Affordable Housing for Artists in your Cultural Districts Plus Women of Impact

Assemblymember Tasha Boerner, 77th District AB 812 PRO-ARTIST AFFORDABLE HOUSING

The new AB 812 bill approved Oct 11 by the governor and authored by Tasha Boerner allows cities and/or counties to give up to 10% of its very low, low, or moderate-income housing to eligible artists as long as they are within one-half mile from a state-designated cultural district or within a locally designated cultural district if certain income and occupation conditions are met.

We asked Edwin Borbon, Legislative Director for the office of Assemblymember Tasha Boerner to clarify a number of questions we had.  He gave me a very complete explanation which helped me understand so much more clearly about AB 812. We think this is valuable information especially as it clarifies that any city can designate a cultural district. This does not have to be a state designation. And that any city that wants to avail themselves of having artists present in their low income housing projects, a known way to elevate the value of the area, can avail themselves of this 10% advantage.

From Mr. Borbon, “The way it works in practice, is if a city or county has a state or locally designated cultural district, under AB 812, the local government would first have to pass a local tenant preference ordinance for artists within the boundaries of a locally designated cultural district, or within one half-mile from a state designated cultural district. Any deed restricted housing that is within those boundaries and is under the purview of the local govt, either existing affordable developments or future developments, would qualify for the 10% set-aside for artists.”

Yes, the city has to pass a local tenant preference ordinance for artist.  

“The local govt and housing development property management would work together to create an Artist Selection Committee that would create a process for artists preference criteria such as demonstrating consistent participation in a creative art through contributions to their field, a resume describing their art experience and/or education, and samples of recent work. The Artist Selection Committee will be made up of artists of diverse disciplines and backgrounds.”

The property management company will receive applications for the artist preference, as well as the traditional housing application. The property manager will then redact private information from the arts preference application and set it aside for the Artist Selection Committee. These artistic works will not be judged on content, but rather simply in support of qualifying the applicant as an artist. Artists who meet income limits will be offered an opportunity to live in the affordable housing development.”

Yes, the city has to create not only an artist application, but also an artists Selection Committee.  This is not based on the content of the art.

The income qualifications must match the income levels for the affordable housing development so they still have to meet the same income thresholds as all the other residents. When it comes to the eligibility criteria, the income levels for affordable housing are outlined in state statute (as defined in Sections 50079.5, 50093, 50105, and 50106 of the Health and Safety Code), the occupational conditions would be determined by the local city and property management company of the affordable housing development.”

No, the artist do not have different income requirement. But up to 10% of the housing can be given to qualifying artists.

We in the art world who have been pushing for more affordable housing for artists should be thrilled with this bill and grateful to Tasha Boerner. Now it is up to the cities in our county to move forward.  

Patricia Frischer was chosen as a Woman of Impact for Arts and Culture by Tasha Boerner. Below is the utube of the speeches for that presentation. Skip ahead to minute 18 for my arts and culture presentation.  And don't miss the tear inducing one by Dr. Ayana Boyd King at minute 29. It was a super inspiring afternoon.  

All the award recipients! Left to right: Staff Sergeant Debora Rodriguez Caryn Blanton, Dr. Ayana Boyd King, Andrea Schlageter, Dt. Danielle Haulsee, Assemblymember Distict #77 Tasha Boerner, Denise Friedman,  Dana Bristol-Smith, Patricia Frischer, Gaby B. Love,  Bella Villarin.

Text of Speech by Patricia Frischer, founder, San Diego Visual Arts Network

I was born in Kansas City but arrived here from London 27 years ago. I could find no directory for the arts.  That is why created the San Diego Visual Arts Network now listing 2500 visual arts resources from Fallbrook in the north to and including Baja Norte. We have a full events calendar, a gossip column (cause who doesn’t want the inside scoop), reports on Art exhibitions and advocacy issues.    

We have curated many large visual arts projects like the Movers and Shaker… 90 Art VIPs…. not one turned down the chance to have their portrait created and the DNA of Creativity with 5 teams of artists, scientists, teachers and documenters …a magnificent exhibition at OMA.

We are most proud of the SD Art Prize, our ongoing award for excellence in its 17th year. Watch for it at the SD History Center in Balboa Park in the fall. 

We are delighted to have played a part in the reforming of the SD County Wide Commission for arts and culture which we stumped for…it took 15 years and is announcing its brand-new strategic plan in April which is arts and culture month in the state of CA.  

