Episode 91: Arts Economy Panel

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Programs and Projects from Californians for the Arts, the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts and the San Francisco Arts Commission

Photo Credits For YBCA Images:
Fellows Gathering, 2016 – Photo by Tommy Lau
Healthy Cornerstore Unveiling, 2018 – Photo by Tommy Lau
Jesse Carmichael Peoples Garden Celebration, 2018 – Photo by YBCA.
We Are Here- Opening Night Party, 2019- Photo by Tommy Lau
Pedagogy of Hope, 2021 – Photo by Charlie Villyard
YBCA, 2021 – Photo by Charlie Villyard
The Healing Project, 2022 – Photo by Charlie Villyard

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One of the sectors most impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic is our arts and culture sector with very high unemployment for workers as well as arts and culture organizations losing over 50 percent of their income and struggling to stay alive without live performances and ticket sales for example.

This episode is focused on the importance and economic impact of the arts, culture, and artists on both our economy and our communities. We hosted a panel of guests from the San Francisco Arts Commission, Californians for the Arts, and Yerba Buena Center for the Arts to provide us their insights and recommendations on rebuilding our arts and culture economy as we come back from the Covid-19 pandemic.

Julie Baker - Californians for the Arts

Julie Baker, Executive Director, Californians for the Arts and California Arts Advocates (Sacramento)

As the Executive Director of California’s statewide arts advocacy organizations since 2018, Julie has worked to increase the legislative clout and visibility of the arts and culture communities by building a coalition across the for and non-profit sectors of California’s creative industries, producing a month-long arts awareness and advocacy campaign every April, and fighting for resources and legislation to serve and protect artists and cultural workers. She serves as the California State Captain to Americans for the Arts' National Arts Action Summit and on the State Arts Action Network Council and as the co-chair of the Western Arts Advocacy network for WESTAF. She is on the board of California Heritage: Indigenous Research Project, a founding member of the Nevada County Relief Fund advisory council and was elected to the Nevada County school board in November of 2020.

Over the years, Julie has owned a fine arts gallery for emerging artists, co-founded Flow art fair — a satellite to Art Basel Miami Beach — opened a consulting firm Julie Baker Projects, and curated an annual music series at the Crocker Art Museum. Earlier in her career, she was President of her family’s arts marketing firm in New York City and worked at Christie’s Auction house before moving to California in 1998. Julie also served for eight years as the Executive Director of The Center for the Arts, a non-profit performing arts venue, and California WorldFest, an annual music and camping festival located in Grass Valley, CA. She is the recipient of the inaugural Peggy Levine Arts & Community Service Award from the Nevada County Arts Council.

Ralph Remington - San Francisco Arts Commission

Ralph Remington, is the Director of Cultural Affairs, San Francisco Arts Commission. Ralph has extensive professional experience in arts administration and government, as a director, actor, essayist, playwright, and screenwriter. In January 2021, Ralph was appointed by Mayor London Breed as Director of Cultural Affairs for the San Francisco Arts Commission. Prior to joining the City and County of San Francisco, he served as Deputy Director for Arts and Culture for the City of Tempe, Arizona. There he was responsible for Tempe Center for the Arts’ performance and visual art programming, as well as overseeing public art, the Tempe History Museum, arts engagement, and municipal arts granting.

He served as Western Regional Director and Assistant Executive Director for Actors Equity Association in Los Angeles. Prior, he was Director of Theater and Musical Theater at the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) in Washington, D.C. In 2010, he received the NEA Chairman’s Distinguished Service Award.

Before joining the NEA, Remington was a City Council member for the City of Minneapolis. He is a former Guthrie Theater Acting Company member, and the founding Producing Artistic Director of the award-winning Pillsbury House Theatre in South Minneapolis. He has written seven feature screenplays and two plays. Remington is a US Army Veteran, certified AIDS/HIV educator, union member, and former International Brotherhood of Teamsters organizer. He is currently a member of the Screen Actors Guild and American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) and the Actors’ Equity Association (AEA). Remington was born in Philadelphia and has a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Drama from Howard University.

