🎨 Visual art
The 2026 San Diego Art Prize: 'Soft Power: On Color, Time, and Resistance'
The 2026 San Diego Art Prize was awarded to three local artists: video and installation artist Danielle Dean, photographer Ingrid Hernández and painter and installation artist Tatiana Ortiz-Rubio.
The highlight of the annual San Diego Art Prize is the exhibition of the recipients, spotlighting new works created with intention for the show. The exhibit is curated by Lara Bullock. Each artist's work is informed by the "power" behind daily life, from dairy farming to squatter settlements and the ableist framing of time. The exhibit opens on Saturday, with the official exhibition celebration scheduled for Sept. 19. "Art for All,” a free event from noon to 2 p.m. Sunday, is a public, drop-in workshop and artmaking experience inspired by the San Diego Art Prize recipients.
Sept. 5, 2026 through Feb. 7, 2027 | Oceanside Museum of Art, 704 Pier View Way, Oceanside | Free-$15 | MORE INFO
Nereida Dusten: 'What does it mean to draw a line if home is a verb?'
This weekend is your final chance to check out the unique, narrative and gorgeous work of Baja-based textile artist Nereida Dursten at Visions Museum of Textile Art. The pieces in this exhibition are informed by the materials and lines used in homes and other buildings, and each piece is constructed from recycled materials and found photos. From afar, the textiles are unassuming: Small works of embroidery or collage depict folding chairs, buildings and more. Some have lines of thread running between pieces, while others have strings of thread dangling from the stitched or collaged items — evoking Dusten's fascination with the lines, limits and boundaries of home.
10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday and Saturday; through Sept. 5 | Visions Museum of Textile Art, 2825 Dewey Road, Suite 100, San Diego | Free | MORE INFO
🍿 Film
'The Rising Dawn'
Director and founder of Surf Côte d’Ivoire, Nadi Saddy, presents a screening of a new documentary about West Africa's surf culture, "The Rising Dawn." Shot over four years, it follows the story of Côte d'Ivoire surfing pioneer Souleymane Sidibé, and the young people who are inspired by him. Also at the heart of the film is the region, its landscapes, coastlines and cultures.
Saddy will hold a filmmaker Q&A after the screening. For the free event, no tickets are required, but you can DM The Rive on Facebook or Instagram to RSVP.
7 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 3 | The Rive Clubhouse, 6345 El Cajon Blvd, SDSU | Free | MORE INFO
🎵 Music
Fools and Fables presents: Fools and Friends
A jam-packed slate of local folk, pop and rock singer-songwriters fills the Casbah Friday night, featuring Alex Bergan, Sutton James, Justin Rodriguez, Please Ask For Paul, Shelbi Bennett, The Wellsprings, Aly Rowell, C Gibbs, Francis Blume and many more. The organizers will donate a portion of all proceeds to Guitars For Schools.
8 p.m. Friday, Sept. 4 | The Casbah, 2501 Kettner Blvd., Little Italy | $24.74 | MORE INFO
The 26th Annual Toy Piano Festival
The Toy Piano Festival is hosted by niche-art extraordinaire Scott Paulson, whose range of interests includes not only toy pianos, but also the carillon, theremin, oboe, paper theaters and more. The festival features work by John Cage, who composed the first piece of music for toy pianos. The long list of performers and composers includes James Chute, Samara Rice, Alex Segal, Kay Etheridge, Christian Hertzog, Holden Cheng and special guest Sue Palmer. The event is held in the downtown library's first-floor Neil Morgan Auditorium. Walk-ins are welcome to the free show.
Noon-1 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 5 | San Diego Central Library, 330 Park Blvd., downtown | Free | MORE INFO
Gilbert Castellanos and the KSDS Jazz Orchestra: 'Miles Davis, Sonny Rollins and Dizzy Gillespie'
Local jazz trumpeter and educator Gilbert Castellanos will lead his 17-piece jazz ensemble in a celebration of the Afro-Cuban jazz fusion styles of Miles Davis, Sonny Rollins and Dizzy Gillespie. Pieces include "A Night in Tunisia" and "Manteca," which was co-written by Gillespie, Chano Pozo, and Gil Fuller in 1947 and is often considered one of the essential, pioneering works in Afro-Cuban jazz.
7:30 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 5 | The Rady Shell at Jacobs Park, 222 Marina Park Way, downtown | $37-$103 | MORE INFO
💃 Dance
Asian American Dance Festival: Collaborative Residency Showcase
The second annual Asian American Dance Festival (AADF) celebrates local Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders dance and movement artists and artistry through a series of showcases and community events through early October. This weekend, catch a residency showcase performance on Friday at Light Box Theater, with performances of work by Choreographic Residents Hannah Joo and Forest Lee and Rising Artist Mentees Jess Dizon and Vrisika Chauhan. The AADF collaborative residency project supports emerging and early career artists by pairing them with experienced mentors in the Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders dance community.
Upcoming festival events include a Mainstage Showcase on Sept. 12 at City College's Saville Theater featuring festival co-organizer Dr. grace shinhae jun along with Adie San Diego, Aisha Reddick, Kimie Parker and Odessa Mae Uno. A free community day is scheduled in City Heights for Oct. 3. For ticketed events, festival passes are also available.
7 p.m. Friday, Sept. 4 | Light Box Theater, 2590 Truxtun Rd #205, Liberty Station | $15-$70 | MORE INFO
📚 Books
Kazim Ali and Adam O. Davis
Two excellent local poets just released new books, and will be in conversation together Thursday at The Book Catapult. Kazim Ali's latest, "The Man in 119" explores mortality and the grief of losing his mother through the lens of geography, topography and migration. Ali's writing is a gut-punch: clear, sharp and beautifully intimate.
Adam O. Davis' "Pyrrhic Symphony" won the Raz/Shumaker Prairie Schooner Book Prize in Poetry, and frames a litany of disasters and apocalypses with a question of how art might shine a light and offer hope. Davis' work is both humorous and devastating.
7 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 3 | The Book Catapult, 3010-B Juniper St., South Park | Free | MORE INFO
🎭 Theater
Broadway San Diego: 'The Phantom of the Opera'
Andrew Lloyd Webber's iconic musical premiered on London's West End nearly 40 years ago, bringing to the stage (and modern audiences) Gaston Leroux's novel. The story follows Christine, a soprano, and "the Phantom," a mysterious music lover and composer who hauntingly dwells in the mazelike underground beneath the Paris Opera House.
Through Sept. 13 | San Diego Civic Theatre, 1100 Third Ave., downtown | $98.75+ | MORE INFO
🗓️ Festivals
North Park Community Fair: Crafted by Hand
Presented by Verbatim Books, this daylong event is not your average vendor fair or market. At each booth, attendees can participate in a hands-on craft or artmaking activity, led by local teaching artists and makers. The fair is self-guided and pay-as-you-go: stop at only the tables that interest you. In addition to the booths, there are free community activities throughout the day. The fair will also host a craft supply swap, so bring all those bits and pieces you just can't get around to using, and browse for something else you might need.
10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Saturday, Sept. 5 | North Park Way between 29th St. and Ray St., North Park | Free | MORE INFO
For more arts events and ongoing happenings, visit our community calendar.
