San Diego Artists
DrumatiX will perform as part of a residency program at San Diego International Airport. Photo credit: @sandiegoairport via Instagram

San Diego International Airport has resumed its Performing Arts Residency Program, with live performances in terminals beginning Monday.

Artist groups are invited to develop and perform new works as part of the program, which had been on a three-year hiatus due to the pandemic. New visual art is being featured in the airport as well.

DrumatiX, a creative percussion company, is up first amongst the performers. The group was selected to develop, rehearse and perform new percussion-based dances inspired by sounds heard during the travelers’ airport journey.

Passengers already may have seen Drumatix members in and around the airport developing concepts, rhythms and movement, interpreting sounds and rehearsing.

Kimberly Becker, the airport’s president and CEO, said that the residency program “offers travelers unexpected and engaging entertainment” and “a unique airport experience.”

The program launched in 2016. Each group chosen for it was evaluated by a panel of regional and national performing arts professionals during a competitive application process.

Arts program information includes more on DrumatiX, along with the concert schedule, which features more than a dozen performers through the end of May.

In addition, Espacios & Lines, an arts program at the airport that is part of World Design Capital 2024, opened last month in pre- and post-security locations throughout Terminal 2.

The exhibit features works by 16 local artists, half of whom work binationally. Participants include Hugo Crosthwaite of Baja California, winner of a Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery portrait competition, Carla Sofía Ordonez, co-founder of Yerbabuena Gallery in Tijuana and textile artist Claudia Biezunski-Rodriguez, aka Sew Loka, based in Barrio Logan.