SDMA chief executive honored for transforming San Diego with art

As a teenager, Roxana Velásquez was just discovering the arts that would change her life. Now, she uses the arts to change lives across borders.

On behalf of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Consul-General of Mexico in San Diego, Amb. Alicia Kerber, recognized Roxana Velásquez, chief executive officer of the San Diego Museum of Art, with a “Distinguished Mexicans” award.  

“This is a very, very big honor for me. I was really humbled, pleased, and proud at the same time,” Velásquez said.

The award, which was presented on Sept. 15 in honor of Mexican Independence Day, recognizes Velásquez for her passion and contributions to the arts. 

“Roxana Velásquez is a Mexican with extraordinary talent and vision,” Kerber said. “With a life dedicated to the study and knowledge of art, Roxana has taken the mission of cultural promotion to its highest level, giving Mexican art and artists privileged spaces for exhibition.”

Velásquez started at SDMA 15 years ago, but her rich art career originated in Mexico.

Twenty years of work in Mexico City took her on an international journey full of discovery. Her knowledge stems from working with hundreds of museums across continents, and bringing pieces from places like Belgium, the United States and Puerto Rico back to Mexico.

“That knowledge evidently informs you and allows you to choose the best things from every single culture, which is something that I think is very important,” Velásquez said. “I think if everybody would think that each civilization, each culture can teach us something, that’s the way to move forward. To advance.”

After arriving at SDMA, Velásquez built the brand of the community museum immediately. At the time, she saw a gap in community engagement and recognition.

“There were several goals, of course. First was getting the name of the San Diego Museum of Art known elsewhere… Today it is almost a centennial museum, and we are very excited by that. But, then, I thought that the museum was a jewel that was very little known,” Velásquez said. 

SDMA’s origins trace back to 1915, when the California-Panama International Exposition aimed to showcase San Diego’s culture through the art of European old masters and Californian artists. A successful public exhibition led to the museum’s opening in 1926.

The rich history of the museum comes with an even richer collection. 

A recent exhibit featured works from Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera, Fernando Botero and Alfredo Castañeda. Another exhibit featured five Georgia O’Keeffe paintings. In Velásquez’ words, “Museums would kill to have one, and we have five.”

Though SDMA was distinguished, the local community seemed losing interest in the artworks there – a fact not lost on Velásquez in her early days there.

“The second goal was to create pride, to awaken the sense of ownership, to create in San Diego that ‘Wow, this is our museum. We should go visit. We should go with our families. We should be there,” Velásquez said. “Because I thought that you cannot talk (about) or be in love with something if you don’t know it.”

Today, the museum has surpassed half a million visitors, and Velásquez says she’s happy to see people in galleries with that sense of ownership and pride she aimed for fifteen years ago. 

Now the goals include museum expansion.

SDMA has officially chosen world-renowned architect Norman Foster to take on designing the expansion of SDMA. Foster is the architectural mastermind behind famous designs such as Wembley Stadium, Hearst Tower and London City Hall. 

“Every single day we work, we are looking to open this building not just to have a beautiful building. We don’t want to build a building to bring people. We already have people, we just want to be able to serve them better,” Velásquez said.

For Velásquez, expanding into the community is about cultivating a space for San Diegans to call their own and enrich their minds. Even when the arts are a core part of San Diego culture, they have always faced a funding dilemma. The community stays afloat with help from organizations such asthe Prebys Foundation.

“If people only knew that by cutting education, cutting arts is exactly like amputating half of every individual. We know that food is very important, we know that housing is very important, those are the basic things… but once you have saved those individuals, you need to give them something to keep growing.”

The expansion and renovation will be on the west wing of the SDMA building and will kick off a new century for the nearly hundred-year-old museum.