Newsletter: Daylight announces artists for our first arts and culture event, Making Home
Plus, a roundup of the latest immigration news.
Hello everyone!
Often home is not something that simply exists, but something we create. Immigrants and refugees, who are uprooted or uproot themselves from their homes, and their children, who often straddle two cultures, know that fact particularly well.
Art has long been one way immigrants and their children create home. In our first Daylight Culture Club event, Making Home: How Immigrants Use Art to Find Belonging, we’re excited to feature a panel discussion with four local artists who are either immigrants or children of immigrants about how they use art to create a sense of place and home. Here is a little bit more about each of them:
Josue Baltezar is an artist, designer, and printmaker who believes art should be accessible to everyone. His work includes large-scale murals, illustrations and brand designs for local and multinational organizations. As a former undocumented immigrant, he recognizes art's power to amplify voices and advocate for meaningful causes within his community.
Victor Castañeda H is a San Diego-based artist that works in sound, video, coding, VR, installations and performances. Focusing on themes of the mundane, and the fallacies of re-remembering to create new narratives and fantasies, Victor often combines installations with performances of field recordings through live-coding or DJ sets. Victor utilizes everyday materials in his installations from paper mâché, fabric, house paint and found objects. Victor has performed at The Brown Building, Two Rooms, Light Box Theater, MCASD, and UCSD. He has also shown at California Center for the Arts Museum Escondido, Harvest and Gather, ICA San Diego, Two Rooms, and Oolong Gallery. He currently is the Creative Liaison at the AjA Project, where he is an educator and manages projects for public artworks.
Fernanda Gaspar is a contemporary artist and jeweler from Guadalajara, Mexico based in San Diego, California. She received her B.A. in Business Administration with a minor in Jewelry & Metalwork from San Diego State University. Gaspar was the Pocosin Arts Metals Artist in Residence for 2024-2025. Now she is producing art in her studio and teaching part-time for Grossmont College and The San Diego Jewelry Academy. She also coordinates the Summer Metals J.A.M. program at Idyllwild Arts.
Amara Sengamphan is a poet based in San Diego and Menifee, California. Her poetry serves as a healing medium, transforming her inner reflections into tangible expression. Her work is deeply shaped by her identity as the proud daughter of Khmer and Lao-Nyaw Cambodian genocide survivors and refugees. As a Poetic Nostalgic Fellow, her collaborative poem— created alongside emerging poets from City Heights— is currently on display at the San Diego
Museum of Photographic Arts in Balboa Park. She is also the co-founder of the Southeast Asian Poetry Collective, a nonprofit community organization dedicated to preserving and celebrating both ancient and contemporary Southeast Asian poetry while building a supportive network of SEA creatives.
This event marks the launch of the Daylight Culture Club, a new series of arts and culture gatherings designed to bring people together to learn, create and connect. Each event will feature conversations with artists, cultural leaders or creatives, along with time for participants to make art together in a welcoming, community-centered space.
After the panel discussion, Daylight invites everyone to stay and craft in community. There will be some art supplies available, but feel free to bring an existing project you’re working on, as well. Daylight will hold the event at Doh Doh Coffee, a small business run by Karen refugees, where art created by their community in partnership with The AjA Project is on display.
You can reserve your ticket here for $5, $10 or $15, depending on what you can pay. Each ticket will include coffee or tea and a pastry from Doh Doh Coffee. We can’t wait to see you there!
— Maya Srikrishnan
In our effort to continue listening to and collaborating with the community we serve, we invite you to take this survey to help guide our 2026 coverage and offerings.
— Lauren J. Mapp
ICE arrested another immigrant journalist, Customs and Border Protection officials are citing green card holders for being out without their documents in Arizona, and at least 11 people have died in ICE custody so far this year. Here's what happened last week in immigration news.
— Kate Morrissey
The video that changed the narrative of a fatal beating on the border
In 2010, Ashley Young witnessed and documented as border officials beat a man at the San Ysidro Port of Entry, killing him. As state violence from immigration officials spreads across the country, Young offered some perspective about what those acts can mean for witnesses and how to navigate the aftermath.
