Building an Arts Network in North County
Article by Anna Robert
Last Thursday may or may not be considered a historic event with a tremendous impact for the cultural life of San Diego – only time will tell. On January 15, 2015, California State University, San Marcos hosted the first meeting of NCAN – North County Arts Network. The goal of this network is to build collaborations between art organizations and leaders in North County San Diego and beyond. This event is one of the four meetings planned for the year. The next one will be held on April 16 at the Escondido Center for the Arts.
NCAN started its existence thanks to volunteer efforts of several arts and civic leaders such as the Executive Director of the Oceanside Museum of Art Daniel Foster, President of San Marcos Arts Council Marilyn Huerta, the founding Director of Lux Art Institute Reesey Shaw, County Supervisors Bill Horn and Dave Roberts, and many others. All of them would like to see people living in the neighborhoods of the North County enjoying the cultural experiences that this area offers to them instead of going all the way to the downtown of San Diego in order to attend museums, art galleries, theatres, and festivals.
The keynote speaker of the event was Craig Watson, the Director of the California Arts Council based in Sacramento, CA. According to him, “San Diego has amazing assets that can be used in collaborative action.” It is important to understand the need to collaborate and leave that mindset of “My advantage is to your disadvantage” behind.
“Large-scale social change requires cross-sector coordination”, – Daniel Foster quoted the article Collective Impact by John Kania and Mark Kramer from Stanford Social Innovation Review. The OMA Director emphasized that the probability of gaining financial support would significantly increase if the organizations unite and work together instead of competing for funding individually.
At this moment, NCAN does not have a budget or an organizational structure. But even after admitting that the financial contribution of $0.5 million to San Diego County from California Arts Council for the last two years is rather modest, Mr. Watson speculated that the number might grow within a year or so. He mentioned the grants opportunities that the California Arts Council is offering, such as Artists in Schools, JUMP StArts, and so on. If the cultural institutions of North County San Diego manage to collaborate, these grants might be an option for them to consider.
It looks like this initiative will have the strong support of local arts organizations and communities that will be able to form and participate in target groups and cooperatives, such as marketing teams, executive leadership groups, Board development groups, etc. With so many parties involved and interested in the success of this wonderful project, we are wishing best of luck in this endeavor to all North County arts leaders and supporters.
