For more arts events or to submit your own, visit the KPBS/Arts Calendar. If you want more time to plan, get the KPBS/Arts newsletter in your inbox every Thursday to see event picks for the weeks ahead.
Project [BLANK]’s annual interdisciplinary art and performance takeover of a sacred space is back! “Working Title” will transform St. Paul’s Cathedral in Banker’s Hill over the course of three nights, featuring musical performances and visual art installations and activations in nearly every available space in the church (including, I’m told, the restrooms).
Project [BLANK]’s artistic director Leslie Ann Leytham and co-curator Diana Benavidez have brought together more than 40 artists and performers this year. Visual artists include Cat Gunn, Claudia Cano, India Thompson, Yasmine Kasem, Nick Lesley, Ana Luisa Diaz de Cossio and many more. Musicians include Akari Komura, Zane Shrem-Besnoy, Jesus Cervantes and Odessa Uno, Kosuke Matsuda and more.
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Courtesy of Project [BLANK]
A pianist performs in Project [BLANK]’s “Working Title” at St. Paul’s Episcopal Cathedral in San Diego in an undated photo.
On contemporary visual artists and contemporary musicians working together: “I think we’re all interrogating our world around us and in similar ways. We’re asking kind of similar questions about space or time, or the body,” Leytham said.
Each evening has a different lineup of musical performances; scheduled here.
Details: Event link. 6-10 p.m. Thursday through Saturday, Jan 11-13. St. Paul’s Episcopal Cathedral, 2728 Sixth Ave., Banker’s Hill. $15-$25.
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Amel Janae: ‘Under My Skin’ / MCASD Play Day
Visual art The Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego will host a pop-up activation in the Axline Court during Free Second Sunday, featuring artist Amel Janae. Janae will install her immersive work and also perform a DJ set.
Artist Amel Janae walks through her suspended textile and photography installation at Swish Projects on Feb. 10, 2021.
The museum is free on Sunday for all visitors, with family-friendly activities inspired by color field artists like Helen Frankenthaler, where kids can create their own painting on a canvas. There’s a kid-friendly tour at 10 a.m., with stories and music through 1 p.m.
Details: Kid-friendly “Play Day” runs from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.; “Under My Skin” pop-up is 1-4 p.m. Free museum admission from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. MCASD, 700 Prospect St., La Jolla. Free.
‘Ebb and Flow’
Visual art, Science Scientist and artist Oriana Poindexter has curated a special kelp-art exhibition at the UC San Diego Geisel Library. “Ebb and Flow” is a sister exhibition to another kelp-art exhibition involving Poindexter, “Hold Fast,” which will open at the Birch Aquarium on Feb. 8.
A kelp print by Ellen Browning Scripps & Eliza Virginia Scripps, “Sea comb (Plocamium pacificum), 1901-1905” will be on view at UC San Diego’s Geisel Library Exhibition Gallery through Apr. 21, 2024.
Artists Julia C R Gray, Dwight Hwang, Marie McKenzie and Poindexter will show artworks alongside vintage seaweed pressings from Virginia and Ellen Browning Scripps plus more recent pressings from Scripps Institute of Oceanography scientists. The exhibit, housed in Geisel’s main exhibition space and in The Nest area near the entrance, focuses on the diversity of the region’s giant kelp forests over the last 130+ years. An opening reception is scheduled for 6 p.m. on Jan. 25.
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Details: Event link. On view Jan. 12 through Apr. 21. Exhibition gallery is open during main Geisel Library hours, 7:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Thursday; 7:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday; 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday; and 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday. Geisel Library, 9500 Gilman Dr., UC San Diego. Free.
‘Intimate Apparel’
Theater Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Lynn Nottage’s 2004 play, “Intimate Apparel,” is about Esther, a Black seamstress who moved to New York in pursuit of the American Dream. There, she sews undergarments, or “intimate apparel” to a wide-ranging clientele appreciative of her craftsmanship, trust and discretion — from the upper class to prostitutes.
