Funding Arts and Culture

In this episode of the San Diego Pride Podcast, we’re talking funding, advocacy, and the future of arts and culture in San Diego. Host Joslyn Hatfield and co-host Amber St. James sit down with San Diego Pride Director of Advocacy and Programs Brock Cavett to unpack the City of San Diego’s proposed FY27 budget cuts and what they could mean for LGBTQIA+ organizations, artists, and community programs.

Together, they explore the proposed elimination of arts and culture funding, the potential loss of nearly $400,000 in city support for San Diego Pride, and the broader impact these cuts could have on local artists, nonprofit organizations, and the region’s cultural landscape. The conversation also highlights the vital role Pride plays in San Diego’s economy, generating an estimated $27 million in annual economic impact while supporting year-round community programs and grants.

Most importantly, this episode is a call to action. Learn how you can make your voice heard, advocate for arts funding, and help ensure that LGBTQIA+ organizations and cultural institutions continue to thrive. Because the arts are not a luxury, they are essential to community, visibility, and belonging.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:01

Well, hello and welcome. You are listening to the San Diego Pride podcast where we talk queer culture with context. We are exploring the richness of the LGBTQIA Plus identities and experiences through conversations and community, culture, advocacy, and change, all within historical context. I am your host, Jocelyn Hatfield. I'm the director of marketing communications for San Diego Pride, and I am joined today by my multi-talented co-host for the day, Miss Amber St. James.

SPEAKER_03 0:35

Hello, hello, everybody. It is your favorite African created queen, but it's being up in the drives because you know she's a butt-bitsy girl. But I'm very, very excited to be here today.

SPEAKER_00 0:45

Yes. Okay. And with us today is also the San Diego Pride Director of Advocacy and Programs, Brock Cabot. Hey Brock! Tell us a little bit about yourself.

SPEAKER_01 0:55

Yay, thank you. I'm so excited to be here. Uh, like Dawson mentioned, I'm the director of Advocacy and Programs for San Diego Pride. Pronouns are he, him, his. Um, and I've been in the role about four months now. Came down here from Riverside, California, where I served in a similar capacity with Riverside Pride and really helped get the Pride there going.

SPEAKER_00 1:14

Yeah, let's go. Okay, let's get into it. We have a lot to talk about today. Um, we're talking money, honey.

SPEAKER_03 1:22

So, Brock, why don't you want to kick us off and tell us like what's going on with the city funding or what's not going on? Like, there's a lot going on in the in in in the world, in the dichotomy. That's not the word, it's the discourse. But there's a lot of dichotomy to how we're experiencing this. So can you dive on in and let us know like what's what's tea?

SPEAKER_01 1:40

Yeah, no, absolutely. Um, so there's been a number of iterations of the city budget. Like any other government, every year, our city goes through the process of setting the budget for the year. Um, and the most recent budget that was released is the May revision for the fiscal year 27 budget. Uh to address a more than $118 million deficit, and there's a number of reasons why our city's in this space. Um, but to address this deficit, the proposal um still includes an $11.8 million worth of cuts to the arts specifically, uh, through the elimination of really critical grant programs um specifically for fiscal year 27. Um this grant funding supports Sancho Pride as well as hundreds of other nonprofits that really rely on them to operate year-round.

SPEAKER_00 2:26

Oh that is tough. That is actually really brutal. Um it's kind of been simultaneously inspiring and maybe a little disheartening uh to see how many arts and culture uh organizations have been impacted by this, but also um inspiring because you see a lot of these organizations banding together and really joining together to fight these cuts that are so important um for this funding that is so important for our city and for culture in San Diego.

SPEAKER_03 2:53

Coming together in trauma, truly the best kind of trauma bonding there can be. Because unfortunately, as core people, that's kind of what we're consistently used to is uh like a a trauma bond over something that's trying to take us all out, and now it's the budget.

SPEAKER_01 3:08

Yeah, well, and for San Diego Pride, these cuts would reduce our city funding that we get from nearly $400,000 in this past year to effectively zero, zero dollars from our city in regards to support for our festival and our parade. Um, this funding that we get from the city goes directly to support the festival, um mostly looking at supporting our staff as well as all of the artists that we have perform, um, who are largely local and BIPOC artists. This funding comes in to help support the festival so that the funding that the festival raises through revenue is able to support our year-round programming. We have so many Pride 365 programs, from youth programs to supporting our military, that it can effectively rely on this money. And without that funding coming back from the festival, um, those those programs are in jeopardy.

