{"id":250409,"date":"2026-04-03T18:49:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-03T18:49:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/250409\/"},"modified":"2026-04-03T18:49:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-03T18:49:08","slug":"the-arts-are-under-attack-san-diego-union-tribune","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/250409\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018The arts are under attack\u2019 \u2013 San Diego Union-Tribune"},"content":{"rendered":"

In January of 2025, as he was ending his second stint as U.S. Surgeon General, Dr. Vivek Murthy released \u201cMy Parting Prescription for America,\u201d<\/a> a now oft-cited treatise \u201cfor the well-being of the country.\u201d<\/p>\n

In it, Murthy alluded to high school and college students wondering \u201cwhether the constant hustle to chase fame, wealth and power \u2014 the modern triad of success \u2014 is really what life is about.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMany of them ask the same question: What\u2019s the point of success if it doesn\u2019t bring fulfillment?,\u201d he continued. \u201cEven worse, what if our current approach to success is hurting our health and moving us further away from fulfillment?\u201d<\/p>\n

Murthy \u2014 appointed by Presidents Obama and Biden, respectively, as the 19th and 21st Surgeon General \u2014 posits a more healthful prescription \u2014 the \u201ctriad of fulfillment,\u201d namely relationships, service and purpose.<\/p>\n

On Thursday afternoon, at a gathering of art leaders and art makers in San Diego\u2019s Barrio Logan neighborhood, Murthy\u2019s \u201ctriad of fulfillment\u201d 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\u2019s pitting artists, artistic institutions and cultural agencies against an administration who\u2019s made it a mission to hit them where it hurts: the pocketbook.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Those orders, and many more, have put museums, libraries, archives and other cultural groups in the spotlight \u2014 and in the crosshairs.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/a>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\u2019s 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)<\/p>\n

That\u2019s 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<\/a>. Now in its eighth year, it\u2019s described by organizers as \u201ca statewide celebration recognizing the vital role of the arts in shaping vibrant communities, driving economic growth and strengthening civic life.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe launch Arts, Culture & Creativity Month in San Diego every year because this is the place where California begins, and we think it\u2019s 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,\u201d said Jonathon Glus, formerly the city of San Diego\u2019s 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 \u201cchampions arts and culture as essential to vibrant California communities.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe embody and teach the world how to actually function together, and everybody in this room does it through arts and culture,\u201d added Glus, who moderated a panel titled \u201cArts Advocacy at a Crossroads: A Day of Conversation, Community & Action\u201d at The Soap Factory, a creative arts venue in Barrio Logan.<\/p>\n

The hourlong conversation featured Erin Harkey, CEO of Americans for the Arts<\/a>; Julie Baker, CEO of California for the Arts<\/a> and California Arts Advocates<\/a>; and Bob Lehman, executive director of San Diego ART Matters<\/a> \u2014 all leading arts advocacy groups at the national, state and regional levels.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/a>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 \u2014 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\u2019s 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)<\/p>\n

During her first visit to San Diego as Americans for the Arts\u2019 CEO, Harkey said: \u201cI\u2019m 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\u2019ve heard somebody describe it as a high-velocity event. But the work we do \u2014 grounded in creativity, expression and community \u2014 is being questioned in new ways. It\u2019s being politicized, and in some cases, it\u2019s being directly challenged. Yet you\u2019re 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\u2019re essential.\u201d<\/p>\n

Baker agreed, saying that \u201cwe\u2019re in a moment of deep uncertainty.\u201d Citing the former Surgeon General\u2019s prescription for America, she added: \u201cWe need to focus on service, focus on purpose, focus on our communities and focus on love. I truly believe in all that.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the state level of arts advocacy, she said, \u201cOur governor asks it all the time: How could we be leading in this moment? In terms of arts and culture, we\u2019re pretty far behind still, but we could be leading in this moment by focusing on our strengths \u2014 diversity is our strength, right?\u201d<\/p>\n

