San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria has proposed eliminating all arts funding that go directly to local arts organizations. That would cut $11.8 million from the city budget for fiscal year 2027. Arts leaders and arts supporters have emailed dozens of letters to the Union-Tribune. Public hearings will be held before the City Council votes on the final budget on June 9.
‘The impact will be immediate’
I was born and raised in San Diego, and as the founder and artistic director of Pointeworks, I’ve built my work here because I believe deeply in this city’s vibrant and creative spirit. The proposed 85% reduction in arts and culture funding is devastating, not just for organizations, but for the community and culture of San Diego itself.
These cuts directly threaten our ability to employ artists, commission new work, and provide accessible performances and learning opportunities for the community. At Pointeworks, we are committed to supporting professional dancers during their off-season while welcoming new audiences into the theater through subsidized tickets and open programs. City funding is essential in making that possible.
Without it, the impact will be immediate. Our arts organizations may not survive, and will be forced to scale back the very programming that makes San Diego a dynamic, world-class city.
The arts are part of what raised me here — they shaped my perspective, my career and my commitment to giving back through this work. They deserve to be championed.
I urge artists, patrons and community members to use their voices, to write, to call and to advocate. Ballet matters.
Sophie Williams, Artistic Director
Pointeworks
The arts ‘shaped who I am’
I’m writing with a heavy heart about the proposed elimination of arts funding, because programs like Junior Theatre are not abstract to me, they shaped who I am. As a child, I still remember standing on stage as the Wicked Witch in “The Wizard of Oz,” while my best friend played Dorothy. We grew up together in that theater, not only learning lines, but confidence, friendship and how to find our voices.
Junior Theatre gave us a place to belong. It was where we felt brave enough to take risks, where creativity was celebrated, and where kids from all backgrounds could come together. That kind of environment is rare, and it only exists because it’s accessible and affordable.
These funding cuts threaten to take that away from the next generation. Without support, fewer children will have the chance to discover who they are in that same magical way. For many, that stage is more than a stage, it’s where they begin to believe in themselves.
I urge our community to protect arts funding so that programs like Junior Theatre can continue to shape confident, creative young people for years to come.
Alice Cash
North Park
‘We lose a key part of who we are’
Mayor Gloria’s legacy may well be the unraveling of San Diego’s once-vibrant arts and cultural sector. His proposal to eliminate $11 million in grants to local arts organizations is not just a budget decision — it’s a moral one.
We fund what we value. And what defines San Diego is not surveillance technology or empty infrastructure projects, but the artists, performances, and cultural institutions that give this city its identity. They drive our economy, employ our workforce, bring visitors, and shape the communities we call home.
Yes, the city faces a financial crisis. Hard choices are inevitable. But those choices should not fall on the backs of the very people and organizations that make San Diego worth living in.
These cuts aren’t just short-sighted — they are potentially devastating. They threaten to shutter beloved institutions and push artists, jobs, and investment out of our city.
If we strip away support for the arts, we don’t just lose funding — we lose a key part of who we are.
Bridget Palitz
Otay Ranch
‘Cornerstone of connection in our community’
We write today to strongly protest the proposed elimination of arts funding from the city’s FY27 budget. The arts are a cornerstone of connection in our community; they are not a luxury. Throughout our city, countless local arts organizations are making bold, ambitious work with thousands of San Diego artists, technicians and administrators from all backgrounds — both on stage and in our community.
The city’s funding enables the Playhouse and all of the city’s arts and cultural institutions to sustain and expand our role as places to gather in person and build community. None of us can achieve our mission without financial support from the city of San Diego.
With the city’s support, the Playhouse is able to offer our annual Without Walls (WOW) Festival of immersive and site-inspired work free of charge, making the arts accessible to more San Diegans. Additionally, city funding enables us to bring live theatre to more than 10,000 students across the county through our Performance Outreach Program (POP) Tour — also free of charge.
Our Veterans Playwriting Workshop (VPW) helps veterans learn the skills to harness the power of storytelling. Air Force veteran Shairi Engle, a VPW alum, has become a teaching artist for a Playhouse project partnering with Voices of Our City Choir, which serves unhoused San Diegans. According to Shairi, “The arts are the reason I’m standing where I am today. As a veteran and survivor who has navigated homelessness, trauma, and reinvention — storytelling was the practice that restored my sense of agency and identity. It helped me find my voice, rebuild my sense of self, and step into a life of purpose. As I carry this gift forward, what I experience firsthand, what I see reflected in my work, is that access to the arts isn’t a luxury — it’s a lifeline.”
The absence of city funding to San Diego’s arts and culture organizations will eliminate access to San Diego’s vibrant arts scene for the people who need it most, and we call upon the Mayor and City Council to reinstate this invaluable funding to the arts.