Thank you so much for this honor which recognizes the $1.4 billion dollar arts and culture industry.  This is our huge economic impact on employment and tourism. Kudos to Tasher Boerner for creating the AB812 which mandates affordable housing for artists near cultural districts.  Every city should have a designated cultural district.   

How do we do this with no bricks and mortar, and no paid staff? No, I am not the little women behind the curtain AKA the wizard of OZ. It is done with a ton of volunteers and community involvement, friends and family, county and private foundations. 

We believe that the San Diego Visual Arts Network is a powerful force to connect Art to People and People to Art

We believe that artists serve as interpreters, explorers, and creators of the great unknown 

We believe your life is an artwork, a mess, a makeover and magnificent 

We believe most of all that Art Builds Community.

Congratulation to all the ladies receiving this impact award. I am honored to be one amongst many. 

Silent Conversations

Patricia Frischer - Silent Conversation (detail)

Front Porch Gallery, in collaboration with Surfing Madonna Oceans Project is holding the fourth annual Save the Ocean art and poetry exhibition through Feb. 29, 2024. In conjunction with this exhibition, a Ekphrastic Poetry Writing and Collage Workshop was held. That means the poetry is inspired by a work of art and that part of the workshop was led convincingly by Dr. Marit Anderson. Cathy Carey, the new Director of the Front Porch Gallery, led the collage component.

I went to this workshop to gain insight on how I might use this technique for brainstorming sessions especially for board retreats and happy to say how successful it was at a recent one I participated in with the Encinitas Friends of the Arts board. We kept in mind our goals to rethink our vision statement. Made collages and choose words to describe them. We forced those words into a sentence and from that sentence the group discussed the most important element revealed. Tapping into the subconscious to think outside of the box really does work!!!

Dr. Marit Anderson in front of Chery Tall's  Zephyr

Dr. Anderson actually has a degree in Human Behavior (not English or Poetry) and was full of quotes like my favorite one from Albert Einstein,  “Creativity is intelligence having fun.” She asked all to use all of our senses; vision, hearing, taste, touch, smell and mind (that would include imagination and memories.)

Cathy Carey - Birch Aquarium

Cathy Carey gave us open encouragement to us all sorts of materials besides magazine images including  adding colored papers, paints, pens, or even 3-d items. We could go completely abstract, surreal or even use the collage as mosaic to create a realistic illusion.

The advantage of this exercise, is not only that you look more closely at the work of art, but you get insights into your own emotions and feelings. The exhibition was to showcase the fragility of our environment, but actually each artist made their own statement and I found the show more upbeat than educational and more lively than alarming. The same was true of the poetry created in the workshop.

  

Mac Hindenbrand - The Hawaiian Chain of Wood 

Mac Hindenbrand -The Hawaiian Chain of Wood  (detail)

The work I personal choose to explore was by Mac Hindenbrand. Titled The Hawaiian Chain of Wood it is a grained piece of wood with inlays or many other woods depicting the string of Hawaiian Islands. I added a word for each of those senses which included silence, salt, smooth, fresh and conversation in my first pass.  Looking longer I came up with grain, punctuation, curves, illusions, lapping and travel.

Silent Conversations
Fresh and salty thoughts
Smooth my day
Constantly lapping curves
Traveling illusions
Punctuate the sands of time.

Thinking of those words, I cut out what I thought were random images, but my hand was definitely guided by the poetry. Here is the collage I created.

Patricia Frischer - Silent Conversation

That in turn produced this set of sense words: warm, rhythm, absorbent, bumpy, ancient, adventures. Then, the poem produced was:

Bumpy rhythms signal
warm adventures which
are absorbed into antiquity.

Can I apply this to the subject of the exhibitions? For me, I can say that the current warming climate, even earthquakes can be seen not just as a threat, but as adventures which will eventually become recorded as another cycle of life of our planet.

Going back to the first poem:

Silent Conversations
Fresh and salty thoughts
Smooth my day
Constantly lapping curves
Traveling illusions
Punctuate the sands of time.

We need to think deeply and completely about our environment if we are to meet its challenges. Seeing things we thought were false that are not, and vice versa while looking backward to find repeating patterns.

Or it could all just be a bunch of hooey!

Dr. Marit Anderson facilitates the Awaken the Poet Within meetings the 2^nd and 4^th Saturdays of the month at the Encinitas Library Study Room noon to 2 pm. A virtual session is the 1^st Saturday of the month. Email: drmartyanderson@sdcglobal.net for more info. and meeting links.

