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The San Diego Film Commission is closed, a casualty in the ongoing saga of the legality of the Tourism Marketing District fee. And while at least one film critic is happy to see the commission go, others, like Cathy Anderson who ran the commission from 1997 to 2011, aren’t ready for the end.
In her opinion piece for Voice of San Diego, Anderson calls the commission, which was responsible for bringing “Anchorman” and other big-ticket films to the region, a major economic boon:
It had attracted up to $100 million in direct production company spending each year to the San Diego region. No multipliers, no estimates, no guesses: direct, accountable and audited benefit to the San Diego economy.
A petition to save the commission has attracted more than 50 signatures so far. The petition and Anderson are asking local governments to reconsider the commission’s impact and reinstate funding.
Meanwhile, the Film Consortium, San Diego is working hard to remind people that local film-making lives on despite the commission’s demise. The group is inviting people to view a short indie film, “The Virtual,” at Digital Gym on Saturday.
You’re reading the Culture Report, our weekly compilation of the region’s arts and culture news.
Eveoke Calls it Quits
• After nearly two decades, Eveoke Dance Theatre is shuttering its North Park location and, for now anyway, putting an end to their contemporary dance performances and classes. Artistic director Ericka Aisha Moore told U-T San Diego the nonprofit organization needed to take a break and figure out how to make art and money:
As an artistic organization, we are awesome — teaching, producing work and building relationships in our community. We need to take a step back and see how we can move forward sustainably and create balance between the business aspect and our artistic side.
On their Facebook page, Eveoke said the plan is to return, but there’s no word yet on how long the search for sustainability might last.
Happening Here
• The San Diego Regional Arts & Culture Coalition sent out an email last week announcing Dana Springs as the interim executive director for the city’s Commission for Arts and Culture. It’s familiar territory for Springs, who served as interim executive director before Denise Montgomery assumed the post. Montgomery recently resigned over the scandal surrounding the mayor’s office. The coalition also says they’ll be working to ensure the Penny for the Arts program is maintained in the city’s budget and that they plan to approach the San Diego Tourism Authority about collaborating on “promoting San Diego as a cultural destination.”
• Among the more than $5 million in artwork and jewelry stolen from a Rancho Santa Fe home recently was a Monet print. (L.A. Times) Crime Stoppers posted a few photos of some of the missing artwork.
• A mural located on a pedestrian bridge above Interstate 5 in Barrio Logan has been hit hard with graffiti. (U-T)
• The number of donkeys painted to look like zebras in Tijuana has dropped from 25 to three in recent years. Concerned citizens are working to save the iconic “zonkeys” from extinction. (NPR)
• San Diego IndieFest takes place this weekend at Liberty Station. One of the co-founders just finished more than four months of chemotherapy, but she says, despite lower-than-usual stamina, she wants the festival celebrating under-the-radar music to go on. (U-T)
• The L.A. Times calls “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead” a “metapharcical romp” that’s a satisfying change to the expected lineup at The Old Globe’s Shakespeare Festival in San Diego.
• San Diego CityBeat is hosting its first-ever 5 Minute Film Festival, featuring independently produced short films.
Local Roots
• San Diego holds on tight to its title as the craft-beer capital of the United States (don’t tell Portland). Two new breweries opened last weekend: Modern Times in Point Loma and Mike Hess Brewing in North Park.
• The director of Fashion Week San Diego wrote a detailed personal note introducing this year’s lineup of designers.
• It’s been nearly a month since Comic-Con blasted in and out of town, but comics still seem to be popping up everywhere (POW!). CityBeat profiled a comic-book artist battling brain cancer and KPBS produced a lengthy piece on a civil rights leader who recently released a graphic autobiography. San Diego Reader’s Jay Allen Sanford, a comic-book artist, got a mention in The New York Times for his work on “Rock ‘N Roll Comics” and the Women’s Museum of California is hosting a panel discussion on women in the comic industry on Thursday.
• I wrote about a local threesome of artists who were commissioned by YouTube’s Network A to produce a series of 10 animated shorts focused on skateboarding. You can watch the series here. (Pacific San Diego)
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