San Diego creatives face ‘second pandemic’ — together

A month and a half before a cross-industry mix of creatives head to the Soap Factory in Barrio Logan for MASHUP 2025: A Creative Industry Symposium, 40 arts executives pre-recorded a session for the conference’s virtual content.

Lisane Basquiat, founder of Shaping Freedom and co-administrator of The Estate of Jean-Michael Basquiat, led execs at the Mindful Creativity Roundtable through meditations, free venting and brainstorming sessions at Hera Hub Carlsbad on Aug. 23.

“They could share for themselves how challenging it is to lead within the environment that we’re all currently in,” Basquiat said.

“When you’re at the helm of an organization that is losing its funding, that has team members that are going through the burnout, that are confused, that are afraid, they have to really hold it together.”

The leaders all shared remarkably similar stories: Funding cuts, censorship issues, fear of immigration crackdowns, trying to keep it together for staff.

“We’re for the first time, having to really grapple with what does a defunded arts community look like, and how are we going to move forward in a way that we’ve never done before?” said Susanna Peredo Swap of Vanguard Culture, which produces the symposium.

The uncertainty about the future and constant pivoting reminded arts leaders of a similar situation that began more than five years ago.

“It feels like a second pandemic,” Peredo Swap said.

Shared threads

Whether at education nonprofits or dance teams, leaders described federal cuts to the National Endowment of the Arts hitting local institutions faster than anyone imagined. The state and city of San Diego cut its own investment in the arts, despite San Diego adopting a groundbreaking cultural plan in January promising to elevate San Diego as an international arts hub over the next decade.

That leaves not many funding sources left, said Bob Lehman, head of the San Diego Museum Council.

“It’s in every nonprofit sector of the arts. They’re going through these issues and these fears,” Lehman said.

It’s not uncommon that arts programs are the first to get cut amid budget shortfalls in school districts to governments.

To stave off cuts, arts leaders point to cultural travelers having a more positive economic impact compared to leisure tourists.

An economic report commission by the city of San Diego and San Diego Regional Policy & Innovation found that in 2022, creative industries had $10.8 billion total economic impact in the region. There are 82,467 direct creative industry jobs in the region, whose employment could be impacted by funding cuts to institutions.

Immigration is an additional concern for many creatives.

“They have people, people who are on their teams or artists that they’re working with, who now have to be worried about and are dealing with stressors that are unlike any other time,” Basquiat said.

Peredo Swap explained it would be one thing to deal with funding cuts alone. But government-led crackdowns diversity, equity, and inclusion programs has led to a chilling effect on potential donors.

Corporations trying to comply with the Trump administration’s orders barring DEI programs might hesitate to support a nonprofit whose mission statement mentions women in the arts, underserved communities, or any number of keywords.

“You may not change what you’re doing, but in some ways, you have to make choices as to how you talk about what you’re doing,” Beckman, who leads photography education nonprofit in downtown Outside the Lens, said. “There’s layers of uncertainty.”

Gina Lopez, chief executive officer of California Center for the Arts, Escondido, described the pressures of making payroll and maintaining a building without losing sight of their larger purpose. More than ever, artists are being asked to find commonalities with people and build bridges amid national division.

“All of us are being asked to do more with less. We’re stretching our resources and supporting our staff through uncertain times,” Lopez said.

Scarcity mindset

Despite all being part of the San Diego creative community, many of these top arts leaders had not met each other before arriving in Carlsbad on Aug. 23, a fact that surprised Basquiat.

Bringing together multiple arts industries has been a goal of Vanguard Culture, the nonprofit putting on MASHUP Symposium on Oct. 4-5.

“We encounter people from all these different industries that, in their mind, they’re all alone,” said Peredo Swap.

She founded Vanguard Culture partially because so many creative industries remained siloed in San Diego. “We’ve been conditioned to live in this culture of competition with one another, and to hoard our resources because of the scarcity,” Peredo Swap said.

She believes Vanguard Culture has begun to act like a chamber of commerce for arts and culture in San Diego. Its symposium will act as a networking event and impart business skills to creatives who attend.

Arts leaders cited multiple causes for the disconnection between creative industries: Lacking government support of cultural capital in the region, the grind of nonprofit work, and fighting for the same funding sources

“When it comes to nonprofits and collaboration, I think (San Diego is) still trying to figure it out,” Beckman said, who began her career in Minneapolis.

She noted that compared to the rest of the country, San Diego’s philanthropy and arts and culture are newer.

Compared to Los Angeles or Tijuana, San Diego lacks arts infrastructure and affordability, which sends artists packing to habitable cities. The high cost of housing and high cost of renting event spaces are top issues for artists, according to a Vanguard Culture survey.

“Our artists can’t afford housing. Many of our staff has to commute because they can’t afford to live near the institution they work at,” Lehman said of museums.

Amid funding cuts, it can seem counterintuitive to share what little each arts nonprofit has. But Beckman believes collaboration leads to more wins for everyone.

To Lopez, a recent entry to San Diego after leading arts organizations in Nevada, working together is the solution. “Collaboration is not just a goal. It’s a key to survival.”

As arts nonprofits, whether at symposiums or grant workshops, come together more, some see a renaissance of sorts on the horizon.

“I’m actually very excited about what’s coming next in the arts, because I know that people are really, really willing to come together way more than they ever have,” Peredo Swap said.

Inspired, empowered and hopeful were some of the feelings attendees left the creative mindfulness workshop, according to interviews – a turnaround from how many arrived.

“There was a creative spark lit,” Beckman said.