Episode 6: Policy Wins, Updates & Visions for the Future! - Transcription

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CA Arts & Culture Summit Panel “Policy Wins, Updates & Visions for the Future! - Transcription

VOC CFTA EP 6 (APod)

Nefesha Yisra'el: [00:00:00]  the next, we have one more panel and I'm really excited for this. It's a PechaKucha style panel,   and our moderator will explain it a little bit more. This is when policy wins, updates, and visions for the future. Our moderator is our California Arts Advocates Board President and Executive Director of the San Benito County Arts Council, Jennifer Lane.

Jennifer Laine: Good afternoon. Good afternoon everyone. We almost made it. Give yourselves a little pat on the back. This is a final session Yeah. Of today.  welcome. We are using,   this last session here to conclude the day with policy wins, updates, and visions for the future. I. So, as Nefesh said, I'm Jennifer Lane, executive director of the San Benito County Arts Council.

Jennifer Laine: We're a local arts agency based in Hollister, California. And then I'm very happy to have served on the board of California's for the arts for about six years. And I'm currently board president of California Arts Advocates, which is our lobbying side,   organization to [00:01:00] CFTA. So this afternoon I'm really,  honored to welcome seven incredible arts leaders who will be exploring recently pos or recent policy updates in the arts sector and sharing key insights into statewide initiatives.

Jennifer Laine: This presentation will happen very quickly. We're doing a pechakucha style delivery, and you might be asking yourselves, what is that? I had a really unsavory joke planned and was told. Don't say that. But  it kind of wordplay with PechaKucha,  So this presentation, it's 20 slides with 20 seconds each. So it forces the presenters to be very concise, very quick with their, with their content, and it keeps everything flowing.

Jennifer Laine: So, you know, you should be very invigorated,   energized, and it's a great way to conclude today's summit.  so with that, I would like to introduce our first speakers. We have Jonathan Glus, who's director of the,   arts and Culture Office for the City of San Diego. And Felicia Shaw, executive director of the San [00:02:00] Diego Arts Matters.

Jennifer Laine: Woo.

Felicia Shaw: Hi everybody. Hi everybody. Okay, so we are here representing the far South. And,   yeah. So I'm Felicia Shaw. I am wearing three hats today,   as executive Director of San Diego Art Matters. Formerly the San Diego Regional Arts and Culture Coalition. I'm on the Board of California Arts Advocates and also,   a commissioner for the newly formed San Diego County Arts and Culture Commission.

Felicia Shaw: okay, so speaking of wins,   about 25 years ago, the San Diego Arts Commission was folded. And so the big win for us is that we got it back. It took,   years and years of advocacy. We had to kick a bunch of board county board members. Off and we got it back.  and so with the newly formed Arts Commission back,   low hanging fruit, what do we do?

Felicia Shaw: No, no money, no budget.  the first thing we did was looked at some of our,   policies, public art policies, and we [00:03:00] were able to get a county arts commissioner on one of the public art committees so that we can have influence. A second thing we did was, Hey, why not try and get a new grants program in and input it?

Felicia Shaw: And this was really huge for us because we had an opportunity to have a public-private partnership with a local,  foundation. They put,   half a million dollars in. We were able to influence the county to put a half a million dollars in. And all of a sudden we have a new grants program, big win for us.

Felicia Shaw: Boy, that was fast. What did I miss? Did I miss something? I did. No, I didn't. Okay. No. Alright. Alright,

Jonathon Glus: Felicia. So,  I'm Jonathan Glus. I'm the director of Cultural Affairs for the City of San Diego and the Executive Director of Commission for Arts and Culture.  this is a big, big win for San Diego County advocacy partnerships.

Jonathon Glus: We're talking about data and partnerships.  today, this is the first time that we did a countywide a EP six study. Huge, huge, [00:04:00] huge for San Diego.  $1.4 billion in economic activity. These are the partners. These are all of the local arts agencies in San Diego County, plus Balboa Park Cultural Partnership,   in partnership with what used to be SD rec.

Jonathon Glus: Here are the cities, Carlsbad, coral, Nado. Encinitas, Escondido, Oceanside, cultural District, city of San Diego, Balboa Park, cultural District. Together, all of those gave us the data to have the city, the county's first Arts and economic impact study. Can I add one thing?

