Last month, I had the honor of sitting on a panel at the California Economic Summit, speaking with State Senator Anthony Portantino (25th District), Julie Baker, CEO of Californians for the Arts, Kristen Dolan, executive director of the California Desert Arts Council and Yaya Ortiz, co-founder of Culturas Music and Arts.

This panel was the first time the Creative Economy had been talked about from the plenary stage at this high-profile annual event. How strange is that? It's strange because the creative economy contributes between 7.5 to 23 percent of the state’s annual economic output depending on what you include in that category.

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Congratulations to CA for the Arts Board Member, Miss Tee, CEO and Founder of Studio T Arts & Entertainment for her recent awards and recognitions highlighting her leadership, hard work, dedication, and the differences she’s made!

Miss Tee has been awarded the Gold Stevie Award for Female Executive of the Year, 2024 LA Times Inspirational Women Leadership Award honoree, recognized on the 2024 Involve x YouTube Heroes Women Role Model List, and Studio T Arts has won Silver for the 2024 Stevie Awards Organization of the Year and the 2024 Global Recognition Award. 

Miss Tee has been leading the way for arts education, social impact, and the entertainment industry by creating the spaces that youths and artists need. Read more about her recent press releases:


Gensler Partners with Tamaira “Miss Tee” Sandifer’s STAE to Expand $30M ‘Innovation Factory

Award-winning founder Tamaira “Miss Tee” Sandifer is recognized as LA Times Inspirational Woman Leader and Gold Stevie® Awards Winner; BEHR Paints Joins Initiative with Donation of Paints and Coatings for Renovation. (The Hype Magazine)


Studio T Arts & Entertainment dedicates film screening room to ABC10's Mark S. Allen

Studio T Arts & Entertainment is a fine arts education center and nonprofit dedicated to those who need a space for art. ABC10's Mark S. Allen visited the studio and received a very special surprise. (ABC 10)

Ashley Explores a Creative Space That Can Fine-Tune Your Skills!

Studio T Arts and Entertainment's 44,000 square foot 'Innovation Factory' serves as a creative hub for underserved youth in the Sacramento area, offering programs that foster economic justice, mental well-being, and career-building skills in media, performing arts, and entrepreneurship. (Good Day Sacramento)

Gensler joins $30 million Innovation Factory project expansion on Del Paso Boulevard

A 44,000-square-foot building in Old North Sacramento is planned to become a wide-ranging hub for arts education and entrepreneurship, with an established architecture firm joining the effort. (The Sacramento Business Journal) 

Sacramento’s Studio T Unveils Cutting-Edge Hub For Arts And Entrepreneurship

Studio T Arts and Entertainment unveiled its new “innovation factory” during an open house Nov. 1. Embracing a theme of “’90s Fresh,” the celebration was filled with ’90s-inspired music, dance performances, and creative energy. (The Sacramento Observer)


‘Creating the spaces that we need’: How Sacramento’s Miss Tee is sowing the seeds of dance

Even from an empty room of her future flagship, Tamaira Sandifer could see what was on the horizon, down to the paint on the ceiling. A performing arts space and production studios; a Black Box theater and teaching rooms. A place to create and to celebrate. (Sacramento Bee) 

The UB Interview: Tamaira Sandifer Talks ‘Studio T Arts & Entertainment’

Award-winning entrepreneur, impact leader and youth arts program innovator Tamaira “Miss Tee” Sandifer has recently announced the national expansion of her acclaimed non-profit organization, Studio T Arts & Entertainment. (Urban Bridgez)

“Miss Tee” of Studio T Arts on Entrepreneurship and Youth Empowerment

For Tamaira Sandifer—affectionately known as “Miss Tee”—founding her nonprofit, Studio T Arts & Entertainment, began humbly as a small hip-hop class of four students at a park in Sacramento, California, in 2003. Now, it has flourished into a youth arts program that’s reached nearly 200,000 children around the globe. (Dance Teacher) 

Beyond Textbooks: Miss Tee and Studio T’s National Push for Creative Empowerment

Miss Tee is the visionary and founder of Studio T Arts & Entertainment.  Miss Tee isn’t your typical educator, she has a passion and mission to empower young minds, she’s on a quest to reshape the future of arts education across the US.(SwagHer Magazine)

Fireside Chat with Tamaira ‘Miss Tee’ Sandifer - Unveiling the Future Vision of Studio T Arts & Entertainment

In a groundbreaking announcement, award-winning entrepreneur and impact leader, Tamaira “Miss Tee” Sandifer, has unveiled the national expansion of Studio T Arts & Entertainment. Founded in 2005, Studio T Arts has become synonymous with empowering youth through the transformative intersection of arts, media, and entrepreneurship. With a mission to cultivate critical creative and life skills, Miss Tee’s visionary leadership is driving Studio T Arts into new territories, marking a significant milestone in its journey. (Soigne & Swank Magazine)

Congrats to Miss Tee for Recent Awards and Recognitions

2024 GAAP Cohort Member Announcement Press Release.pdf

Eduardo Robles
Director of Communications 

CA for the Arts Launches First in the Nation 2024 Grassroots Artists Advocacy Program With a Cohort of Five Bay Area Artists and Culture Bearers

Cohort members will receive $12,000 each to participate in a nine-month curriculum

California for the Arts is proud to announce the five members of the inaugural Grassroots Artists Advocacy Program (GAAP) cohort. GAAP is a cohort-based fellowship program that supports diverse San Francisco and Oakland artists and culture bearers to directly engage in advocacy and policy development with the goal of improving conditions for artists and culture bearers to thrive. 

