Today, we’d like to introduce you to Patricia Frischer.
Hi Patricia, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
In the last 15 years, I have written 70 advocacy articles promoting and educating others on the importance of the arts. This year, I was given an award as a Woman of Impact for Arts and Culture by Tasha Boerner of California District #77. It made me realize, as an artist and arts leader, just how passionate I am about the value of the arts when I had to write a short acceptance speech.
I was born in Kansas City but arrived in San Diego from London 27 years ago. I could find no directory for the arts. That is why I created the San Diego Visual Arts Network, which now lists 2500 visual arts resources in the county, including Baja Norte. We have a full events calendar, a gossip column (cause who doesn’t want the inside scoop), reports on Art exhibitions, and advocacy issues.
We have curated many large visual arts projects like the Movers and Shaker… 90 Art VIPs…. not one turned down the chance to have their portrait created and the DNA of Creativity with five teams of artists, scientists, teachers, and documenters… a magnificent exhibition at Oceanside Museum of Arts.
We are most proud of the SD Art Prize, our ongoing award for excellence in its 17th year. I credit this for reminding our local art collectors that they can buy locally. We are delighted to have played a part in reforming the SD County-Wide Commission for Arts and Culture, which we stumped for…it took 15 years and is announcing its brand-new strategic plan during Arts and Culture Month in the state of CA.
How do we do this with no bricks and mortar and no paid staff? No, I am not the little woman behind the curtain, AKA the Wizard of OZ. It is done with many volunteers and community involvement, friends and family, and county and private foundations.
We believe that the San Diego Visual Arts Network is a powerful force that connects art to people and people to art. We believe that artists serve as interpreters, explorers, and creators of the great unknown. We believe your life is an artwork, a mess, a makeover, and a magnificent. We believe, most of all, that Art Builds Community.
Can you talk to us about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned? Looking back, would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Balancing non-profit organization works (I am currently on the board of 4 arts organizations), including San Diego Visual Arts Network, with my advocacy work and my artwork means that I have a constant workload. This last year, with a county grant, we created our email platform, which allows us to send out not only our large group emails but also those of three other non-profits.
It is an enormous challenge to keep up with technology. But having a job and making art has always been my way of life. I find it a balance with one feeding the other. My art especially gives me an escape from the stress of leadership. But I do like the occasional deadline for an exhibition. Right now, I am creating a set of 35 works for a show in September.
I have a very supportive husband and a set of friends and family. As I get older, I have to pace myself. But I think of myself as basically a lazy person who is driven to find solutions to make life easier.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar with what you do, what can you tell them about what you do?
On Public Art: Cities with no art master plans and cities with no coherent public art plan often run into divided opinions about how art in the public realm should be chosen and funded. We have seen examples of how major works of art by renowned creators are turned away by cautious politicians who are out of their league when judging art. The latest fiasco was in Del Mar when Isamu Noguchi’s sculpture worth half a million dollars was rejected.
Buying, renting, and accepting donated artworks is a complicated puzzle. This entails making sure that the artists are qualified, that the proposed work is appropriate, and that the budget is acceptable. Outreach to the public for preference and advice of experts has to be considered.
Contracts have to be drawn up, and having the ability to work with artists and architects to complete the creation, sit the work, and then light and maintain it are all considerations. Remembering that art can be vandalized plays a part in the decision. The County and City of San Diego both have mandates for including a percentage of new construction and larger renovation budgets for art. However, working with non-profits to purchase works is also an option.
There are solid public art policies already created by other major cities, so there is no real need to reinvent the wheel for public art. Luckily, we now have a new San Diego County Arts and Culture Commission, which has already started to make recommendations on revising the public art policy county-wide. Hopefully, those new policies will trickle down and be seen as best practices by all the cities in our county.
Those of us in the arts spend all of our lives looking at art and have a finely honed sense of authenticity. That expertise is power and can be used for the good of the community. We listen to health authorities, and so please, in the arts, acknowledge that expertise in the same way.
We are also respectful of the efforts of artists, who are an extremely important resource for our communities. They not only bring aesthetic beauty and challenging concepts but economic growth and prosperity into our lives. Finally, we are not opposed to the public having input on public art for their community. But this needs to be at the beginning of the process so that it can be incorporated into the call for artists’ proposals. Let the art professional make the final selections and set the policy.
