San Diego + Imperial counties Regional Conversation Summary

San Diego County Regional Conversation – Aug 14, 2020

Victoria Hamilton, California for the Arts was the moderator of this conversation with about 40 participants in zoom attendance.

Matt Carney, SD Ballet and SD Regional Arts and Culture Coalition SDRACC  https://www.sandiegoracc.org/ reported on the push to educate the November candidates and public about the arts. Equity and Inclusion are priorities of the issues that will be raised.  SDRACC is organizing this in four parts: Education of candidates, an open forum, follow up with short answers to written questions and finally a survey. Elected official and the candidates for the City of San Diego are being held now, but the County Supervisors candidates will be coming soon.

Susanna Pereda Swap also representing SDRACC reported on the progress of the SD Challenge Fund with a goal stabilize the creative sector. In Phase One, 32 grants between $3000 to $10,000 totaling $250,000 were given out to moderate sized organizations with paid staff. Phase 2 will be Relief funds for critical needs of individual artists in program called #SDArtistFund with money raised from a Go Fund Me effort. BLPOC ARTISTS for black artist who are in need is part of that push.  It was suggested that a partnership with Synergy Arts Foundation who is the only local arts organization to give out grants to artist in need might be advantageous.

Jonathon Glus, SD Commission for Arts and Culture has goals including sustainability for both large and small organization but particularly for individual artist. They have $1 million for individual visual artists for acquiring art work, plus they are commissioning 18-20 artist to create art in the parks. The work force has to be supported. They are working with UCSD to do a deep dive assessment about how the orgs are pivoting and restructuring to come out leaner and stronger during the lockdown.  They are also working with the Performing Arts to find better alliances and efficiencies.

Leticia Gomez Franco also of the SD Commission for Arts and Culture spoke strongly about equity and social justice. The Commission is trying hard to be flexible for example with contract extensions and making funds available without delay. They are making assessment to look at past distributions with a priority for building community access and reducing barriers to access to funds.

Julie Baker – Californian for the Arts https://www.californiansforthearts.org/membership and American from the Arts is concentrating on arts jobs and the arts as second responder. So much money is distributed through COVID funds so she asked us how can we be of service to the health industry. How do we get recognized for seeing the contribution that the arts make to mental health? Looks for grants in social services and try to create jobs around public health issues. This is a listing of grants for non-profits: https://www.californiansforthearts.org/covid19/2020/7/17/california-grants-portal . Make connections to our elected official and make sure they know the value of the arts in supplying jobs in all sorts of fields, not just entertainment. https://www.votervoice.net/CAARTS/Home

Jason Schmeltzer told us that in Sacramento there is a big deficit and the state government is struggling. So, we must make sure and put arts into the budget conversation or we will lose out. Stimulus money should go to small non-profits because they are small business and they help the economy.

Larry Baza from California Art Council asked how do we raise money for orgs at all levels.  Online fundraising is not as successful as we would like. CAC has a remit to serve all of California including rural areas. CAC does not want to continue administering 18 grants and instead wants to spread the money throughout the state as one of their big goals has always been to try to create a level playing field. He was very grateful to California for the Arts for its lobbying efforts for the arts. They saved the arts budget for CA. We also need federal funds to come to the state and there are none of those except the Heroes Act*.  He reminded us that CAC Administrators of Color Fellowship Program Grants http://arts.ca.gov/programs/acf.php are due soon.

A poll showed that the biggest percentage of those in attendance were from the non-profit sector and their biggest concern was funding. There was then lengthy discussion from the others in attendance. One of the most interesting discussions was about co-creating and co-funding to work better and smarter. This applied especially for outreach to social service organizations. Two examples were given https://a-step-beyond.org/  and https://thewoodenfloor.org/ Reaching out to organization that you have never partnered with was encouraged to expand funding and audiences.

The chat line also allowed us to register topics for further discussion. A Virtual Presentation Toolkit was mentioned as was the need for the capacity for a unified mailing list of arts leaders and press perhaps as part of a centralized directory and events calendar.

