[Article adapted from California Arts Council announcement; December 30, 2022]
The California Arts Council elected San Diego-based landscape architect and urban designer Vicki Estrada to serve as Vice Chair of the Council at a public meeting held on Thursday, December 8. Estrada was appointed to the Council by Senate President pro Tempore Toni G. Atkins in July of 2021; her current term expires January 1, 2025.
“I am so thrilled to be working with…Vicki over the next year, to make thoughtful and expedient progress in supporting our field; to actively listen to our field; to continue to advance equity in all aspects of the agency’s work; and to build a strong and responsive California Arts Council,” said California Executive Director Jonathan Moscone.
Estrada has lived in San Diego since 1955 and is president of Estrada Land Planning. She has 46 years of public and private practice experience and has been a registered Landscape Architect in California since 1977 with a B.S. in landscape architecture from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo. She is also a musician with piano as her specialty. Her experience includes land planning, urban design and landscape architecture for a variety of projects, including community planning, master planned communities, infill, parks, and streetscapes. She is particularly skilled in providing community facilitation services and strives to make all of her projects sustainable, context sensitive, unique, and responsive to community and client needs. Vicki understands diverse community values and natural values as well as the creative and technical aspects of design. Reconnecting with the natural aspects of a site is a key objective on each of her projects. She is also known for developing design solutions that lead to consensus on difficult issues and for integrating public art into her designs.
In addition, she is a fellow of American Society of Landscape Architects; a past president of the San Diego Chapter of Lambda Alpha International; a past president of the Media Arts Center San Diego Board of Directors; a past chair of the San Diego Foundation Opening the Outdoors action team; a board member of the San Diego Canyonlands Board of Directors; a board member of the San Diego Maritime Museum; a member of the Groundwork San Diego Board of Directors; a founding member of the Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo Landscape Architecture Advisory Council; a past member of the San Diego Commission for Arts and Culture; a past chair of the City of San Diego Public Art Committee; and a past chair of the San Diego Airport Public Art Committee.
