The First City of San Diego Cultural Plan

 

The City of San Diego draft  Cultural Arts Master Plan has been released.  This is the first ever cultural plan for the city of SD and was led by Jonathon Glus over the last 18 months. The plan outlines four main goals, each with specific strategies and actions:

1. Centering Artists: Support artists and cultural organizations through affordable spaces, expanded funding, and capacity building.
2. Arts in Community: Increase access to arts and culture throughout the city, with a focus on historically under-resourced areas.
3. Creative Entrepreneurship: Foster growth of the creative economy through business support, workforce development, and industry partnerships.
4. Global Creative City: Elevate San Diego’s profile as an international hub for arts, culture and creativity. 

Some of the strategies we appreciate include:

Expand San Diego’s branding image to incorporate the arts, culture and creativity.

Create a formal designation and support program for arts and cultural districts and creative enterprise zones.

Expand funding available for individual artists and Create artists fellowships or residencies

Facilitate targeted convenings,

Streamline procurement and contracting processes

Expand existing “culture pass” programs leading to free access

Julie Dixon Evans from KPBS adds to that list with the following strategies for funding: “The "Penny for the Arts" policy, which allocates 9.52% of Tourism Occupancy Tax revenue to art and culture; research and development of an "admissions fee" for public/private entertainment and sporting events; a foundation to lead funding efforts; …partnerships with the specific goal of affordable housing for artists and affordable creative spaces…”.

All of this calls for more staffing positions besides coordination with Park and Rec and Libraries. There were lots of convening with the Commission , staff and with the public to complete this document and recommendations are still be accepted.  It is hoped that the plan called Creative City will be approved by the City Council early in 2025. 

Both Carlsbad and Oceanside  have an approved up to date arts master plans and Encinitas has had one percolating for years. We would like to see all cities set these goals and have strategies to achieve them. 

Don't miss the Creative City Open House on Sept. 7, 2024, at the Comic-Con Museum from 9 a.m. to noon to learn about the cultural planning process. Mayor Todd Gloria will kick things off with opening remarks and an overview of the draft cultural plan. The remainder of the morning will be organized around informal conversations about the draft recommendations where you can share input on the draft plan. Event details are available at sdcreativecity.com under Get Involved. 

A little reminder, the  City of SD Arts and Culture and Community Festivals Funding Program is now open until Sept 13.