Christine Jones is the chief of civic art strategies for the city of San Diego. She can be reached at arts@sandiego.gov.

The city of San Diego is leading Far South/Border North (FSBN), a regional initiative for artists and cultural practitioners working in service of their communities.

“Arts funding plays a vital role in enabling artists like me to pursue ambitious, innovative, and, sometimes, costly creative projects,” says artist Neil Kendricks. “This is why I am so grateful for the support provided by Far South/Border North. It has been instrumental in making these projects a reality.”

The program, which runs through September, provided grant funding to 78 recipients to design and implement over 70 media, outreach, and engagement campaigns focused on everything from public health to civic engagement.

Arts and culture can engage communities, raise awareness of critical issues, and inspire people to action. As the catalysts of this transformation, artists need support to carry out their best work. It benefits cities to create initiatives that foster the arts workforce and allow artists to propel positive change.

Far South/Border North has supported the local economy by creating hundreds of related jobs and more than 25,000 workforce hours as of initial reporting this spring. The program also added new arts infrastructure in the form of capacity building and partnerships and networks, demonstrating its potential for replication, scalability, and impact.

Although spearheaded by the city, the initiative supported artists and cultural practitioners across San Diego County and nearby Imperial County. The program also included mentorship, training, and other resources to help grantees carry out their work.

Art (and systems-level change) in action

When policymakers think of workforce development, artists may not be the first group that comes to mind. However, if we truly want to foster thriving communities with the knowledge and passion to move towards a brighter future, investing in the arts is a vital necessity.

The arts and culture sectors currently represent 8% of California’s gross domestic product, generating over $290 billion in direct impact and supporting around 847,000 jobs. The sector also drives 7.3% of state tax revenues.

Yet, the value of investing in arts and culture extends beyond economic benefits. It’s about investing in the unique power of artists to address and shape our understanding of complex issues, amplify existing efforts, and uplift historically under-resourced areas. These artists are not just creating art; they are building community power and achieving transformational change, connecting us all in this shared endeavor.

Through Far South/Border North, grantees are reducing barriers to health and improving well-being in the communities across 37 zip codes with the highest level of need in San Diego and Imperial counties, as identified by the California Healthy Places Index. Initial impacts reported by these campaigns include strengthened civic engagement, improved mental and physical health outcomes, and positive shifts in attitudes and readiness toward challenges within specific communities. Campaigns crossed 14 sectors, ranging from education and healthcare to environment and transportation.

“There are few opportunities where artists receive support to bring their ideas to life and even fewer opportunities to support artists in the ideation, development, and dream stages of our work, which is just as important as the final product,” artist Olivia Quintanilla said. “I had the chance to network with our community of artists and coordinated free speaker series, events, and workshops for the community that facilitated conversations around civic engagement and community leadership among Pacific Islander communities.”

Far South/Border North was one of 14 organizations to receive state funding to start California Creative Corps, a job creation and infrastructure development program that helps artists and cultural practitioners engage in public work. Far South/Border North also models the importance of public-private collective impact, with additional funding from the Conrad Prebys Foundation.

A wide range of public teams, communities, private sector entities, and nonprofits across San Diego and Imperial counties supported the Far South/Border North program’s many efforts. This includes Catalyst of San Diego & Imperial Counties and San Diego Art Matters, as well as Alliance San Diego, ARTS: A Reason to Survive, Casa Familiar, Imperial Valley Food Bank, and RISE San Diego, which helped bridge artists and communities. Far South/Border North also helped other organizations hire their artists and cultural practitioners.

Grantees showcased an immense diversity and versatility of artistic forms. There was interpretive dance, spoken word, culinary arts, film, and more. One campaign collected the wisdom and stories of elders. Another operated a mobile healing arts lab to support mental wellness.

“The FSBN Artist Grant was of tremendous support to me as a mother, an artist, and a mental health clinician,” said Ana Ruth Castillo. “The grant came at a time in my professional career that deeply affirmed the trajectory of my work as a community-based service provider in the healing arts. By fabricating a mobile healing art studio as part of my campaign project, I can continue to bring this tool to public spaces and activate them into healing art spaces of belonging.”

Embracing complexity and intersectionality

This program, along with similar workforce initiatives, can help shift our mindset about how the arts fit into today’s cities. Some participating artists engaged communities about the positive change they’d like to see, such as food justice and communal cultural wealth. Others highlighted environmental issues in places with a high proportion of pollution, such as the U.S.-Mexico border region and the Salton Sea.

Issues like climate change and social justice are large and complex. We must embrace intersectionality — the recognition that these interconnected issues cannot be solved in isolation — when addressing them. By understanding and addressing the intersections of these issues, we can develop more comprehensive and practical solutions.

A program like Far South/Border North also brings creative people together, giving them a platform to engage with their civic leaders and organizations, build community, and foster social cohesion. Artists and cultural practitioners, with their unique perspectives and creative ideas, can help break down complex issues and increase awareness.

“The FSBN grant has made me feel valued as an artist,” said Miki Vale. “The resources provided by the grant helped [give] me the freedom to create a project that speaks to my artistic vision of creating with and for the community, as well as be able to pay other artists for their work, and that is such a gift.”

The program shows how cities can marry the work of artists and cultural practitioners to community health and well-being initiatives. It has contributed to community health equity by improving health outcomes and addressing a range of disparities — such as pollution, gentrification, healthcare, cultural identity, and community/belonging — through outreach and awareness campaigns.

Although it is a large, complex, initiative-based program, meaningful impact can start small. Integrating arts and culture into public works can help solve the most critical challenges facing cities and support healthy communities.