A new UC San Diego prize is asking artists from the San Diego-Tijuana region to imagine work that can cross disciplines as readily as people cross a campus. The inaugural ArtsConnect Prize opened for letters of intent Thursday, offering one artist or collective a $20,000 unrestricted award, up to $10,000 in production support and a weeklong university residency in October 2027.
The invitation is deliberately broad. Visual artists, musicians, performers, writers and makers in other disciplines may apply, and a proposal can braid forms rather than fit one department. Applicants must be based in the binational region and have at least five years of professional experience. Individuals and collectives of as many as three people are eligible; current UC San Diego students, faculty and staff are not.
That geography gives the prize its center of gravity. San Diego and Tijuana share audiences, histories and working relationships, yet institutional opportunities can still stop at jurisdictional or campus boundaries. ArtsConnect is positioning university space and money as a meeting point. The winning project must foster connection and dialogue, but the program does not prescribe what story the artist should tell or what medium should carry it.
A campus partner will help the recipient develop the piece for public presentation. Possible sites include the Epstein Family Amphitheater, the Conrad Prebys Music Center, the Visual Arts Main Gallery and outdoor areas across UC San Diego's 1,200 acres. Housing during the residency is included, a practical detail that gives the artist time on site rather than treating the presentation as a one-night appearance.
The application unfolds in two stages. Letters of intent are due Dec. 18 and should outline the proposed work, the applicant's practice and the project's connection to the prize. A smaller group will be invited to submit full proposals in February. UC San Diego plans to announce the recipient in May, leaving several months for collaboration before the Oct. 18–24 residency.
Alumni who graduated at least five years ago may apply, a rule that preserves a connection to the institution without turning the prize into an internal grant. The five-year professional threshold also signals that the program expects an established practice, whether the applicant is described as emerging or established. Experience, however, is not the same as access to large production budgets, which is why the support can matter.
The prize joins galleries, collections and performance venues already spread across the university. What distinguishes it is the promise to bring a regional artist into conversation with people beyond a single arts unit. A composer might work with an oceanographer; a visual artist might engage public health or memory. Those pairings are possibilities, not requirements, and their success will depend on whether collaboration changes the work rather than merely decorating it.
For the region's artists, the first threshold is intentionally lighter than a full commission proposal. A letter can establish the idea before the selected group commits to detailed planning. The larger test arrives after the award: whether campus resources remain porous enough for a work rooted in San Diego-Tijuana to keep its own voice, and whether the public presentation draws the communities the prize says it wants to connect.