GAAP centers artists in grassroots advocacy efforts and cultivates greater support for arts advocates statewide. This innovative program establishes a partnership between CA for the Arts and the Kenneth Rainin Foundation to test a new philanthropic model empowering artists to participate directly in advocacy. “GAAP operates with the understanding that artists know best what they need to live and sustain their practices in the Bay Area,” said Julie Baker, CEO of CA for the Arts. “Our role is to enable them to successfully engage in advocacy, leveraging their artistic practice to advance effective policy solutions.”

The GAAP Fellows will be supported in developing advocacy plans to enact changes that benefit artists and cultural bearers. Members will learn the foundations of effective advocacy, develop relationships with policymakers, and have the opportunity to advocate at local, state, and federal levels. The cohort will meet regularly as a community of practice, learning from and supporting each other. Participants will also attend the CA Arts & Culture Summit and Arts Advocacy Day in Sacramento, with travel costs and Summit attendance covered. By the end of the fellowship, each artist advocate will have developed an individual advocacy plan that will be shared with CA for the Arts, the cohort, and other advocacy leaders.

GAAP is the first program of its kind in the nation. Arts advocacy has evolved significantly since the early 2000s, now routinely leveraging economic impact studies, neuroscience research on the arts' cognitive benefits, and detailed analytics about audience engagement and community development. This multifaceted approach has proven particularly effective in securing both public and private funding, especially as advocates have become more adept at connecting arts initiatives to broader policy goals like urban revitalization, social equity, and economic resilience.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​ However, artists haven’t been able to always participate in this movement. Only those who can afford to show up can persistently advocate and develop their cultural policy skills. “Historically, artist advocates are most active in reactive moments, such as when arts agencies face drastic funding cuts,” said Ted Russell, Program Consultant Lead of CA for the Arts. “Our approach counteracts this reality, helping the GAAP Fellows advance their advocacy practice alongside their artistic and cultural practice.” 

The 2024 cohort represents the diversity and artistic richness of Oakland and San Francisco. Their diversity includes Black, Indigenous, Immigrant, Latinx and LGTBQ+ identities. Often anchored in their respective disciplines, comprising cultural curation and production, dance, film, literature and theater, their advocacy addresses a range of issues addressing equitable systems change, including fighting cultural displacement, deepening investments in BIPOC artists and culture bearers, providing supports for cooperative housing for artists and the spaces of artist collectives, and safeguarding platforms for community voices.

J. K. Fowler is the current Executive Director of the Bay Area Book Festival, Policy Analyst and Special Programs/Community Outreach with BAMBD, CDC, and Operations Support for APEN and APEN Action. Previously, he founded and ran Nomadic Press, a community rooted publishing house headquartered in Oakland and sat on Oakland's Cultural Affairs Commission, during which time he helped launch the Oakland Poet Laureate Program. He is currently most interested in the intersections of civic bodies, private development, and arts organizations and community benefits agreements that can help to ensure artist and arts organization retention in the cities that they love and support. He feels artists and arts organizations have the right to remain in the cities that they love and support and not be priced out by the influx of new development projects. He is interested in launching an advocacy body that will help communities of artists and arts organizations navigate the extremely confusing processes involved in negotiating community benefits agreements between private developers, civic bodies, and various artists and arts organizations who are sometimes not aligned around what the most effective way forward is. 

Sabereh Kashi is a documentary filmmaker, editor, and cultural strategist dedicated to fostering connections between diverse communities through personal storytelling. Her work has been featured on platforms like PBS, BBC, and international networks, and has screened at prominent festivals such as IDFA, Hot Docs, and UNAFF. Her recent short documentary, I’m Oakland, follows an African-American woman's efforts to preserve her home and legacy amidst rapid gentrification. Currently, Kashi is directing The Patient Woman, a feature documentary tracing her search for home between Iran and America. Her work has earned support from the Center for Cultural Innovation, the Berkeley Film Foundation, and NATAS. In 2016, she co-founded Re-Present Media, a nonprofit supporting personal voices of underrepresented communities in non-fiction media. She is looking to advance her work as a cultural strategist and advocate for immigrant and underrepresented voices. Her goal is to bridge cultural understanding between America and the Islamic world and to advocate for systemic changes that empower artists to drive meaningful social impact.

AeJay Antonis Marquis is a multi-hyphenate performance artist, scholar, educator, and activist whose work centers the decolonization of the theatrical canon, the black avant-garde, and queer political performance practice. Their current research seeks to explore Queer, Transgender and Non-Binary remixing, reclamation and reconciliation of varied Christian dogmas through performative explorations in theatre, dance, film, and music videos, and how this practice intersects with racial identity and contribute to Queer Futurist Liberation models. Alongside their practice as a theatre and dance educator for a little over a decade, their work has been seen across the Bay Area performance landscape as a director, choreographer, actor, producer, and dramaturg and will continue to marry scholarship with practice in their doctoral journey and advocacy work. They are currently pursuing their PhD in Performance Studies at UC Berkeley. They applied for GAAP to learn new skills to broaden their passions into a policy impacting, fund shifting, and community organizing approach. They were fired up by CA for the Arts’ Arts Advocacy Day 2024, while lobbying state representatives for the arts and feel it will be even more necessary in the years to come.

