Dear Tomorrow, Oceanside Museum of Art (OMA)
Dear OMA, - A Community Love Letter to Oceanside Art
Art has a way of making a community feel more vibrant, connected, and alive. But across San Diego, the arts are facing a difficult moment, with organizations and creative programs having to scale back, reduce staff, or rethink what’s possible as funding becomes harder to come by.
Rather than dwell on what’s falling away, we want to celebrate what’s still here—the creative people who make it possible.
Dear Tomorrow is teaming up with the Oceanside Museum of Art (OMA) on a new merch collaboration celebrating the creative spirit of Oceanside. And we want to invite you, our community, to help us put that spirit into words.
We’re asking you to complete one or all of the simple prompts below, starting with: “Dear OMA,”
Tell us what the arts mean to you and to this community. What does a thriving creative community full of artists, museums, galleries, studios, performances, public art, and creative spaces make possible? What do you hope we protect, nurture, or dream into existence for the future?
Your response can be a poem, a few lines, a sentence, a wish, a reflection, or a short letter. Go heartfelt, poetic, funny, hopeful, unexpected—we want to hear your voice. We’re less interested in describing a single artwork and more interested in the bigger picture: the role creativity plays in making a city feel like a place where people want to live, gather, imagine, and belong. Think of it as a creative declaration that brings together all of us weirdos, dreamers, makers, and art lovers.
One submission will be selected to become part of our limited-edition T-shirt collaboration. Your words could become our community’s collective love letter.
Deadline: Oct 15th T Shirt Release: Nov 15th
Enter Submission Here:
Enter Submission Here:
What kind of artist thrives in this residency?
The artists who tend to thrive here are self-driven and excited to push their practice forward. This residency is designed for someone who’s ready to dedicate focused time to their work, experiment, take risks, and follow their ideas further than usual.
Because the program culminates in a solo exhibition, it’s best suited for artists who are motivated to develop a body of work within the three-month timeline. Artists who enjoy being part of a creative community, sharing parts of their process, welcoming conversation, and growing alongside others will feel especially at home here.