Over the next five months, 60 visual artists, musicians, poets, playwrights, filmmakers and storytellers from San Diego and Imperial counties will use their time and talents to teach some of region’s poorest residents about public health, civic engagement, climate mitigation and social justice.
The artists are grant recipients of the city of San Diego’s Far South/Border North: Artists and Cultural Practitioners in Community program. Created in August 2022, the program was designed to create jobs for regional artists, and also to raise awareness among residents in communities ranked in the lowest quartile of the California Healthy Places Index, which looks at social conditions that drive health, such as education, job opportunities, clean air and water.
“Far South Border North aligns beautifully with the goals of the city of San Diego’s strategic plan,” said Jonathon Glus, executive director of the city’s Arts and Culture, in a statement. “Many of our region’s most civically-engaged artists and culture bearers are now partnering with agencies working to address some of the city’s highest priorities — homelessness, environmental justice and community health — all anchored in our equity framework. Ultimately, this effort is empowering artists to lead change at the community-based level.”
For the past seven months, the artists and cultural practitioners participated in peer learning and group activities to foster cross-industry connections and community-building while also focusing on developing campaign designs. In November, the artists began rolling out their projects, which are designed to offer community education through the performing arts, visual arts, literature, music, film and media. The projects will continue through May.
Among the San Diego County grantees are playwright and hip-hop artist Miki Vale; sculptor Johnny Bear Contreras; muralist Sandra Carmona; poet Johnnierenee Nelson; dancer Trixi Agiao; and digital artist Juan Manuel Escalante. Imperial County artists include filmmaker Ryan Perez; mariachi musician Carlos Uribe; digital artist Alma Silva; and Christian hip-hop artist Darreon “D-Stats” Staton.
Visual artist Johnny Bear Contreras of the San Pasqual Kumeyaay band is one of 60 artists taking part in the Far South/Border North grant program this winter.
(Don Boomer/For The San Diego Union-Tribune)
One of the San Diego County awareness projects will be a mobile healing arts studio that will visit Santa Ysabel and Julian to promote mental health and social interaction. There will also be a community storytelling project in City Heights. And in North County, a project will help the public understand and support people experiencing homelessness.
In Imperial County, a documentary will be filmed to highlights the ecological concerns surrounding the Salton Sea and how that impacts nearby communities. An oral history project that bridges both Imperial and San Diego counties will involving recording and highlighting elders’ stories.
“We’re thrilled to be moving into the next phase of Far South/Border North with the launch of artist and cultural practitioner-led campaigns,” said Christine E. Jones, Chief of Civic Art Strategies for the City’s Arts and Culture, in a statement. “These campaigns will help bring people together, shift perspectives, challenge assumptions and catalyze intersectional work by artists that fuel positivity and contribute to health equity and new ways of working that build capacity and connect to larger movements for systems change in the region.”
The second round of Far South/Border North grants were awarded to 18 nonprofit organizations in San Diego and Imperial counties. Their projects will kick off in February. Some of these are the Maraya Performing Arts Collective, Hill Street Country Club, Kumeyaay Community College Inc., Playwrights Project and San Diego African American Museum of Fine Art.
The Far South/Border North initiative is funded by a $4.75 million California Creative Corps grant provided by the California Arts Council and a $1.4 million grant from the Conrad Prebys Foundation.
pam.kragen@sduniontribune.com
