ESCONDIDO — One of North County’s newest arts leaders hopes to connect the region’s arts communities.
Dennis Doan, a San Diego-based tattoo artist, was first asked to join the board of the California Center for the Arts in Escondido about a year ago and officially joined at the beginning of this year.
Doan, who is Vietnamese American, is the center’s first Asian American trustee.
Beyond his role at the center, Doan owns BLVCK LOTVS Tattoo and is founder and president of the Doan Foundation, which supports underserved artists through scholarships, grants and community partnerships. He also serves on San Diego’s Commission for Arts and Culture.
Since entering the North County arts world, Doan has been surprised by how much activity takes place in the region, particularly through the center.
“Having grown up in the central city of San Diego, I didn’t even know such an institution existed that was doing so many things, providing so many services to the community, representing so many different voices… it was good to see that,” Doan told The Coast News.
Doan highlighted how, under CEO Gina Lopez’s leadership, the center reflects its community through major events celebrating the region’s Latino community, holiday events and exhibitions honoring the region’s Indigenous history.
One of the center’s most popular annual events, the Día de Muertos Festival, returns for its 31st year from 4 to 9 p.m. Nov. 1. The event is free and open to the public.
According to Doan, the center continues to have a significant impact on Escondido, but he would like to see its reach extend to other arts communities in North County.
“Everything up there seems fragmented,” he said.
Doan wants to see more collaboration among North County’s arts communities, including between the center and the Oceanside Museum of Art.
While he understands there may be business conflicts to resolve, he believes there is enough art for everyone to enjoy together.
“I think it’ll serve all of North County to start doing more collaborations and reaching out to one another,” Doan said.
He also wants to build more connections between the arts scenes in North County and the city of San Diego.
Doan believes the region’s arts communities would benefit from supporting one another as arts funding continues to decline at the local, state and national levels.
Building those connections doesn’t mean becoming part of the same homogeneous entity or inviting everyone into a single circle.
“Strong communities should have their own identities,” Doan said. “What we need are more points where those identities intersect – more people willing to show up when they are not the host, more institutions willing to listen before they program, and more leaders willing to build relationships before they need something.”