Felicia Shaw: One of the reasons why this is a win, it is not that we have the data, it is that they're using it

Jonathon Glus: far south, border North.

Jonathon Glus:  you guys all did the advocacy work. To get,   creative Core. This is a partnership that came out of ADV Advocacy, art Matters, city of San Diego, and Catalyst, which is the philanthropic organization for Imperial County and San Diego County. [00:05:00] Huge new step in partnership and alliances. Advocacy partnerships.

Jonathon Glus: Penny for the arts. Anybody who knows San Diego, penny for the Arts is a very big deal. City Council unanimously approved, or excuse me, recommitted to penny for the arts. I'm gonna come back after afterwards. Advocacy data, creative economy study. Updated the creative economy study for San Diego County, $1.8 billion in economic activity, one point 11 million.

Jonathon Glus:  I, I'm gonna come back to that. Sorry guys. Access and equity. we did an audit of the Arts and Culture Commission in 2019. We looked at finance,   purchasing, procurement, legal, what are the racial and equity barriers?  in our procedures, what we did was reduce barriers down to one, one-to-one funding match.

Jonathon Glus: 80% of our funding is now [00:06:00] upfront. Not reimbursement, reduced insurance requirements. Two year nonprofit status impact. We now have an Impact Grants program. What that means is we directly. Fund organizations in our promise zone and communities of concern. State law doesn't allow us to invest in bipoc organizations.

Jonathon Glus: What we can do is vest invest in those neighborhoods where the bipoc organizations are doing the work for those communities. City artist category. We now have an individual artist category. That's huge. It's in city ordinance, which means it can't be taken away unless it goes to city council. It is not funded yet, so we need add.

Jonathon Glus: We have to do the advocacy work, but it's huge That City of San Diego has  an individual artist grants program now, black Arts District. We established it 18 months ago in our historic African [00:07:00] American.  neighborhood Diamond District in Southeast San Diego. Hugely important for that community.  on the horizon, we are establishing a downtown arts district in and around our performing arts centers.

Jonathon Glus: That's a traditional arts district, but that's gonna allow us to, uh, drive additional,  funding sources into that district. Wow. I'm in front. Alright. The biggest thing, creative city, the city's first cultural plan is going to go to city council at the end of the calendar year. That is equity centered, artists centered, a big emphasis on affordable housing, live workspace for the artists.

Jonathon Glus: For the first time, we are centering artists in our work by national focus, and we can't do it alone. So we're doing it with partners across the region. And that's it guys.

Felicia Shaw: Thank you. We did it. Okay.

Jennifer Laine: Thank you, Jonathan. Felicia, great examples of how they're using data and really translating that into policy [00:08:00] wins in San Diego.  next up I'd like to welcome Lilia Gonzalez Chavez, executive Director of the Fresno Arts Council.

Lilia Gonzales- Chavez: So give yourselves a big round of applause

Lilia Gonzales- Chavez: and here we go. In 20 18, 8 3 eights of the sales tax initiative was passed by voters in the city of Fresno. This tax supports increased parks and arts. A community coalition overcame a legal battle and influential opponents. The initiative is also known as the Fresno. Clean and safe neighborhood parks transaction and use tax.

Lilia Gonzales- Chavez: An aim carefully crafted to entice voters who were aligned with law enforcement. Our major opposition. Note, no mention of the arts. 88% of the overall funding is dedicated to parks for [00:09:00] acquisition of property, for new parks, maintenance, sports and arts activities, park rangers, capital expenditures for facilities in parks, and so much more.

Lilia Gonzales- Chavez: 12% of the funding is dedicated to the arts to be distributed in a competitive grant process to non-profit arts organizations for general operating support and project specific grants. A real game changer for arts organizations. The passage of this initiative was a huge win for City of Fresno residents who will gain quality of life, amenities, economic benefits derived from tourism and greater property values.

Lilia Gonzales- Chavez: And of course, I. Increased community art programs, youth working with the Youth Leadership Institute and [00:10:00] Fresno Building Healthy Communities emphatically raised the issue of lack of green space and opportunities for recreation. Youth had been actively involved in creating the city Parks master plan and wanted to see it implemented, but with no funding from the city.