Hope Mohr (she/her) is a multidisciplinary artist and a community-based arts lawyer. She works at the intersection of art and social change as a Fellow with the Sustainable Economies Law Center. After a professional dance career, she founded the nonprofit Hope Mohr Dance and its activist presenting program, The Bridge Project, which supported over 100 artists. In 2020, Mohr co-stewarded the organization’s transition to an equity-driven, BIPOC-led model of distributed leadership and a new name: Bridge Live Arts. Her book, "Shifting Cultural Power: Case Studies and Questions in Performance," was published in 2020 by the National Center for Choreography. As an artist working across dance, theater, visual art, and writing, Mohr explores feminism, gender, and sexuality. She has been named to the YBCA 100 and also named as one of the "women leaders” in dance by Dance Magazine editor-in-chief Wendy Perron. She is currently a Lucas Artist in Residence at Montalvo Arts Center. To make being an artist in the Bay Area a more sustainable path, she wants to think strategically and on the systems level about how to build artist power and make the issues facing artists more present in movements for social and economic justice. 

Natalia Neira is a ​​cultural worker, curator, writer, and strategist dedicated to co-creating a more just and joyful world alongside communities, artists, activists, and allies committed to liberation.  She is the founder of the Caracol Collective, which is both a framework and a network that emphasizes healing ourselves to heal society and Mother Earth.  A Chilean immigrant of Mapuche, Andean, and Spanish heritage, she focuses her artistic practice on cultural revitalization projects rooted in ancestral knowledge and traditional art forms. Working closely with Indigenous and traditional arts cultural bearers, she creates gatherings that revitalize ancestral wisdom, lifeways, and language for well-being and collective liberation. As the former Executive Director of La Peña Cultural Center, she became attuned to BIPOC artists' needs across the Bay. She co-chaired the Berkeley Cultural Trust’s Equity & Inclusion Committee from 2019 to 2023, leading advocacy efforts that centered racial justice. Currently, Natalia is a Fellow with  Creative West’s Greater Bay Area Arts & Culture Coalition, where she advocates for racial and economic equity. She hopes to uplift fellow Latinx, immigrant, diasporic and BIPOC artists and culture keepers who deserve more sustainable investments and recognition for their contributions.  

The five GAAP Fellows were selected in a self-nominated, open application process. A CA for the Arts review panel, including  Bay Area representatives, reviewed 42 applications and prioritized how they fit together, representing San Francisco and Oakland, and their collective impact potential in terms of policy changes and advocacy. 

A two-year grant from the Kenneth Rainin Foundation supports this work.  

CA for the Arts is a comprehensive, multidisciplinary advocacy service organization focused on building resources and public awareness of the value and impact of arts, culture, and creativity across California.

SACRAMENTO – California State Parks, the California Arts Council, and Parks California, today announced the inaugural recipients of the Arts in California Parks Local Parks Grant Program. A total of $2.8 million will fund 31 local nonprofits, community organizations and artists, allowing them to create unforgettable experiences in local parks across the state that will enrich and inspire residents and visitors alike.

“These first-of-their-kind grants will bring community-centered art projects directly to the heart of local parks,” said California State Parks Director Armando Quintero. “We hope these projects will foster a sense of pride and belonging, showcasing the unique stories and creative spirit that make our local parks cherished gathering places for all.”

More than 200 applications were received for this grant program administered by Parks California, the collaborative grant partner for State Parks. Recipients were selected through a competitive review process, ensuring statewide representation and meaningful local impact through art, culture, and nature.

$2.8 million Awarded to 31 California-based Nonprofit and Community Organizations to Bring Vibrant Art Installations and Cultural Programming to Local Parks

To our community,⁠
⁠
We recognize the significance of the recent election results and the impact they have on many of you. As artists and culture bearers, it’s more important than ever to amplify your voices. Advocating for what we believe in is critical for our democracy. ⁠
⁠
At CA for the Arts and CA Arts Advocates, we work to ensure arts and culture are at the table when State leaders are deciding what policies to adopt or funding to distribute. We advocate for policies where arts and culture is embedded within broader policy change to reshape systems toward equity and justice. We advance racial and cultural equity to ensure diverse forms of artistic and cultural expression are included and supported in public policy. We envision a world where artists, community-centered arts and culture, and culture bearers are celebrated so everyone thrives and has a sense of belonging.⁠


“This is precisely the time when artists go to work. There is no time for despair, no place for self-pity, no need for silence, no room for fear. We speak, we write, we do language. That is how civilizations heal.” 

We stand in solidarity with all artists and advocates, and invite you to join us in this fight. 
⁠

To Our Community, Our Post Election Manifesto

Final_NAHM 2024_Press Release_CA for the Arts-1.pdf

Contact:
Eduardo Robles
eduardo@caforthearts.org 
Director of Communications
916.520.6049 ext.102

California Celebrates National Arts and Humanities Month 2024 and the Impact of the Arts and Humanities in Our Civic Life

October 1, 2024—(Sacramento, California)—The California State Library, California for the Arts, California Humanities, and the California Arts Council join thousands of humanities and arts organizations, learning centers, and heritage sites across the nation to celebrate National Arts and Humanities Month throughout October. We will carry this message to all of California through information and activities that honor the efforts of artists, historians, teachers, and cultural groups working to make the arts and humanities a familiar part of everyday life.

Everyone in the community is encouraged to participate in what has become the country’s largest annual collective celebration of the arts and humanities. The following special events are planned for National Arts and Humanities Month across California:

The California State Library will host a passive program all month long in Gillis Hall at 914 Capitol Mall in Sacramento. The program will debut at the Sacramento Archives Crawl on Saturday, October 5, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. For more information, click here. Additionally, a limited tour for the public is being offered on Tuesday, October 22, at 10 a.m. Space is limited; please register here.

California for the Arts will host A Deep Dive Into the 2024 Elections! webinar on Wednesday, October 9, at 12 p.m. RSVP for free here. Additionally, CA for the Arts is making available for download the 2024 Election Candidate Engagement Resource Guide – click here to download.

