In January of 2025, as he was ending his second stint as U.S. Surgeon General, Dr. Vivek Murthy released “My Parting Prescription for America,” a now oft-cited treatise “for the well-being of the country.”
In it, Murthy alluded to high school and college students wondering “whether the constant hustle to chase fame, wealth and power — the modern triad of success — is really what life is about.”
“Many of them ask the same question: What’s the point of success if it doesn’t bring fulfillment?,” he continued. “Even worse, what if our current approach to success is hurting our health and moving us further away from fulfillment?”
Murthy — appointed by Presidents Obama and Biden, respectively, as the 19th and 21st Surgeon General — posits a more healthful prescription — the “triad of fulfillment,” namely relationships, service and purpose.
On Thursday afternoon, at a gathering of art leaders and art makers in San Diego’s Barrio Logan neighborhood, Murthy’s “triad of fulfillment” was cited more than once as the prescription not just for the well-being of the country but also for the arts, currently mired in a cultural war that’s pitting artists, artistic institutions and cultural agencies against an administration who’s made it a mission to hit them where it hurts: the pocketbook.
Indeed, since his first day in office, President Trump has put a target on the backs of artistic and cultural institutions across America. With the swift motion of a pen, the president has unleashed a dizzying number of executive orders targeting everything from gender ideology to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs.
Those orders, and many more, have put museums, libraries, archives and other cultural groups in the spotlight — and in the crosshairs.
An arts advocacy panel, held as part of the launch of Arts, Culture & Creativity Month, was moderated on April 2, 2026, by Jonathon Glus, formerly the city of San Diego’s director for the Department of Cultural Affairs and now the Conrad Prebys Senior Fellow for Art and Design at the Downtown San Diego Partnership. He is also chair of California for the Arts. (Michael Phillips)
That’s why the gathering Thursday afternoon was significant and, many attendees said, necessary. It was part of a daylong event marking the launch of Arts, Culture & Creativity Month. Now in its eighth year, it’s described by organizers as “a statewide celebration recognizing the vital role of the arts in shaping vibrant communities, driving economic growth and strengthening civic life.”
“We launch Arts, Culture & Creativity Month in San Diego every year because this is the place where California begins, and we think it’s very, very, very important to start here in San Diego, where Mexico meets the United States, where this fusion of community and culture really creates something that is unique globally,” said Jonathon Glus, formerly the city of San Diego’s director for the Department of Cultural Affairs and now the Conrad Prebys Senior Fellow for Art and Design at the Downtown San Diego Partnership. He is also chair of California for the Arts, which “champions arts and culture as essential to vibrant California communities.”
“We embody and teach the world how to actually function together, and everybody in this room does it through arts and culture,” added Glus, who moderated a panel titled “Arts Advocacy at a Crossroads: A Day of Conversation, Community & Action” at The Soap Factory, a creative arts venue in Barrio Logan.
The hourlong conversation featured Erin Harkey, CEO of Americans for the Arts; Julie Baker, CEO of California for the Arts and California Arts Advocates; and Bob Lehman, executive director of San Diego ART Matters — all leading arts advocacy groups at the national, state and regional levels.
An arts advocacy panel, held in Barrio Logan on April 2, 2026, featured, from left, Julie Baker, CEO of California for the Arts and California Arts Advocates; Erin Harkey, CEO of Americans for the Arts; and Bob Lehman, executive director of San Diego ART Matters — all leading arts advocacy groups at the national, state and regional levels. The panel was moderated by Jonathon Glus, formerly the city of San Diego’s director for the Department of Cultural Affairs and now the Conrad Prebys Senior Fellow for Art and Design at the Downtown San Diego Partnership. He is also chair of California for the Arts. (Michael Phillips)
During her first visit to San Diego as Americans for the Arts’ CEO, Harkey said: “I’m here to kind of give the lay of the land from the federal perspective, and we certainly are in a moment where things are shifting quickly. I’ve heard somebody describe it as a high-velocity event. But the work we do — grounded in creativity, expression and community — is being questioned in new ways. It’s being politicized, and in some cases, it’s being directly challenged. Yet you’re here, still doing the work, still showing up for your communities, and in Americans for the Arts, we say this a lot, and I mean it every time: The arts are not optional, they’re essential.”
Baker agreed, saying that “we’re in a moment of deep uncertainty.” Citing the former Surgeon General’s prescription for America, she added: “We need to focus on service, focus on purpose, focus on our communities and focus on love. I truly believe in all that.”
At the state level of arts advocacy, she said, “Our governor asks it all the time: How could we be leading in this moment? In terms of arts and culture, we’re pretty far behind still, but we could be leading in this moment by focusing on our strengths — diversity is our strength, right?”