Katie Wade, the Senior Director of Creative Engagement tells us that The Front Porch Gallery, through these new workshops, is offering creative engagement for the community with hands-on making, discussions and new ways to look to enhance longevity and enjoyment of life.

The Front Porch Gallery: 2903 Carlsbad Blvd, Carlsbad, CA 92008
Open: Wed – Fri 11 to 5, Sat noon to 4 

Why weren’t we asked?

 

JFK

The big question is always how do I get funding or help for my cause? Although the answer is often “get involved”, the feeling is often ‘why weren’t we asked?”.

So I am going to spell it out here. To get involved you have to volunteer your time, energy or even some in-kind service. You don’t wait to be asked. You seek out opportunities to collaborate. When you volunteer you meet other committee members and volunteers and you get to really know them if you make an effort. You can then start to create a network of advisors and supporters.

You find out about volunteer opportunities and calls for by reading newsletters and social media. So you have to sign up for those from groups that interest you and you have to actually read those newsletters.  (like the twice monthly SDVAN message: sign up now if you have not done so).  But you don’t have to wait for a call for volunteers/artists, you can suggest a gap that you see that you could fill. You could have a vision for a strategic plan. You could write up a report for use in a grant. You could curate am exhibition. You might even be able to collaborate with that organization to do a joint grant.

And I am not talking about just arts organizations, but also civic agencies and not even just arts commissions but maybe public safety commissions or planning commissions. You could join the local tourist association or the chamber of commerce.

This all takes time and effort, and you have to be willing to give in order to get. Never wait to be asked or you will end up asking, "Why weren’t we asked?”

Get involved and float your own boat on the rising tide.  

By the way: Felica Shaw just announced an Emerging Leaders Arts Advocacy Training Program which is a program of Californians for the Arts and the SD Regional Arts and Culture Coalition. The deadline is Feb15 and accepted applicants will be paid $500! You have to attend 3 training session starting Feb 23 and ending in April. One person will be chosen to go to Sacramento all expenses paid for Arts Advocacy Day in April. Contact teri@caforthearts.org and reference Arts Advocacy Training.  

AND here is my story on how to advocate for your own passion: Americans for the Arts Advocacy 101: Advocating for the Arts 2024

State of the Arts 2024

There are environmental disasters, financial uncertainty with high inflation, post COVID impact and ongoing wars in the Ukraine and Israel/Palestine as well as a controversial upcoming election.  Is CRISIS also the defining word of the state of the arts? 

In San Diego, we have two fabulous new developments. The county came together to produce the first county wide AEP6 Arts and Economic Prosperity report (joint public presentation of results on Thurs. Jan 25, 10 – 12:30 at MOPA) and the county supervisors approved the formation of a new Commission of Arts and Culture which is well on its way to producing a strategic plan. 

There are funds coming to the arts in San Diego. Prebys Foundation awarded almost  $10.5 Million in Grants to Advance the Visual and Performing Arts throughout San Diego County! This includes $50k for our friends at the San Diego Guild of Puppetry and a whopping $150k for Space 4 Art and a giant $300k to the Woman’s Museum of California. Hurrah!  We look forward to seeing collaborations between Prebys Foundation and the newly formed SD County Commission for Arts and Culture.  Other awards went to San Diego Museum of Art $750k, Balboa Park Online Collaborative $619,856, Mingei International Museum $150k California Center For The Arts, Escondido $450k, Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego $300k,  San Diego History Center $350k La Jolla Historical Society $56,700, Studio ACE $25k, The New Children's Museum $235k and  Vanguard Culture $50k  

The California Arts Council awarded 68 grants in the county of San Diego totaling $2,224,700. Some of the big winners in visual arts are: The Aja Project $81,250, Artreach $74,501, The City Of San Diego Commission For Arts And Culture $66,600 (State/Local Partnership Grant), Arthatch $51k, San Diego Museum Council Inc $50k, Escondido Arts Partnership $42k Vanguard Culture $42k, California Center For The Arts Escondido Foundation $25k, A Reason To Survive $21,250, The Veterans Art Project $21,250, Art Produce $14k. These are a combination of impact grants and general operating expense grants. 

In the 2022-23 fiscal year, the City of San Diego TOT (tax on tourist) revenue totaled $256.7 million. Arts funding was $14.3 million, i.e. 5.59% of the total. But budgets cuts meant that 2023-24 fiscal year was only 4.67% of TOT revenue. A resolution in December of this year encourages Todd Gloria to increase funding for the arts to 9.52% in each budget in order to meet the Penny for the Arts goal set in 2017. This was reported by KPBS.