California Humanities will host a special panel discussion in Sacramento on Thursday, October 3, at 5:30 p.m., focused on the state’s election history since 1960, and how these insights can improve voter participation across the country. A reception with drinks and snacks will follow. Participants can also register to vote at the program’s voter registration table. RSVP for free here.

California Arts Council will convene a meeting of its Creative Economy Workgroup (CEW) on Tuesday, October 15, from 9 to 4:30 p.m. at El Teatro Campesino in San Juan Bautista. Using an equity lens, the CEW responds to the ideas, strengths and needs of our communities that reaches and includes historically marginalized communities to develop a strategic plan for California’s creative workforce. 

This year, the State Library, CA for the Arts, California Humanities, and the CAC will spotlight the crucial role that the arts and humanities play in our civic life. Supporting accessible and engaging arts and humanities experiences within our state’s cultural organizations and educational systems prepare all people, young and old, for civic participation, allowing us to exercise our citizenship by assessing the evolution of our core values and making space for creative expression of those values. 

Said State Librarian Greg Lucas: “We at the California State Library encourage all Californians to join in the fun, experience the incredible programs and events happening throughout the state, and discover how the arts and humanities deepen connection to civic life, foster new perspectives, and bring us closer together.”

“The celebration of arts and humanities is embedded in everything we do at the California Arts Council, and we are pleased to partner with the State Library, California Humanities, and California for the Arts to advance our collective vision this month,” said California Arts Council Executive Director Danielle Brazell. “Creativity’s pride of place at the intersections of our economy, education, and the wellness of our state’s communities is what makes California a unique and unparalleled place to live.”  

“In this election year, let’s not take for granted the importance of the Arts and Humanities in our civic lives,” said California Humanities President and CEO Rick Noguchi. “Indeed, our freedom of expression through the arts and humanities are at stake, when they should be the solution.”

“Arts and Humanities hold the possibility to transform our civic infrastructure, national identity, and sense of belonging. Access to arts and humanities is the key to healthy communities and a more inclusive and just nation. From economic opportunity, social cohesion, innovation, and equity to environmental sustainability, health, wellness, and healing, now is the time to celebrate the strength of arts and humanities,” said Julie Baker, CEO of California for the Arts.

National Arts and Humanities Month is coordinated by Americans for the Arts, the national organization working to empower communities with the resources and support necessary to provide access to the arts for everyone. This month-long celebration grew out of National Arts Week, which was started in 1985 by the National Endowment for the Arts and Americans for the Arts.More information about National Arts and Humanities Month is available at www.AmericansForTheArts.org/nahm.

California State Library, About the State Library: Established in 1850, the California State Library is the central reference and research library for state government and the legislature. The library collection includes more than 4 million titles, 6,000 maps and 250,000 photographs, and includes an extensive collection of documents from and about the state’s rich history. Around the state, the State Library also serves California’s local libraries, providing more than $500 million state and federal funds to support public libraries and delivering statewide library programs and services. Visit library.ca.gov.

California for the Arts is a comprehensive, multidisciplinary advocacy service organization focused on building resources and public awareness of the value and impact of arts, culture, and creativity across California. Visit caforthearts.com.

California Humanities, a statewide nonprofit partner of the National Endowment for the Humanities, promotes the humanities—focused on ideas, conversation, and learning—as relevant, meaningful ways to understand the human condition and connect people to each other in order to help strengthen California. California Humanities has provided grants and programs across the state since 1975. To learn more, visit calhum.org.

California Arts Council is a state agency with a mission of strengthening arts, culture, and creative expression as the tools to cultivate a better California for all. It supports local arts infrastructure and programming statewide through grants, initiatives, and services. The California Arts Council envisions a California where all people flourish with universal access to and participation in the arts. Learn more at arts.ca.gov.

California Celebrates National Arts and Humanities Month 2024 And the Impact of the Arts and Humanities in Our Civic Life

This a partner post between California Humanities, CA for the Arts, The California State Library, and the California Arts Council.

Arts and humanities are vital to any civilization, progress, and democracy. They help convey our deeper values as a society - values such as freedom, justice, and equality. In California, our state’s variety of cultures, languages, and opinions yields a nearly infinite variety of possibilities for civic engagement. From writing poetry to running for office, from voter drives to direct actions, residents of the Golden State constantly seek new opportunities to forge a more just society—and will continue to do so as our electorate continues to diversify in the future.

Engage in National Arts and Humanities Month 2024

Admission to an art museum in the US might set you back $15 or $25 or nothing at all, depending on where and who you are. But a new study that sets out to measure the societal value of museums in monetary terms estimates that a single visit will pay dividends many times over in benefits to your well-being, equivalent to more than $900 per adult visitor.

Eleven medium to large US art museums participated in the study, conducted by the Oregon-based Institute for Learning Innovation, including the Barnes Foundation; Cleveland Museum of Art; Denver Art Museum; Hillwood Estate, Museum and Gardens; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; Milwaukee Art Museum; Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art; New Orleans Museum of Art; Oakland Museum of California; Saint Louis Art Museum and Walters Art Museum. The findings were presented at the American Alliance of Museums (AAM) annual conference in Denver last month.

US Art Museums Generate $52 Billion in Well-Being Benefits Annually

Despite Sacramento’s vibrant creative and cultural ecosystem, the creative sector faces challenges to its growth. Recent legislative budget cuts coupled with the enduring impacts of the pandemic and statewide industry job losses  show how volatile the arts economy can be.

To gain deeper insights into these challenges and potential solutions, we spoke with Julie Baker, CEO of California for the Arts and CA Arts Advocates — two separate nonprofit organizations with a shared board and staff working to strengthen Sacramento’s creative economy through advocacy at the capital and beyond.