On Advocacy for Civic Arts: Now that we have a San Diego County Arts and Culture Commission, we need to try to make sure every incorporated and non-incorporated city in the county has some sort of arts administration. That could be simple friends of the art group, a group deciding to form a cultural district, a commission for arts and culture, and finally, paid full-time staff for arts administration. Each city should have an arts and culture master plan and a public art plan and should have a funding source to support those plans.
On Affordable Housing for Artists: The new AB 812 bill approved Oct. 11 by the governor and authored by Tasha Boerner allows cities and counties to give up to 10% of its very low, low, or moderate-income housing to eligible artists as long as they are within one-half mile from a state-designated cultural district or within a locally designated cultural district if certain income and occupation conditions are met. For this to happen, the city has to designate an area as a cultural district. This does not have to be state-approved or even county-approved.
Then, the city has to pass a local tenant preference ordinance for artists. Then, they have to create not only an artist application but also an artist Selection Committee. This is not based on the content of the art. The artists do not have different income requirements. However, up to 10% of the housing can be given to qualifying artists. We in the art world, who have been pushing for more affordable housing for artists, should be thrilled with this bill and grateful to Tasha Boerner. Now, it is up to the cities in our county to move forward. Every city should have a cultural district, which might be the entire city.
On Arts Economics: There are funds coming to the arts in San Diego. Prebys Foundation awarded almost $10.5 Million in Grants to Advance the Visual and Performing Arts throughout San Diego County! We look forward to seeing collaborations between the Prebys Foundation and the newly formed SD County Commission for Arts and Culture.
The California Arts Council awarded 68 grants in the county of San Diego, totaling $2,224,700.
In the 2022-23 fiscal year, the City of San Diego’s TOT (tax on tourists) revenue totaled $256.7 million. Arts funding was $14.3 million, i.e. 5.59% of the total. However, budget cuts meant that the 2023-24 fiscal year was only 4.67% of TOT revenue. We learned from AEP6 that San Diego County’s nonprofit arts and culture sector is a $1.3 billion industry (up from $1.1 billion in 2015)—one that supports 19,771 jobs (way down from 35,914 in 2015) and generates $320.7 million (less than half of the $894.4 million in 2015) in local, state, and federal government revenue.
Seven municipalities and two cultural districts (City of San Diego and Balboa Park Cultural District, Oceanside and Oceanside Cultural District, Escondido, Carlsbad, Encinitas, National City, and Coronado) coordinated efforts, representing over 60% of the county’s population. This is the first time so many cities joined in the study and that group plans to stay together and hopefully expand.
We know that there will be a huge call for art teachers coming up with the passage of CA Prop 28, and we hope that the audience will return to the arts in 2024 and boost the job number and revenue in San Diego County.
The SMU Data Arts project results were a bit surprising for California, which ended in the top ten for the vibrancy of the arts (not surprisingly), but it is only ranked #6. With only 5.8% of our population rural, shouldn’t we earn a higher rating? Twenty percent is the average. With only a slightly lower-than-average poverty rating (11.4) to the average of 11.5%, that should not reduce our ranking. We also have three very large cities, which is more than most states.
You can look at their YouTube explanation of the county-wide results. It seems like California should be doing better. Could that be because of government funding? The city of San Diego gets $28 million. Los Angeles gets $31 million. The city of New York has received over $200 million, and that state is ranked #1.
Thurs. May 30th, 2024 at 9:30 to 11 am, North County Arts Networking Events with a presentation by Tracy Hudak from CA for the Arts on Affordable Housing for Artist and Art Districts.
Sat. June 14,2024 at 1 pm, at LIFE at MiraCosta College / Oceanside Campus Patricia Frischer on State of the Arts San Diego.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.drawscrowd.com and www.sdvisualarts.net
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/patriciafrischer
- Facebook: http://facebook.com/sdvan
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/patricia-frischer-7415676/
- Twitter: http://twitter.com/SDVAN
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/sdvan1
- Other: https://aplus-patricia.blogspot.com/ and https://pickedrawpeeled.blogspot.com/ and www.sdncan.org