Harkey said as tempting as it is to be “reactionary” to the onslaught of attacks on the arts, it’s not productive.
“I think it’s important that we stay the course,” she said. “And that we continue to do the work and not let the next harsh thing … completely throw us off-kilter. The answer is to stay the course, right?” In many cases, she added, “double down.”
Kaamal Martin, appointed by San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria to the city’s Commission for Arts and Culture, opened Thursday’s session with an introductory preamble.
“We’re here today to have a conversation about the crossroads we find ourselves in,” he said, “and how we are at an inflection point in San Diego and Tijuana and how we as a community of artists, creatives and culture bearers can really dig in deeper into leveraging our platforms and our mediums to create not just the programs we want to see but the systems, the relationships and the infrastructure that we absolutely have to have to create the world that we deserve.”
“I believe — and I think many of you agree — that there’s no better vehicle than arts and culture to deliver those messages to interrogate those systems, to reframe how we earn, how we create, how we recreate, how we live, and, construct the world that we want to live in.”
When Lehman late last year took the helm at San Diego ART Matters, the region’s largest and most prominent arts advocacy organization, one of his earliest initiatives was to make advocacy accessible to all, especially in the region’s historically underserved geographical areas.
To address what Glus called the “rural-urban divide,” San Diego ART Matters has been conducting “arts gatherings,” where civic leaders meet with local artists and organizations designed to “spark creativity and connection.” In layman’s terms, they’re meant to give artists and organizations a platform and a venue to voice their concerns to people in decision-making positions, such as local politicians and arts leaders.
“We did a regional gathering of the rural and unincorporated areas San Diego County,” Lehman said, “to bring all of those together, probably for the first time, and it was just widely popular. They want to do it again to bring those voices together and start talking to each other.”
In his previous role as executive director of San Diego Museum Council, Lehman expanded the group’s membership beyond San Diego County and into Tijuana and Baja California.
“You can’t expect them to come across the border to every event,” said Lehman, who has held many arts gatherings south of the border. “Just like in rural areas, you need to go out to them and meet them in their spaces and give them the time and space to tell their stories.”
Glus praised San Diego ART Matters’ outreach efforts, saying “it’s really important and expanding the table in a pretty significant way.”
Lehman said his group is working to “create a coalition of parks, arts groups and libraries to be one voice. Instead of letting legislators … use them against each other by saying, ‘Oh, if we take the money from the libraries, you can go to the parks, or we’re going to cut park hours so the arts can get the money.’ Our goal is to unite as one group and one voice — we feel we will have a strong voice at City Hall.”
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One of the attendees Thursday was Alessandra Moctezuma, chair of the city of San Diego’s Commission for Arts and Culture. She said the significance of launching the statewide event in San Diego was not lost on her.
“Hosting the kick-off event for Arts, Culture & Creativity Month in San Diego is a testament to the fantastic impact and steady growth of our creative community,” said Moctezuma, the director of the art gallery at San Diego Mesa College, where she is a professor of fine art at San Diego Mesa College teaching courses in Museum Studies and Chicano Art. “Our work is being seen. In addition, beginning this monthlong celebration at the southernmost point of California, where it meets Mexico, brings attention to a cultural landscape and a dialogue that transcends borders.”
“We must bring arts and culture to the forefront of our civic conversations,” she added. “It is not an accessory or a luxury, it is central to our well-being, both as individuals and as communities. To do this, we have to engage, act and show up.”
On April 2, 2026, Erin Harkey, CEO of Americans for the Arts, addresses a gathering at The Soap Factory in Barrio Logan, where she headlined a panel called “Arts Advocacy at a Crossroads: A Day of Conversation, Community & Action.” (Michael Phillips)
In her closing remarks, Harkey said: “I know gatherings like this didn’t come out of nowhere. I think it is a definite response to what people are feeling right now because this just isn’t a policy moment. This is a full-pressure moment for our sector. I think we’re in one of the most consequential moments for cultural policy in the arts in our nation’s history, and I think a lot of us are trying to figure out what that means for our work, for our organizations and for the communities that we serve.”
“So let’s just say it plainly: The arts are under attack, and that’s not accidental,” Harkey said. “The arts ask people to think, to question, to see things from different perspectives, to imagine something beyond what already exists, and that’s powerful. … The arts have real power. So the question becomes, what do we do with that? How do we respond, not just react in this moment, because there’s a lot in front of us, but there’s also a real opportunity. I really believe that this is our moment, a moment to be clearer, more aligned, more visible in how we talk about this work and why it matters.”