CA Arts Advocate’s mission is “to increase California’s investment in the arts, make creativity an integral part of our economy, and give artists in California a voice in Sacramento.” How do you accomplish this?

Our goal is to make sure that we’re in the conversation, that arts and culture is represented when we’re talking about economic and community development, when we’re talking about a regional approach to building community, when we’re talking about things like Clean California initiatives, when we’re talking about natural resources in the parks, when we’re talking about a small business — all of the different ways that the arts intersect, and health being another big piece.

The key for us is, “How do we show people who are holding the keys to budgets and grants and contracts that this is a part of the solution, and that artists and cultural bearers who’ve been doing this work for decades and hundreds of years are compensated for their contributions to [the] community?” So that’s really where we really focus in on — is ensuring that the artwork is seen as labor and is compensated accordingly.

California for the Arts CEO Julie Baker weighs in on budget challenges facing Sacramento’s creative sector

With the state budget falling $27 billion short this year and an even larger deficit projected for next year, Gov. Gavin Newsom is planning broad, deep cuts across California government. But while he recommends state public entities as a whole shrink by nearly 8%, some agencies and programs would be hit harder than others. 

Among the sectors disproportionately affected is the arts, with his revised budget proposal introduced last week showing a 38% decrease in funding to the California Arts Council, the main way the state supports the arts. He would also gut the $12.5 million previously promised to the Equitable Payroll Fund, which was created to help small arts companies comply with so-called gig-work bill AB5, and send all those monies back to the general fund. 

“A cut of this size would greatly impact our ability to be more responsive to the needs of the cultural and creative communities of our great state,” CAC Executive Director Danielle Brazell said in a statement to the Chronicle.

‘Devastating and disappointing’: Newsom’s proposed budget cuts to the arts would place California 45th nationwide

Frustration came through loud and clear as legislators hurled question after question at the head of the state’s homelessness interagency council: Why, after years of planning and billions of dollars invested, is there so little to show for the effort? 

“You come into a budget committee and there’s no numbers,” Assemblymember Phil Ting, a San Francisco Democrat, said at the May 6 Assembly committee hearing. “Why is it taking so long?”

Assemblymember Vince Fong, a Bakersfield Republican, took issue with the council saying it needed more money to compile the data. And Chris Ward, a Democrat from San Diego, said he’d been asking the same questions since 2022: “The fact that we’re still now, three years later here as a state is incredibly frustrating because that guides our decision making here as a budget.” 

What drives California’s budget decisions? A lot of politics, not as much data

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Environmental Protection Agency will assign artists to treasured bodies of water in the United States under a new program announced Tuesday at a White House-sponsored conference on exploring ways to use the arts and humanities as another instrument for problem-solving.

Leaders from government, the arts, academia and philanthropy gathered in Washington for “Healing, Bridging, Thriving: A Summit on Arts and Culture in our Communities.” Panel discussions focused on turning to the arts and humanities to solve challenges, from improving health to bridging divides.

The National Endowment for the Arts and the White House Domestic Policy Council hosted the daylong conference, which was the product of a September 2022 executive order from President Joe Biden.

White House-hosted arts summit explores how to incorporate arts and humanities into problem-solving

We assess communities’ vibrancy through a data-driven approach using data available in all U.S. communities to remove influences of opinion or geographically-limited data on the final results. The vibrancy assessment consists of rubrics covering aspects of supply, demand, and public support for arts and culture.

The results of this analysis are not based on a simple counting exercise that might benefit areas with higher populations or the most arts and cultural institutions. Adjusting values on a per capita basis as well as accounting for differences in costs of living enable this analysis to level the playing field as much as possible. Large cities and small communities alike can showcase their vibrant characteristics compared to all other communities across the country.

2023 Arts Vibrancy Index ranks San Francisco-San Mateo-Redwood City, CA as the #1

In case you hadn’t noticed, it’s an election year. So, what does it mean for art and culture? Well the hard truth is, culture never makes the cut. Despite how much we value it, when it comes to elections, people want their leaders to solve crime, fix housing and sort the environment. All incredibly important of course — but we only have to imagine a world without creativity to understand how much it means to us.

Culture matters. So why is it always treated as an optional extra?

Tatyana Kim and her husband Anatoliy O immigrated to Los Angeles from Almaty, Kazakhstan, 12 years ago in pursuit of the Hollywood dream.

When the filmmaking duo first arrived in the United States, they scraped by, living in small rooms and back houses in Pasadena while studying their crafts at L.A.-area arts colleges.

They eventually upgraded to a rent-controlled apartment in Hollywood, where they paid $1,500 a month to share a single bedroom with their infant daughter. At the nearby TCL Chinese Theatre, the couple would eat oatmeal for dinner while waiting in line for movie screenings.

But even that relatively low housing cost was a stretch for independent artists trying to make it in an increasingly challenging industry while taking care of a young child and juggling extra film and commercial producing gigs to pay the bills.

“Let’s just be transparent,” O said. “Most artists who I know are having a day job. That’s the reality of it. There’s no way around it.”

These entertainment workers could barely make rent. A Hollywood housing complex offers relief

The arts have long been recognized for enriching our lives, but they can also play a powerful role in our health. In recent years, a growing body of research suggests that arts-based interventions can help tackle noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) – from cardiovascular diseases to cancer. A new report from WHO/Europe, which builds on the “Learning from the arts” conference held in Budapest, suggests how arts can be integrated into health systems to supplement NCD treatment and prevention. 

“As if the chemotherapy had disappeared for that period”

During the Budapest conference held in December 2022, Christopher Bailey, Arts and Health Lead at WHO, shared his experience of struggling with obesity and cancer. Christopher recalled how the stories he used to share in his personal blog, and plays he wrote for theatre, helped him to get through his fight with cancer, recover from chemotherapy and rethink the way he perceives what being healthy is like.

