As it has done with other master plans in other departments, San Diego has initiated a cultural planning process called Creative City to receive public and stakeholder input to create a new framework for a San Diego Cultural Plan.
Over the next 18 months, San Diegans will be presented with multiple opportunities to weigh in on the formulation of the aspirations and goals of a future culture and creativity framework.
A cultural plan to be developed will be a comprehensive, long-term blueprint to advance arts, culture, and creativity for the benefit of City residents as well as the greater Cali-Baja mega-region. It will be based on inclusive listening, public engagement, and research. The plan will be expected to guide, promote and embody support for artists and creative inventions across sectors. It will also align arts and culture with the priorities of the City government.
“The City has hired a San Diego-based consulting firm to assist us in developing the City’s first comprehensive cultural planning process, which will result in a proposed cultural plan to be delivered to the city council for review and adoption in early 2025,” said Jonathon Glus, the City’s executive director for arts and culture.
Glus pointed out the new cultural plan being developed will be similar to other documents developed by the City, like its parks master plan. He said it will serve as a future blueprint to “guide the City’s investment in our arts and culture over the coming decade or so.”
Noting the City invests in arts and culture “on an annual basis through a number of ways,” Glus pointed out San Diego has one of the country’s largest collections of municipally owned cultural facilities. “We have a large annual nonprofit arts funding program providing more than 200 organizations with annual operating and program support that goes to a variety of festivals and community events across the City,” he said.
This regional cultural planning effort is being led in partnership with a planning team engaged to guide a strategic process to address the City’s unique strengths, needs, and priorities. The City’s Arts and Culture Department will lead the planning process working with department partners and the mayor’s team. The Commission for Arts and Culture, an advisory body, will also participate in the cultural planning process and ultimately make recommendations on plan adoption to the mayor and city council.
“We have not, as a City, intentionally taken the time to look at this (arts and culture) as an incredibly important part of the economic vitality of our City,” concluded Glus. “Nor have we intentionally harnessed the great power of arts and culture in our communities to transmit community values, to build cultural bridges, and celebrate our region by telling the stories of our region – those powerful things that create community.”
Added Glus: “This is a major step to bring light to the power of those (cultural) stories that are owned by the many different communities and cultures that make up San Diego. And, as a City, we have an obligation to support those many stories and those many communities. At the same time, this is a very practical economic development tool (cultural plan) to lift up the many stories of our community. So in the end, the City will be in a better place to enhance the quality of life in San Diego, and ensure that we are more equitably investing in the many communities in our City.”
CREATIVE CITY CULTURAL PLAN
• Listen to communities and individuals – creative sector stakeholders, residents, youth, seniors, and more.
• Be inclusive in the planning process and actively engage the many voices and diversity of San Diego’s population.
• Foster experimentation, creativity, and excellence in the arts.
• Enhance San Diego’s unique position as a border city with binational relationships and impact.
• Identify funding options, resources, and strategies for sustainability within the arts and cultural sector.
• Develop strategies to prioritize investments in cultural facilities and leverage them to achieve citywide goals such as equity and creative workforce development.
• Develop a prioritized and phased implementation strategy for the plan.
The cultural planning process will also involve a brief online survey. To participate, or for more information on Creative City, visit sandiego.gov/creative-city.
PHOTO BY STACY KECK
Creative City Pop-ups
Stop by our drop-in pop-up events to learn more about the Creative City cultural planning process, share your insights into the creative future of your neighborhood and surrounding communities, and help create something unique in hands-on art-making experience. Fun for all ages, and refreshments will be provided (while supplies last).
Wednesday, June 21 – 5:30-7 p.m.
Light Box Theater
Everyone is welcome and RSVP is appreciated.
Pop-up Light Box Flyer
Wednesday, June 21 – 5:30-7 p.m.
Ocean Air Recreation Center
Everyone is welcome and RSVP is appreciated.
Pop-up Ocean Air Flyer
Thursday, June 22 – 5:30-7 p.m.
City Heights Performance Annex
Everyone is welcome and RSVP is appreciated.
Spanish, Vietnamese, and Somali interpretation available.
Pop-up Performance Annex Flyer
Thursday, June 22 – 5:30-7:30 p.m.
Mission Trails Visitor Center
Everyone is welcome and RSVP appreciated.
Spanish and Tagalog interpretation available.
Tueday, July 25 – 5:30-7 p.m.
San Ysidro Branch Library
Everyone is welcome and RSVP appreciated.
Event will be in Spanish; English interpretation available.
Wednesday, July 26 – 5:30-7 p.m.
Bread & Salt
Everyone is welcome and RSVP appreciated.
Spanish and Tagalog interpretation available.
Wednesday, July 26 – 5:30-7 p.m.
Mira Mesa Recreation Center
Everyone is welcome and RSVP appreciated.
Mandarin, Vietnamese, Tagalog interpretation available.
Saturday, July 29 – 10-11:30 a.m.
Rancho Peñasquitos Branch Library
Everyone is welcome and RSVP appreciated.
Saturday, July 29 – 2-3:30 p.m.
Malcolm X Branch Library
Everyone is welcome and RSVP appreciated.
Spanish and Tagalog interpretation available.
