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Photo by Hana Tobias for transcenDANCE
East County News Service
Sept. 24, 2025 (San Diego County) – With cuts in federal and state funding putting many arts organizations and cultural institutions at risk, along with as local budget shortfalls, donor fatigue and inflation woes, grants from outside agencies have grown more important than ever for many groups.
Leading the way to help local organizations stay rooted, keep operating and thrive is the The Conrad Prebys Foundation, the largest independent private foundation in San Diego County.
The Prebys Foundation this month announced it is providing $13.375 million in emergency grants to help keep some of the county’s most important cultural centers open.
“Arts are not a luxury,” said Prebys Foundation President and CEO Grant Oliphant. “They are essential infrastructure for a thriving, equitable, and prosperous region. When we invest in the arts, we invest in jobs, innovation, understanding and the shared spaces where our community’s stories and healing come alive.”
More than 60 local arts and culture organizations will benefit from the combined amount of the emergency grants.
The investment includes $8.625 million in unrestricted operating support for 22 organizations ranging from major cultural anchors to grassroots community arts groups. It also includes $4.75 million for venues and spaces funding to 39 organizations to preserve and enhance affordable, accessible places for creativity and connection.
East County-based transcenDANCE ($100,000) and The Art Center Ramona ($10,000) were part of Prebys Foundation awardees.
Dr. Emily Young, Executive Vice President of the Prebys Foundation said the grants are designed “to keep doors open, artists working and community partnerships alive.”
Young said that waiting means there could be a “risk losing not just organizations but the spaces and connective tissue they provide for the entire community.”
Arts leaders like Ethan Van Thillo, Executive Director & Founder of Media Arts Center San Diego are concerned that without immediate intervention, the loss of programming, partnerships, venues and jobs could impact San Diego’s entire cultural ecosystem and economy.
“As San Diego’s last remaining independent art-house cinema, the Digital Gym Cinema is a vital cultural hub where the community can come together to experience film,” Van Thillo said. “At a time when all cinemas face tremendous challenges to sustain themselves, this support allows us to expand our programming and provide more opportunities for community connection.”
The grants will also help keep the doors open to some of the city’s most important cultural centers.
"With the devastating budget cuts to the Institute of Museum and Library Sciences, museums such as ours are facing not only financial uncertainty, but also an existential challenge,” said Micah Parzen, CEO of the Museum of Us. “This funding is a critical vote of confidence in the importance of values-based work by cultural institutions throughout San Diego County during this tenuous time of historical erasure.”
Photo, left, below: An event earlier this year at The Art Center Ramona. (Photo courtesy The Art Center Ramona via Instagram)
An email from the Prebys Foundation said that organizations were selected based on their civic and cultural leadership, broad reach and community impact and accessibility, with special consideration for those representing a diverse range of disciplines and geographies, and facing public funding cuts.
Prebys’ awards to groups include $1 million each to La Jolla Playhouse, San Diego Museum of Art, San Diego Symphony and The Old Globe; and $500,000 apiece to Arts District Liberty Station, Fleet Science Center, La Jolla Music Society, Mingei International Museum, Museum of Us, San Diego Botanic Garden, The San Diego Natural History Museum and San Diego Opera.
The Prebys Foundation also granted $100,000 each to Institute of Contemporary Art, Pacific Arts Movement, San Diego Ballet and Playwrights Project. Additionally, the Foundation gifted $25,000 apiece to Art of Elan, Center for World Music, Classics 4 Kids, Project [BLANK] and San Diego Master Chorale.
The Prebys Foundation’s grants to venues and spaces included Cygnet Theatre Company ($250,000), Karen Organization of San Diego ($250,000), San Diego Civic Youth Ballet ($245,000), Dreams & Ducats ($200,000), Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego ($200,000), Space 4 Art ($200,000), Arms Wide Open ($150,000), Barrio Artists Partnership ($150,000), Fern Street Community Arts ($150,000), Los Coyotes Band of Cahuilla & Cupeno Indians ($150,000), Movement BE ($150,000), MOXIE Theatre ($150,000), San Diego Youth Symphony ($150,000), Via International ($150,000) and CCAE Theatricals ($140,000).
Other venues and spaces grants for $125,000 each went to A Reason to Survive, Centro Cultural de la Raza, Media Arts Center San Diego and Urban Collaborative Project; and grants for $100,000 each went to Bread & Salt Gallery, Gray Area Foundation for the Arts, Ilan-Lael Foundation, Malashock Dance, OnStage Playhouse, San Diego Dance Theate, San Diego Made, Veterans Art Project (via SEE) and Uprise Theatre.
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