Lilia Gonzales- Chavez: How would these new green spaces be paid for? An initiative was called for, but who would lead it and at what cost? Tree Fresno picked up the mantle and began gathering support and strategizing to develop a campaign with limited resources. Many potential partners were skeptical, yet they remained cautiously optimistic because others, because of other successes.

Lilia Gonzales- Chavez: One such success was Measure Z, a 10th of cent sales tax for the zoo. It has [00:11:00] created a world class facility that has quickly made Fresno a tourist destination and demonstrated good use of its sales tax. As the parks movement evolved, a coalition of arts advocates were also meeting to discuss a possible fund for the arts.

Lilia Gonzales- Chavez: Prior experience had taught us that the arts could not earn enough votes to wage a campaign alone. We needed a partner. The arts were not part of the original Measure P conversation. In fact, as arts advocates proposed coming together, we were rebuked for fear that we would draw needed money from parks, and there was just not enough to go around to understand this.

Lilia Gonzales- Chavez: Consider that only 79% of residents graduated high school and 22.1% live in [00:12:00] poverty. Disposable income is limited and conservative voters might not support art. We hung on for three long years, attending meeting. After meeting, suggesting that the arts would make a worthy partner. We gradually gained allies.

Lilia Gonzales- Chavez: We believed in the need for parks, but also knew how important it was to include the arts as the momentum of the initiative moved forward. The gentle but steady beat of the Mansion of Arts as a partner grew to a crescendo. Parks and arts. Parks and arts. We earned valuable friends who moved to, who proved to be important to the campaign.

Lilia Gonzales- Chavez: When the Coalition for the Parks began to seek funds, they learned that arts [00:13:00] patrons had the bucks and would substantially fund their campaign if arts were fully integrated into the initiative. It was then we were invited to the table. A new conversation started. We became full participants in the discussion.

Lilia Gonzales- Chavez: A fund distribution and how much would be dedicated to the arts. Through this process, we managed to get arts included in part of the Parks fund too. Once on board, we engaged all partners and grassroots tactics to move the initiative forward. It passed with 52% of the vote, but was denied by the city because it did not get two third support of the electorate.

Lilia Gonzales- Chavez: A court battling suit. And thanks to Sandra [00:14:00] Saladon and the Fresno Building Healthy Communities team, we prevailed. The court declared that the legislature's intent was passage with a simple majority for citizen led initiatives in August of 2023. The city council approved an agreement granting the Fresno Arts Council a five year contract to manage the expanded access to the arts and culture grant program, and adopted a cultural arts plan to guide spending Of the 12%

Lilia Gonzales- Chavez: we are in our first grant cycle and elated to support the arts community with approximately $5 million annually.

Lilia Gonzales- Chavez: Oh, did I mention this is a 30 year [00:15:00] initiative?

Jennifer Laine: Thank you, Lilia. What an incredible story emerging out of Fresno. One part of the state that is, you know, consistently historically underfunded. So kudos to you, Lilia. Incredible work. Staying in the Central Valley, I'm really pleased to welcome Andrea Hansen, executive director of the Kern Dance Alliance and Program Director of the KDA Creative core.

Andrea Hansen, M.F.A: I am here to tell you a story of triumph. It begins in a place where the odds are stacked so high against you that it makes it difficult to breathe, but like a phoenix rising from the ashes. This is a story of hope and of life and of better things to come. The Central Valleys, specifically the Southern Central Valleys have never received significant public [00:16:00] arts funding, which has suffocated the growth of our communities.

Andrea Hansen, M.F.A: There's a reason Bakersfield, as well as many other small Central Valley cities are the last on your mind when you think about arts and culture in the state of California. Even though our state Arts council emerged in 1976, the central values have remained strangled because we struggle with the realization that we too can be competitive.

Andrea Hansen, M.F.A: In the fifth largest economy representing some of the greatest arts, culture and entertainment experiences in the world, we've been labeled as a perpetual underdog living in some of the most disparate conditions to further compound matters. The arts have never been used as an essential part of our region's economic growth.

Andrea Hansen, M.F.A: As a working artist, I had a vision of breathing fresh air into my community by using the arts, not just for entertainment. [00:17:00] But as a way to boost our cultural identity and to impact our economic vitality with $20 in my bank account to do so. My vision was unrecognizable by so many in my community because very few had ventured to use the arts as a transformative way to uplift everyday people living in Kern County.