— Kate Morrissey for Capital & Main
This week, San Diegans can take a class on navigating the job market, join a zine workshop or attend a book signing with fantasy author Blake Arthur Peel.
— Lauren J. Mapp
Other news
San Diego concert ticket prices are out of control. KPBS looked at how the cost of live music got so bad.
The San Diego City Council passed a resolution to lower speed limits on about 20% of city streets to meet its “Vision Zero” goal to eliminate traffic fatalities and serious injuries, NBC 7 reported.
A San Diego County program that provides free legal counsel to immigrants in detention and unaccompanied minors could face “significant funding gaps” next year, according to The San Diego Union-Tribune.
The American Civil Liberties Union of San Diego & Imperial Counties launched a hotline for reporting unlawful conduct by agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement, U.S. Border Patrol and other federal law enforcement agencies, NBC 7 reported.
Civil rights leader Dolores Huerta issued a statement about the sexual misconduct by Cesar Chavez and her own experiences of abuse with him.
Upcoming Events
March 19
San Diego Latino Film Festival: The annual Latino film festival returns to San Diego with a line-up of films from shorts to features. Tickets are available online. March 18 - 22, times vary by day. AMC Mission Valley and Digital Gym Cinema
Farm Kitchen: A Hands-On Cooking Class: Coastal Roots Farm is hosting a cooking class where attendees will gather ingredients from the farm's fields and prepare a meal while exploring the Jewish values that guide the farm's growing practices. No cooking experience is needed. $75 per person. 5 - 7:30 p.m., Coastal Roots Farm, 41 Saxony Road, Encinitas, CA 92024
Surviving a Crumbling Job Market Workshop: The San Diego Black Panther Party presents a two-part online political education series on navigating employment. Class 2 covers resume structuring and interviewing. 7:30 p.m. Join via Zoom, Meeting ID: 832 9168 2642, Passcode: 794566.
March 20
Community Yoga: Alchemystic Studio hosts a gentle community yoga session at The Brown Building every Friday. Reserve space online on a pay-what-you-can basis. 6 - 7 p.m., The Brown Building, 4133 Poplar St., San Diego, CA 92105
March 21
Love Your Neighborhood Cleanup: Mundo Gardens and Urban Collaborative Project CDC are hosting a cleanup day as part of a green corridor project working to reclaim spaces in Southeast San Diego and National City. The gathering will honor the leadership of César Chávez and Larry Itliong. Attendees should wear closed-toed shoes. Light snacks and refreshments will be provided. Those interested can call 619-988-4392 or email connect@mundogardens.com with questions. 10 a.m. - 1 p.m., Maat Mataa Yum, Division & Palm Ave., National City, CA, 91950
Know Your Rights: Interactions With Law Enforcement: The San Diego Black Panther Party and the Office of the Public Defender are leading a discussion on the best practices when interacting with law enforcement. 11 a.m. - 1 p.m., 6 Hensley St., San Diego, CA 92102
March 22
Vinyl at the Market: Mo Records is hosting a record show at Liberty Public Market, featuring thousands of records for sale, curated record vendors and vinyl DJs spinning music on wax all day in celebration of Liberty Public Market's 10th anniversary. 10 a.m. - 4 p.m., Liberty Public Market, 2820 Historic Decatur Road, San Diego, CA 92106
Zero Waste Textile Expo: The Solana Center for Environmental Innovation invites San Diegans to learn about the environmental impact of clothing and textile waste. Clothing swaps, interactive displays, textile repair Fix-It Clinic and local sustainable vendors will be offered. 1 - 4 p.m., 1140 Oakcrest Park Dr, Encinitas, CA 92024
Read Between the Lines: Ask Ashlyn and Commonplace are hosting a workshop on news literacy and spotting bias in journalism at Mission Brewing in Kensington. Tickets are $15 and can be reserved online. 3 - 5 p.m., Mission Brewing, 4067 Adams Ave., San Diego, CA 92116
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