New WHO Report Shows How Arts Can Help Beat Noncommunicable Diseases

"Music," said U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy, "can, in a matter of seconds, make me feel better." He spoke from the Constitution Center in Washington, D.C., continuing, "I've prescribed a lot of medicines as a doctor over the years. There are few I've seen that have that kind of extraordinary, instantaneous effect."

It was exactly the kind of message organizers of "Healing, Bridging, Thriving," wanted to convey.

The summit was organized by the White House Domestic Policy Council and the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA). Policy makers, arts and community leaders, funders and artists attended.

The arts span every facet of life – the White House just hosted a summit about it

In recognition of Immigrant Heritage Month, these exhibitions, celebrating our diverse immigrant communities, will debut in public spaces across the City in June. 

Drawing inspiration from a poem at the base of the Statue of Liberty, Mireles titled his photo project “The New Colossus: A Photographic Celebration of San Diego’s Immigrant Communities.” The project aims to capture the lives of San Diego’s immigrants through portraits taken in their everyday surroundings. 

“The exhibition itself serves a similar purpose as the Statue of Liberty - to welcome immigrants into our homeland. Instead of molded copper, this series of installations uses photography - but its purpose remains the same,” said Mireles. “The title ‘New Colossus’ implies that there exists an old one or multiple old ones. The reality is that immigration, and our discussion of it is an issue older than our country itself. However, it’s also forever a new topic, fraught with both celebration and controversy. By adopting this title, this exhibition acknowledges America's history of immigration while also welcoming its place in our present and future.” 

San Diego Arts and Culture Launches Photo Exhibits During Immigrant Heritage Month

The 2018 Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) Manual is eligible for possible revision in 2028. The SOC is a tool that organizes workers, including artists, by code. The federal government then uses the SOC to collect, analyze and report data about the United States labor force. This data is typically used to inform policy-making and practice that then affects workers.

From now through Aug. 12, workers are invited to offer feedback on the current SOC. The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) has issued a call to artists to exercise their voices and comment by visiting regulations.gov.

One of the concerns voiced by the NEA is that there is no code for artists working across multiple disciplines. 

A new research report commissioned by United States Artists and written by Joanna Woronkowicz of Indiana University surveyed artists, analyzed existing labor data and offered suggestions to help artists comment on the SOC. Among Workonkowicz’s recommendations is the creation of a detailed SOC code for “Interdisciplinary and Multidisciplinary Artists. The study also pushes for the creation of “Visual Arts” and “Performing Arts” taxonomies to better align data with the work field.

Sunil Iyengar, who directs the Office of Research and Analysis at the NEA, wrote about Worokowicz findings for the NEA’s website, saying, “If these labels have gone unchanged, then how well do the numbers reflect macro-level shifts in the functions and characteristics of working artists in the first quarter of this century? Put another way, have the job titles, the technologies used, the nature of work performed, and educational requirements altered to such an extent that we now should reconsider who counts as an artist?”

NEA Advocates for Artists to Weigh In on Federal Job Coding

Campaign to Voice Opposition to Significant Program Changes at the CAC

First, we want to thank everyone who took the time to sign the letter to the California Arts Council (CAC) urging them to reconsider proposed changes to field-serving programs. You can read more about the issues we took collective action on and the signed letter at our #FundCAarts webpage.

Almost 1,400 advocates signed on and your advocacy worked! The committee released an updated memorandum ahead of their Nov. 17th meeting, and their amended proposals and subsequent discussion at that meeting reflect that the council members are listening and responding to the needs of the field. The Notes from the Field meeting summary provides more details on the CAC deliberations as they design next year’s grant programs.

For those tracking this process, please let us know how proposed changes to CAC grant programs may positively or negatively affect your work or organization. Email our Director of Field Engagement, Tracy Hudak at tracy@californiansforthearts.org

CAA understands difficult decisions need to be made based on the limited funds available to the agency and yet we firmly believe that the CAC, one of the only statewide funders for arts and culture, should remain an agency that serves the entire ecosystem including all regions, all budget size organizations, and all artists and culture bearers across the state. We know that what is most needed now is multi year general operating support. We recommend that instead of offering new programs at this time of the agency’s transition, the council focuses on expanding the general operating support category. 

We look forward to working in partnership with the Council and the arts sector to advocate for increased funding for the agency while also contributing the field’s perspective on best practices for equitable grantmaking and a thorough review of grant guidelines, application and reporting questions and the panel process.

In a letter dated November 21, Speaker of the Assembly Robert Rivas has announced appointments to standing committees. Below are excerpts from the letter that highlight committees we interact with for creative industries advocacy. If you have a strong relationship with any of the newly appointed chairs, live or work in their districts or want to strengthen your strategy to advocate directly, please contact Tracy Hudak, Director of Field Engagement. Tracy@californiansforthearts.org

Arts, Entertainment, Sports, and Tourism 

I have appointed Assemblymember Mike Gipson to replace Assemblymember Sharon Quirk-Silva as Chair of the Assembly Arts, Entertainment, Sports, and Tourism Committee. 

Assemblymember Buffy Wicks will replace Assemblymember Chris Holden as Chair of the Assembly Appropriations Committee.. 

I have appointed Assemblymember Jesse Gabriel to replace Assemblymember Phil Ting as Chair of the Assembly Budget Committee. I have also appointed Assemblymembers Sharon Quirk-Silva and Avelino Valencia to the committee.

I have appointed Assemblymember Isaac Bryan to replace Assemblymember Luz Rivas as Chair of the Assembly Natural Resources Committee. Assemblymember Luz Rivas has been removed from the committee. 