We learned from AEP6 that San Diego County’s nonprofit arts and culture sector is a $1.3 billion industry (up from $1.1 billion in 2015)—one that supports 19,771 jobs (way down from 35,914 in 2015) and generates $320.7 million (less than half of the $894.4 million in 2015) in local, state, and federal government revenue. We know that there will be a huge call for art teachers coming up with the passage of CA Prop 28 and hope that the audience will return to the arts in 2024 and boast the job number and revenue. Read the SDVAN report: Not a Nicety, a Necessity: The Arts & Economic Prosperity Report AEP6.

This all bodes very well for San Diego, but we still locally have a duty to wider concerns. This year’s state of the arts reflects opinion shared in a Zócalo Public Square forum Arts in Times of Crises: The Role of Artists in Weakened Democracies on 1. the role of artists as activists and 2. how arts institutions navigate the culture wars.

The Role of the Artists as Activists was moderated by Karen Mack, Founder and Executive Director, LA Commons with performance/installation artist Suzanne Lacy and photographer Catherine Opie.

·       It was recognized that although artist have limited power compared to movie and social media, artists are able to walk between worlds and are always tasked in truth telling.  

·       Not everyone is an activist, but art can be a more subtle expression than a public protest.

·       Some artists are drawn to communities, others need isolation to create but both are able to open up people to accepting an uncomfortable ideal.

·       Many younger artists do need to learn how to make coalitions which can strengthen the impact of their work.

·       We should remember that artists are actually philanthropist every time they give their art away to a worthy cause.

·       Artists need to protect themselves from the onslaught of world events in order to make time to create their work, but every artist has a duty to vote.

How Should Arts Institutions Navigate the Culture Wars? was moderated by Kristine Sadoka – LA County Department of Arts and Culture with panelist MOCA director Johanna Burton, Center Theatre Group artistic director Snehal Desai, former Oregon Shakespeare Festival executive artistic director Nataki Garrett, and Whitney Museum director emeritus Adam D. Weinberg. The discussion was broken down into three main categories: the power of arts and culture, the weaponizing of culture and arts for human healing.  

Power of arts and culture
The arts are a great connecter of people. Artist are outsiders as well as insiders.

·       They identify self and can relate that to other individuals, to local communities and even wider civic spaces.

·       Everyone can make space for artist you believe in, so seek out artist who are storying telling to an underserved and vulnerable community.

·       Our first institution is our home. That is where community begins.  You can build within your home and let that spread as an education for all if you start listening to other.

·       Bridging means creating sense of belonging with shared ownership and an invitation so everyone feels they deserve to be there.

·       Try to make sure people see themselves reflected in the presentations, events, workshop, projects.  

Weaponization of Culture
Culture Wars means someone is a winner and someone is a loser. This is a bad model. Both sides need to win.

·       Institutions are re-organizing themselves. The question is should they try to fix what is wrong or tear down and start again.  Each organization is different, so preconceived solutions might not work. Is your vision really agreed on?

·       To build community, you must combine not separate, eliminate division but encourage varied thinking.

·       You must really know your funders, staff, board individually and create allies. Sometimes this is not a group effort, but an individual one. Be comfortable with conflict.

·       If you hire lots of women and culturally diverse administrators to clean up and make changes they need to be supported. If they succeed, they should be rewarded and recognized.

·       The first thing that is weaponize is the language: Woke  is the word instead of Visionary

·       Artists’ freedoms are always under threat as it is easier to attack culture than build culture.

·       Audience sometimes don’t want to be challenged. With 35% less attendance…the challenge is how do you bring audiences back. You can’t charge more as those who can’t afford it are left out

·       Recognize that the pandemic changed things as everyone was vulnerable. We shared our fears. We are identifying the when to compromise and when to draw the line. We know this is a long game, maybe more than 5 years, and change is always cyclical.

 

Arts for human healing
Culture provides a public place for discussion. We gather for communal experiences. We look to government for support

·       People are engaged in arts all over the world and in all sorts of ways. They are activated by social problems and arts are central to the solutions

·       Coalition building occurs outside of institution and into the community.

·       All Americans are still struggling with the identity of being an American and artists have insight into those surprising uncontrollable questions of ethics and beliefs.

·       Artists need to be valued and rewarded more in this role.

Legacy

Legacy  is the long-lasting impact you leave on the world. For those of us in the arts community that might mean art works, accomplishment in art advocacy, discoveries of new techniques.