Harkey said as tempting as it is to be \u201creactionary\u201d to the onslaught of attacks on the arts, it\u2019s not productive.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s important that we stay the course,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd that we continue to do the work and not let the next harsh thing \u2026 completely throw us off-kilter. The answer is to stay the course, right?\u201d In many cases, she added, \u201cdouble down.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kaamal Martin, appointed by San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria to the city\u2019s Commission for Arts and Culture<\/a>, opened Thursday\u2019s session with an introductory preamble.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re here today to have a conversation about the crossroads we find ourselves in,\u201d he said, \u201cand 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\u00a0 absolutely have to have to create the world that we deserve.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI believe \u2014 and I think many of you agree \u2014 that there\u2019s 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

When Lehman late last year took the helm at San Diego ART Matters, the region\u2019s largest and most prominent arts advocacy organization, one of his earliest initiatives was to make advocacy accessible to all, especially in the region\u2019s historically underserved geographical areas.<\/p>\n

To address what Glus called the \u201crural-urban divide,\u201d San Diego ART Matters has been conducting \u201carts gatherings,\u201d where civic leaders meet with local artists and organizations designed to \u201cspark creativity and connection.\u201d In layman\u2019s terms, they\u2019re 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe did a regional gathering of the rural and unincorporated areas San Diego County,\u201d Lehman said, \u201cto 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

In his previous role as executive director of San Diego Museum Council, Lehman expanded the group\u2019s membership beyond San Diego County and into Tijuana and Baja California.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can\u2019t expect them to come across the border to every event,\u201d said Lehman, who has held many arts gatherings south of the border. \u201cJust 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

Glus praised San Diego ART Matters\u2019 outreach efforts, saying \u201cit\u2019s really important and expanding the table in a pretty significant way.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lehman said his group is working to \u201ccreate a coalition of parks, arts groups and libraries to be one voice. Instead of letting legislators \u2026 use them against each other by saying, \u2018Oh, if we take the money from the libraries, you can go to the parks, or we\u2019re going to cut park hours so the arts can get the money.\u2019 Our goal is to unite as one group and one voice \u2014 we feel we will have a strong voice at City Hall.\u201d<\/p>\n

2026 Spring Arts Preview: For Alessandra Moctezuma, teaching about art is a \u2018dream job\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n

One of the attendees Thursday was Alessandra Moctezuma, chair of the city of San Diego\u2019s Commission for Arts and Culture. She said the significance of launching the statewide event in San Diego was not lost on her.<\/p>\n

\u201cHosting 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,\u201d 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. \u201cOur 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe must bring arts and culture to the forefront of our civic conversations,\u201d she added. \u201cIt 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"On<\/a>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 \u201cArts Advocacy at a Crossroads: A Day of Conversation, Community & Action.\u201d (Michael Phillips)<\/p>\n

In her closing remarks, Harkey said: \u201cI know gatherings like this didn\u2019t come out of nowhere. I think it is a definite response to what people are feeling right now because this just isn\u2019t a policy moment. This is a full-pressure moment for our sector. I think we\u2019re in one of the most consequential moments for cultural policy in the arts in our nation\u2019s 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSo let\u2019s just say it plainly: The arts are under attack, and that\u2019s not accidental,\u201d Harkey said. \u201cThe arts ask people to think, to question, to see things from different perspectives, to imagine something beyond what already exists, and that\u2019s powerful. \u2026 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\u2019s a lot in front of us, but there\u2019s 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.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In January of 2025, as he was ending his second stint as U.S. Surgeon General, Dr. Vivek Murthy…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":250410,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[1697,24815,7,8,967,181,23,100,74,84,76,75,420,4931,1696,18740],"class_list":{"0":"post-250409","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-diego","8":"tag-baja-california","9":"tag-barrio-logan","10":"tag-california","11":"tag-california-news","12":"tag-entertainment","13":"tag-latest-headlines","14":"tag-local-news","15":"tag-news","16":"tag-san-diego","17":"tag-san-diego-county","18":"tag-san-diego-headlines","19":"tag-san-diego-news","20":"tag-things-to-do","21":"tag-tijuana","22":"tag-top-stories-sdut","23":"tag-visual-arts"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/250409","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=250409"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/250409\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/250410"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=250409"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=250409"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=250409"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}