Andrea Hansen, M.F.A: But I knew that the central values deserved to be competitive. And as a result, Kern Dance Alliance took its first breath. My name is Andrea Hansen and I'm the executive director of the Kern Dance Alliance and the program director for the KDA Creative Core. And today we are breathing fresh air. Since 2015, KDA has been uplifting our Central Valley communities by using the arts to create cross-sector programs that teach educational endeavors like math and reading.

Andrea Hansen, M.F.A: And decrease our health Disparities like helping people with dementia [00:18:00] and with disabilities and of most importance help to uplift everybody in our community, specifically those that are the most marginalized. We've been intentional about growing the capacity for our artists while also increasing the ways in which they engage in public work because of our commitment.

Andrea Hansen, M.F.A: And dedication to advancing the arts in our region. The California Arts Council took notice and they recognized our capacity to do more. As a result, we were awarded a historic and unprecedented opportunity to implement a program that was meant to grow the arts in the Central Valley. In August of 2022 KDA was awarded $4.2 million to implement the inaugural California Creative Court program, a program that is focused on creating arts jobs while also improving the quality of life [00:19:00] for the, for people living in the lowest quartile of the California healthy places in debt.

Andrea Hansen, M.F.A: In the last year, we've been able to create 652 arts jobs

Andrea Hansen, M.F.A: serving 14 counties and 110 zip codes. We have produced more than 30,000 workforce hours and we have generated over 138 million media impressions. 70% of our grantees are first time grantees, and for the first time in the Central Valleys, our local governments are recognizing that the arts can be a part of the solution to solving the delicate issues we all face together as a society, like lifting people up out of poverty, decreasing crime and violence, and ending homelessness.

Andrea Hansen, M.F.A: It's true. A small local arts agency can make big [00:20:00] impacts as we stand in the precipice of a new era in the central valleys. We are breathing fresh air, but we will not forget the jury that brought us here. When all of the odds were stacked against us and who struggled to breathe August of fresh air was emerging, that fresh air wrapped up in public funding for the arts in the Central Valleys is giving us new life.

Andrea Hansen, M.F.A: The future of KBA is not just about what we do, but it's about who we are. As we forge ahead and we carve new pathways, we will be bold. We will be ambitious and we will be unapologetic. We pledge to to support the creatives that inspire ingenuity because artwork is real work and art is the breath of life.

Andrea Hansen, M.F.A: Community collaborations are the backbone of our organizations. And together we are creating trailblazing programs [00:21:00] and implementing groundbreaking experiences for people living in the central valleys. We stand here to make the arts great in the central valleys because of those faces that are experiencing pure joy because of the arts and our history is just beginning in the central values.

Andrea Hansen, M.F.A: Thank you for your time.

Jennifer Laine: Thank you, Andrea. Wow,  what a great sharing and such a visceral way of art saving lives in the Central Valley through the Creative Core program and, and all the great work of your organization. Next up, I'm pleased to welcome Megan Morgan, the race and Equity Manager at the California Arts Council.

Jennifer Laine: Welcome, Megan

Megan Morgan: Tall girl. [00:22:00] Thank you. Hi, everybody. I'm gonna start off by admitting to you all that I'm probably what you might call a classic overthinker. Anybody else. So in preparing for this, you can imagine what I was going through in six and a half minutes. I reflect on just about everything deeply and as an empathic person, I often legitimately feel strongly about multiple viewpoints, sharing the spotlight at home and in school growing up.   my nickname was actually Switzerland and whenever there was a disagreement, I'd be asked to weigh in because I'd give everyone's opinion and listen and respond kindly, even if I didn't totally agree. Struggling with making decisions in my own analysis paralysis, I think honestly began when I was even younger.

Megan Morgan: When my great-grandfather Charles would give me 25 cents a week to go to the corner store and get a treat, I'd arrive in the store and be overwhelmed with choices. What would it be? Or did I want to save up for a few weeks to buy something even bigger? Candy store [00:23:00] dilemmas are funny now, but as I've grown older, I realize that the root of much of my decision scrutiny is tied to a lens of equity as I both witnessed and experienced the inequities of the world around me.

