About Us
WOO! Studios is a gallery and arts organization in the heart of Barrio Logan dedicated to expanding access to affordable, collaborative, and innovative creative spaces in San Diego. Through our tenant artist, and curatorial residency programs, educational offerings, and public programming, we aim to become an oasis and ecosystem for artists and humanities professionals at all levels to take risks and find refuge—penetrating gatekeeping to provide state-of-the-art facilities where the arts can flourish.
Why Do We Exist?
Students and emerging artists, particularly those from marginalized communities, are facing a future that is more and more uncertain—with funding for the arts and arts institutions increasingly under threat. This is not just alarming for those of us who love the arts. Research shows that storytelling and stimulating the right brain through the visual and performing arts is equally if not more effective in combatting hate as well as mis- and dis-information than presenting people with facts and scientific data. Creating a space to nurture artistic growth and foster collaborations between new and established artists has therefore never been more important.
What is Our Added Value and Vision?
The WOO! Studios leadership team is made up of highly-skilled architects, designers, artists, community organizers, and educators who understand what it’s like to try and navigate the changing and precarious arts economy. We are especially sensitive to the challenges that artists from marginalized communities face, and consider it an honor to be located in the predominantly immigrant and Chicane neighborhood of Barrio Logan.
- By offering affordable studios to tenants, we are dedicated to providing a space for artists to focus on their work without the burden of high rent, aiming to remove financial barriers that might otherwise prevent them from nurturing their artistic growth.
- We are using our training as architects and designers to build what would normally be exorbitantly costly infrastructure for artists with maximum economy and quality.
- We have created and operate from two novel and intersecting approaches:
- “L.I.I.T.”: Our work weaves together Local community voices, Institutional partnerships, International collaborations, and Transborder cultural exchange to ensure that we amplify the voices of our region and position our artists within a global network of institutions–from galleries to performing arts companies to universities.
- “No-Brow”: In designing our programming, we apply our unique principle of “No-Brow” with the goal of transcending capitalist, elitist understandings of “high” and “low” art and culture. Our playful motto is, We’re not High, We’re not Low. We’re NO.
What Does This Look Like?
WOO! Studios seeks to create a flourishing arts ecosystem that operates from the L.I.T.T. and No-Brow perspectives and advances the principles of cultural, geographical, economic, and interdisciplinary inclusivity through the following programs:
Residency Programs - Our interdisciplinary residency programs host both local and international artists at varying stages of their careers, integrating their work into the WOO!’s broader gallery exhibitions, educational initiatives, and public engagement activities.
Tenant Program - We offer subsidized studio spaces at a below-market rate, aiming to create an environment where collaboration, mutual support and professional development thrive between visual, literary, performing, and culinary artists and activists.
Exhibitions - Our exhibitions feature artists across disciplines, geographies, and stages of career, aiming to build a platform for meaningful and enriching exchange between cultures and communities while creating an innovative and bold artistic tapestry within San Diego and beyond.
Classes & Events - We are currently building out a menu of classes taught by our tenant residents and community partners. Additionally, we host specialty events in collaboration with our tenant program residents, curatorial program, and community partners.
What Will This Look Like?
We are currently in the process of building partnerships and services that will allow us to become both a practical and impactful resource for the local community and region.
- WOO! PTB (Path to Build) - Community- Controlled Development Against Gentrification. We envision our PTB program as a decentralized network of architecture and housing that keeps development power in community hands, building wealth and preventing displacement before gentrification takes hold.
- Food and Beverage Program - This program will serve two communities under one roof, with our courtyard café bar operating around the clock–delivering reliable, strong coffee and hearty, healthy food to dock workers–while also crafting specialized cuisine and drinks for gallery visitors. Open to both the general public and available for private event catering, our food program will bridge the gap between sustenance and artisanal innovation.
- WOO! Production and Design - From Festival Stages to Gallery Walls. Our design facilities currently support exhibition design and artist exhibition creation at the WOO!, but we plan to expand them to provide fabrication for other local and regional sites. From constructing complex art installations to custom frames, shipping crates to scenic design for local theatre companies, we hope our production studio will serve as the backbone for exhibitions and projects that demand both technical precision and artistic vision.