Jessica Stone, La Jolla Playhouse Artistic Director
Debby Buchholz, La Jolla Playhouse Managing Director
Denise Bevers, Chair, La Jolla Playhouse Board of Trustees
‘I will hold my elected officials accountable’
I moved to San Diego nine years ago because of the weather, but what really makes living here a joy is the vibrant arts and cultural scene.
I support many wonderful local organizations to the best of my ability by volunteering, donating and attending their events, but it takes a village, and when I see the city of San Diego thoughtlessly and heartlessly cutting arts funding, I find that truly disturbing.
Added to the idiotic implementation of paid parking in Balboa Park and other debacles, I see nothing but the slash and burn mentality that seems to have gripped our halls of public-decision making. I pay taxes and vote in the city of San Diego, and I will hold my elected officials accountable.
I won’t cut my own support of the arts, but I will direct some of my personal resources to seeing meaningful change in city government.
Tom Bauer
Bankers Hill
The arts ‘give young people a place to belong’
San Diego is known for its great weather, beautiful beaches, ballgames — and its arts and culture. After a decade of living and working in New York City, I chose to return home to raise my son here. What a place to grow up.
My own life in the arts began in this city. As a teenager, I attended San Diego Opera dress rehearsals and landed my first job performing “on the green” at The Old Globe plus basically grew up at the Casa Del Prado doing Gilbert & Sullivan. I taught at San Diego Junior Theatre, and my first professional job out of college was with San Diego Opera’s education and outreach program, bringing music into local schools.
As a teacher, I brought hundreds of students to dress rehearsals and booked La Jolla Playhouse’s POP Tours, creating opportunities for live performance — often for the first time. As a parent, programs like Globe for All and family concerts at the San Diego Symphony were part of our lives.
And now, as the founder of Bodhi Tree Concerts, I’ve had the privilege of contributing to this ecosystem — working exclusively with local artists and partnering with organizations across San Diego, including Guitars in the Classroom, AJA Project, Diversionary Theatre, Moxie Theatre, ArtsBusXpress, and the aptly named ARTS: A Reason to Survive. This is what a thriving arts community looks like. It is built over decades. It is personal. And it matters.
Which is why a budget that allocates almost zero dollars to arts and culture is not just disappointing — it’s unacceptable. We are talking about a relatively small investment with an outsized impact. If even a fraction of the additional $12 million allocated to policing were directed toward the arts, the return to our communities would be immediate and lasting.
The arts do something policing cannot. They create connection. They give young people a place to belong, to express themselves, to build discipline and confidence. They offer joy and community. In many cases, they are preventative — reaching people before problems begin.
I have spent my life in the arts. I have seen their impact across generations. I have watched them transform lives, tell hard truths, and, in difficult times, quite literally save them.
This feels like a full-circle moment — for me, and for San Diego. A moment to stand up for what we value, and what makes life here meaningful.
Without music, theater and dance, we cannot call ourselves “America’s Finest City.”
Diana Vassall-DuMelle, Co-founder and director
Bodhi Tree Concerts
‘San Diego’s soul is for sale’
I am four years into calling San Diego home, and I am pregnant with my first child. I chose this city because of its libraries, its parks, its arts and the promise of Balboa Park on a Sunday morning. I pictured walking my child to story time, watching them discover the museums, letting them grow up surrounded by culture and community.
Mayor Gloria’s proposed deficit cuts are dismantling that vision. Libraries, recreation centers, park services, arts funding and homelessness support are all on the chopping block — the very foundations that make this city worth raising a family in. Meanwhile, a police budget that does little more than shuffle homeless residents from one downtown block to another remains untouched.
These are not abstract policy decisions. They are a message to families like mine: San Diego’s soul is for sale. I urge fellow San Diegans to make their voices heard before these cuts become reality.
Roxanne Bates
San Diego
‘Lifeblood of a blossoming city’
My name is Nate Fairman, and I am the business manager of IBEW Local 465, a union that represents the artists and educators at the New Children’s Museum. I am writing to plead with the public, the mayor and the City Council to restore $11 million in funding to our beloved arts programs in the city budget.
Our members are the frontline artists and educators who keep the New Children’s Museum going every day and the ones who provide essential services to hundreds of thousands of community members and children every year. They work alongside some of the most wonderful artists in the region and provide priceless engaging opportunities, art educational programs and spark a lifelong interest in the arts from a young age.
Imagination, creativity, expression, compassion, empathy — these are all fostered and grown in our youth by the hard and selfless work of our artists at the New Children’s Museum. And with these cuts, art institutions like NCM will suffer. Our members will suffer. Artists all across our city will suffer.
We plead with the city to reverse these cuts today. Art is not an elective experience, it is the lifeblood of a blossoming city and the heartbeat of a brighter future. Please don’t blow out the candle of our children’s future by eliminating this essential funding to our city’s arts institutions.
