Un Mar de Colores · Encinitas, CA
Quarterly workshops and summer artist residencies center Indigenous, Latino, and Chicano coastal voices — all free.
Un Mar de Colores's Cultural Arts & Storytelling workshops center Indigenous, Latino, and Chicano voices of the California coast — and Encinitas youth are welcome in every cohort. Quarterly workshops run throughout San Diego County in partnership with Encinitas Library and Boys & Girls Club of Encinitas, with summer artist residencies open to Encinitas students via referral from Encinitas Union School District. All supplies, instruction, and exhibition opportunities are provided at no cost.
Quarterly workshops + summer artist residencies · Completely free
Encinitas holds five distinct breaks — Moonlight Beach, Swami's, Beacon's, D Street, and Stone Steps — across Encinitas Union and San Dieguito Union High School District. Our lessons run at Moonlight Beach (with its sheltered lifeguard cove) and Swami's on calmer mornings, with Park Dale Lane and Capri Elementary as our primary Title I partnerships for inland-neighborhood recruitment.
All ages cultural arts welcome grandparents and young children from Encinitas — intergenerational oral tradition sessions preserve family coastal memory.
Cultural arts near Moonlight Beach, Swami's isn't tourist palm-tree painting — it's Indigenous and Latino reclamation of coastal narrative in San Diego.
Environmental justice in Encinitas isn't abstract: watershed health, beach closures, and plastic pollution affect the same communities we serve. Our programs connect surf skills to stewardship of San Diego's coastline.
With 62,007 residents, Encinitas is one of the communities where a single free surf cohort can change dozens of lives per season. Our shuttles and school partnerships make distance (on the coast) a logistics problem we solve, not a barrier families carry alone.
Un Mar's primary Encinitas beginner location. Sheltered cove, year-round lifeguards, and direct access from Encinitas Library classroom programming.
Moonlight Beach is named for its former all-night beach parties in the late 1800s. Today it's Encinitas's primary family beach with a large sand area and protected swim zone.
Used only for intermediate/advanced Surf Athletic Scholarship students. Never a beginner break due to reef bottom.
Swami's is named for the Self-Realization Fellowship gardens on the cliff above. One of the most photographed surf spots in California, featured in the Beach Boys' 'Surfin' USA.'
In partnership with Encinitas Union School District and local community organizations, we recruit youth from 3+ Title I schools.
Cultural Arts & Storytelling at Un Mar de Colores is where the surf, the coast, and community narrative meet. Quarterly workshops and summer artist residencies bring together youth, professional artists, and Kumeyaay elders to create work that reflects the living cultural traditions of the California coast. Programs center Indigenous, Latino, and Chicano voices historically marginalized in coastal culture, and every workshop ends with a public exhibition, publication, or film screening that returns the art to the community that made it.
Un Mar is a member of the surf equity ecosystem across California — connected to Surf Justice Collective, Native Like Water, and cross-border watershed coalitions.
“"He used to approach new activities with extreme anxiety — to the point where sometimes we couldn't even get out of the car. Now he goes much deeper into the water."”
Un Mar de Colores Cultural Arts centers Indigenous, Latino, and Chicano voices of the California coast through quarterly workshops and summer artist residencies. Encinitas participants create visual art, poetry, film, and oral tradition work with Kumeyaay elders and professional BIPOC guest artists — all free with supplies included.
Arts integrate with watershed education (Tijuana River visual narratives), Ocean Stewards after-school, and surf camp afternoons. Encinitas youth see culture, environment, and ocean access as one movement.
Yes — every workshop cycle aims toward public exhibition, publication, or film screening. Un Mar partners with local galleries and museums to return Encinitas youth art to the community — not sell it to tourists.
Yes. All Un Mar de Colores programs in Encinitas are 100% free — including 3/2mm wetsuits, soft-top surfboards, transportation from partner schools like Park Dale Lane Elementary, Capri Elementary, El Camino Creek Elementary, and certified bilingual instruction. Funding comes from the San Diego Foundation, community grants, and individual donors. No Encinitas family has ever paid for our programming.
Primary water sessions run at Moonlight Beach. We also use Swami's for skill progression. Classroom components happen at Encinitas Library and other partner sites. All water activities happen within lifeguard-flag zones.
We serve youth ages All ages. In Encinitas specifically, our recruitment runs through Encinitas Union School District — with priority enrollment for students from Park Dale Lane Elementary, Capri Elementary, El Camino Creek Elementary. Cohorts are age-appropriate (One Ocean for 6–12, Ocean Stewards for 13–17).
No. We begin every cohort with ocean-safety fundamentals in chest-deep whitewater at Moonlight Beach, supervised by instructors certified by the San Diego Fire-Rescue Lifeguard Division. Water comfort is built progressively. In Encinitas, we also run pre-cohort pool-familiarization sessions at local community pools for students who request extra comfort-building.
Yes. All Un Mar de Colores programs are bilingual — and in Encinitas, where 12% of households are Spanish-speaking, we intentionally pair at least one bilingual coach to every session. Cultural programming is delivered in both languages, and parent communications are always sent in Spanish and English.
Three ways: (1) everything is free, while most Encinitas surf programs charge $50–$150 per lesson; (2) we are BIPOC-led and our coaches reflect the 28%-BIPOC Encinitas community we serve; (3) our curriculum includes environmental justice, Kumeyaay coastal history, and cultural arts — not just surf skills. We exist because the ocean should belong to everyone in Encinitas, not just those who can afford access.
Visit our sign-up page or contact us directly. Priority enrollment goes to students of Park Dale Lane Elementary, Capri Elementary, El Camino Creek Elementary and referrals from Encinitas Library and Boys & Girls Club of Encinitas. Summer cohorts fill 3–4 weeks before start, so early contact is recommended.
Every Encinitas child deserves the ocean. Start with a single conversation — we'll handle the rest.
All Un Mar de Colores programs are free for Encinitas youth. Reach out to enroll, volunteer, or support the movement.
Un Mar de Colores is a BIPOC-led 501(c)(3) nonprofit based in Oceanside, California. We provide free surf, ocean, and environmental programming for youth across San Diego and Tijuana — bridging cultures, coasts, and communities since 2018.
Web platform architecture and development by Codinito.