Aaron Rumley
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North Coast Rep
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The cast of North Coast Rep’s production of “Intimate Apparel” is shown in an undated photo.
The story is based on Nottage’s own great-grandmother, and follows Esther as she falls in love and finds the world she has built for herself turned upside down. North Coast Repertory Theatre’s production is directed by Jasmine Bracey with Nedra Snipes as Esther.
Details: Event link. On stage Jan. 10 through Feb. 4. Lower-cost previews are Jan. 10-12. This week’s performances are 8 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday; 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. Friday; 8 p.m. Saturday (sold out); and 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. Sunday. North Coast Rep, 987 Lomas Santa Fe Dr., Solana Beach. $44-$60.
Live music picks
Thursday: Daring Greatly and Anthony Cullins at Belly Up (rock/blues); Neil Hamburger and Major Entertainer at Casbah (comedy/music); Badlands, Hardcastle and Jettee at Soda Bar (rock/indie).
Friday: Slaughter Beach, Dog and Sun June at The Observatory (rock/indie pop); Golden Rule Hip-Hop Night with Ric Scales at Winston’s (hip-hop).
Saturday: Pity Party (Girls Club) at SOMA (indie); Poncho Sanchez and Gaby & La Buena Onda at Music Box (Latin); Lagrimas, Se Vende, Agonista and Corrupt Vision at Che Cafe (punk); Tommy Castro & The Painkillers and Kid Ramos at Belly Up (blues/rock); R&B Block Party MLK Weekend at Quartyard (R&B); Hot Club of Bird Park at Black Cat Bar (swing); King Thieves, Matthew Hall & The Mail Room and more at Pour House (indie).
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Sunday: Fundraiser for Jamie Shadowlight at Music Box (singer/songwriter); Max Look & The Tomorrow Band, Emma Noren and Daddy at Soda Bar (indie); MLK Jazz Festival with Will Donato, Rebecca Jade and more at Humphreys Backstage Live (jazz); New Aesthetic, Winterhaven, Prefect and Flailing Idiot at Pour House (all ages, pop-punk/indie).
Monday: Memorial for Otto Valentine featuring The Schizophonics, The Creepy Creeps, Owl Be Damned, Scary Pierre and Basket at Casbah (rock).
More arts and culture events
Jeremy Daniel
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Broadway San Diego
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The cast of “The Wiz” are shown in an 2023 production photo.
‘The Wiz’ | Theater This touring production of “The Wiz” is a pre-Broadway tour of the Broadway revival. It’s been 40 years since “The Wiz” was officially on Broadway and it is slated to reopen there later this spring. The musical, by William F. Brown with music and lyrics by Charlie Smalls, retells the classic story of “The Wizard of Oz” with soul, gospel, funk and rock music, through the lens of contemporary Black culture. On stage through Sunday, Jan. 14. San Diego Civic Theatre, 1100 Third Ave., downtown. $44+. Event details.
Chitra Gopalakrishnan: ‘Mirror’ | Visual art San Diego artist and designer Chitra Gopalakrishnan will open a solo exhibit, “Mirror.” Gopalakrishnan’s work is powerful, vivid and at the intersection of intensely personal and approachable. The Rose Art Gallery, on the Francis Parker School campus, is open to the public for the Jan. 11 opening reception, and then for appointments during gallery hours by emailing the curator here. 5-7 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 11. The Rose Art Gallery, 6501 Linda Vista Dr., Linda Vista. Free. Event details.
Sean Mason Quartet | Music, Jazz Pianist and composer Sean Mason just released his debut album, “The Southern Suite” last fall. He’ll perform this weekend with his quartet in the JAI cabaret-style performance space at the La Jolla Music Society, their first performance in San Diego. 5 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. on Sunday, Jan. 14. The Conrad, 7600 Fay Ave., La Jolla. $68-$83. Event details.
