New Arts Center Provides Creative Space In Southeast San Diego
Speaker 1: 00:00 When the pandemic started, artists had to reconcile with the fact that their ability to publicly display their creative endeavors in person would all but disappear well now with galleries and museums, reopening many in the arts world are rejoicing. However, there are still a number of neglected communities in San Diego that suffer from a lack of creative spaces in a story first covered by the San Diego union Tribune. One Southeast San Diego residents sought to remedy that problem by opening the Cali arts connect arts and culture center in joyous view, Kim Phillips P president of the Southeast art team collaborated with a property owner of a vacant one-story residential building to turn the space into a creative Oasis for arts in the area. And she joins us now, Kim welcome. Speaker 2: 00:50 Yes. Thank you so much for having me so far. Speaker 1: 00:53 First, what led you and your team to open this art center? Speaker 2: 00:58 Well, uh, just like you said, a lack of creative spaces in the area always left us having to borrow space. We would go to parks. We would go to Malcolm X library, which was no problem because we enjoyed being there, but there is always like we know of no place like home. So we wanted a permanent location with a rooftop where we could be protected, just having the indoor location where we could choose to be indoors or outdoors was just the perfect remedy and solution for us. Speaker 1: 01:30 And what role has community involvement played in, in setting up this? Speaker 2: 01:34 Well, we've collaborated with Lincoln high school. Uh, they've got a group called black girls United, and recently they won a grant to install a mural in the community and they reached out to us Southeast art team. And we were able to not only provide the location, but we helped them through the process of drying out their mural, which was a beautiful Brianna Taylor. We helped them go to home Depot and buy the paint. And the manager of home Depot loved the project so much. He ended up donating all of the supplies to black girls United, which allowed us to have even more fun with the murals. So as you can see, we have our arms locked together, not only to build the space, but to also make sure that our youth, our teenagers and artists all have a collective place where we can all work in grow together. Speaker 1: 02:24 You mentioned the mural of Brianna Taylor, you know, and with so much in the news this week, even regarding the trial of Derek, Shovan, uh, it's important to note that so much of the commemoration of figures important to the racial justice movement has been in public art pieces like murals or street. Art has the ongoing focus on racial justice in America had a big impact on your work or the work of your colleagues. Speaker 2: 02:49 We have just been very happy to be able to play a role. Um, as we know in our communities, it's not necessarily easy to get approval from business owners. We don't own a lot of businesses, so we don't have a lot of say so in control over what images we see in our neighborhoods and on our walls. So we're very fortunate and thankful to have a space where we're able to control the narrative and tell the stories that we want to tell. We're thankful that Lincoln high school and black girls United, um, reached out to us because we want to be able to have our voices heard, because there's so much to be said, you know, in our young people, they have a voice. So this place that we've created is just that a location where they can come for creativity and expression during these times. Speaker 1: 03:42 And, you know, you've said that you identify a distinct lack of creative spaces in Southeast San Diego for artists. How do you hope that this new center will, will help to change that? Speaker 2: 03:52 Well, it already has the feedback and the response has just been so positive. We've gotten requests to create more murals. We have other community members who have inquired about how they can transform their spaces. The Southeast art team has also collaborated with Jacobs center community for neighborhood innovation in Southeastern San Diego at market Creek Plaza. We have a pop-up art gallery that has been open since October. And then, um, the Elk's lodge, which is located at six Hindley street has also agreed to collaborate with the art team to open another art gallery. So as you can see, um, it is just super inspiring when we see the empowerment and just how uplifted everyone in our community is by the artwork and just by the collaboration of artists and creative energy. Speaker 1: 04:48 So when people come to this art space, what exactly do they see? What will you find when you walk through there? Speaker 2: 04:54 So at the art space, you'll see a range of art, um, from abstract art to like acrylic pores, to tributes, to our local hip hop stars and also celebrity hip hop. You'll also see tributes to our ancestors. It depends on the artist that has contributed the work, their style, their, you know, how they were feeling at the time that they created the work. We've got a door that's painted in a mother nature theme. You'll also see a huge giraffe that I painted a couple of years ago for a solo show. We want this to be sort of like a mini world beats center. We're very inspired by Makeda dread and all the artwork and creativity that surrounds the world beats theater. So this is that same type of feeling and space where everywhere you look is just surrounded by artwork. Speaker 1: 05:46 I've been speaking with Kim Phillips P president of the Southeast art team and honor of Kelly, artists connect arts and culture center and choice view camp. Thanks so much for joining us. Speaker 2: 05:57 Thank you so much again, and thanks so much to our entire community for supporting us.