This presentation and live chat was recorded and will be available on at https://www.californiansforthearts.org/calendar/2020/8/3/san-diego-regional-conversation. Questions can be directed to  Julie Baker, Executive Director: Californian for the Arts membership@californiansforthearts.org

* The Health and Economic Recovery Omnibus Emergency Solutions Act or HEROES Act is proposed legislation acting as a $3 trillion stimulus package in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, and is intended to supplement the earlier CARES Act stimulus package. 

2020 Brain Candy: A Virtual Salon Series – The Curators

Vanguard Culture gathered curators to speak about how they were Dealing with the Pandemic and thoughts about the future of their exhibition spaces. You can now watch the two hour video or here are my notes from that virtual meeting. Susanna Peredo Swap was the moderator.

Megan Dickerson, Director of Exhibitions at The New Children’s Museum:
Website Link: www.Thinkplaycreate.org
The New Children’s Museum deals with play as work and work as play.  Child will play anywhere. Their mission is not just to present a display but to work that display in an interactive way with the children and parents.  Megan found that you need the right people in the room for virtual events. Who is doing the story telling and how are they identified is vital. Think of museums as a collection of relationships and not a set of buildings. Go where the people are. She praised ArtReach which sent out pieces of a mural right to the kids and then brought it back to assemble it. You have to have some kayaks if you are a steamboat. There is a “stumble upon” nature of being together in a real space that we are missing.

Gaidi Finnie, Executive Director at The San Diego African American Museum of Fine Art:
Website Link: www.sdaamfa.org
The SDAAM of Fine Art has always had a Motivational attempt as one of the goals from the beginning and not just educational and not just one voice. The new virtual components are expanding its audience. With no bricks and mortar, the collaboration with different institutions is an advantage.  More young people are being motivated.

Christine Knoke Heitbrink, Deputy Director and Chief Curator at Mingei International Museum:
Website Link: www.mingei.org. Silver lining, they were already shut down for renovations so will be open in Spring/Summer of 2021. They are able to stay on course but will be able to add touch-free doors, anti-microbial surfaces etc. They already have people working on remote locations with pop up shows. The transformed space is their new exciting project. Art of the People will be the new theme and the permanent collection will be the main feature. They are giving voice to multiple sources and being careful to be culturally aware.

Michael Lawrence, Assistant Director for Exhibitions at Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, Washington, D.C.:
Website Link: www.Naturalhistory.si.edu
Certain things you can plan for and others you can’t. Staff resources are paramount. Security and members services are hit hard by virus. There is a caring for co-workers. Crowd control will be difficult. Only 5 people per thousand square feet feels much like the least visited days. They are using junior staff in T-shirts instead of uniforms for security. Their audience wants guidance and information. There might be a breakdown in who that authority is and an attempt to bring in a variety of truths and voices. There is a fine line between scaring the public and enlightening them.  People are very resilient. They can be more resilient when they make connections together. The Zoom format is very democratizing.

Lauren Lockhart, Art Program Manager at San Diego International Airport:
Website Link: www.arts.san.org/public-art  
Airports are stressful and this is even a more stressful experience, so the arts are there to help eliminate that stress. The Arts are now seen as second responders. People need time to accommodate new ideas and develop them. Conceptual ideas should be encouraged. They are working more with a wider arena via the internet.

Adriana Martinez, Chief Curator at La Caja Galeria - Tijuana B.C.:
Website Link: www.lacajagaleria.com
Zoom and other virtual technology has increased participation which are much more open because of the platforms. Art is about those conversations and now the conversations are much wider. They help to define a viewpoint and now several viewpoints are possible. Going out into the streets has become the agenda. Individuals are in the forefront instead of institutions. Social Justice is an active pursuit. Seeing people in their homes on zoom does reveal another side to us.

Andrew Ütt, Executive Director at Lux Art Institute:
Website Link: www.luxartinstitute.org
There are dichotomies: Education vs community and Physical vs Virtual. Zoom makes us quiet as an audience as we listen in and we go straight to education.  But we don’t have that loose exchange of community communication.  Curators roles can be lessened with virtual events if we let the audience define the experience. So, the question is: How much can the audience be engaged? If you are not failing, you are not learning, so you must build in the possibility of failure. Use incremental changes and be prepared to eliminate projects that don’t work. Change encourages us to be more creative. We question more than ever. The pandemic has made us more aware that we are one family as an institution.

