San Diego, CA
Art Plus Story Equals Culture | San Diego Magazine
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
SAN DIEGO, CA — [June 15th, 2026] — Art plus story equals culture. Today, three local groups deeply invested in advancing San Diego arts and culture— San Diego FC Playmakers, Art & Design District, and San Diego Magazine—have joined forces to tell its stories.
The initial project will be a landmark September edition of San Diego Magazine—fully dedicated to the people, ideas, and identities of the city’s creative community. After its release, those stories and more will extend across six months of integrated digital, social, and multi-platform coverage. Art & Design District and SDFC Playmakers will serve as co-publishers of the expanded editorial vision.
The Art & Design District is evolving into San Diego’s first home for the performing arts at iconic downtown venues like the Civic Theatre and Jacobs Music Center alongside research and development programs focused on artist live/work spaces, galleries, studios, and New School of Architecture & Design.
“[The Art & Design District initiative] is a long-term investment in San Diego’s creative life and the creative workforce that powers our cultural experiences and creative industries here at home and across the world,” says Jonathan Glus, Prebys Senior Fellow for Art & Design in Residence at Downtown San Diego Partnership. “But infrastructure alone is not enough. The public needs to see, understand, and participate in what’s being built and why. Joining as co-publisher of this issue means helping ensure that the story of San Diego’s creative community—its artists, its institutions, its future—gets told at the level of ambition the moment requires.”
San Diego has entered a defining chapter in how the region invests in its creative community, with civic and philanthropic leaders working alongside artists, brands, institutions, and people to chart a new model of public-private support for arts and culture.
As digital co-publishers of San Diego Magazine‘s arts and culture coverage, SDFC’s Playmakers partnership will include a six-month integrated collaboration designed to sustain the visibility of San Diego’s creative community well beyond a single issue.
“The Playmakers program was built on the belief that the creative community is essential to what makes San Diego, San Diego,” says Sebastian, San Diego FC’s SVP of Brand and Innovation. “Investing in local media that tells those stories—and reaches the audiences who need to hear them—is one of the most direct ways we can support the artists, organizations, and cultural leaders shaping this city’s future. We’re proud to step in as digital co-publishers of San Diego Magazine‘s arts and culture coverage and the founding partner of this new editorial program.”
Under the partnerships:
- The Art & Design District joins as Co-Publisher of the September 2026 Arts & Culture Issue, undwriting San Diego Magazine‘s most ambitious editorial event of the year.
- SDFC Playmakers joins as Digital Co-Publisher of San Diego Magazine‘s arts and culture coverage, founding a six-month integrated partnership that includes co-publisher presence in the September issue.
The partnership represents a new model for regional media: civic and cultural institutions providing the resources required for sustained, ambitious, local editorial media focused on the neighborhoods it serves.
“For 78 years, the magazine has told the story of arts and culture here,” says Claire Johnson, CEO of San Diego Magazine. “But the fragmentation of traditional media has made it harder than ever to cover this community at the depth and scale it deserves. SDFC Playmakers and the Art & Design District have recognized something critical: Media is not separate from the civic conversation, it’s the stage for the conversation.”
San Diego Magazine retains full editorial control over all reporting, features, and original content produced under both partnerships.
“Our role in this ecosystem is to tell the story of San Diego’s culture and provide context for our readers.” says Johnson. “These partnerships give us the resources to do justice to that responsibility—and to extend that commitment well beyond a single issue. Our readers also deserve to know exactly how this work was funded. I’m grateful to our partners, and to the arts and culture community in San Diego for letting us tell this story.”
The September Arts & Culture Issue will be released early September 2026, with digital, social, video, and podcast coverage rolling out through early 2027.
ABOUT SAN DIEGO MAGAZINE For 78 years, San Diego Magazine has been the region’s leading lifestyle and culture publication, reaching approximately 6 million readers monthly across print, digital, newsletter, and social platforms. Owned and operated locally, the magazine has been the connective tissue of San Diego’s cultural conversation since 1948.