SPEAKER_00 3:59

Can we talk about that just a little bit? I want to dive in on the idea of San Diego Pride being this amazing incubator for artists, musical artists, all types of artists, but certainly artists who are kind of on the come-up and are developing in their careers. It's something that San Diego Pride has done really beautifully, and how it's become this platform for artists that are at various different stages of their career. Amber, like talk a little bit about how the headliners are every are the artists that everyone knows, but who else can we expect to see at San Diego Pride?

SPEAKER_03 4:33

I mean, I know that one of the things that we're always trying to do is be able to reinvest back into our local communities, right? We recognize that just as important as it is to get, you know, the big names out there, that there are big names in our very own backyard, right? So when it comes to artists that I'm always excited to see, whether they're on our stage or they're people that we're working with, I want to shout out people like Adonis Illusion, Strawberry Corncakes, right? Like all these amazing artists that are doing amazing work in our very own backyard that we're always trying to highlight and work with. I know wasn't Strawberry like a spirit of Stonewall winner last year? Right. So like these are the ways that we're not only investing in our communities, but really trying to put them on the spotlight because these are the folks that are truly bringing in the heart and soul to what we do.

SPEAKER_00 5:15

Yeah. You know, and not only that, when you contextualize San Diego Pride and what the organization does for the broader LGBTQ community and how it directly invests funds from the festival back into communities, specifically through our community grants program, it's wild to think that we could, you know, be in danger of losing this really critical funding for the organization. So our partners Lambda Archives, who we partner on with for this lovely podcast, uh, that is one great example of an organization who has benefited directly from funds raised through the San Diego Pride Festival. Um, everything from that to our sports organizations. Come on, AFCSL, softball, and our kickball girlies, and you know, uh this broad spectrum of programming and organizations who benefit from these really important funds that we depend on from the city. So I think that's why it's you know pretty heartbreaking to be in this moment where we are. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 6:11

Well, all those organizations you mentioned are also at stake of losing these city funds. So beyond just our community grant program, the funding from the city, so many of these arts programs, specifically queer arts programs, are at stake and in a time when we're already facing so many other things.

SPEAKER_03 6:27

I mean, and it's so wild because like we have such a huge impact. Like not only in like, you know, people's hearts and minds, like the obvious things that we know, but like when it actually comes down to the dollar bills, the coins, like we have such an impact.

SPEAKER_00 6:40

Let's talk about that. Brock, what kind of economic impact does San Diego Pride bring into the city of San Diego?

SPEAKER_01 6:46

Yeah, well, you know, the reality is that the arts are not a luxury, they are a core part of San Diego's identity and the economy. You know, money speaks, as we said. Um, and San Diego Pride alone as an organization generates an estimated $27 million worth of economic impact for the region each year. This is money that's coming in through hotel stays, through folks going out to dinner, going to the zoo in Seaworld when they come to visit San Diego Pride. All that money gets generated and put back into our economy. And we as an organization, as well as all the other arts and cultures organizations, bring that money here to the city. And, you know, we think of the arts as obviously all of the great benefits as an arts organization, but they are an economic generator as well. And that is even just from a 2022. It's been three years. We've seen the economy the last few years. So um I would argue that that is likely closer to 30 million right now as an organization, um, based on when the economic impact was done, that analysis was done. So I think it just shows that, you know, all these organizations, while they have such benefit to the people, they benefit the city as well.

SPEAKER_03 7:51

And yet somehow we're still up on the chopping block. Like hello?

SPEAKER_00 7:56

Yeah, you know, I think that it's not lost on us that the city itself is facing some pretty grim realities. Um definitely. I think something that and I wouldn't categorize it necessarily as insult to injury, but it kind of is a little bit along those lines. We'll be a little bit nicer about it. But we're losing this funding also in the face of rising costs for our organization just to host our Pride Week events, our parade, our festival. Brad, do you want to talk a little bit more about that?

SPEAKER_01 8:26

Yeah, absolutely. So, yes, beyond losing the funding we get from the city, we still have to pay to bone a festival. And we pay the city nearly $200,000 worth of staffing time for emergency personnel services. That's our firefighters that are there keeping us safe, as well as the police keeping us safe. On top of permitting and all of the things that have to go into actually putting on these events. So we're continuing to now give the city this money while now seeing zero dollars coming back from the city, um, which is frustrating. Um again, we agree that the city has tough choices to make. We recognize that there's a deficit and that there are cuts. It's the elimination of this grant that caught us and all these organizations by surprise. Um, going from what we had to zero is not something that us or any other organization can plan for.

