San Diego Rising Arts Leaders
San Diego Rising Arts Leaders has evolved into a continuum of professional development programs for participants at every stage of career development in the arts and culture field. Under this program, San Diego ART Matters seeks to provide learning opportunities that build, deepen, and sustain personal and professional capabilities and relationships among artists and arts and culture organization professionals so they are better able to lead, collaborate, and problem-solve.
Each program is designed to meet the needs of working professionals with limited time and resources but the desire to learn with peers in virtual and real spaces. Stay tuned for announcements of new programs as they are introduced over the coming months.
San Diego Emerging Leaders Arts Advocacy Training Program
The San Diego Emerging Leaders Advocacy Training Program provides arts and culture practitioners with a greater understanding of the political process and the basics of arts advocacy tools and strategy. This pilot program was launched in collaboration with California for the Arts. Applications are now closed.
Learn more about this year's cohort
Brianna Carignan
Brianna Carignan is a multifaceted Xicana artist who appreciates history and culture. This informs her passion as an artist and undergrad Urban Planning student at San Diego State University, as well as outside academia and in the community with others. As a student mentor, she assists SDSU’s Elymash Yuchaap Indigenous Scholars and Leaders Program. Brianna is also a member of the Aztlán Youth Brigade, a Chicano Park youth-led grassroots organization dedicated to protecting the park’s legacy and raising consciousness in Chicana/o youth.
Tonatiuh Gomez
Rebecca Pierce Goodman
Rebecca Pierce Goodman has 20+ years of professional experience in theatre, film, festival, and event production and arts administration, including teaching and business management. Becky is currently the Assistant Director of Philanthropy, Institutional Giving at La Jolla Playhouse.
Previously, Becky served on the boards of directors for the Carlsbad Music Festival and Oceanside Theatre Company and as chair of the Oceanside Arts Commission. For five years, she also co-created and ran a concert promotion business called TenPints Entertainment LLC. Becky held positions such as managing director and production manager for Carlsbad Music Festival, music series director for Oceanside Theatre Company, marketing and administrative manager for Soka Performing Arts Center in Orange County, managing director for The Vagrancy, director of theatre operations for Canyon Crest Academy, production manager and technical director for New Village Arts, art director for Divine Trinity Productions, and scene shop manager for Pacific Event Productions. Freelance work has included lighting design and stage management in San Diego and Los Angeles. Additionally, she has consulted with small theatres and nonprofit organizations in strategic planning and fundraising.
She earned an MFA in Theatre Management from Wayne State University in Detroit and a BA in Theatre Arts from Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. She enjoys the arts, the outdoors, and a good beer; she currently lives in Oceanside, California, with her husband and three kids.
Wendy Gracia
Wendy Gracia is an exhibiting artist who showcases her works often in Barrio Logan, and has collaborated with the Chicano Art Gallery, Luna Bloom, and various other spaces in the Barrio Logan neighborhood with community art shows and even by donating pieces for fundraisers via Chicano Park Day and through Bread & Salt’s Annual Museum School Art Auction.
Aside from her professional experience working in museums in front-facing roles over the last several years, Wendy has participated in her organization’s BIPOC and IDEA groups and committees and has more recently transitioned to a role with Balboa Park Cultural Partnership. Wendy served as a Steering Committee member for Rising Arts Leaders San Diego from 2020-2022, beginning her work with Arts Advocacy then, from interviewing local artists and business owners to helping organize Arts Fest 2020, where multiple artists, craftspeople, and poets were given the opportunity to share their works and space with community members.
Jose G Lopez
Jose G Lopez, born and raised in National City, has always been the place he called home. Introduced to Art History during his childhood, the arts have long held a place of fundamental importance personally and professionally throughout his life. He pursued undergraduate training in Art History, receiving an Associate's degree and Certification in Museum Studies from San Diego Mesa College and a B.A. in Fine Arts with an emphasis in Art History from San Diego State University. Professionally, Jose has a background in retail sales, healthcare, and non-profit work. He continues to be passionate about fine arts and is committed to advocating for equity and social justice in arts education as his career evolves.