The Power of Art: Part Two George Floyd

I thought another set of protest images was important to join part one. These powerful visual messages are so important to convey our emotions (highs and lows). They document this time in history and more than that, they can help bring about change. It is appalling that some of these images have been destroyed. 

SHAME on those who would destroy and deface these images. They desecrate the memory of the man and they have no right to limit our freedom of speech. 

The Power of Art

From a man that nobody knew, to an image that is now etched into our historical consciousness, the power of art to broadcast and jump start change is integral to our evolution. With thanks to Neil Shigley for the first image on this page and to the untold millions who have created, used and seen these images over the last days.

Neil Shigley - San Diego artist.

It's Not Easy, Being Difficult

Image: Patricia Frischer, It's Not Easy, Being Difficult

I feel that I am in phase 3 of the pandemic. Phase one was sheer terror and disorientation. Phase two was organizing survival. Phase 3 is still undefined but some things are coming to mind that I will share.

This is not a time to be selling me anything or for me to sell anything to you.  It is not a time to act as if I know what people will need or how the world will be different. I am sorry, but this is not a time when I feel that knowing we are all in this together helps me in any real way.

This is a time for me to be asking if you are OK. It is a time for me to donate my money, my skills, my time.  This could be a time for re-evaluation of what I want to be.

It is a time where I am so grateful for the support of our arts community. I am so proud of the job that our artists and arts leaders are doing to sort out the myriad of problems that are thrown at us every day from grant application to conditions for safe re-openings.

It is a time when I am disappointed and ashamed of the way minorities are being treated. It is a time that I am amazed and humbled by peaceful demonstrations. I am heartened by the way that people want to continue to be engaged in the arts. It is truly my belief that the arts can help bring about social change for the better.

I am lucky to be able to find things for which I am grateful.  I hope I can always be authentic and true to myself while having respect for others.

I send the same wish to you. 

Remember when Corona was a Cigar or a Beer

by Patricia Frischer

A few private musings this March 2020.

Part 1

·  I latch on to any good news to balance the bad news. How wonderful that we have a factory in Carlsbad ramping up to make COVID 19 test. How crappy that we have to take the test.

·        I am considering canned hearts of palm to be a fresh vegetable.

·        After canceling 6 meetings the last 2 weeks of March, I felt more stress free than I had in ages. 

·        We are quarantined by decree of the governor. I love my home so it is like being given sick days without being sick, a little like snow days from my youth.


·        When you go on a three week vacation, the first week is all wide eyed, taking in all the new sights and sounds. The second week is really the relaxing week. You read a whole book in one day. You aren’t impatient with the 2 ½ minutes it takes to use your electric toothbrush. You write shorter sentences as you take the time to put in a period and then a capitol letter instead of just a comma. As I remember the third week is a frantic mind set into what you have to do at work when you get home. I am in the second week and it appears I may linger here longer than a vacation. 

·         I find myself counting squares of toilet paper. Do I really need five? 3 is enough. If you use nasturtium leaves as loo paper should they be fresh or dried? Now I am really glad we got the extra dry feature on our bidet.

·        Although I love all the new online resources, I think the beauty of online stuff is that you don’t have to be there a specific time. I don’t want my calendar filled up again with online meetings, video dates, webinars just when I got it so nice and clear. I like the breathing room for out of the box thinking. 

·        The first week at home, I slept late and sometimes didn’t dress. But now I find I am getting up at the regular time and wearing good clothes. Why be a slouch around the house. It makes me feel better and even though it is just for myself, maybe my husband appreciates it. 


·        Now that everything has slowed down, what about slow food instead of fast food. Is now the time to try those 3 page recipes….as long as you can get the ingredients.  And now we have Slow Looking which is suggested by the Tate in England. Slow down and look longer at one art work you own. 

Gold Standard for Hand Washing: Pinnacles by Patricia Frischer

Part 2

• I have never looked at so many links to jokes and virus reports and even a site to build your own virtual museum. I usually never check Instagram or Facebook. They have always been a one way street out for me. But now I am directed there often as a way to exchange information. Text messages and even WhatsApp and Skype are now checked daily. We have had a couple of virtual cocktail parties on zoom with close friends here that we are used to seeing regularly. It was actually a hoot. My 8 month-old grandniece is on the edge of walking and there is a constant stream of video from her proud parents.
  
