Is dog-earing a magazine a thing? This year, you’re gonna want to fold the flap on these pages and keep them close so you can fill out your cultural calendar for the season to come. We’ve chronicled some of the city’s top arts events—both the classical and the avant-garde—to get you through the first part of the year. Delve into our city’s robust theater scene, visit a gallery that’s off the beaten track, or sit in the splendor of our music halls and be inspired by the talent teeming among us. San Diego may be better known for burritos and beaches, but these creatives and collectives prove that our cultural scene is something to write (or sing, sketch, or sashay) home about, too.
Presented in conjunction with the Bureau of Queer Art, this exhibition champions photographers who transcend standard digital methods. Winning shots will be on display at two galleries—one in Mexico City and Hillcrest’s Studio Door—and online at Artsy.net.
An alumna of UCSD’s visual arts program, teaching artist Gosia Herc’s practice explores collecting, archiving, voyeurism, and vandalism at beloved Barrio Logan artists’ hideout Best Practice.
Ethan Chan & David Peña
Institute of Contemporary Art North
January 18—July 27
Good Faith Gallery partners with the Institute of Contemporary Art to support local artists with a six-month residency at the former’s Sherman Heights studio. The 2024 recipients are Ethan Chan, whose sculptures and performances embrace kitsch, and mixed-media artist David Peña, whose work reflects his Mexican-American heritage.
Once
Lamb’s Players Theatre
January 21–March 30
Sure, guy meets girl has been done—but not to music like this. Adapted from the Irish film written by The Frames frontman Glen Hansard, this re-staging of the Coronado theater’s 2018 production brings back nearly all its original cast members.
This Tony-winning musical based on the classic Marilyn Monroe flick follows two down-on-their-luck male musicians who disguise themselves as women to join a girl band and escape the mafia members chasing them down
Courtesy of Victor Diaz Color Photography Collection Women in Focus
February Arts Events in San Diego
Women in Focus
Museum of Photographic Arts
February 1–July 13
This exhibit features pieces from the San Diego Museum of Art’s permanent collection of peerless images from the literal female gaze, featuring photographers like Margaret Bourke-White, Dorothea Lange, and Imogen Cunningham.
Wicked
Broadway San Diego
February 5–March 2
Grab your broomstick and your vocal coach, because the witches of Oz are returning to San Diego, hot on the ruby-studded heels of the Hollywood blockbuster. Broadway San Diego offers a chance to see this unlikely friendship play out live.
Other Desert Cities
Cygnet Theatre
February 5–March 2
Christmas in Palm Springs brings the heat for the Wyeth family as semi-estranged daughter Brooke returns, carting a tell-all memoir that threatens to pull them apart, thanks to opposing political views and a dark family secret.
Working Title No. 4
PROJECT [BLANK]
February 6–8
The fourth iteration of this annual mixed media showcase brings a swath of experimental art and music from Baja and San Diego to St. Paul’s Episcopal Cathedral in Bankers Hill, all dwelling upon the theme of “rituals.”
UC San Diego MFA grad Keiko Green penned this poignant, brand-new play about a painter who takes over her father’s job as a taxi driver in the wake of the tsunami that devastated Japan in 2011.
3 Summers of Lincoln
La Jolla Playhouse
February 8–March 23
This world-premiere musical set in the summer of 1862 sees Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass hash out the future of America over a soundtrack that blends gospel, R&B, and pow- erhouse anthems. Watch out, Hamilton.
Afra Eisma, Hold Heart Jumping, 2024 Courtesy Institute of Contemporary Art
Employing a new jazz arrangement by local band leader Gilbert Castellanos, Carnival of the Animals sees ballet through a Latin lens, while Tangata combines ballet and tango.
Lamoise New Works Festival
Moxie Theatre
February 15–16
New works from women and nonbinary playwrights undergo a two-week-long workshop at Rolando’s femme-focused theater. The festival culminates in a free weekend of performance featuring staged readings, one-acts, and a full musical.
Courtesy San Diego Museum of Art
For the People: Modernist Printmaking in Mexico
San Diego Museum of Art
February 15–August 10
This exhibit includes 20 modernist prints from Mexican and international artists helping to combat the global rise of fascism through art.
It’s like the “Skip Intro” button for the well-heeled: Fast-forward to the good stuff for the iconic ballet’s second act and second act only. Watch the saga of Odette and Prince Siegfried the way Netflix intended.
The writing duo behind Chicago brings together murder, mystery, and musical theater in this meta whodunnit that scored the Broadway production eight Tony awards, including Best Musical.
Anna Garner
Best Practice
March 8–April 12
You’ll recognize cartoon and slap-stick tropes in artist Anna Garner’s works that meld sculpture, performance art, and videography.
San Diego Latino Film Festival
Citywide
March 19–23
The 32nd SDLFF continues its mission to amplify Latino voices through cinema. To date, the fest has welcomed over 350,000 attendees and screened over 4,000 films and videos from across Latin America and the US.
Salome
San Diego Opera
March 21–23
In 1905, composer Richard Strauss cribbed Oscar Wilde’s original play and shaped it into a taut one-act opera rife with dramatic arias. This dark, erotic spectacle tells the biblical tale of Salome sung in German, with English and Spanish subtitles.
Courtesy of La Jolla Music Society
Ballet Folklórico de México de Amalia Hernández
La Jolla Music Society
March 23
Founded over 70 years ago, this troupe of world-class dancers honoring their Mexican heritage is still stunning audiences with elaborate dress, traditional choreography, and deft technique.
La Havana Madrid
New Village Arts
March 21–April 27
The Conrad Prebys Performing Arts Center transforms into the 1960s Chicago hangout La Havana Madrid, a nucleus for newly planted Latino immigrants to dine, dance, and commune. Hear their stories and songs as written by Sandra Delgado.
True West
The Roustabouts Theatre Co.
March 27–April 13
See tension steam between brothers Austin and Lee in Sam Shepard’s brooding yet funny masterwork that explores the fragile line between civilization and chaos.
Courtesy San Diego International Fringe Festival
April Arts Events in San Diego
Regency Girls
The Old Globe
April 2–May 4
From the writers of Seinfeld and the director of Spamalot, this world-premiere musical is a Victorian road trip for those in a sticky wicket. A pregnant, unmarried heroine and her best friends traverse the 19th-century English country-side to find the one woman who might offer a chance to change her fate.
San Diego International Fringe Festival
Citywide
April 15–25
More than 50 free and low-cost local, national, and international shows pop up across San Diego as part of this free-for-all festival that eschews censorship and juries to give artists a voice.
Peril in the Alps
North Coast Repertory Theatre
April 16–May 11
Mystery abounds in the après-ski vibe of the Alps as a detective searches for the missing Dulcie in this world-premiere play based on Agatha Christie’s Poirot Investigates.
Courtesy La Jolla Playhouse
Without Walls Festival
Citywide
April 24–27
La Jolla Playhouse’s WOW is a four-day festival of theater, dance, and immersive experiences across the UCSD campus, with a slew of international, national, and local performers parading their craft in outside-the-black-box settings.
The Mountain Song
Coronado Playhouse
April 25–May 18
Pairing a folk-tinged score with inventive puppetry and a family-friendly storyline, this “Theatre For Young Audiences” production follows a carpenter who climbs mountains in search of his daughter’s wedding.
La traviata
San Diego Opera
April 25–27
Giuseppe Verdi’s classic opera chronicles the love affair of courtesan Violetta Valéry and young nobleman Alfredo Germont. Despite their passion and commitment, social mores of the 19th century confine their love to tragedy.
Photo Credit: Natalie Gonzalez
Ventana Huichola
Oceanside Museum of Art
April 26–September 21
Artist Natalie Gonzales led community members in the creation of tsikuri, wooden crosses woven with yarn, to create this exhibition that honors the Mexican Huichol community.
Mission Fed ArtWalk
Little Italy
April 26–27
Highlighting over 250 artist-vendors from the US and Mexico, this two-day festival creates a walkable (and shoppable!) museum in Little Italy.
Photo Credit: Dale Stokes, City Ballet of San Diego
May Arts Events in San Diego
Carmen & Divertimento No. 15
City Ballet of San Diego
May 3–4
To close out its 32nd season, the City Ballet of San Diego presents two back-to-back one-acts: Carmen, the tale of a spicy, Spanish love triangle, and Divertimento No. 15, set to a beloved composition by Mozart.
Photo Credit: Joan Marcus
Hamilton
Broadway San Diego
May 6–18
Forget AP US History class—we’ve got Hamilton. Rap along to the modern soundtrack (we know you know the words) as Lin-Manuel Miranda’s smash-hit saga of founding father drama plays out.
Danielle is a freelance culture journalist focusing on music, food, wine, hospitality, and arts, and founder-playwright of Yeah No Yeah Theatre company, based in San Diego. Her work has been featured in FLAUNT, Filter Magazine, and San Diego Magazine. Born and raised in Maui, she still loves a good Mai Tai.