We are remembered by those who know us and live after, but how is it preserved in other more concrete ways? I am going to concentrate on the visual arts and a body of art works.  

Archiving your 2 and 3-D art means documentation and that is a constant challenge of changing technology. An inventory systems used to mean means photos, transparencies and slides then digital on floppies, cd, flash drives and now stored in the cloud.  It is an enormous amount of work to capture true images and adding size, medium, year, location, owner. I might just wait until the is a voice recognition AI system. A catalogue raisonné is never complete until you are no longer making new work.

But just recording label details does not give a context for the work. The relevant history might include what was happening in the news at the time of creation, who did you know personally that encourage your career, or how the community and your location affected the art could be just as important.  Saving books, catalogues, invitation cards, price list, sales invoice, and audio and video recordings could add to the story.

Part of a final legacy could be a retrospective exhibition. The right time for that could vary from person to person and depending on your reputation. A curator could help an audience see older work is a new perspective.  Borrowing work from client has advantages and disadvantage. Your collector might feel that it increases the prestige of their collection to have work they owned included. The work might have to be cleaned, crated, shipped and insured, all very expensive operations.

One of the biggest hurdles of a legacy is what happens to unsold work. Who inherits the work and will they value it. Giving art away to individuals means you have to find out what they want instead of deciding for them. Arts Institution that have permanent collections and want your work are not so easy to find unless you are famous or can provide finances for storage in perpetuity.

If you have the money, one solution is to form an Artist’s Foundation or leave money in your will for this to happen with an appointed administrator. This could be a family member or an art professional. Besides climate controlled storage, the foundation has to be funded for promotion, preservation, restoration, and curation.

Besides my art work, I have other forms of legacy to consider:  my role in restarting of the County of SD Commission of Culture, founder and coordinator of San Diego Visual Arts Network, years and years of blogs and art reporting, and presenter of the prestigious SD Art Prize

What is your legacy? Are you an Art Activist or one that bears witness to truths? Are you an Artist Philanthropist when you give your art to worthy causes.  Or maybe you are a be here now sort of person, who is happy to let the cards fall where they may.

 

ADVOCACY ISSUES for the region of San Diego

 by Patricia Frischer

This month  I have decided to focus on advocacy issues that effect the region of San Diego, but knowing this is quite dry material, I have added photos from a recent visit to The Broad Museum in Los Angeles where we saw the exhibition of Keith Haring. The show has finished but this is a reminder for those who saw it and a taste for those who did not.

 The biggest news is the release of the country wide economic report on the arts. There is a link to the whole report and you can also read my summary report including info about San Diego County. 

National Release of Americans for the Arts’ Arts and Economic Prosperity 6 Study: Read the SDVAN summary report:  Not a Nicety, a Necessity: The Arts & Economic Prosperity Report AEP6 by Patricia Frischer

 

On September 21, AB 812 (Boerner) Housing development approvals: reserving affordable units in or near a cultural district for artists was enrolled and presented to the Governor. AND he signed it!!!

The Hillcrest Community Plan includes the creation of the LGBTQ+ Cultural District which enshrines Hillcrest as the heart San Diego's LGBTQ+ community. The plan includes the creation of interpretive elements throughout the neighborhood that tell the story of the community; a certification program to protect and support cultural institutions and businesses; the formalization of the Hillcrest Entertainment District (to make sure new residents aren't surprised when they move in next to a popular drag night); and a creative walking tour throughout the neighborhood.

 The 2023 nationwide Nonprofit Workforce Survey highlights that the non-profit workforce shortage is a growing and critical issue: 74.6% of nonprofits reported job vacancies and 51.7% reporting that they have more vacancies now than before the COVID-19 pandemic . We need more qualified people to fill these jobs.

 The board of California Arts Advocates (CAA) just voted that a priority for our 2024-25 legislative session will be to lobby for a $20 million local assistance funding increase to CAC.  Sign up here  for their action alerts. 

 SMU DataArts, the National Center for Arts Research, proudly released the Arts Vibrancy Index Report in its seventh iteration, celebrating arts-vibrant communities across the United States even as they grapple with the ongoing realities of the COVID-19 pandemic.

 

October is National Arts and Humanities Month but AB 1382 (Quirk Silva) State-designated cultural districts did not move forward and so is dead. What a pity.

If you live in District 4 don’t forget to research and vote for your County Supervisor Candidate on Nov. 7 special election, San Diego City Councilwoman Monica Montgomery Steppe, a Democrat, and community activist Amy Reichert, a Republican, are both on the ballot. 