PARTNER CONTENT
A Holistic Approach to Women’s Wellness and Leadership
Elevating an Icon: Inside the La Jolla Beach & Tennis Clu…
ABOUT SDFC PLAYMAKERS The Playmakers program is an ongoing initiative that seeks to identify and showcase the talent of San Diego creatives who are contributing to the culture, substance, and flow of our community. We want to bring the San Diego community together by marrying football and creativity to provide a platform for these Playmakers who are positively impacting our culture by pushing the boundaries through innovative ideas. The goal is to create a program that consistently provides growth and exposure opportunities for San Diego creatives, while shaping an authentic direction for San Diego FC’s brand and community-building process. Through this program we hope to contribute to the creative fabric of our city by providing paid jobs, projects, collaborations, as well as networking opportunities for Playmakers.
ABOUT THE ART & DESIGN DISTRICT The Art & Design District is a Downtown San Diego Partnership initiative, supported by the Prebys Foundation, working to shape a connected, vibrant arts and design district in downtown San Diego. Led by Art and Culture Expert Fellow Jonathan Glus, the initiative convenes artists, cultural leaders, civic stakeholders, and residents in service of a downtown that reflects the creativity, identity, and diversity of the region. Learn more at downtownsandiego.org.
One person was killed late Sunday in a crash on Interstate 15 north of the Marine Corps Air Station Miramar.
The crash was reported at 10:27 p.m. on the southbound freeway just north of Carroll Canyon Drive in the Mira Mesa area, according to the California Highway Patrol.
Witnesses told the CHP that multiple vehicles were involved in the crash and that one vehicle was engulfed in flames. One witness said the occupants were out of the burning vehicle.
An arriving officer reported that CPR was being performed on someone involved in the crash, and 10 minutes later, the Medical Examiner’s Office was called to the scene.
An officer also reported that only the burned vehicle was involved in the crash.
At least three southbound lanes were closed while the crash was investigated and cleared.
The dust has settled from San Diego’s frantic search to fill its massive $118 million budget shortfall.
Mayor Todd Gloria’s initial budget proposed sweeping cuts to libraries, parks, recreation centers and city arts programs.
But the San Diego City Council’s final budget — with the help of some creative money shuffling — restored some of that funding.
With the budget battle over, residents now can review how the solution city leaders landed on will affect them. Here’s the impact on your community services once the budget takes effect July 1:
Which library branches will see reduced hours
Six libraries will have reduced hours: Central, along with branches in University Heights, Allied Gardens, La Jolla, Point Loma and Rancho Bernardo.
In all, San Diego has 36 branch libraries and the main Central Library.
Excluding University Heights and Allied Gardens, these libraries will deal with their cuts by opening only for half days on Saturdays. That will bring these libraries from operating 51 hours a week down to 47 hours.
University Heights and Allied Gardens will eliminate their Monday hours entirely. That will bring their weekly hours down from 51 to 42.5.
Seventeen other libraries across the city will maintain the same operating schedule of Tuesday through Saturday, totaling 42.5 hours.
The mayor proposed reducing library hours in North Park, Mira Mesa and Linda Vista. Those branches will remain open for 51 hours a week after the council’s revisions.
List of rec centers with fewer hours
Thirteen recreation centers will see their operating hours cut from 60 hours a week down to 40:
- La Jolla
- Ocean Air
- Pacific Beach
- North Clairemont
- Ocean Beach
- Canyonside
- Carmel Mountain Ranch/ Sabre Springs
- Hilltop
- Rancho Bernardo Glassman
- Scripps Ranch Community
- Kearny Mesa
- Allied Gardens
- Tierrasanta
Three other rec centers will be reduced to 40 operating hours a week, but their cuts will be smaller, because they already had less than 60 operating hours per week:
- Cabrillo
- San Carlos
- Serra Mesa
Rec centers in districts 1, 2, 5, 6 and 7 were all facing reductions to operating hours. Each district saw at least one center restored to 60 hours, except for District 7.
