children’s Hospital and later at Camp Discovery, a summer camp for children with cancer. One connection led to another, drawing her deeper into the community.
“Before I knew it, I’d made so many friends, and it was like, I’m never leaving here. I love it.”
Today, she describes her relationship with the city – and downtown in particular – in decidedly personal terms.
“I’ve been in a torrid love affair with downtown for over two decades,” Rodriguez says with a smile. “Not just the historic architecture or the latest and greatest restaurant, but our potential – because of who we are and what we can be.”
That fascination with cities eventually changed the direction of her career.
Rodriguez began professionally in communications, marketing, and journalism. Serving on San Antonio’s Planning Commission opened another world, prompting her to better understand the decisions shaping neighborhoods, development, and daily life.
She started taking urban planning courses at UT San Antonio, eventually earning a Master of Science in Architecture with a focus on urban planning.
“For as long as I can remember, I have loved cities,” Rodriguez says. “I suppose it’s the density, because I love people. The way people and buildings and cars and parks all bump into one another just thrills me.”
Planning gave her a framework for understanding how the built environment can encourage, or discourage, those interactions.
“I feel like it helped me look holistically at space and opportunity and art and human connection,” she says. “Ultimately, vitality is about humans.”
That belief has become a through line in her career and civic life. Rodriguez has served on the Mayor’s Commission on the Status of Women and Bexar County Historical Commission, helped guide Hemisfair and San Pedro Creek, co-founded the Power of Preservation Foundation, and teaches in UT San Antonio’s architecture department.
Her instinct to participate rather than stand on the sidelines is rooted in lessons from her parents, who taught their children to find good and reminded them, “If it is to be, it’s up to me.”
Art Everywhere may be the clearest expression yet of that philosophy – and the place where her love of art, people and urban planning intersect.
Rodriguez had long considered using art as a placemaking tool downtown. As an urban planner, she recognized that many blank walls, empty windows and overlooked spaces were privately owned.
“I just started making a list of all the walls,” she recalls. “I thought, ‘Oh my gosh, I could fill this up. I could fill that up.’”
Then she started asking property owners if they would let her do it.
The original goal for Art Everywhere was five installations in 2020. The pandemic changed everything. Downtown emptied and the human connections Rodriguez values so deeply suddenly disappeared. But the possibility of art remained.
“It was outside, after all. You could view art outside,” she says.
Centro installed the first mural, and the response was overwhelming. Five installations became dozens, and eventually more than 200, with plans to keep growing.
For Rodriguez, it confirmed something she had long believed.
“Public art is the most democratic form of all art because it meets you right where you are on the street,” she says.
That accessibility matters. Putting art in the public realm invites everyone into the experience.
“We need to make art feel less exclusive and demystify it so that it becomes this huge abrazo, this tent where everyone is welcome, where your story is my story.”
Those stories are intentionally local, and Art Everywhere is designed to create opportunities specifically for San Antonio artists.
She describes herself as an art “yenta,” matchmaking property owners, artists, and funding while navigating approvals, budgets, and logistics.
“I am not an artist,” she says. “I’m not taking a piece of pie. I’m trying to make the pie bigger. And when we do that, we all win.”
The initiative continues to evolve through projects including “8 x 8 x 8,” which placed 64 works in underused downtown windows, and La Zona, a temporary gallery near San Pedro Creek.
Rodriguez thinks of Art Everywhere installations as breadcrumbs.
“They lead people to the next one, and before you know it, you’ve discovered downtown.”
Rodriguez does plenty of discovering herself, walking three to five miles most days through downtown, looking and dreaming.
“I’m usually dreaming about something I can make better,” she says. “Adding lights here, adding art there –what we might do to make it more friendly and welcoming to people and transform it into a place where people want to sit and stay awhile.”
It is the urban planner and the optimist in her working together.
To Rodriguez, downtown’s shared spaces are increasingly important.
Art can create another kind of connection.
“We may not always agree. We may come from different ZIP codes, from different points of view,” she says. “But there are these stories that we share.”
“When you see yourself in art, you are also seeing the artist,” she continues. “When they are seen, you are seen. It’s not a monologue. Art is a dialogue.”
Her enthusiasm can make Rodriguez appear fearless, but she readily admits she isn’t. She describes herself as shy and says she has learned to move toward the things that frighten her rather than away from them.
“You just face it head on, hope for the best, close your eyes and jump,” she says. “Each time you take that chance and gather your strength, you’re like, ‘I did that. I can do that.’”
It’s a lesson she encourages others – particularly women – to embrace.
“Be fearless in the pursuit of what sets your soul on fire,” Rodriguez says. “You BELONG – be brave and bold and confident, knowing you are exactly where you are meant to be at this very moment. Use your gift, don’t hide your light, and know whatever happens, tomorrow is another day.”
The advice reflects the way Rodriguez approaches her own life: with purpose, persistence, and the willingness to try again when something doesn’t work.
“Even when things don’t go right, or they go south, I think my sense of purpose carries me forward,” she says. “I believe in keeping your eyes on the prize and not being bogged down by noise.”
And she believes San Antonio offers something special to anyone willing to become part of making it better.
“It’s great to live in a place that’s already wonderful,” Rodriguez says. “But what if you have the chance to help make it more wonderful?”
For someone who is perpetually looking for possibility, it may be the perfect place to call home.
“I am a woman who’s always becoming, who’s trying and failing every day, because that’s what life is about,” she says. “Each day is a new one, so we get up and try again. I am always in love with possibility.”
Thirty-five years after arriving for what she thought would be a brief stay, Rodriguez is still walking, still dreaming, and still looking for the next opportunity to make the city she loves a little better.