The California Arts Council (CAC)  Programs Policy Committee has made their recommendations public in the CAC packet published  in advance of the virtual council meeting on October 25. To read just the committee report, please download here. An important component is restricting grants to organizations with budgets less than $3 million. You can make a public comment on this by visiting this page or to learn how to make a public comment during the meeting.

 Here are a few more of my favorites art works...just because!

Our Hats are Off to our Volunteers and Supporters!

(Top) Patricia Frischer, Naomi Nussbaum, Irene de Watteville, Kathryn Schmiedebreg 
(Bottom) Naimeh Woodward, Janice Davis, Mireille des Rosiers

We present here a few of the photographs from our Hats ON: 20th Anniversary Celebration for San Diego Synergy Arts Network. We thank the many documenters that sent us images to share with you including:

Tera Gardner, Jerri Nachman, Jim Bliesner, Marjorie Pezzoli, Marti Krane, Claire Slattery, Blanca Lucia Bergman.

Our deep gratitude to all of your who came, ate, danced, bid, volunteered and made this a night to remember. 

San Diego Synergy Arts Network Volunteers!

Just a few of the more than 45 volunteers that helped put on our Celebration/ Remember we are a 100% volunteer organization

c

v

Entertainment

 

Thanks to Jerri Nachman for the above video featuring Bamboléo.
More video by Jerri Nachman for Hats On: Entertainer

 

Dancers Sweep 
Fun Dancing

 

Holes for Faces

Our MC Jefferson Jay

Silent Auction Items

Sage's Tent

Selection of Hats for All

Dan Adams Memorial Exhibition

Proclamation

 

PROCLAMATION by Terra Lawson-Remer

Board of Supervisors, County of San Diego, State of California

* * * * * * * * * * 

Honoring the 20^th Anniversary of San Diego Synergy Arts Network

This proclamation would designate San Diego Synergy Arts Network DBA San Diego Visual Arts Network and DBA Synergy Arts Foundation as worthy of acknowledgment.  

WHEREAS, Synergy Arts Foundation supports and nurtures local artists and arts organizations of all disciplines by offering emergency financial grants in times of crisis  working to heal and build community, and

WHEREAS, San Diego Visual Arts Network Arts is an impressive resource as a directory and events calendar which aids economic development through promotional exposure and improves the clarity, accuracy and sophistication of discourse about San Diego's artistic and cultural life and

WHEREAS, Synergy Arts Foundation and San Diego Visual Arts Network are tremendous advocate for the arts in the entire county of San Diego and

WHEREAS, Both organizations are 100% volunteer organization rallying donations from corporate, private foundations and individual contributors and

WHEREAS, San Diego Visual Arts Network mission is dedicated to the idea that the Visual Arts are a vital part of the health of our county when we build the confidence of those involved in the arts, and disseminate information throughout San Diego, thus raising the bar on the writing, production and appreciation of the visual arts in our region and

WHEREAS, Synergy Arts Foundation pioneer programs in arts education for under-served, at-risk populations, including arts for healing, community arts, and specific international and national art projects recovering from disasters and

WHEREAS, both organizations believe in the transformational quality of the arts and its ability to widen our vision of the world around us by facilitating countless opportunities for inspiration and collaboration on arts and culture projects and

WHEREAS, In a state as diverse as California, the arts serve to give voice to our many communities, spark individual creativity, foster empathy and understanding, spur civic engagement and serve as a continual source of personal enrichment, inspiration and growth; now, therefore, be it

Resolved by the County of San Diego concurring, That this is a significant time to recognize and celebrate San Diego Synergy Arts Network on their 20^th Anniversary as a 501 (c) 3 organization.

Be it proclaimed, on this 16 day of Sept 2023, Chairwomen Nora Vargas and the Board of Supervisors, County San Diego, State of California hereby proclaims San Diego Synergy Arts Network  as recognized as a benefit to our county and that this day is officially San Diego Synergy Arts Network day.   

Includes Signatures of County Supervisor Elected Officials:  Terra Lawson-Remer, Nora Vargas, Joel Anderson and Jim Desmond

We love your fascinator, Mr. Vargas. It matches your shoes!

Food

Time Line video by Sidney Wildesmith

Guests - just a sampling...so many wonderful guest!

See more photos from Mirielle des Rosier and Aidan

San Diego Visual Arts Network www.sdvan.net
Synergy Arts Foundation www.synergyarts.org