Californians for the Arts put on a recent webinar about State of Funding and Legislation for Arts, Culture and Creativity
The most interesting part of this presentation was made by Priscilla
Quiroz from Shaw Yoder Antwih Schmelzer & Lange, the advocacy,
public affairs and association management firm in Sacramento. Yes, this is a
lobbying firm. She was the only
one that actually addressed the topic. She pointed out that the democrats still
have a super majority in both the CA Senate and Assembly. There are now more
women than ever (58) and coming close to
a majority (61 men) in the senate, and there are lots of new members as during
this election some of the older members retired or decided to try for higher
offices. There is a feeling that a more
moderate approach will be forthcoming and this conclusion is based on the bills
that passed and were defeated.
Governor Newson has set aside $25M for the department of
justice to fight a variety of national law suits against CA. He has worked to get that done before the new
president is inaugurated. This includes protecting civil right, reproductive freedom,
climate action and immigrant families, We in the arts realize this is more than
the whole budget of the CA Arts Council but these are important concerns.
Please note: Even though our state
only spends 54 cents per person to
support the arts, California made it into the top ten most vibrant art states
in the country, but only just at #10. This is ranked by per capita supply,
demand and public support for the arts by SMU DataArts. San
Diego county ranking in Arts Vibrancy is just above 90%.That means it is higher
than 90% of other counties in the USA. Not too bad, but we are brought down by
public/government support and the lower numbers employed by the arts indexes.
There was concern that there would be a $60 billion deficit
in CA this year, but it turned out to be only $2 billion, so even though there
are projections for a $20-$30 deficit next year, that has yet to be determined.
Julie Baker of CA for the Arts then
gave us a run down of the state of the arts projects which are numerous. We
know there was lots of federal and state
money for recovery and relief from the pandemic with that often being a one -time
payment. Now lots of federal funding are stopping. And there are many cuts for
example the Cultural District funding went from $30 million down to $10M.(More
info: North
County Networking Event: Affordable Housing for Artists through Cultural
Districts.) The Arts in the Park program went from $25 M to $14m. There
is a big need for sustained funding so that the fight for funding does not have
to be won over and over again. (more
info: State
Funding Proposed Cut for the Arts)
In San Diego County, in particular, the Creative project is
called Far South/Border North where artists, cultural practitioners, and
organizations implemented 71 campaigns across 20 sectors, from education and
healthcare to environment and transportation and various artistic and creative
forms, from performing arts, visual arts, and literature to music, film, and
media. Their work involved 700 artists, created 940 jobs, and engaged people
across 37 zip codes in the region’s most disproportionately impacted
communities. It brought awareness to urgent issues shaping our region today –
including public health, civic engagement, climate, and social justice.
The other programs that were discussed included: Prop 28 arts education, AB812 for artist
housing connected to Cultural districts, individual arts fellowships, SB127 a new
workgroup to make a strategic plan for the creative economy, two part of prop 4
#91000 ($20m) and #94000 ($25m) from the Natural Resources Agency.
She ended with the announcement that for the first time the
creative arts are being identified as an official strategic sector. This has
never happened before.
And finally, Julie Baker talked about the Californians for the Arts Policy Priorities for 2025/26: i.e. protect, invest, build.
The two other presenters were concerned with the film industry:
Kerri Wood Einertson, SAG-AFTRA
Film Industry announced that they are
asking the CA government to double their tax credit incentive program from $330
to $750M per annum to keep film project in CA. This needs to happen to stay competitive with
the enormous rise in film making throughout the world.
Alex Torres, NIVA CA is
a lobbyist for the film industry who discussed the crisis in live entertainment
industry's ticketing practices. The secondary sales market has nothing to do
with the production of the product, but they making a profit off the industry
and not giving anything back to it. There are lots of bills that have been
proposed about this issue, some good, most bad, and none have passed. This is a
real problem with no known solution yet.
You can watch the entire video of the presentation.
To read about how
the election affect the arts at the national level: And
the Pendulum Swings: How the election results of 2024 will affect the arts A+
Art Blog by Patricia Frischer
