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DreamWeek, the annual San Antonio summit, returns this month with the goal of exchanging ideas and celebrating humanity, according to its organizers. The multi-week symposium coincides with Martin Luther King Jr. Day and draws from his teachings and his "I Have a Dream" speech.
A Tuesday news conference at Texas Public Radio served as the official kickoff. The gathering included some of the major sponsors and partners like WestCare, Hard Rock Cafe, the City of San Antonio, San Antonio African American Community Archive and Museum, (SAACAM) and Mexican American Civil Rights Institute (MACRI).
DreamWeek starts this Friday, Jan. 9 and runs through Sat. Jan. 31 with more than 200 events throughout San Antonio. The events vary in format ranging from concerts, art exhibits, panel discussions, health and fitness expos, mixers, fashion shows, galas, youth summits, and poetry slams.
The theme for 2026 is “Revelations.” Shokare Nakpodia is the founder of DreamWeek. He said the focus this year is about gaining more knowledge, insights, and a deeper understanding of San Antonio.
“It's about celebrating our city, but rather than focus on the things that divide us, we want to use this opportunity to showcase all the wonderful things that are going on in the city that don't really get heralded or promoted enough,” he said.
DreamWeek began as an idea by Nakpodia who said since San Antonio reportedly had the largest MLK March in the country, that kind of energy and enthusiasm could be put into additional projects.
“DreamWeek came about because I was really inspired by the fact that we had so many people waking up on a morning and going to an unfashionable place — on the East Side at that time — and marching in one accord. And I felt that there was something extraordinary going on in San Antonio that hadn't been tapped.”
Thus began the push to work with other organizations in San Antonio to create a slate of events that lasts almost the entire month.
“We hope that it keeps growing, and eventually we'll have something, maybe not necessarily in my lifetime, but something that would rival and maybe be a more cerebral South by Southwest type event,” he said.
Austin’s South by Southwest (widely known by the abbreviation SXSW) started in 1987 as a three-day music festival at 15 different venues and has since evolved to a week-long festival and conference focusing on films, music, gaming, workshops, technology, and more. The event has become an international draw with more than 400 events on its 2026 schedule for March.
DreamWeek’s more than 200 events are managed and run by different organizations. For instance, “Dreamfash” is a mixer hosted by Hard Rock on Saturday which focuses on beauty, fashion and cultural events. There’s also the Westside Small Business Cafecito hosted by Prosper West on Sunday.
Tuesday night’s event included a performance by the SAACAM Gospel Choir. Emcee Cynthia Freeman Gibbs, who is the executive assistant at SAACAM, said this year would be about coming revelations about our own hometown.
“It is about pulling back the curtain on the brilliance that exists all around us but often goes unrecognized. Every neighborhood, every cultural group, every generation, has contributed to making San Antonio the vibrant, resilient community that it is today. This year, we're creating space to celebrate those stories and the people behind them to reveal the community genius that has always been here,” she said.
One of the participants is the recently established Mexican American Civil Rights Institute known as MACRI. Executive Director Sarah Zenaida Gould said she believes DreamWeek is about being able to hold space in the community and ask hard questions.
“Every day we work to uncover and share histories that have too often been hidden, ignored or misunderstood — stories of Mexican Americans who challenged injustice, defended civil rights and helped expand democracy in this country. These stories are not marginal. They are essential to understanding who we are as a city, who we are as a nation and who we aspire to be,” she said.
One event that MACRI will be hosting is an oral histories training camp on Sat. Jan 24 where participants can learn how to conduct the work of researching and recording first-person stories and possibly help MACRI in its oral histories project.
Near the center of the DreamWeek events on Monday, January 19, will be the MLK March. A reported 300,000 people have attended and marched in previous years making it one of, if not the, largest MLK March in the country.
San Antonio Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones highlighted the energy of DreamWeek only happens when there is trust to come to the table with civility and good faith.
“Every January, as we honor Dr. Martin Luther King Jr's legacy, we're reminded that progress comes from engaging with ideas and people that challenge us. It might mean talking with someone with whom you disagree, because through that genuine exchange, we build bridges and we create change.”
You can see a full interactive schedule of DreamWeek events here.
