Quick Take
The city of Watsonville has been designated a "cultural district" by the California Arts Council, a recognition of the city's commitment to promote local arts and one of only 24 such designated places in the entire state.
There are only 24 of them in the entire state of California, and now one of those is Watsonville.
It’s called a “cultural district,” a designation bestowed by the California Arts Council upon culturally distinct neighborhoods or business districts throughout the state – to support and highlight communities that promote and value “cultural diversity and unique artistic identities.” New to the entering class for 2026 is Watsonville.
The CAC announced this week that it has chosen 10 new communities throughout California to represent its “cultural districts” program, to bring the full roster to 24. The program was established in 2017 and originally included 14 designated cultural districts. The new announcement is the first expansion of the program since its beginning.
In concrete terms, to the city of Watsonville, the designation provides a $10,000 grant, spread over two years, plus other benefits including state-level visibility for marketing or promotional campaigns. But mostly, said Deputy City Manager Nick Calubaquib, it’s a matter of artistic pride.
“We’re definitely just at the beginning of spreading the word about this designation,” he said.
Watsonville is now the only state-certified cultural district in the Monterey Bay region or in Santa Cruz or Monterey counties. San Jose’s Japantown district also received a designation for 2026, as the only cultural district in the South Bay.
As a platform for the arts, Watsonville has blossomed in the past two decades, thanks to long-standing arts organizations like the dance troupe Esperanza del Valle and the drumming group Watsonville Taiko, as well as the expansion of Pajaro Valley Arts, the Watsonville Film Festival and, most visibly, the Watsonville Brillante program and its stunning mosaics on the downtown parking garage.
The city was one of 74 California communities that applied for the designation, said Calubaquib, in an application process that opened last spring. As part of the selection process, officials of the CAC visited Watsonville in October.
“We put together a three-hour program for them,” said Calubaquib. “I guess we left a good impression.”
Calubaquib said that around 20 local arts organizations participated in the CAC’s visit, which included walking tours and informational presentations. Participants included Esperanza del Valle, the Indigenous traditional performance group Whitehawk Dancers, and muralists such as Monica Galvan of Arte del Corazón. City officials outlined the city’s most recent Downtown Arts Plan.
In the end, the arts council decided that, for its cultivation of fine arts and arts organization, Watsonville was deserving of state certification.
Calubaquib said that the city might use the designation’s modest stipend for signage reminding visitors of the state-designated cultural district, or to let younger and more inexperienced local artists navigate the path to producing public art.
“It’s really intended to uplift our newest artists, to help them get established, and give them the tools to really make careers out of art in creative communities,” he said.
The prestige of the designation for the city is its exclusivity, putting Watsonville on par with many of the most vibrant and fertile artistic communities.
“That’s something that I’m personally proud of,” said Calubaquib. “If you look at the list of the other awardees this round, or even in the first round in 2017, we’re up against San Francisco, San Jose, Riverside — big municipalities. And then, you’ve got little old Watsonville, there on the Central Coast, all by itself. This is definitely a win for us, and puts Watsonville on the map.”
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