Dreamweek marks 10 years of celebrating S.A.’S diversity
Dreamweek celebrates a milestone next week — 10 years of hosting a citywide summit that embraces humanity and San Antonio’s diverse cultures.
The annual gathering will take place Jan. 13-30, with more than 200 events at 50-plus venues. This year’s theme is “Our Future.”
“The way we’re trying to see our future is determined by what we’re creating now and what that will look like,” said founder Shokare “Sho” Nakpodia. “It’s no different than what early framers of America had to do. It’s a great way to try and settle things if we collectively plan our future together.”
Dreamweek public relations manager Lisa Jackson said the events offer an exchange of ideas on a wide range of issues.
“It’s because of Sho’s vision that Dreamweek has been able to last this long and be this exciting,” she said.
Organizers said Dreamweek will continue with safety guidelines as the increase of omicron COVID-19 cases prompted the cancellation of other events. Recent closings include the Martin Luther King Jr. March, the Asian Festival and the Texas Folklife Festival.
Since 2013, the summit has led up to the city’s MLK march, one of the largest in the nation.
For the second year, the San Antonio Martin Luther King Jr. Commission board canceled the city’s in-person march because of coronavirus safety concerns.
The 2.75-mile march was scheduled for Jan. 17. The University of Texas at San Antonio Institute of Texan Cultures, which hosts the Asian and Texas Folklife festivals, said both celebrations would return in 2023.
However, the Dreamweek opening ceremony, luncheon, and Mayor’s Ball have been scaled back to observe social distancing. Organizers said gatherings hosted by their partners would be left to their discretion whether to postpone, switch to virtual events or go ahead with safety guidelines in place.
The summit is scheduled to kick off at 7:30 a.m. on Friday at the Jack Guenther Pavilion at the Briscoe, 210 W. Market St. The multiforum event will close with the Mayor’s Ball on Jan. 29, at Venue Villita, 401 Villita St.
Dreamweek is the brainchild of Nakpodia, creative director of The Mighty Group, a local design and marketing firm. He founded the summit in 2013 as a response to then-mayor Julián Castro’s challenge to advertising agencies to spotlight the city’s long-established MLK march.
Born in Lagos, Nigeria, Nakpodia immigrated to London, where he earned a civil engineering degree at the University of Leeds. He
worked in New York City as a cabdriver and studied at the School of Visual Arts. When he moved to San Antonio, he brought his experiences from different cultures with him.
Praise from mayor
Mayor Ron Nirenberg called Dreamweek “one of the most forward looking, iconic developments in San Antonio in the last decade.”
“It represents everything San Antonio should be,” Nirenberg said. “Dreamweek has taken our city’s greatest demonstration of diversity and inclusion and the city’s place in civil rights — and we have an important one — and wrapped an entire series of events around it.
“Sho has created a focus for Dreamweek that goes beyond aspirational lofty ideas of inclusion and diversity to really tackle problems that are global in nature — but locally important.”
Bexar County Commissioner Tommy Calvert Jr. said the event brings together voices that don’t normally talk to each other.
“Those diverse voices help toward a more civil society,” he said. “It is proof that the commonalities we share can work through the differences we all have.”
The event is funded by donations, sales of branded merchandise and sponsorships solicited by the Dreamvoice team.
Thousands of guests
According to Dreamweek statistics, the summit has grown to draw more than 100,000 guests each year. Past events have included Martin Luther King III, the Native American Identity Empowerment Movement, the Holocaust: Learn & Remember and the Reproductive Health Action Forum.
Nakpodia said Dreamweek’s biggest changes came last year when they had to pivot from inperson venues to virtual events to follow the city’s COVID-19 safety protocols.
He said an early event symbolized what the summit is about. It was a collaboration between Frost Bank and the San Antonio Housing Authority for 50 young people from economically challenged neighborhoods at the Plaza Club, then located on the 21st floor of the Frost Bank Tower.
Nakpodia said the occasion introduced the young people another view of the city.
“I thought it was a wonderful thing,” Nakpodia said. “What a lot of youth in society suffer from is what to aim for. If they haven’t had a glimpse of that experience, how can they determine what to aspire to. Those force fields are what we need to break down. Not just physical movement, but also intellectual mentoring as well. That’s what we’re trying to get across.”