If 2005 marked the beginning of fiscal year fee increases, this year is shaping up to be the year of city budget cuts.
Not happy about San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria’s threat to cut $11.8 million from arts and culture organizations, the A&C community came out en force to protest in the courtyard outside the mayor’s City Hall office today.
Hundreds of people filled Civic Center Plaza carrying signs that demonized the budget cuts. A band played just before representatives from a few of the hundreds of community arts organizations decried the proposal to wipe out nearly all city arts funding.
The Fund The Arts movement gained a powerful ally when Prebys Foundation President & CEO Grant Oliphant released a statement that mirrored sentiments expressed at the protest.
“The proposed $11.8 million reduction to arts funding raises real concerns about the immediate and long-term impact on San Diego’s nonprofit arts community,” Oliphant said in the statement. “For many organizations, city support is not only foundational—it enables them to secure matching funds and sustain programs that serve neighborhoods across our region.”
Oliphant added that arts and culture are central to the notion that good programs bring a sense of purpose, opportunity, and belonging. He said the arts create jobs, foster connection, and provide spaces where people—especially young people—can see themselves and feel they belong.
“We recognize the difficult choices facing the mayor and city council,” Prebys added. “But arts funding is not a luxury—it is critical infrastructure for a thriving, inclusive region. Decisions made now will shape not just organizations, but the social and economic fabric of our communities for years to come.”
Many of the rally speakers are geared for a political fight.
“This is a highly-active and collaborative community and we are ready to fight for our funding,” said Christine Martinez, manager of Arts+Culture: San Diego.
Executive Director of the San Diego Museum Council Bob Lehman compared the enormity of cuts to the arts in San Diego’s budget to that done on a national scale by the Trump Administration.
Former San Diego City Councilmember Lori Zapf is also angry about the proposed cuts. “What makes this so wrong is how we got here,” she said.
She noted that arts and culture programming has stayed flat at $13 million to $14 million per year, a fraction of what was promised in a “Penny for the Arts” pledge by the city council in 2012.
That Penny for the Arts pledge (not a law) called on the city to spend 1 percent of all Transient Occupancy Tax collected on arts programs. At current rates, that would amount to $32 million in city funding.
Mayor Gloria released his $6.4 billion 2027 draft budget on April 15. The city’s final budget must be adopted on June 9. SDSun