Nate Fairman, Business Manager
IBEW Local 465
This ‘isn’t a reduction; it’s a collapse’
I am an artist, cultural worker and serve as Director of Development for Pacific Arts Movement, home of the San Diego Asian Film Festival. I live and work in San Diego. And like many of my peers, I have watched this city cut arts funding year after year and call it a budget decision.
Last year was challenging; this year is even more so. Programs are being cut. Staff hours are being reduced. Some organizations that have served this city for decades are wondering if they will survive the year. We’ve been here before, each time we absorb it, show up, and keep serving our communities, but there’s a limit to how much we can absorb.
The reduction in city support has already forced us to make hard choices about programs and staffing. We are one of over 180 organizations in the same position. Behind every one of them are workers, artists and communities who depend on what we do, who have few other entry points into the cultural life of this city.
What’s being proposed in the FY27-budget isn’t a reduction; it’s a collapse. San Diego cannot claim to be a world-class city while eliminating the sector that makes it one.
Zia Sinclair, Director of Development
Pacific Arts Movement
‘Critical role in the health and vitality of our community’
I’m an artist, educator and the founder of Combat Arts San Diego, a nonprofit that provides therapeutic arts programming for system-engaged youth and veterans.
I’m writing because I am directly impacted by recent cuts to arts funding. A significant portion of my income comes through my work with the Timken Museum of Art, which receives part of its operating support from the San Diego Commission for Arts and Culture. The Timken is a free museum that offers vital community outreach to people who otherwise lack access to arts education and enrichment.
One example: The Timken funds buses for Title I schools so students can visit Balboa Park — often for the first time. These trips don’t just include the Timken, but open the door to the many arts and cultural institutions throughout the park. Without this funding, thousands of K-12 students — many from low-income families — will lose access to experiences that support learning, creativity and emotional well-being. Some of these children have never been to the beach or traveled beyond a few miles from home; their families are working hard just to get by.
This is only one example of what’s at stake. The broader network of free programs offered by San Diego’s museums plays a critical role in the health and vitality of our community.
Compounding the issue, the new parking system at Balboa Park — now fee-based and difficult to navigate — creates yet another barrier to access. For many families, this makes visiting the park even less feasible.
At a time of widespread uncertainty, it is essential that the city of San Diego protect access to arts and culture, not restrict it. Public investment in the arts is an investment in education, mental health and community connection. I hope city leaders will be held accountable for funding decisions that risk cutting off these essential resources for those who need them most.
Elizabeth Washburn, Executive Director
Combat Arts San Diego
‘A direct threat to our community’
We are the staff of Project [BLANK], a small nonprofit founded in 2019 to create space for experimental music and art rooted in the incredible community of our borderland region. When we began presenting monthly concerts in Barrio Logan, we saw firsthand how much this work matters. People showed up not just for performances, but for connection, exploration and the exchange of ideas.
The proposed elimination of $11.8 million in city funding for arts and culture is a direct threat to our community.
Support from the city’s Organizational Support Program was one of the first investments that allowed Project [BLANK] to grow into an organization capable of serving our community more fully by paying local artists fair wages and offering free and low-cost programming to diverse and curious audiences. Without it, we will be forced to scale back. Even more troubling, the next generation of small, emerging organizations may never have the chance to begin.
This funding made our organization possible. Losing it will have dire and lasting consequences for San Diego’s cultural future.
Artistic Director Leslie Ann Leytham
Executive Director Brendan Nguyen
Associate Director Jonathan Nussman
Outreach Coordinator Teresa Díaz de Cossio
Technical Director Joe Cantrell
‘Reinstate arts and culture funding’
The mayor of San Diego has managed to offend some of the most intelligent and civic-minded members of this community. How can we possibly, possibly claim to be “America’s Finest City” when San Diego’s arts and culture funding is totally decimated. Smacks of outright hypocrisy! Arts and culture enrich the lives of everyone in our region, regardless of life circumstances or political leanings. The clamor is loud and persistent: reinstate arts and culture funding.
Judith Enns, Board Member
La Jolla Symphony & Chorus
Proposed cuts are ‘threatening cultural anchors’
As a Xicana who grew up in San Ysidro — one of San Diego’s most underfunded communities — the only arts program I had was the streets. That reality shaped me. It’s what drove me to co-found Front Arte y Cultura and now serve as Executive Director of the Chicano Park Museum and Cultural Center and a County Arts & Culture Commissioner.
That’s why I’m deeply enraged by Mayor Todd Gloria’s proposed obliteration of arts and culture funding. According to the city’s own study, the arts generate over $1.1 billion in local economic activity, support over 17,000 jobs, and contribute to the safety and wellbeing of our neighborhoods by fostering connection and activating public spaces.