Megan Morgan: Last June, I started at the California Arts Council as the race and equity manager, and as a woman, an immigrant, and a person of color, I've learned to understand that multiple things can be true at the same time, like intersectionality, conscious and unconscious bias, as well as good intentions with unintended consequences.

Megan Morgan: And the more that we all discover about our shared and inequitable history, as people living in a hierarchical society brings sobering awareness. And a place to reflect, reimagine, and redesign a better future. This awareness can also bring a new level of uncertainty about our lives, and if there's one thing people don't like to feel, it's uncertain.

Megan Morgan: Split second decision making often [00:24:00] happens in sports and in life or death situations, for example, when time is and must be of the essence for critical life or organizational function. The same sense of urgency and decision making can start to permeate more aspects of our lives. And we think, and this is where our unconscious biases can start to show up.

Megan Morgan: FOMO or fear of missing Out keeps us scrolling on our phones, checking messages, emails, news, social media to see what other people are doing, but how by proxy we can understand and be part of their lives too. As humans, we're looking for connection, but capitalist systems tend to lull us into thinking we're part of things through buying our way in.

Megan Morgan: But when it comes to making important decisions, much of that research shows we aren't achieving the kind of FOMO that leads to the more equitable outcomes that most of us say that we're striving for. So why is that and what do we do about it? The last several years, the [00:25:00] CAC has worked with several consultants to do a series of arts landscape, field scans, equity surveys, and research.

Megan Morgan: And while the findings were many, a few of the wins we discovered were that funding dollars distributed from the CAC were actually found to be slightly more equitable in terms of benefiting bipoc and those living in rural locations. As Andrea just,   illuminated compared to other California non arts prophets in general, this was the case.

Megan Morgan: Even though the CAC does not and cannot base granting decisions based on race or the demographics of the community served Prop 2 0 9, we also realized there is still a lot more work to do and that equity work is really hard work. Our next win was launching and now regularly using something called the Decision Support Tool or the DST.

Megan Morgan: This is a lot to,   digest at once. So back in 2020, the agency released a seven year strategic framework. Embedded within [00:26:00] it is a commitment to racial equity and specifically something called a decision support tool. It's essentially an equity focused tool and worksheet with 20 questions. To be asked and answered by our staff or council members when they're making a decision, so they're doing research.

Megan Morgan: Seeking out who will this decision benefit who might experience consequences? Implicit bias research shows this, that when we slow down and take the time to ask and answer questions, we're less likely to revert to the kind of thinking that activates our biases. So the DST is helping us to win and developing a more equitable organizational culture.

Megan Morgan: So I'm here talking about all this today 'cause I wanna ask if there's a series of questions that you can ask yourself or your organization to be able to slow down your urgent decision making. What questions might encourage a bit of healthy fomo so that your equity aperture is ready to expand and [00:27:00] impact the landscape around you More the arts landscape specifically.

Megan Morgan: Let's bring it back to the candy store for a moment. Wrap it up. Well, I don't think my 25 cents would go very far at the corner store anymore. I'd love to encourage you to try one of my Overthinker childhood approaches and our DST in your upcoming decision making. I. How could you use your 25 cents in a way that you might not have thought of before?

Megan Morgan: If you save up your 25 cents over time, what bigger, longer term goals could be accomplished? Can your 25 cents be used to do some research? Who do you know that you really, that really needs that 25 cents to keep going? What's the potential future return on investment for that initial 25 cents? So the next time an urgent decision is put before you, I encourage you to spend real time discussing it in depth and seriously consider alternatives not immediately apparent.

Megan Morgan: Research suggests that making decisions based on three to [00:28:00] six choices rather than opposing binaries is more effective and reduces the paradox of choice. And I just wanted to close with a quote from the psychologist, Viktor Frankl, that I discovered in the last few weeks preparing for this. Between stimulus and response, there is a space, and in that space is our power to choose our response, and in our response lies our growth and our freedom.

Megan Morgan: Thank you.

Jennifer Laine: Thank you, Megan. That was some great insight into how the CAC is slowing down and using its own tools and.  and feedback systems to question its own policies  and the decisions they're putting forth to really advance equity across the state. Next up, I'd like to welcome Anne Bound, Crawford, artist, designer, and consultant at a B, C, et cetera, design consultancy.