SPEAKER_00 9:10

Absolutely true. And I think when you look at it in terms of ROI, of what our event, what the parade, what the festival are bringing to the city, it's it seems an odd choice for cuts for something that does bring in so much revenue in all the variety of different ways that we have talked about.

SPEAKER_01 9:26

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 9:27

Okay, we are going to take a quick break there and we will be right back.

SPEAKER_03 9:31

All right, so I know it sounds bleak, but you can never keep a good diva down. So, Brock, can you tell us what we can do?

SPEAKER_01 9:39

Absolutely. There's still so much to do to make your voice heard right now. Um, and what that is, is it's showing up to city council meetings, it's reaching out to your council members, to the mayor, sharing how you feel, what your priorities are for this year's budget. There is still at least one more city council meeting where they will vote and decide. We need to let them know that they should not approve any budget that guts and eliminates this funding. You can also reach out via email, via phone call to your council member, to your mayor's office, and and let them know how you feel. Let them know that we cannot get these arts organizations funding. And so I encourage folks to do that. I encourage folks to show up to meetings, make your voices heard, and do that more than just now. Do it throughout the year because we need folks to realize that our community is going to show up and we're gonna show up more than just when it's important for the budget throughout the year, making sure that our electeds understand that the queer community is here and we're gonna continue to fight back.

SPEAKER_00 10:34

Absolutely. So, what I hear you saying is we show up, we show out, make your voice heard. Now is the time.

SPEAKER_01 10:40

Absolutely. And for us looking at date, you know, Tuesday, June 9th is that next city council meeting where folks can show up. They can submit public comment. Um, you get time to actually voice to your council member. So if you're not even sure who your council member is, do the research, figure out who represents you. That's important because they're the ones making these decisions on your behalf as a constituent. Um and then our city council has until June 15th to officially adopt the budget for the year. That's when we'll know for sure where we're at, where our funding's landed. So um, but before then, there's still lots of time to reach out and connect with your elected officials.

SPEAKER_00 11:13

And if you want to speak, you do have to register ahead of time, is that right?

SPEAKER_01 11:16

Yes. So you can submit online ver virtual public comment, but you can also show up in the city council chambers. You just have to submit a little form when you get to the council chambers, and that'll give you the opportunity to be called up to give public comment. Um, it typically is one minute, so make sure you make your your uh your comments precise. You gotta that minute goes by pretty quick. So um, but just having the folks there, and and like you said, Jocelyn, just seeing how many folks have showed up has been so inspiring. Um, and the folks that are really just you know advocating for their community.

SPEAKER_00 11:45

And it's not that scary, right?

SPEAKER_03 11:47

No, it's really not. So y'all better do something, okay? Don't come crying at us when we broke because y'all didn't want to do nothing to help us, okay? We trying to make sure that we keep this machine going, keep the pride shining on.

SPEAKER_00 11:58

That part. I get really scared too. Like I get so nervous, but it's so important. So you just gotta show up and do it. That's the only way to make it happen. Taking a little bit of a pivot here, Brock, can we talk a little bit about the idea of this particular moment being really a pivotal moment for LGBTQ organizations um and where we are in our movement and in society and kind of what's happening? Give it some greater context.

SPEAKER_01 12:23

Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I think it's no surprise to us that we're at a tough moment as a country, as a community, and our organizations are feeling that. Arts organizations, LGBT organizations specifically, funding is just not where it is. We talked about the economy, that's one factor. You know, folks aren't able to give and donate like they used to because we're struggling to make ends meet. But then you look at where we get a large chunk of our our funding from. That is, you know, through grants, through sponsorships. Pride organizations across the country are facing the same reality that we are, and that is a pullback and support for queer organizations. Sponsors are afraid to be thought of as woke and donating to DEI organizations, and we're seeing that in a pullback in corporate sponsorships. A huge shout out to those that have stuck with us throughout the years and that continue to support our our queer art. Um, but we're we're seeing that across all prides across the country, and it's really made pride organizations have to fundamentally change how they operate as an organization, and some are are unfortunately not happening. There are a number of pride festivals in the US that have just not happened in the past year because of funding um just not being there. Then we look at grant funding, that's grant funding from the federal government, which also does not exist for LGBT organizations right now, and then the organizations that provide us grant funds, they are having their funds impacted through both the federal government as well as so many orgs like us going for the same funds. And so we're at a really tough point right now where the money is is just not there. And a lot of our partners that have supported us in the past are retreating, and that's really unfortunate. So to those that are listening that have the ability to make sure that your companies, your organizations are continuing to support queer organizations, um I applaud you and encourage you to continue to push because um we are needed now more than ever. On top of all of this, we're seeing a time when, you know, we're being erased. Trans people are being erased in this country. And so beyond just not having the funds to do it, it's at a time when we need pride. We need pride, we need organizations to to show up and and provide spaces for folks to feel safe and affirmed as a community because it's scary.

