By SDCN Editor
San Diego, CA–Media Arts Center San Diego is moving to a new location!
Its doors are set to reopen this fall inside of the state-of-the-art facility at UC San Diego at Park and Market, the University’s new building located in the heart of downtown San Diego.
The art center was founded over 29 years ago with the mission of providing film resources and educational initiatives to at-promise communities in San Diego. Despite the pandemic, the arts center was able to shift its programming to virtual platforms to continue fulfilling its commitments to the community. The opening of the new space allows the art center team to relaunch all of its in-person programmings. Educational initiatives such as the Teen Producers Project and Youth Media and Tech Camps will be produced, in-person, at the new venue.
The new Digital Gym Cinema will be located on the second floor of the building, adjacent to both a gallery space and an overlook terrace. A concession stand will be in operation during cinema hours. The art center’s office will be on the third floor and will include access to classrooms for youth and teen media education initiatives. The soft launch for the Digital Gym Cinema is October 2021. Plans for an opening reception are underway, as well as preview events for members of the community and media.
“The pandemic put a brief stop to our in-person outreach so it will be extra special to see our Digital Gym Cinema film-goers back inside our new state-of-the-art movie theater. We look forward to seeing the smiling faces of all our youth and teen filmmakers at our filmmaking camps taking place year-round at the new facility in the East Village,” Media Arts Center San Diego executive director and founder Ethan van Thillo said.
The four-story 66,750-square-foot mixed-use office building strategically sits at a Trolley stop — physically linking the east and south San Diego counties, the Baja Mexico region, and the building to the main UC San Diego campus in La Jolla. The new building will be an innovative collective hub for arts, sciences, civic, business, innovation, and education entities to provide diverse programs that pull upon the breadth and depth of the city’s most creative endeavors.
UC San Diego at Park and Market is located at the corner of Park Avenue and Market Street in the East Village area of downtown San Diego.