Anne Brown-Crawford: Lots of familiar faces out there.

Anne Brown-Crawford: So I'm Anne Bound Crawford. I am,   a [00:29:00] consultant for state parks and local parks for a program. An amazing program that involves and parks is a theme it seems like today. And to talk to you about a true cross sector policy win and partnership and def really defines cross sector collective impact, and that's this program.

Anne Brown-Crawford: It's a program. That is deeply rooted in California for All and Outdoors for all, which comes from the governor's office and the reexamining our past initiative that Parks is using to take stock of and reexamine their relationships to the land. The mission, and I know this is text heavy, you can get the deck afterwards or call me up.   the mission of this is to support artists. Culture bearers, California Native American tribes and communities, and creating artwork that really truly offers a perspective on our past. The goals of it [00:30:00] are, the whole program is to welcome people, especially the populations that are around parks, into the parks, so they know that this is their park to empower mentorship and job opportunities.

Anne Brown-Crawford: It's a job creation program, and to use the arts to heal. The main partners in this, of course, California State Parks, the state agency, parks California, who works closely with local parks and state parks and California Arts Council. We have an advisory committee and I'm slow of about 15 members. This is a brief overview at  A graphic of the timeline. It's funding $25 million that will last until 2027. When we do the evaluation, you can see  that round one for state parks went out and round two for local parks that launched last Friday. So keep track of that. There's an artist directory. [00:31:00] In the program for any artist in the state of California who wants to work with parks.

Anne Brown-Crawford: And that directory will be searchable with parks staff as well as the general public. So sign up if you're an artist. and these, this is a brief overview of the categories that, that we currently have for both state and local parks that artists can work within. There are also multi-part categories, these for specific categories, and then the, then there will be multi-part projects that will run throughout the state.

Anne Brown-Crawford: Poetry in the parks. Starting this weekend in Santa Barbara, join me there. touring, we talked a lot about touring and bringing it back. State parks is bringing it back. The state parks roll. Oh, nuts. My fonts didn't come through. Well, that's too bad. State Parks  is in this program to raise the awareness and build capacity in the park staff to help them realize the importance of bringing art into the parks and the importance of creating partnerships and create sustainability in the [00:32:00] communities around them.

Anne Brown-Crawford: You can see here, there are 280 parks in the state. They're broken up into 21 districts. Pilot projects are happening now. You can go to the website to see what you can visit and see what's, look, what's happening there. There are parks that already started. So  if you were, if you,   live in the LA area, you might've seen  The procession, that's, project that started,

Anne Brown-Crawford: so round two, four state parks is starting to launch now. Parks staff inspired by what is happening now and wanting to taste out, test out new. Projects, they're pitching their projects to state park's internal review panel right now. That'll happen, and the selection process that'll happen through May.

Anne Brown-Crawford: The selection process takes place in June, and then the call for artists for those state parks projects will go out in the fall. The local parks. I guarantee that my slide doesn't look that poopy on it.

Anne Brown-Crawford: The local parks,   [00:33:00] program is meant to fill in those gaps between state parks in local parks by and create jobs, build and strength, their park strengthen partnerships, not just with artists and park staff, but with whole communities, arts organizations, and. To, to create a multi grant program that will create rich community connections.

Anne Brown-Crawford: That's how you create sustainability for any program if you build those connections. This is a brief overview of  the launch that just happened Friday. There are two types of grant  opportunities. One for design and implementation. We're giving people time to think about what could be done  and to gather their partnerships together, and then the implementation grants of actually bringing something to fruition.

Anne Brown-Crawford: The program itself already has some pretty rich resources available on the website and online resource hub. The templates,   the artist directory. Of course, I'm gonna keep saying that because [00:34:00] I want people to register.  there's a evaluation and reporting that will be happening from now forward. This is a QR code.

Anne Brown-Crawford: If you scan that, you can sign up for the webinar tomorrow morning. For how to apply for like go get the money. I used to do this when I was go around the state and say, go get our money so you can scan the code and sign up for the webinar. You can join the mailing list. You can sign up for the artist directory.