The mayor proposed cutting operations for another nine recreation centers to 40 hours per week, but the final budget maintained their 60 weekly hours:
- Carmel Valley
- Pacific Highlands Ranch
- Robb Athletic Field
- Canyonside
- Doyle
- Gil Johnson Mira Mesa
- Hourglass Field
- Nobel Athletic Fields
- Standley
In the May revised budget from the mayor, he proposed that these facilities have their hours reduced to 40 hours a week.
The following rec centers — located in districts 4, 8 and 9, the lowest-income areas of the city, as well as District 3 — will see no change in operating hours:
- Adams Recreation Center
- Azalea Recreation Center
- Balboa Park Activity Center
- Bay Terraces Community & Senior Center
- Black Mountain Multipurpose Center
- Chollas Lake Park
- City Heights Recreation Swim & Tennis Center
- Colina Del Sol Recreation Center
- Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Recreation Center
- Encanto Recreation Center
- Golden Hill Recreation Center
- Dolores Magdaleno Memorial Recreation Center
- Mid-City Gymnasium
- Montgomery-Waller Recreation Center
- Morley Field Sports Complex
- Neal Petties Mountain View Community Center at Neal Petties Mountain View Community Park
- North Park Recreation Center
- Paradise Hills Recreation Center
- Park de la Cruz Community Center
- Penn Athletic Field
- Presidio Recreation Center
- Col. Irving Salomon San Ysidro Community Activity Center
- San Ysidro Teen Center
- San Ysidro Larsen Field Community Center
- Silver Wing Recreation Center
- Skyline Hills Recreation Center
- Robert Egger Sr. South Bay Recreation Center
- Southcrest Recreation Center
- Stockton Recreation Center
- Willie Henderson Sports Complex
San Diego has 60 rec centers across the city.
How much money is there for arts funding?
The city partially preserved arts funding thanks to an agreement with the private Prebys Foundation. The agreement will help fund community events and arts programs, but it represents less than what was available in the current fiscal year through the city’s three main grant programs.
This year, the city doled out $11.8 million in arts-related grants. Next year, there will be around $9 million available — including $3 million from Prebys and nearly $6 million from the city.
The budget also included $50,000 for each council district to award through arts, culture and community festivals grants. Each district has another $100,000 available in a second pot called community programs, projects and services funds.
Each councilmember can award funds from both pots to programs of their choosing.
The city and the Prebys Foundation have yet to determine how they’ll distribute grants. Officials have said Prebys will not give money to the city to hand out — the organization will deliver grants directly.
Councilmember Kent Lee, who helped spearhead the public-private partnership, said grant recipients will get less than they received in the past.
“But, now, for one, they will know they get something,” he said. “And two, it will be more predictable,” Lee said.
“All of these organizations went through this entire process already,” he said. “They were just waiting for a budget amount to determine what their funding would be when the mayor was proposing we give nothing,”
-
Detroit, MI17 minutes agoNew home demand, construction soften in Metro Detroit amid high rates
-
San Francisco, CA25 minutes agoDozens of apparent shopping carts stuck in marsh along SF Bay: ‘How did they get there?!’
-
Dallas, TX32 minutes agoJapanese fans win hearts cleaning up Dallas Stadium after World Cup match
-
Miami, FL35 minutes agoSuspect accused of throwing man off 25th-floor Miami Beach balcony released on bond
-
Boston, MA40 minutes agoIraq fans celebrate on Boston Common before first World Cup match in 40 years
-
Denver, CO47 minutes agoFilled with stories, Denver’s Rockmount Ranch Wear owner Steve Weil shares inside scoop on famous customers
-
Seattle, WA50 minutes agoWorld Cup security operation runs smoothly in Seattle’s first match
-
Milwaukee, WI1 hour agoNew Products: Milwaukee Tool, FiTech Fuel Injection and More