Natalja Kent: ‘Light Waves’ and Nick McPhail: ‘Place’ closing weekend | Visual art Two side-by-side exhibitions will close this weekend at the Oolong Gallery Annex, a temporary warehouse-style space. Los Angeles-based visual artist Natalja Kent’s aluminum-mounted chromograms — colorful light imprints — and sculptures are in one space, while striking paintings of architecture, streets and other unassuming scenes by Nick McPhail are on view in an adjacent room. 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday or by appointment. Oolong Gallery Annex I, 687 Second St., Encinitas. Free. Event details.
Tiffany Bociek: ‘Enduring Exuberance’ and SD Art Advisory X Sparks | Visual art UC San Diego alum Tiffany Bociek’s encaustic, or wax, paintings play with light, color, scale, nature and memory. The exhibition includes three series of her work, inspired by the artist’s ancestors and past, present and future. Also on view at Sparks is a collaboration with SD Art Advisory and artist Alexander Rojas Salazar, which opens the same day. 5-8 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 13. Sparks Gallery, 530 Sixth Ave., downtown. Free. Event details.
San Diego will put off issuing citations for paid parking in Balboa Park for about one month while improvements are made, but Mayor Todd Gloria says the new system is functioning well and being “actively adopted.”
In a long and harshly worded memo released Thursday, Gloria said recent calls by City Council members to suspend the program were politically motivated and examples of bad governance and erratic decision-making.
Gloria also deflected blame for the chaotic way enforcement began Monday, when city officials raced to put stickers about resident discounts on parking kiosks and lobbied a vendor to deliver crucial missing signs.
The mayor said the council had “shaped, amended and approved” paid parking in Balboa Park and contended an accelerated timeline chosen by the council made it hard for his administration to implement it flawlessly.
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The mayor’s memo came in response to a Tuesday memo from Councilmembers Kent Lee and Sean Elo-Rivera in which they called implementation of paid parking “haphazard” and “not ready for prime time.”
Lee and Elo-Rivera said the process for city residents to get approved for discounts was so complex, cumbersome and confusing that Gloria should waive fees for residents until they have had time to adapt and learn.
While Gloria rejected that suggestion in part of his memo, he later said “enforcement remains focused on education, not punishment, during this early phase, to ensure park users are aware of the new parking fees.”
Dave Rolland, a spokesperson for Gloria, said Thursday that no specific date had been set for when the city would shift from education to enforcement. But he added that “about a month” would be an accurate timeline.
City officials have already corrected one key mistake: Signs that were missing Monday — alerting drivers that the 951-space lower Inspiration Point lot is free for three hours — have since been installed.
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Lee and Elo-Rivera in their memo decried “an inadequate effort to educate the public on how to use this new system.”
They said San Diegans had not been clearly informed about when a portal for city resident discounts would go live or how to use it.
And they complained that residents weren’t told they couldn’t buy discounted parking passes in person, or when enforcement with citations would actually begin.
City residents must apply for discounts online, pay $5 to have their residency verified, then wait two days for that verification and choose the day they will visit in advance.
Lee and Elo-Rivera called the city’s efforts “a haphazard rollout that will surely lead to San Diegans missing out on their resident discount and paying higher parking rates than they have to.”
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Gloria said the city collected $23,000 in parking fees on Monday and Tuesday and another $106,000 in daily, monthly and quarterly passes — mostly from residents who get discounts on such passes.
“Early data shows that the program is functioning and being used,” he said. “These are not the metrics of a system that is failing to function. They are the metrics of a system that is new, actively being adopted, and continuing to improve as public familiarity increases.”
While Gloria conceded that some improvements are still necessary, he rejected calls from Lee and Elo-Rivera for a suspension, citing his concerns it would jeopardize city finances and confuse the public.
“Your proposal to suspend paid parking for residents two days into the new program would have immediate and serious fiscal consequences,” Gloria said. “This reversal could introduce confusion among park users and would disregard investments already made to establish the system, potentially compromising the program’s effectiveness.”
Paid parking in Balboa Park is expected to generate about $3.7 million during the fiscal year that ends June 30, but revenue is expected to rise substantially when the fees are in place for a full fiscal year.
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Gloria said the money is a small part of the city’s overall solution to recurring deficits it faces of more than $100 million per year.
