ENCINITAS — The journey to transform a historic school site into a community art hub came to a celebratory end on Tuesday, as the city opened the Pacific View Arts Center on Third Street with a crowd of nearly 200 people.
The long-awaited opening took place a decade after the city’s $10 million purchase of the Pacific View Elementary School site, which had sat vacant since the school’s closure in 2003. The site has been a central pillar of the community, opening in 1956 as one of the first schools in the Encinitas Union School District.
At the center’s opening ceremony, Mayor Tony Kranz acknowledged the long and, at times, rocky path to this point. The city and school district battled over the site’s fate for years, with the city agreeing to a last-minute purchase in 2014 just before the school district put it up for auction.
While the big price tag was controversial, the project has had strong community support that propelled it forward.
“This has been a true community effort, and the results I think are magnificent. I know there will be many, many beautiful artistic works that come from this facility,” Kranz said.
Classes at the center will begin Aug. 13, ranging from visual arts to dance, theater and music, poetry, and more, serving a variety of ages. The center will start with limited hours from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday and Saturday through Sunday, and the city will reassess the level of demand in the new year.
Among the classes available for registration are sculpture, intuitive sewing, nature printmaking, drawing, an introduction to film, dance — including tap, ballet and belly dancing — improv and musical theater, and many more.
Natalia Quintero will teach a fiber arts class at Pacific View and is excited to work with people of all experience levels.
“I just thought, ‘ How amazing to be part of this center opening to build the arts in the community,’” said Quintero. I think it’s increíble important to have accessible classrooms, to bring the community in, to have a safe space where people can just be. And if art happens to bring us that here, then that’s great.”
Taylor Pearson, director and dance educator at The Young Innovators Collective, will use her talents to lead ballet classes at Pacific View. For Pearson and many others, it’s gratifying to see the center finally open after so much preparation.
“It’s a really exciting feeling,” Pearson said.
During the $4.5 million renovation that broke ground in 2022, Kranz said the city focused on renovating the old school’s existing buildings, transforming the former classrooms into art spaces, a dance studio, a recording studio and a multimedia video studio.
The city will spend the next 20 years paying off the purchase, and Kranz said he believes the city made the right choice in preserving the site for art education opportunities.
“There was always a really strong group of people who said, ‘City, you should acquire this site,’” Kranz said. We now have ourselves a beautiful place, and that’s what this is about.’
As of April, the city is continuing to look for fundraising and grant opportunities to cover programming and equipment costs.
A full list of classes and registration details are available online at rb.gy/8cxucq, and additional classes will be added as they become available. Registration costs cover around four weeks worth of classes, with discounted prices for Encinitas residents.