Luisa Martinez
Luisa Martinez is a cultural organizer, artist, and educator from the so-called Tijuana-San Diego border region. She looks to understand and question borders beyond the constraints of geographical parameters, exploring tensions of belonging as elements of solidarity and world-building. She is currently the Communications Specialist at Outside The Lens, a San Diego media arts youth-centered nonprofit. And is also part of the founding board for Dignity Across Borders. Luisa co-founded Tijuana Zine Fest, a cross-border arts festival that promotes self-publishing as a form of collaboration, and has build dozens of artists spaces and opportunities in the Tijuana-San Diego region. She was one of Otros Dreams en Acción’s (ODA) inaugural Artivists in Residence in 2019. She continued to collaborate with ODA as Program Director for Florecer Aquí y Allá–a two year program that centers migrant-led community narrative change and creativity across borders–and leading their inaugural Florecer Fellowship. She was the 2021 California Arts Council Administrators of Color Fellow for the region of San Diego. And in 2023 she co-facilitated Transnational Border Lab with faculty at The New School and was a guest speaker at The Hemispheric Institute in New York.
Vanessa Nunez
Vanessa Nunez is a first-generation Mexican-American born and raised in San Diego. She grew up on Market Street watching her older brother and his friends “tagging” her culture through their art. This lived experience instilled a seed in her to see art as more than the visual. In a much different way, photography has been her choice and passion. She has always had an eye for portraits, and her interest has led her back to it. She is now a full-time Mom who lives for arts and crafts time, taking childhood photos of her son and thriving to empower herself by breaking generational traumas.
Cat Chiu Phillips
Cat Chiu Phillips creates installation work in public spaces using traditional handcrafted methods, often encouraging community-engaged public artworks to create visibility and highlight equitable presence for all. Phillips has received numerous national public art commissions, is in the permanent collections for various city entities, and received accolades from the California Arts Council and the National Endowment for the Arts. She received her MFA from the San Francisco Art Institute and an MS in Special Education. She has been an educator in public schools for over 24 years, an adjunct professor for NU's Sanford College of Education, and is currently a San Diego Unified VAPA Visual Art Resource Teacher.
Ada Shido
Ada Shido is a passionate advocate for bridging communities through the transformative power of art. She leverages her experiences as an artist, a Youth Commissioner for the San Diego County Arts and Culture Commission, a RISE Urban Leadership Fellow, the People and Culture Coordinator at A Reason To Survive (ARTS), and the Sector Lead for youth in San Diego County for California Jobs First to promote art, especially in communities where it is not accessible. Ada believes art has the powerful ability to inspire self-reflection and facilitate meaningful dialogues around our shared history. She is excited to learn how to weave stories around the impact of arts and continue to advance its accessibility and influence.
Zia Sinclair
Zia Sinclair works in the arts and culture nonprofit sector, where she has gained invaluable experience in community building, digital marketing, and fundraising. Throughout her career, she has had the opportunity to work with diverse groups of people and collaborate with teams on projects that promote cultural diversity and inclusivity. She is the Development Manager for Pacific Arts Movement - presenter of the San Deigo Asian Film Festival.
She has showcased and sold her work as a visual artist at various galleries, such as the San Diego Art Institute, the Oceanside Museum of Art, and La Bodega Gallery.
She truly believes that arts and culture are essential in fostering growth, creating economic opportunities, and strengthening communities. As a person of color, she sincerely believes that art has the power to drive social change. It can be a powerful medium for expressing emotions, voicing opinions, and creating conversations that contribute positively to community development. She is committed to building connections, creating dialogues, and making meaningful contributions to the community. In her spare time, she engages in art-house cinema, reading and creating visual art, often experimenting with both digital and analog photography and videography.
Xochi Zepeda
Xochi Zepeda is the Lead Security Services representative at the Museum of Contemporary Arts San Diego. She is also a freelance illustrator, zine maker, and volunteer for risograph printing press Burn all Books.
Arts Now Leadership
The Arts Now Leadership program provides leadership training and professional development to a select cohort interested in supporting arts education in San Diego schools. Developed in collaboration with Create CA, this program provides a small team with stipends to serve as advocates throughout all of San Diego County’s K-12 school districts.
The Arts Learning Network – Coming Soon!
This practical nuts and bolts program provides training in the fundamentals of arts management over a 12-month period. From arts advocacy to the art of fundraising, program planning, marketing, and development, participants will gain an introduction to it all and be on track to step up and into new roles and responsibilities in arts management in the future.