“What we will not do is reverse course days into implementation in a way that undermines fiscal stability, creates uncertainty, and sends the message that addressing a decades-old structural budget deficit that has plagued our city is optional because it is politically uncomfortable,” he said. “That kind of erratic decision-making is not good governance, and San Diegans deserve better.”
Meanwhile, a spokesperson for the San Diego Zoo said Thursday that paid parking there has continued to go smoothly since it began on Monday.
The zoo, which is using Ace Parking for enforcement, opted for immediate citations instead of an educational grace period.
SAN DIEGO (FOX 5/KUSI) — San Diego Police responded to a barricaded individual in the Mission Valley area Thursday afternoon, prompting a heavy law enforcement presence.
The Nexstar Media video above details resources for crime victims
The department confirmed around 1 p.m. that officers were on scene in the 1400 block of Hotel Circle North, and are working to safely resolve the situation. Authorities asked the public to avoid the area and allow officers the space needed to conduct their operations.
Police described the incident as a domestic violence restraining order violation. At this time, it’s unknown if the person is armed.
No injuries have been reported.
The suspect was taken into custody within an hour.
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Further details about the barricaded person were not immediately released. Police say updates will be shared as more information becomes available.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
1 — The number of plate appearances for Campusano while in the majors between June 1 and June 13 and the one at-bat resulted in a weak, pinch-hit groundout against a position player (Kike Hernandez) on the mound in mop-up duty. Campusano was recalled to the majors four times in 2025 but did not get a real opportunity get settled after he went 0-for-6 with four walks and a strikeout in three straight starts as a DH in early May. Of course, hitting .227/.281/.361 with eight homers over 299 plate appearances after getting the first real chance to start in 2024 likely informed how the Padres viewed his opportunity in 2025.
TRENDING
Down — Called up a final time on the last day of the regular season, Campusano balked at the idea that the season did not go the way he wanted. “I had a great season,” he said as he and his teammates packed for the NL Wild Card Series in Chicago. And he did … for Triple-A El Paso. He hit more home runs than ever (25), drove in more runs (95) and finished with a career-high 1.036 OPS, tops among all qualifying Triple-A hitters. The disappointment inferred in the question posed to Campusano was that he was not able to impact the big-league team in any way in 2025, which began with the team choosing to bring in a 40-year-old Yuli Gurriel a chance on the opening day roster over a homegrown product. Once billed as the catcher of the future, Campusno did not catch a single game in the majors, nor did he get any hits, although the opportunity to play was sporadic after getting three straight starts as a DH in early May (see stat to note). The Padres even lost back-up catcher Elias Díaz to an oblique injury over the final weekend of the regular season, but Campusano — who played out the string for a Triple-A El Paso team that did not make the playoffs rather than participate in the majors as a September call-up — was added to the postseason roster more as a right-handed bat than a third catcher (Martín Maldonado was also re-added to the team for the playoffs as the defensive back-up to Freddy Fermin). Campusano, of course, was not asked to help the team in either capacity before the Padres were eliminated in three games.
2026 OUTLOOK
Campusano is finally out of minor league options this year, so the Padres will either have to carry him on the roster, trade him or expose him to waivers. He has fans in the organization, but two big-league staffs headed by Bob Melvin and Mike Shildt seemingly lost faith in his ability to catch a game and all the responsibilities that come with that. It remains to be seen what impact the arrival of robo umps will have on how new manager Craig Stammen views Campusano’s ability behind the plate, but he’s been a potent minor league hitter who has yet to truly get on track in the majors beyond the second half of 2023 (.875 OPS, 6 HRs). Campusano has dabbled at first base in recent years in the minors (12 starts total), so perhaps he settles into a role as a second catcher/right-handed DH/first base option to start 2026.
Luis Campusano #15 of the San Diego Padres and Nick Pivetta #27 walk to the dugout during a practice before the Wildcard series against the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field on Sept. 29, 2025 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by K.C. Alfred / The San Diego Union-Tribune)