Budget Subcommittee No. 5 on State Administration 

I have appointed Assemblymember Sharon Quirk-Silva as Chair of Assembly Budget Subcommittee No. 5 on State Administration. 

Every year, CAA works to influence the California budget process to invest more in artists and the creative workforce. With that, we keep a close eye on state budget forecasting so we understand the climate in which we are operating. Due to state income tax filing extensions until November 16, the outlook for the budget forecast for 2024 - 25 is still unknown. 

However, we do know that in October, according to a report in the Sacramento Bee, “The department projected that, because of an unprecedented six-month extension in the state’s tax filing deadline earlier this year, California would collect $42 billion in October. That figure represented nearly a quarter of this fiscal year’s total projected personal income tax and a third of the corporation tax. But, as of Oct. 25, California collected just $18 billion, according to new disclosures from the agency. Should the revenue collected and tallied by the state in the coming weeks fail to catch up to its forecasts, Newsom and lawmakers will need to fill a wider budget gap than anticipated next year.” Stay tuned for updates as the news continues to unfold.

What’s Next for CAC Advocacy - Partnering and Campaigning for a $20M Increase

We are working in partnership closely with CAC council members and staff to inform each other of the needs of the field and to identify state policy changes that might help improve agency function and better support their work. And we are knowledge-sharing and building coalitions between arts services organizations to better understand their role in strengthening the arts ecosystem. Stay tuned!


But the single biggest difference we can make as advocates is to increase funding levels to the CAC. The state funds the agency at $26M a year, which ranks California 23rd in the nation in per capita state spending on the arts. This low level of investment is not commensurate with the outsized impact that arts, culture and creativity have on our communities and economy. This is why we submitted a Letter to the Governor on [date], urging him to include a $20M increase to that funding in his January budget. CAA will be launching campaigns in the coming months and we will need your help.

Save The Music’s old tag line was “Music Equals Brainpower.” But how does music improve the mind? How does playing music affect the brain? Is it actually true that playing an instrument makes you smarter?

Amongst musicians, teachers and parents, there is a strong intuitive sense that music education and academic performance are linked. But are there studies on music and learning or music and intelligence? How does music help the brain? How does music help you learn? What music makes you smart?

Here are three very rigorous research pieces and music articles for students on how music helps you learn, plus links and additional resources on music and intelligence if you want to dig in more.

How Does Music Improve The Mind

The nature of the creative youth development field we support at The Lewis Prize for Music demonstrates this. The recently launched Creating Abundance Collaborative is dedicated to supporting young people’s stories, ideas, and dreams through creative expression and honoring their lived experiences. The Collaborative is facilitating cross-sector dialogue and learning in four areas: 

Community development+creative placemaking. 

These sectors are a blend in our lives and experienced simultaneously when arts and culture are at the center, even as systems operate separately. To ensure everyone benefits from the integrity of arts’ holistic alchemy, we must work together to inspire large-scale public and private investment in arts and culture across all sectors. 

Healing, Bridging, Thriving: A Reflection from the Creative Youth Development Caucus

Arts education and programs that promote community practice of arts equity, and monthly meetups for artists are also the work of the council, according to Tudor.

The California Arts Council has received $60 million from the state budget as part of the Governor’s Task Force on Business and Jobs Recovery Act signed by Governor Gavin Newsom as part of COVID-19 relief, according to Tudor.

Nevada County Arts Council was selected as the ‘administering organization’ for the upstate region, responsible for distributing $3.38 million out of the $60 million in grant funding across the 19 counties.

Media outreach and engagement campaigns that increase the awareness for environment related issues and solutions—such as water or energy conservation, climate mitigation, or emergency preparedness—are being implemented by various arts organizations with $463,598 designated for 15 Nevada County based projects.

A few of the projects receiving parts of the grant include Sierra Roots, ‘No Place to Go’; Yasmin Badshamiah, ‘Say Something!’; The Poetry Crashers, ‘Postcards From Earth’; Monica Fabiarz, ‘MAI- the Salmon Journey’, and Troy Corliss, ‘Talisman of the Watershed.’

The arts provide a healthy economy for Nevada County, according to Tudor.

“Arts and economic prosperity showed us that sector right here locally generated $66 million in economic activity during the reporting period of 2020 to ‘23—almost $32 million in spending by arts and culture organizations, and an additional $34 million in event related expenditures by the audiences that economic activities supported...1,359 jobs provided $39.5 million dollars in personal income to residents,” Tudor said.

FEATURED
Arts community supports economic stability in the County and social services are recognized by Supervisors

Passionate artists, arts organizations, supporters, and advocates will descend upon the capital city on April 16 and 17 to highlight why arts are essential to both local communities and the state of California. This will be the second year that California for the Arts will hold its CA Arts & Culture Summit in Sacramento with the intent of advocating for more support and funding for artists and their communities.⁠
⁠
The sold out summit will be held Tuesday, April 16 at The Sofia, followed by Arts Advocacy Day at the Capitol on Wednesday, April 17, where a rally will be held, followed by meetings with local and state elected representatives and leaders.⁠
⁠
In Sacramento County, $241.7 million was generated by the arts and culture sector, supporting 4,343 jobs and $164.8 million in personal income in 2022, according to a study conducted by Americans for the Arts.⁠

Press Feature: Arts and Culture Summit Coming to Capital City

Eduardo Robles
Senior Manager of Communications
eduardo@caforthearts.org



Ted Russell, longtime philanthropic leader in the arts, will partner with CA for the Arts to establish a Grassroots Artists Advocacy Program in San Francisco and Oakland. A grant from the Kenneth Rainin Foundation will support this work.

