{"id":349962,"date":"2026-06-06T22:41:07","date_gmt":"2026-06-06T22:41:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/349962\/"},"modified":"2026-06-06T22:41:07","modified_gmt":"2026-06-06T22:41:07","slug":"opinion-cuts-to-arts-would-undermine-a-key-san-diego-economic-ecosystem","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/349962\/","title":{"rendered":"Opinion: Cuts to arts would undermine a key San Diego economic ecosystem"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"San<\/a>The Rosin Box Project, a San Diego contemporary ballet company, performs during the COVID pandemic. (File photo courtesy of the company)<\/p>\n

The proposed cuts to the city of San Diego\u2019s arts and culture funding would have a direct and significant\u00a0impact on my ballet company\u2019s ability to serve the community at its current scale. City support helps\u00a0sustain not only our performances, but also the education, outreach and community-centered programs that allow us to make contemporary dance accessible beyond traditional theater spaces.<\/p>\n

\"Opinion<\/a><\/p>\n

For The Rosin Box Project<\/a> in Point Loma, this funding supports artist employment, subsidized and free public programming, arts\u00a0education initiatives in schools and opportunities for audiences who may not otherwise engage with live\u00a0performances. <\/p>\n

Programs like Ballet Machine, our arts-integrated literacy workshop for elementary\u00a0students, Out of the Box community performances in public spaces, and Dance Break wellness initiatives\u00a0rely on a funding structure that combines earned revenue with public investment. Without public support,\u00a0programs designed specifically to remove barriers to arts access become increasingly difficult to\u00a0maintain.<\/p>\n

The impact would extend far beyond our organization. Our work activates local venues, supports working\u00a0artists and arts professionals, attracts audiences to neighborhoods and businesses, and contributes to\u00a0San Diego\u2019s cultural identity as a creative and forward-thinking city.<\/p>\n

As a contemporary ballet company, we are also creating and commissioning new artistic work at a\u00a0significant scale for the region. Since our founding, The Rosin Box Project has commissioned and produced more than 59 new works while providing paid opportunities for dancers, choreographers, filmmakers, designers,\u00a0educators and production staff. Cuts of the proposed magnitude threaten not only operational stability, but the\u00a0larger creative ecosystem that allows local artists to build sustainable careers in San Diego rather than\u00a0leaving for larger arts markets.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Most importantly, these cuts disproportionately impact the communities and audiences that public arts\u00a0funding is meant to serve. When organizations lose operational support, the first programs placed at risk\u00a0are often free community initiatives, educational outreach, low-cost ticket access, and programming in\u00a0underserved neighborhoods. The result is that arts experiences become less accessible, less equitable\u00a0and less embedded in the daily life of the city.<\/p>\n

The Rosin Box Project\u00a0will continue adapting and seeking alternative funding sources wherever possible, but there is no\u00a0direct replacement for the scale and consistency of public arts investment. Organizations across the region are now being forced into the same limited pool of private foundation funding, corporate\u00a0sponsorships and individual donations.<\/p>\n

We are actively working to diversify revenue streams through increased individual giving campaigns, expanded corporate partnerships, special events, ticket revenue growth and institutional grants. However, replacing lost public funding entirely through private philanthropy is extraordinarily difficult, particularly for smaller grassroots organizations like ours that are still in the process of building long-term financial infrastructure. <\/p>\n

Unlike larger legacy institutions with decades to accumulate reserves and endowments, emerging organizations often operate with far less margin, making sudden funding losses especially destabilizing.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Without public investment, The Rosin Box Project and other organizations like us will be forced to make difficult decisions threatening our long-term sustainability and growth. It will create instability at a moment when many arts organizations are still\u00a0recovering from the lasting economic effects of the pandemic, inflation and reductions in federal arts\u00a0support.<\/p>\n

More broadly, the concern is not only about individual organizations surviving. It is about what kind of\u00a0city San Diego wants to be. A thriving arts ecosystem contributes to civic identity, community\u00a0connection, economic vitality and quality of life. When arts funding disappears, the loss is felt not just\u00a0on stages and in galleries, but across neighborhoods, schools, small businesses and the broader cultural\u00a0fabric of the city. <\/p>\n

Arts and culture are infrastructure. Arts and culture are public safety. Arts and culture are\u00a0economic development, education, mental health, tourism and community connection.<\/p>\n

Carly Topazio\u00a0is the founder, artistic director and CEO of The Rosin Box Project, San Diego\u2019s premier contemporary ballet company.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Rosin Box Project, a San Diego contemporary ballet company, performs during the COVID pandemic. (File photo courtesy…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":349963,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[30734,143207,74,76,75],"class_list":["post-349962","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-diego","tag-ballet","tag-rosin-box-project","tag-san-diego","tag-san-diego-headlines","tag-san-diego-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/349962","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=349962"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/349962\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/349963"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=349962"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=349962"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=349962"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}