SPEAKER_00 14:31

Aaron Powell This is feeling very much like a we got us moment. Um can you talk a little bit about that, Amber, of how community can show up and help organizations like Pride? You know, is it buying a ticket to the festival? Is it coming out to events? Is it showing up at a city council meeting? Like what are what are the ways?

SPEAKER_03 14:47

Aaron Powell I I mean I think it's doing all of it, right? Like we recognize that a machine is a giant behemoth and it does not take one year to make it work. It takes a whole lot of gears and a whole lot of power, right? And there's so much power in our community, whether it is showing up to the festival, what it is, just making sure that you are supporting these organizations however you can. If they have an event, showing up, supporting, sharing the flyer, right? We say the salah in the drag community, baby. You gotta be able to share if you wanna be able to be there, okay? Uh and so I want our community to know that there are a plethora of different ways that they can be able to show up, not only in an economic sense of like buying the ticket, but also just supporting whatever it is that we are trying to do, right? If we're saying that we need your help and we need you to show up to city council, please try and show up, whether that's in-person or digital, right? If we're saying that, you know, we have uh an artist um, you know, workshop coming up or whatever, you know, share the flyer or, you know, send it to your good Judy and be like, hey girl, I know you need some help with that that the headshot. Go ahead and go sign up for that, right? Making sure that you are utilizing the resources that we have so that way we also have the data, because we know you can't get no money if you can't share no data. Making sure that we have the data to show that we are doing the work and that people are actually engaging in what we're doing. So get out there and get engaged.

SPEAKER_01 16:00

Well, and I just want to make sure to make it clear, pride's not going anywhere. Yes. We are struggling with money. Organizations all over are struggling with money. Pride starts as a protest. We will continue to exist as an organization, as a movement. We will continue to show up for our community, even if that looks a little different this year. I just want to be very clear that, you know, this work is gonna continue to happen and it may look different, but we are here, we're queer, and we're here to stay, and we're gonna continue to do what we do to support our San Diego community.

SPEAKER_00 16:25

Aaron Powell That's a great point. Yeah, thank you. Thank you for that. Um okay, Amber, am I gonna see you at City Hall?

SPEAKER_03 16:30

Oh, hello. Am I gonna see you?

SPEAKER_00 16:34

You know you will. Let's go. Um okay, Brock, give us one more quick rundown on what the details are for how we can do this.

SPEAKER_01 16:45

Yes, absolutely. So again, you know, the time is going by. That's what it's doing.

unknown 16:49

It is upon us.

SPEAKER_01 16:51

And so folks need to show up, reach out to your city council members, your mayor, um, do it via email, call their offices, and then show up to city council chambers on Tuesday, June 9th in the evening to make sure that you're making your voice heard, submit public comment, um, show up and just make sure that you're you're making your voice heard. And also making sure you vote. We're in an election year. Make sure you vote for those folks that are gonna actually support us as a community. It's important to educate yourselves on the issues, on the candidates, and so that when you're showing up to talk to these electeds, you're talking to the folks that you helped get there. So I'd like to also just push that. But yeah, we hope to see everyone Tuesday, June 9th to show up at that meeting and and really advocate for hard funding.

SPEAKER_00 17:30

Well, on that note, I think it's time to wrap this episode. Thank you both so much for being here. This is such an important conversation, and I'm really glad we had the opportunity to have it before this next city council meeting. I think that's clutch. Um, this has been an episode of the San Diego Pride Podcast, where we talk queer culture with context. Thank you for listening, and we will see you next time. This has been the San Diego Pride Podcast. Thank you for joining us, and thank you to our partner and sponsor, KPBS, for lending us this lovely studio space. And join us next time for when the mission meets the moment.

SPEAKER_02 18:18

If you would like to be a part of the work here at San Diego Pride, please join us in making a donation at sdpride.org slash donate, where any generous donation you have will help us meet the moment.