It is the mission and purpose of ARTS San Antonio to educate, enrich and entertain the people – especially the children – of the greater San Antonio region in a manner that represents our values of excellence, diversity, accessibility and fiscal responsibility.

Founded in 1992, ARTS San Antonio is a 501(C)(3) non-profit charitable organization that serves and operates in the interests of our community.

ARTS San Antonio's mission, three interrelated and interdependent program initiatives comprise this mission. They are:

1. WE EDUCATE elementary-school students with the acclaimed, hands-on arts-education workshop program known as ARtsTEach in classrooms throughout Bexar County and the seven adjoining counties. ARtsTEach annually provides more than 500 elementary-school classroom workshops serving more than 10,000 students in 11 school districts and social-service agencies throughout the eight-county region. ARtsTEach employs 21 San Antonio area visual and performing artists.
2. WE ENRICH our community as a catalyst for the performing and visual arts. ARTS SA initiates the cooperation and collaboration with artists, arts organizations and other organizations in our community for the purpose of creating opportunities and experiences which might otherwise not be available. Recent performing and audience development collaborative programs have included the San Antonio Symphony Orchestra, the San Antonio Opera, the Metropolitan Classical Ballet (DFW), San Antonio Municipal Ballet, Musical Bridges Around the World, Trinity University Music Department, University of Texas at San Antonio Music Department and Music Marketing Program, Magik Theatre, the City of San Antonio Office of Cultural Affairs, the City of San Antonio Parks and Recreation Department, the Instituto Cultural de Mexico, the Witte Museum and others.
3. WE ENTERTAIN by presenting great performing artists from around the state, the nation and the world under the brand "ARTS San Antonio presents." Of the hundreds of performing solo artists, ensembles and companies that have traveled from around the world to perform in San Antonio under the auspices of ARTS San Antonio are, the Bolshoi Theatre Ballet of Moscow, Russia, the Dance Theatre of Harlem, the Kronos String Quartet, Les Ballets Jazz de Montreal, soloists of the American Ballet Theatre and the New York City Ballet, Ballet Folklorico de Mexico, the Hubbard Street Dance Theatre, Ballet Folklorico Nacional de Chile, Carol Burnett, the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra and Choir, Issac Stern, Marcel Marceau, Debbie Reynolds, Hal Holbrook in "Mark Twain Tonight," Bill Cosby, Leslie Nielsen as Clarence Darrow, Vienna Boys Choir, Tango Buenos Aires, the Royal Scotts Dragoon Guards, Tony Bennett and, since 1992, all of the medalists of the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition.