The telltale signs of spring in San Diego are too lovely to keep outdoors. That’s why, for 41 years, the San Diego Museum of Art has welcomed the season with Art Alive. From April 28 to May 1, come see 100 unique floral arrangements inspired by the museum’s permanent collection. Britton Neubacher, owner of local interiorscaping company Tend, is this year’s rotunda designer; her 40-foot-tall Op Art–inspired installation, Organized Chaos, will be made entirely of recycled plants.As the museum’s biggest fundraiser, proceeds from Art Alive go toward education, outreach, and exhibitions all year long. In addition to the floral art, the event also includes four days of museum activities—from the opening celebration Bloom Bash, which features culinary creations from 30 local restaurants and after-hours installation viewing, to The Garden of Activities, which offers art projects for the whole family to try. Debuting alongside Art Alive this year is the environmentally conscious exhibition Terra: Fernando Casasempere, marking the prolific Chilean painter’s first full show in the United States. Its four installations are made with waste sourced from Chilean mining and drilling, intended to spark conversation on humanity’s responsibility for environmental deterioration.1450 El Prado, Balboa Park
Ryan Hardison is a freelance arts and entertainment writer and recent graduate of San Diego State. When he's not staring at his laptop, he's likely eating an adobada burrito or getting sunburnt at the beach.
It’s hard to overstate how radically the 1915 Panama-California Exposition catapulted San Diego into the future. The Panama Canal had just opened; the halves of the world were finally connected and the cultural possibilities (and tourism dollars) seemed endless. After passing through the canal on their way to the US, all of those new travelers from the east would land somewhere in the Golden State. The California city that won the right to host the expo would be in the global spotlight.
San Francisco fought tooth and nail to get it. In the end, some iconic San Diego players—including Ulysses S. Grant Jr. (son of the US President) and architect John D. Spreckels—nabbed federal support and brought the show to Balboa Park, making San Diego the smallest city to ever host a world expo.
Courtesy of San Diego History Center
It altered the city forever. The California Tower was built, as was the Spreckels Organ Pavilion. The San Diego Zoo got its start when Dr. Harry Wegeforth heard a lion roar at the expo’s animal exhibits. And—after 3.7 million visitors wandered the expo’s temporary halls filled with art and curated exhibitions and the exposition was extended from one year to two due to popular demand—cultural leaders knew San Diego couldn’t be a global city without a world-class art house. The project to bring a major museum to life began.
The dream gained momentum over the next decade. Funded largely by husband and wife Appleton and Amelia Bridges (she was heiress of the Timken family; her father made his fortune with the invention of the tapered roller bearing), the city commissioned architect William Templeton Johnson, who also masterminded the La Jolla Public Library (built in 1921) and San Diego Natural History Museum (1932).
Designed in Balboa Park’s ornate Spanish Colonial style, the Fine Arts Gallery of San Diego opened its doors on February 28, 1926 at the site of the original Panama-California expo. It’d be another 52 years before it adopted the moniker we know it by today: the San Diego Museum of Art, or SDMA.
The museum celebrates its centennial this month with the exhibition SDMA: 100 Years. The show guides viewers on a chronological journey through its evolution and defining moments—including growth spurts, name changes, and royal visits.
Courtesy of the San Diego Museum of Art
“The guiding idea for the show is how the community co-authored a shared history of the museum and its place in the region’s growing cultural heritage,” explains Lucas Perez, the exhibition’s curator and SDMA’s manager of art & empathy programs, projects, and innovation.
Just one year after the museum’s founding, art created by San Diego children lined the walls—a nearly forgotten chapter that Perez discovered while combing through archives. By bringing these 1927 creations back on view today, the exhibition collapses nearly a century, reconnecting the museum’s earliest voices with the present.
“Digging through archival material felt like treasure hunting,” Perez says. He dove into the Martin Behrman negative collection at the Golden Gate Archives (Behrman was known for documenting California cities in the 1920s), expecting to find general info on Balboa Park. Instead, he uncovered a 1928 photo of the museum’s original façade. “I was elated,” he says. “It was my understanding that a lot of those records were at some time lost.”
Courtesy of The San Diego Museum of Art Archives
After Pearl Harbor in 1941, the museum was converted into a naval hospital. The art was then moved to a Mission Hills mansion in 1943 donated by trustees Frank and May Marcy. Its rooms temporarily became San Diego’s most famous gallery, hosting exhibitions and lectures.
Perez uncovered a striking photograph from this time: nearly 150 nurses in white uniforms gathered in front of the museum. The handwritten caption reads, Just a few of us, perhaps not all? “Finding this was kind of a holy grail for me because there’s quite a gap in the record during that time period,” Perez says. Four years later, war over and hospital beds removed, the Fine Arts Gallery reopened.
The 1978 name change to SDMA reflected the institution’s commitment to going beyond traditional fine arts—painting and sculpture—to applied and decorative arts like ceramics and jewelry. Queen Elizabeth stopped by during her 1983 tour of Balboa Park, signaling the museum’s rising international stature. In the late ’80s, a 48-foot mobile art trailer called The Art Rig carried the collection beyond museum walls and into San Diego classrooms.
Courtesy of The San Diego Museum of Art Archives
Structural renewal followed, with the 2009 restoration of the museum’s Spanish Baroque façade. A 2023 merger with the Museum of Photographic Arts brought 15,000 photographic works into SDMA’s holdings, establishing photography as a core pillar of the institution’s evolving identity.
Roxana Velásquez, SDMA’s CEO for the past 15 years, is charged with balancing historical heft with what comes now and next. She and her team choose new acquisitions—from Spanish Old Masters to Persian, Southeast Asian, and Indian art—to cultivate conversation between the past and the present. The museum’s holdings now encompass more than 32,000 works.
Courtesy of the San Diego Museum of Art
“Our goal is to build a collection that speaks to the world our audiences come from,” Velásquez says.
And, with SDMA: 100 Years, those audiences can speak back: Visitors will have the chance to contribute to the exhibition by sharing photographs. “Our guiding question for [the exhibition] was, ‘Where is the community in this image?’” Pérez says. The museum now receives more than half a million visitors annually, bringing that community right to SDMA’s door—just as it has been for the last century.
SDMA: 100 Years is on view now through July 26, 2026.
Particle FM features everything from mutant jungle and heartfelt pop to international music and ambient sensory experiences
Xayn Naz
By Jakob McWhinney
Christian Gonzalez of Particle FM
Xayn Naz
San Diego’s never really been known to have a thriving experimental or electronic music scene. But Christian Gonzalez hopes to help change that with Particle FM, a DIY online radio station he created in October. The station is now raising money to set up a physical space.
Gonzalez, who first began DJ’ing at UCSD’s student-run station KSDT, was inspired to create Particle FM by online radio stations like Dublab, London’s NTS, and Lisbon-based Radio Quantica, on which he had his own show for a time. Particle FM’s shows run the gamut, featuring everything from mutant jungle and heartfelt pop to international music and ambient sensory experiences—but the throughline is that you’re unlikely to hear these sounds on mainstream radio.
Gonzalez created Particle FM because he was frustrated by the lack of diversity in San Diego’s music and radio scene. “Our goal really is to give underrepresented people the chance to share their music,” he says, including LGBTQ+, people from minority backgrounds, and all those whose music tastes fall outside of the mainstream. Currently, half the station’s DJs identify as women or nonbinary.
Since its creation, the number of shows on the station has doubled. And though the vast majority of its DJs are San Diego-based, they’ve found listeners in countries across the world. Particle FM hopes its future physical space will give more people the opportunity to get involved, especially those who may not be able to afford the gear necessary to broadcast from home
“I picture it as a nexus for camaraderie, creativity, and learning facilitated by a shared passion for music,” said Laurie Piña, the station’s community outreach coordinator. “I honestly think it’ll mark a turning point in San Diego’s underground, and its music scene in general.”
Art Alive at The San Diego Museum of Art Showcases Stunning Floral Displays amid Masterpieces of Art for Signature Fundraiser Weekend
Art and Floral Fun for All Ages April 28–May 1
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Sponsored Content Provided by The San Diego Museum of Art
Step into a botanical wonderland while seeing art in a new way. Art Alive brings art-inspired florals to The San Diego Museum of Art for a weekend of springtime revelry.
See a kaleidoscope of colorful floral arrangements interpreting works of art in the Museum. These masterful creations by regional floral designers are the heart of Art Alive.
The full-tilt florals throughout the Museum are enhanced with special, limited-engagement art installations; a large-scale botanical display in the Museum rotunda; four days of festive events and activities, including the return of Bloom Bash, the high-voltage celebration that kicks off Art Alive weekend; and the first look at an extraordinary new contemporary art exhibition.
San Diego Museum of Art
Floral Arrangements Interpret Works of Art throughout Museum
Experience art in an all-new way. Regional floral designers showcase arrangements interpreting more than 70 works of art from The San Diego Museum of Art collection, inviting comparisons of shape, form, and color. The galleries bloom as the designs are displayed alongside the original works of art from across the globe.
Grand Botanical Display in Museum Rotunda
Upon entering The San Diego Museum of Art during Art Alive, guests are greeted with stunning botanical views. The epicenter of the Museum, the Museum rotunda, will come to life with a two-story display by San Diego botanical designer Britton Neubacher. Her sustainably minded botanical showcase, titled “Organized Chaos,” uses preserved mosses, plants, and foliage to ground the space and draw visitors into the wonders on view throughout the Museum galleries.
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Art Alive Events
TheArt Alive Premiere Dinner on Thursday, April 28 is an elegant black-tie affair, celebrating art with a spectacular dinner in the galleries.
Bloom Bash on Friday, April 29, is the high-voltage celebration that kicks off Art Alive weekend. Bloom Bash features craft food and cocktails from more than 30 of the region’s top eateries, live performances, the return of the Ferris wheel to the plaza in front of the Museum, and music and dancing all night, plus special after-hours viewing of the Art Alive floral exhibition, special art installations, and featured exhibitions.
Art Alive Floral Exhibition takes place Friday, April 29, through Sunday, May 1, showcasing masterful floral designs interpreting works of art in the Museum collection. Experience botanicals throughout the Museum to enjoy art in an all-new way.
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Garden of Activities is designed for families and youth of all ages. Join Museum educators on Saturday, April 30, and Sunday, May 1, in the floral-themed art-making space to explore some of the many optical illusions artists employ through a variety of hands-on arts projects and demonstrations.
New Contemporary Art Exhibition Opens Art Alive Weekend
Experience a contemplative contemporary art space with TERRA: Fernando Casasempere. Opening Art Alive weekend, the Chilean ceramic sculptor’s first solo exhibition in the US highlights the urgency of the environmental crisis through installations that utilize the Earth as both subject and medium.
Special exhibition Monet to Matisse: Impressionist Masterpieces from the Bemberg Foundation is also on view during Art Alive. Showcasing a knockout collection of more than 60 renowned works of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist art, the exhibition showcases a stunning collection that wonderfully complements the Art Alive floral displays.Admission to both exhibitions is included with Art Alive tickets.
Get Tickets to Art Alive, the Museum’s Fun-Filled Signature Fundraiser
Art Alive is The San Diego Museum of Art’s signature annual fundraiser, providing essential support for Museum exhibitions, education, outreach, and public programs. Join the fun April 28–May 1 to experience an immersive fusion of flowers and art and show your support for the arts in your community!