BIPOC communities will yet again be disproportionately impacted and harmed, threatening cultural anchors like those in the Barrio Logan Cultural Arts District and across San Diego. These are the very spaces that preserve culture, create opportunities, and make our city a cultural destination.
This is more than a budgetary decision — it’s a statement about whose communities and stories are valued. I urge the city to restore funding and invest in the cultural infrastructure together we have worked so hard to build.
Monica Delgadillo Hernandez, Executive Director
Chicano Park Museum and Cultural Center
‘Community, friendship and personal enrichment’
When I moved to San Diego in 2005, I knew I wanted to find a place to sing. I also knew singing isn’t just about singing. It brings community, friendship and personal enrichment.
I happily found the San Diego Women’s Chorus, where I discovered all of these things. I stayed with the chorus for nearly ten years until I decided to spread my wings and audition for SACRA/PROFANA. I joined their auxiliary choir for the premiere of The Hunchback of Notre Dame at La Jolla Playhouse, a once-in-lifetime experience.
Over the years I have also performed with several other choral groups. Arts and culture are so important to me that I’ve devoted my second career to helping other artists, musicians, and writers as a psychotherapist. My clients have to navigate a world that already expects them to be great performers without offering the support to make that happen without personal hardship.
The City Council should consider carefully what type of legacy it wants to leave in San Diego. A relatively small budget contribution has helped develop a unique and vibrant creative culture here. We can’t survive on burritos and sunshine alone. San Diego needs the arts.
Rachel Moore
San Diego
‘These places have to stay alive’
San Diego must continue to fund the arts and culture of this city. San Diego is not just a beach town. Our children attended San Diego Junior Theatre for eight years each, which taught them teamwork, confidence and life lessons.
Balboa Park is a national treasure that gives San Diego its beauty, and story of its history and many cultures.
I’ve taken art classes at The Athenaeum in La Jolla and enjoyed The Old Globe and La Jolla Playhouse for over 30 years.
Parents and members cannot do all of the fundraising for these institutions. These places have to stay alive for the current and next generations. This should be supported by the city.
What could be more important than the quality of life that the visual and performing arts and culture bring to us as human beings?
Pam Linton
Del Mar
‘Preserve the creative spirit that makes San Diego unique’
As a longtime musician in the La Jolla Symphony, I am deeply concerned about the proposed 2027 cuts to arts funding. Our symphony depends heavily on city support, and these reductions would jeopardize programs that reach far beyond the concert hall.
Through the symphony, I’ve had the privilege of sharing music with the San Diego community. I see the impact every time an audience member’s face lights up, or when our outreach programs bring music to youth and adults across our neighborhoods. These moments remind me how essential the arts are to the fabric of our city.
San Diego is a special place in large part because of its vibrant arts and culture. Without them, we risk becoming just another beach town. I urge the city to reinstate funding for the arts and preserve the creative spirit that makes San Diego unique.
Carol Rothrock, principal oboist
La Jolla Symphony & Chorus
‘Some things, once lost, do not come back’
As a longtime donor and regular attendee of the Spreckels Organ Sunday concerts, I am disheartened to learn that this beloved institution is once again in the crosshairs of San Diego’s budget ax.
Let’s be clear about what we’re talking about: a free, open-air concert every Sunday in Balboa Park, built around one of the world’s great outdoor pipe organs — a gift to this city from the Spreckels family over a century ago. No ticket required. No reservation needed. Just San Diegans of every age, background and ZIP code gathering in the sun to share something extraordinary.
San Diego faces a projected $110 million budget gap for the coming fiscal year. That is a serious problem deserving serious solutions. But the Spreckels Organ program represents a rounding error in the city’s budget — and an outsized return on investment in cultural identity, community cohesion and civic pride.
When a city of San Diego’s size and wealth cannot protect a free Sunday concert for its residents, it signals a failure of priorities, not finances.
I urge Mayor Gloria and the City Council to find the will to preserve this program. Some things, once lost, do not come back.
Irina Rosca
La Mesa
‘Less vibrant, less inclusive and less connected’
San Diego thrives on creativity, but its arts scene is under pressure from rising costs, shrinking funding and shifting priorities. Saving the arts here isn’t just about preserving culture — it’s about protecting a vital part of the city’s identity and economy.
Arts organizations bring people together across neighborhoods and backgrounds, creating shared experiences that strengthen community. They also fuel tourism, support local jobs and make San Diego more attractive to businesses and residents alike.
Without sustained support, smaller theaters, galleries and music programs risk disappearing — taking with them opportunities for young artists and underserved communities. The loss wouldn’t just be cultural; it would leave the city less vibrant, less inclusive and less connected.
Investing in the arts means investing in San Diego’s future: A city that values creativity, diversity and human expression.
Amanda Schoppmeyer
Clairemont