Ted Russell will join CA for the Arts as Program Consultant Lead to help launch the Grassroots Artists Advocacy Program. He is charged with developing a program that centers artists in grassroots advocacy efforts and cultivates more support for arts advocates statewide. This innovative grant program will establish a partnership between CA for the Arts and the Kenneth Rainin Foundation to test new philanthropic models to achieve the following:

Identify and connect a diverse and inclusive network of artist advocates working toward policy change. 

Share knowledge and participant learnings with others in the field to strengthen statewide efforts.

Grow philanthropic support for arts advocacy efforts.

Shelley Trott, Chief Program Officer at the Rainin Foundation, said: "We are thrilled to support California for the Arts in launching the Grassroots Artists Advocacy Program. Under Ted Russell’s leadership, this initiative is uniquely positioned to help artists thrive by empowering them to advocate for solutions critical to their livelihoods."

“I want to thank the Rainin Foundation for their leadership in supporting arts advocacy and welcome Ted Russell as a consultant to the California for the Arts team,” said Julie Baker, CEO. “This is not only an incredible gift to our organization but also to the communities we serve. Providing grant funding for artists to become advocates engaged in public policy combined with Ted’s strategic leadership and experience in the field of both philanthropy and arts programming is an innovative approach. We applaud the Rainin Foundation for their vision."

Ted Russell has over thirty years of experience launching and scaling initiatives, building the capacity of organizations and helping artists and creative workers thrive. His consultancy focuses on arts advocacy, research, strategic planning, and coaching. Previously, he served as Director of Arts Strategy & Ventures for the Kenneth Rainin Foundation, where he led the strategic direction for the arts, supporting diverse, visionary artists and collaborating with artists, partners, and funders to advance systemic change and foster an equitable ecosystem.

“I’ve seen arts advocacy evolve and grow in sophistication and effectiveness in recent years. The next frontier is empowering individual artists. Drawing from my years serving the arts as a funder, I'm joining forces with the incredible CA for the Arts team to revolutionize how we support artists to be powerful advocates on their own behalf,” said Ted Russell. 

More information will be released in the coming months about the Grassroots Artists Advocacy Program (GAAP) for artists in San Francisco and Oakland to participate in this opportunity.


Ted Russell Joins the CA for the Arts Team as Program Consultant Lead

Advocacy victory! Final California budget restores 75% of arts funding cuts.  

Governor Newsom, Senate President pro-Tempore Mike McGuire, and Speaker Robert Rivas have announced the California budget plan for 2024-25. An agreement was reached between legislators to restore approximately 75% of state funding for the arts that had been cut in the Governor’s May budget. The Governor has signed the final budget proposal which has restored $12.5 million to launch the long awaited Performing Arts Equitable Payroll Fund. The final budget plan also reduces the proposed cut to the California Arts Council to just $5 million for two years, restoring the agency’s budget for local assistance grants back to $26 million in 2026-27. The initial budget proposed a $10 million ongoing cut to the agency's funding. 

Advocates submitted over 11,000 letters, as well as made phone calls, provided public comment in hearings, and met with their representatives. A number of legislators provided critical leadership and support. The author of SB 1116, Senator Anthony Portantino spearheaded along with Assembly Member Mike Gipson, Chair of the Assembly Arts, Entertainment, Sports, & Tourism Committee, to secure the signatures of twenty colleagues in opposition to the cuts. Additional leadership came from Senate President pro Tempore Mike McGuire, Speaker of the Assembly Robert Rivas, Assembly Member Sharon Quirk-Silva, Chair of Budget Subcommittee No. 5 on State Administration and Senator Steve Padilla, Chair of Budget Subcommittee #4 on State Administration.

"We are grateful to Governor Newsom for restoring 75% of arts funding cuts in the final 24-25 budget. The Legislature and the people spoke, arts are essential and we need public investment to ensure access for all. The Governor has been a strong supporter of the arts and we remain committed to working with him and the Legislature to ensure California remains a leading state for creativity and innovation," says Julie Baker, CEO of CA Arts Advocates and CA for the Arts.

“I’m grateful to Gov. Newsom for signing this budget that restores arts funding that will put thousands of union members across California to work in good-paying jobs,” said Al Vincent Jr., Executive Director, Actors’ Equity Association. “The legislature clearly understands that when people go to see live arts events, they generate economic activity and that investing in the arts is a positive return on investment for the state. My thanks to Sen. Anthony Portantino and Asm. Mike Gipson for their leadership in fighting to restore this funding.”

Since 2020, a broad coalition of arts and culture workers, labor unions, producers, nonprofits, live entertainment venues, music, film, tv, and movie theater representatives have worked together on public policies and resources to ensure the recovery and sustainability of the creative industries. However, while some parts of the arts and culture ecosystem have recovered from the impact of COVID, many have not, most notably the nonprofit performing arts. The sweep of the $12.5 million intended for the Performing Arts Equitable Payroll Fund, a groundbreaking program to supports live arts workers at smaller, nonprofit companies, was approved just a few years ago with a strong, bipartisan support from the Legislature. This policy innovation remains critical to stabilizing the performing arts workforce and this funding has now been restored.

The Governor’s May revision had proposed a $10 million ongoing cut to the California Arts Council’s budget for Local Assistance Funding which represented a greater than 38% reduction to the $26 million allocation level at which it has been stalled for the past seven years. The final budget allocates just $19 million to the agency for the next two years. While the projected budget deficit understandably demanded tough decisions on spending, the state arts agency was already functioning at cut level, having just 67¢ per person to serve the entire state. Advocates will be watching closely to ensure California increases this investment, which is needed to support the state's cultural sector and ensure equitable access to the arts for all.

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