“As a native San Diegan, I have been proud to be part of and an advocate for San Diego’s arts and cultural organizations for nearly 40 years.”

“I am truly honored that Speaker Atkins has acknowledged my work and entrusted me with the appointment to serve on the California Arts Council,” Baza said in 2016. Last December, he was elected chair after previously serving as vice chair. He served as chair of San Diego’s Commission for Arts and Culture before being appointed to the California Arts Council in 2016 by then-Assembly Speaker Toni Atkins (D-San Diego), marking the first time in five years the state agency had a San Diegan. Those formative years laid the foundation for a deep-rooted career in - and passion for - the arts. “My first arts and cultural experiences took place in Balboa Park, where my summer job was working at the concession stand in Balboa Park and at Starlight (Bowl) performances.” San Diego’s theater and visual art communities “opened new worlds for me as a student at San Diego High School,” he said in a 2016 Union-Tribune interview.

Baza, a native son whose lifelong pursuit of championing the arts made him a cultural titan in San Diego, died Saturday due to COVID-19.īaza, who died at UC San Diego Medical Center in Hillcrest, would have turned 77 on Wednesday.Īs a high school student, Baza found a place where he felt like he finally belonged: the arts community.

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