Today’s seniors are more connected than ever, with a renewed focus on retirement as a time of discovery and enriching experiences. The ultimate reward for a retirement well-earned is the wisdom to appreciate it all, and what better place to enjoy that unique perspective than Vi at La Jolla Village, in the heart of San Diego.
All-access pass to good living.
As a Continuing Care Retirement Community (CCRC), Vi provides access to a connected and fulfilling community while making it easy to plan for future care, should the need ever arise. With a care plan in place, residents enjoy greater financial predictability and long-term value, freeing them to focus on making the most out of retirement.
Resort-style amenities at the epicenter of a cultural hub like San Diego offer a retirement experience unlike any other. Paired with exceptional dining, spacious accommodations and dedicated staff, the best of maintenance-free living is all around. And with the introduction of Vista 360 Well-Being, Vi’s panoramic approach to wellness, there are more ways than ever for residents to access it all.
The harmony of mind, body and community.
Courtesy of Vi at La Jolla Village
The key to longevity is striking the right balance in maintaining an active lifestyle with an active mind in a fulfilling community. With newly renovated community spaces and restaurants, Vista brings a variety of opportunities for residents to elevate their well-being through Vi-exclusive “Signature Experiences.”
Vista Enrich takes an evidence-based approach to brain vitality, keeping residents at the forefront of cognitive health through exergaming (exercising + gaming), nutritional plans and informative workshops. It is also home to The Brain Vitality Studio, an innovative facility dedicated to cognitive fitness that has garnered national recognition.
Vista Discover invites residents into stimulating educational experiences, from chef-led cooking demos and guided wine tastings to lectures at local universities and intimate lectures following cultural outings.
While Vista Enrich focuses on brain health and Vista Discover engages residents intellectually, Vista Explore cultivates a sense of adventure through curated travel and local excursions. But broadening one’s horizons doesn’t always require a plane ticket. One recent event brought a taste of the world right to the community: an onsite “jazz cruise” featuring live music and global cuisine served at a series of themed “ports” all within the community’s own ballroom.
“Location, location, location”
Courtesy of Vi at La Jolla Village
One of the biggest perks of life at Vi at La Jolla Village is its proximity to just about everything. With easy access to transportation and local attractions just steps away, residents can explore and engage with their community at their own pace.
“There are trolley and bus stops within a 5-minute walk that will get you to the beach, UCSD Campus, medical appointments, downtown La Jolla or San Diego, et cetera. We rarely use our car,” said resident Tom Yager.
With the best of San Diego just steps away, residents don’t just live in the city, they live within reach of everything that makes it special.
The best of all worlds.
Courtesy of Vi at La Jolla Village
At Vi at La Jolla Village, retirement isn’t a chapter to slow down; it’s an invitation to discover more. Tailored community experiences created by Vista, paired with the vibrant pulse of San Diego just outside the door, mean that residents don’t have to choose between security and adventure, connection and independence. They get all of it.
This is what an all-access pass to good living looks like: the comforts of an elevated lifestyle, a community built for growth and a city made for discovery – all in one place.
To learn more about Vi at La Jolla Village or for details on available floor plans, visit ViatLaJollaVillage.com/SDM.
NewBridge School is San Diego’s only school dedicated to the education of students with dyslexia and related learning profiles. For 30 years we have successfully served students with dyslexia, dysgraphia, dyscalculia, receptive/expressive language disorders, ADHD, executive functioning and memory deficits. Students transition successfully into academically rigorous high schools and colleges across the country. Why NewBridge? Training, training, training (plus intensive individualization, and comprehensive program design). All teachers are trained and retrained biennially in Orton-Gillingham, the only approach proven to remediate dyslexia based on Science of Reading research, and complete a year-long training program. Every aspect of our program is designed around our students’ learning styles and needs. Every class is taught by a highly-trained expert, and our Speech/Language and Occupational Therapy teams embed throughout the day. Our multisensory, multi-tiered math program has been developed in conjunction with sister schools and experts across the country. Don’t wait—early intervention is magic!