  Here is a few picks of interesting sites I have found: 
  #subwayhands  is as describes by Hannah La Follette Ryan on Instagram: I have had a long fascination with hands and you can see a lot of them on my website especially the new Not Your Mother's Fingerbowls which is growing with a series of Gold Standard of Hand Washing. 
  
  A poignant series called Leaving and Waving by Deanna Dikeman. I now know personally someone that had COVID-19. He is a dear friend who lives on his own in London. He has made it through but this makes it even more real for me. We will all be in this position eventually
• Many years ago during a brainstorming for the future dinner party, I suggested a band aid that took all your vital signs each day. You then deposited into a device that sent it to your doctor. Now we have fitbit watches and the info can go by Bluetooth anywhere automatically. So it was great to hear about this thermometer that crunches data all over America and can pin point virus hot spot symptoms at the beginning stages. After this crisis, maybe information about heart rate and temperature can be gathered world-wide so that we are all safer, individually and as a community.
  
  
• A scary thought: what happens when all new programming of movies and TV episodes has aired?  Will we have 6 months of repeats? A comforting thought: at this stage I can watch a silly movie from last year again and barely remember any of it.
  
  
• This is a time to slow down and take a few breathes. I wake up in the morning and am whim driven. That might mean maybe reading a book the whole day. If my attention span is short then a break for the puzzle of cupcakes set up on the dining room table, create a new cracker recipe or do a de-stressing meditation with Insite Timer.
  
  
• Everything is being delivered to us and goes straight to a sanitation station we have set up outside in our courtyard. I guess I will now have to bedazzle some sort of cover for the mask we are now instructed to wear.
  
  
• I finally got over my initial block…you wait for time to do your art and then all of the sudden you have it and it looks like a black pit. But then the light shines and I am working on 5 new sculptures now and so happy to move forward again. Have you made any art lately? 

Part 3

Image by Dale Lazone

• Some of the best one liners:

Boarder police have just seized 2 tons of toilet paper hidden in cocaine.

I'm trying to make protein shakes, but they keep coming out as margaritas.

Your grandparents were called to war.  You’re being called to sit on the couch.  You can do this!
Homeschooling is going well. 2 students suspended for fighting and 1 teacher fired for drinking on the job.

My body has absorbed so much soap and disinfectant lately that when I pee it cleans the toilet.

• With everything proceeding at a molasses pace, I have noticed more what I am eating and how it affects my body. With less exercise we are not eating at night and my indigestion has gone away. No more pills for heartburn. And as I experimented with almond flour, my body seems happier so maybe gluten free is a way to stay healthier for me.
   
• I find myself thinking about a bucket list of things I want to do before I die but I think this has been influenced by the isolation. I never even thought of a bucket list before and some of these are things I have done before but want to do again. I want to ride on a Ferris wheel. I want to go to a restaurant and have dessert first. OK, there are only 2 things on the list, but I just started.
  

• My husband chooses what we are ordering for online delivery and I think that is why I am losing some weight, no impulse buying. I made matzoh today to celebrate Passover...no leavening as this was the bread the Jew made as they were escaping Egypt. So it is bread on the run...or for isolation. It will go perfectly with our ham on Easter Sunday!!!  And yes, I now have 10 pounds of sliced ham in the freezer and ham soup for eternity.

• I am enjoying isolation so much I realized I might be a “closet” agoraphobe. I am starting to worry that I won’t want to go out when and if this isolation decree is over. Having food delivered, no doctors appointments, no rushing to return overdue books, no make up (except for Zoom meetings), no traffic, really no schedule, maybe this is what retirement is all about instead of the way I was doing it. 

• Carlsbad survey of concerns included this information:

Top programs/services the city could provide

•           50% Fitness classes

•           39% Musical performances

•           36% Learn to paint, draw, other art making

Top ways the community would like to stay connected

•           56% An online exchange where people could ask and offer help with things like grocery shopping

•           51% Sharing good news stories
*          28% Pen pal program for seniors