San Diego International Airport Arts Plan
The Airport Arts Plan for San Diego International Airport provides a comprehensive evaluation of the airport’s public art, exhibitions and performance initiatives, and guides the program through a major airport capital investment program and beyond, with a focus on enhancing airport user experience and creating meaningful partnerships with the regional arts community.
Date | 2019
Client | San Diego County Regional Airport Authority
Collaborators | Via Partnership, Victoria Plettner-Saunders, Decision Support Partners
The Arts Program at San Diego Airport has a core philosophy – it is in a unique position to introduce visitors from elsewhere to the region, to introduce the region’s travelers to the arts and culture resources in their community. While the program’s most ambitious project are major public art commissions, it also manages robust exhibition and performance programs.
This plan, which updates a previous airport arts plan, was precipitated by a major airport expansion project that was in the planning stages. The plan looks beyond that to:
Outline a near-term strategy for how the Arts Program can develop public art projects, arts infrastructure and arts programming related to airport expansion and redevelopment plans,
Propose a long-term strategy for the Program to focus more on programming than public art related to capital projects.
Consider how the Arts Program can engage with a culturally and economically vibrant region that has a diversified and interconnected arts and culture sector.
Explore how the Program can best support the Airport’s efforts to create a satisfying customer experience.
The planning process involved:
comprehensive user surveys – general public surveys and questionnaires administered directly to airport customers
outreach to regional arts leaders and organizations,
workshops with the airport’s capital planning and design consultants to identify public art opportunities.
The plan found that:
Successful partnerships with regional arts organizations strengthened the excellence of the Program’s offerings, effectively leveraging airport resources and generating a positive attitude about the airport, and helped partner organizations strengthen their artistic output and audience visibility.
The Program can strengthen its community engagement outcomes by expanding communications and marketing to internal audiences, regional arts and culture peers and the public at large.
To meet these challenges and take advantage of these opportunities, the Program requires flexibility, in terms of both its operations and the way its funding can be used.
So far, the plan has resulted in at least nine major commissions in the new Terminal 1, with more on the way.
