Duties and Functions – Commission for Arts and Culture
San Diego Municipal Code § 26.0704
in effect§26.0704 Duties and Functions – Commission for Arts and Culture
The Commission shall:
(a) advocate for the role and value of arts and culture in civic life;
(b) promote greater public participation in, and access to, arts and culture;
(c) evaluate the City’s programmatic allocation of transient occupancy tax funds for arts and culture and strongly advocate for increasing arts and culture funding to levels which measurably support the vitality and stability of established arts and cultural organizations, and which foster an environment attractive to and nurturing of emerging arts and cultural organizations;
(d) advocate for and explore alternate sources of arts and culture funding including grants, donations, and corporate sponsorships;
(e) advise on the development, implementation, evaluation, or change of the City’s arts and culture public policy, legislation, programs, and services;
(f) advocate for City public policy, legislation, programs, and services that foster a wide range of arts and cultural offerings which engage a diverse public audience;
(g) review the annual proposed arts and culture funding allocations related to Commission business in the budget for transient occupancy tax funds for the Arts, Culture, and Community Festivals priority area and provide recommendations to such budget allocations;
(h) advise on the administration of the arts and culture funding allocations within transient occupancy tax funds for the Arts, Culture, and Community Festivals priority area;
(i) oversee and, when appropriate, participate in an open and impartial process for evaluating transient occupancy tax funding applications from local, non-profit arts and culture organizations;
(j) recommend to the City Council and City Manager the fair distribution of transient occupancy tax funds to non-profit arts and culture organizations and artists, to support local arts and culture programming;
(k) advise on collections management activities and public art project management activities pertaining to existing and proposed artworks for the Civic Art Collection, or contracted for, exhibited on, or erected on public places;
(l) advise on allocations to and from the Public Art Fund;
(m) advise on the policies and processes whereby artworks are included in Capital Improvements Program projects and Redevelopment Agency projects and ensure that artists are involved as early as possible in the pre-design or design phases for each project;
(n) advocate for the fair distribution of arts and culture amenities across each City Council district and throughout the City’s neighborhoods and communities;
(o) participate in the initiation, implementation, or sponsorship, alone or in partnership with other public agencies or private organizations, of programs and services to support local arts and culture organizations and individual artists;
(p) serve as the City’s advocates for arts and culture within the City Council, as well as the private sector, local, regional, state, and federal governments, and international entities, such as Mexico, Canada, Japan, and other Pacific Rim countries;
(q) advise on other arts and culture issues as directed by the City Council or City Manager;
(r) hold regular public meetings and keep written records of the proceedings which shall be public records; and
(s) adopt rules consistent with laws for the governance of its business and procedures.
(Renumbered from Section 26.0703 and amended 5-17-2004, by O-19280 N.S.)
(Amended 10-27-2008 by O-19794 N.S.; effective 11-26-2008.)
(Amended 10-14-2024 by O-21878 N.S.; effective 11-13-2024.)
Source: City of San Diego Office of the City Clerk, San Diego Municipal Code and City Charter (docs.sandiego.gov PDFs)URL: https://docs.sandiego.gov/municode/MuniCodeChapter02/Ch02Art06Division07.pdf#page=2Fetched: 10/28/2026