FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Friday, April 1, 2022

CONTACT:
MayorPress@sandiego.gov

SAN DIEGO Kicking off Arts, Culture, and Creativity Month in the City of San Diego, Mayor Todd Gloria announced today the City will launch its first cultural planning process to guide the Citys investments in arts and culture in every community.

Mayor Gloria made the announcement at Bread & Salt in Barrio Logan alongside members of the San Diego City Council, California Arts Council member Vicki Estrada, Californians for the Arts Executive Director Julie Baker and members of San Diegos arts community.

Part of what makes San Diego a great city is our vibrant arts scene and rich cultural heritage, which is not only connected to our history but also the diverse communities that call our city home, Mayor Todd Gloria said. Im excited to kick off Arts, Culture & Creativity Month by announcing our new effort to engage communities on how we should invest in arts in culture across our city, which will improve neighborhoods, boost our economy and enhance San Diegos quality of life.

The cultural planning process, called The Creative City, will get underway in June and is expected to conclude in 2024. The result of the process will be a 7- to 10-year policy and planning framework that aligns the Citys cultural investments with larger priorities of San Diego communities. The core value for the initiative is equity, with a guiding principle of racial, cultural, economic and geographic inclusion throughout the process.

This pandemic had a disproportionately negative impact on the artists, both new and established, who have made our city arguably one of the largest holders of cultural assets in the nation, said California State Senator Ben Hueso. Its great to see local organizations and elected leaders work together to support artists through education, awareness, finances and more during the month of April. The City of San Diegos initiative is important in continuing to support our artists, as well as providing equity and inclusion for all San Diegans.

The framework for The Creative City may focus on critical areas such as artist and creative workforce development and retention; neighborhood creative hubs; arts marketing; cultural tourism; and collective impact strategies for regional arts philanthropy.

A world-class city has a world-class arts program that reflects and celebrates local culture, said City Councilmember Joe LaCava, representative for District 1. The Mayors planning process, The Creative City, provides the opportunity for artists, organizations and workers to have their creative, authentic and powerful voice heard.

Additionally, the framework may include strategies to employ the arts to address challenges including mobility, climate and environment, gang prevention and youth development and the housing crisis. Robust public engagement will, for the first time, ensure that residents from throughout the city will have direct input at all levels of the planning process.

As a passionate leader for the arts community, I have seen the critical role that arts and culture programs play in our communities, said City Councilmember Jennifer Campbell, representative for District 2. We must continue to advocate for these programs and initiatives that vastly improve the quality of life and economic prosperity of our city. I look forward to working with the Mayors Office and Californians for the Arts as we kick off a new cultural planning initiative here in San Diego.

The City of San Diego is the largest holder of cultural assets in the region and provides the greatest amount of annual nonprofit arts and culture funding in the area. As the City updates and refines its policy framework to include the recently adopted comprehensive Parks Master Plan and updated Climate Action Plan, it is critical to identify cultural policy to align with the Citys overarching priorities.

San Diegos vibrant arts and culture scene is one of the reasons why our city is such a great place, said City Councilmember Stephen Whitburn, representative for District 3. The council district that I represent is home to some of San Diegos finest cultural institutions and renowned arts destinations, but our entire city is bursting with creativity. The Creative City will tie together San Diegos arts and culture community and ensure that it is a priority.

The cultural plan announcement comes as cities across California celebrate the kickoff of Arts, Culture & Creativity Month, which is intended to empower arts advocates and spur greater investments in the arts. Throughout April, statewide activations and celebrations of the arts will be held to raise visibility and awareness of the value that artists, culture bearers, cultural organizations and creative workers generate for communities in California.

San Diegos creative economyour Arts and Culture communityis critical to the success of our region, said City Councilmember Raul Campillo, representative for District 7. As Chair of our City Council's Economic Development & Intergovernmental Relations Committee, I'm proud to champion Arts and Culture and to promote San Diego as a world-class destination for tourists, residents, and workers alike.

Without the Arts and without their respective Culture, the places we create would have no soul, no reason for being, said Vicki Estrada, member of the California Arts Council. Arts and Culture allow us to share our values with each other, ask questions and to remind each other who we really are, thus providing a menu for the places we create.

Bread & Salt is an experimental center for the arts with strong community ties, said Thomas DeMello, Artist and Curator for Bread & Salt. In addition to housing five independent galleries under the same roof, a community-building nonprofit, a woman-owned and operated brewery, and the only indoor glass-blowing facility in the city, Bread & Salt's dynamic event space, the Brick Room, hosts a wide variety of performers and community happenings.

April is the month for the impact of arts and artists to be recognized in California, said Julie Baker, Executive Director of Californians for the Arts. As San Diego is a leading arts and culture city in California and is home to one of Californias fourteen pilot cultural districts, we are thrilled to kick off ACCM 2022 here and are grateful to the Mayor, City Councilmembers, San Diego artists, culture bearers and arts advocates for their work to increase investments in arts, culture and creativity. The Arts work in San Diego!

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About Arts, Culture & Creativity Month
In 2019, Californians for the Arts successfully campaigned for the state to recognize and celebrate the arts by declaring April as Arts, Culture & Creativity Month through a concurrent resolution passed in the California Senate. In 2021, an additional resolution was declared to recognize artists as second responders.