Jason Blackwell - The Yerba Buena Center for the Arts

Jason M. Blackwell is the Director of Community Investment at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (YBCA) and is responsible for the organization's re-granting efforts as well as development of their investment strategies. Currently, he spearheads two initiatives: Artist Power Convenings and the California Relief Fund for Artists and Cultural Practitioners. Before his time at YBCA, Jason served as the Associate Director for Grants for the Arts for the City and County of San Francisco, the largest arts funder in the City. There he has been integral in retooling their General Operating Support grant program to have an equity lens, specifically around racial and geographic equity. Jason, previously, worked for the James Irvine Foundation, where his portfolio included the Arts Engagement Initiative, Research and Development Initiative, and the Immigrant Integration and Protecting Immigrant Rights Initiative. During his time at the foundation, he served as a principal member of the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion committee assisted the foundation in its statewide community listening efforts and was integral to the foundation’s work in the equity sector. Prior to the Irvine Foundation, he worked at The Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts and at numerous performing arts institutions in Los Angeles and New York City in areas of development, capital projects, and programming. Jason earned a Master of Professional Studies in Arts and Cultural Management from Pratt Institute and attended business school at The College of William and Mary for his undergraduate studies.

Californians for the Arts

Californians for the Arts (CFTA) is the only comprehensive, multidisciplinary organization focused on advancing and building public awareness of the value and impact of arts, culture and creativity across California. With over 20,000 active subscribers and hundreds of members representing thousands of artists and arts and cultural organizations, we take on opportunities and challenges that no single organization or artist can represent alone. Moved by our deep conviction of the civic and personal value of the arts, our mission at Californians for the Arts is to ensure that the arts are accessible to all Californians; are an ongoing part of the public dialogue and to encourage Californians to care about the arts as a critical component of their own lives and the lives of their communities. We fight for arts resources and policies that benefit our members and all residents of California. Our work and support of civic engagement, arts education, racial and cultural equity and the creative economy, positively impacts every community across the state. With our partner organization, California Arts Advocates, we are able to influence legislation and appropriations through our lobbying team and efforts.

CFTA’s programs are designed to provide value and to educate and inspire the broader arts community to engage in advocacy and to move CFTA forward in its mission. Artists are Second Responders

San Francisco Arts Commission

Established by charter in 1932, the San Francisco Arts Commission is the city agency that champions the arts as essential to daily life by investing in a vibrant arts community, enlivening the urban environment, and shaping innovative cultural policy. Our programs include: Civic Art Collection, Civic Design Review, Community Investments, Public Art, SFAC Galleries, and Art Vendor Licensing. To learn more, visit sfartscommission.org

Yerba Buena Center for the Arts

Opened to the public in 1993, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts was founded as the cultural anchor of San Francisco’s Yerba Buena Gardens neighborhood. Their work spans the realms of contemporary art, performance, film, civic engagement, and public life. Centering artists as essential to social and cultural movement, YBCA is reimagining the role an arts institution can play in the community it serves. YBCA believes that culture is an essential catalyst for change. Therefore, it’s the responsibility of arts institutions to spur and support societal movement. Their mission is to generate culture that moves people. Get engaged in our convenings and find out more about the Guaranteed Income Pilot for Artists

Get Engaged

Get engaged in supporting our Arts and Culture Economy through:

+ Californians for the Arts April Culture & Creativity Month in California

+ The San Francisco Arts Commission's work to support the arts and culture economy in our community

+ Get engaged in the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Programs to support our arts and culture economy in our community

+ Be an Arts Champion and become a member of Californians for the Arts

+ Become a volunteer or donor of the San Francisco Arts Commission

+ Become a volunteer, member or donor of the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts

Get support for Artists and Arts Organizations:

+ From the San Francisco Arts Commission's opportunities for Artists

+ From the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Artist Power Center and Artist Power Convenings

COVID-19 Pandemic Impact on The Arts: Research Update: March 14, 2022

Videos

To find out more about Californians for the Art, the San Francisco Arts Commission and the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts

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Voices of the Community is supported by a grant from The James Irvine Foundation, dedicated to a California where all low-income workers have the power to advance economically. More at www.irvine.org

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