Anne Brown-Crawford: Ultimately, we want everyone to feel like their parks are where they live and they can see themselves reflected in that. It takes work and it takes all of us to make that happen. So this is a cross sector collective impact that is funded and wonderful. And I want you all to go get the money. Thank you.

Jennifer Laine: Thank you. And,   yeah, the Arts and Parks California Parks program is a $25 million policy win, and [00:35:00] I really encourage you as soon as you get home, reach out to your local parks people.  it's another great opportunity at these cross sector partnerships that really benefit artists and the broader community.

Jennifer Laine: Finally, as our last presenter, I'd like to welcome Shera Lane, founding executive director of Atrium nine 16.

Shira Lane: 6 1 6 9

Jennifer Laine: 1 6.

VOC CFTA EP 6 (Master 1): Okay.

Shira Lane: Hi,   I'm Shira founding. Thank you. So,  I'm kind of nervous today. I don't know why, but I am. When I started this, I never imagined that I would start a nonprofit. And definitely when I started I had no idea what advocacy was.

Shira Lane: I thought it was a politicy word that meant lots of talking, not a lot of walking. So,  the atrium is the intersection between an arts organization and economic development organization and an environmental organization where those collide. That's where the atrium exists. We're all about being omni, [00:36:00] considerate.

Shira Lane: That means taking into consideration everything. And we serve about 850 creatives in the region. We didn't start that way. We started as upcycle pop a market for upcycled and repurposed items.  it was interactive. You could watch artists make stuff. You could hear live music, you could immerse yourself into art installations that educated on sustainability.

Shira Lane: We started doing those and the artists and it was in an abandoned building.  and the artists wanted more, and we did another one and another one, and they got better and better and better. Until the artists were like, Hey, we really like this building. Let's turn this into a coworking space. And I was like, no, I'm a documentary filmmaker.

Shira Lane: I'm busy. I can't do that. But then the landlord said, Hey, I really like what you're doing. Why don't you turn this into a coworking space? Okay, so then we did, but I said we're only gonna do it if we're doing it zero waste, and we're gonna try and we educated on how to do zero waste events and we started getting more artists that were doing zero waste stuff.

Shira Lane: And pretty quickly [00:37:00] we grew into about 18 organizations within six months.  we had artist studios, dance studios, labs that were making beer that was more sustainable. We had all kinds of things going on there, drone races, and we called it the atrium because we had a big building and it had a huge atrium with trees in the middle of it.

Shira Lane: And,  but also the atrium is the upper chamber of your heart that accepts all the blood. And we hope that as people walk through the atrium, they would come and they would be more. Inspired with more oxygen and ready to do more for the community and the environment.  as we grew, we realized we needed to get official and we started doing creative economy meetings and that was a way for us to really learn how can we better serve our community.

Shira Lane: These were awesome. They grew, oh my God, it's going so fast. Sorry. they grew and and we realized that they grew so much.  that it was great because we could connect artists with other artists. We could listen to what they needed. And it was great because we could invite city officials to come to these meetings in a completely different capacity.

Shira Lane: It wasn't a city [00:38:00] meeting, it was us and they were listening. I'll get to all this, sorry. But,   in,   2019,   the city approached me and said, Hey, we don't have any money.  and I didn't know what to do with it. And then Dennis Manger and Allison Cagley, who's here today. Mentored me and said, Hey, okay, we're gonna take your creative economy meetings, people, and we're going to mobilize them, and we advocated and we were able to go from $0 to $1.9 million.

Shira Lane: Thank you. That was all of us. This is not just me, I'm just. The voice.  right now I'm gonna get to this. So,  later on carts for the arts,   we realized that cartridges, vape cartridges,   were being thrown away. They're being marketed as disposable. You can't dispose these vape cartridges. You throw them in the trash, they explode.

Shira Lane: Yeah, they're connected. So they've got lithium ion batteries. So if you put it in e-waste, you can't put in e-waste because it's got the cannabis oil on it and you can't take it to the cannabis waste because it's got the lithium ion battery on it. And so you really literally can only hold onto it. And this was a big problem.

Shira Lane: So we created, oh, I'm gonna get to all of you.  we created a,  [00:39:00] an art exhibit that was made out of cartridges and we created an arts panel that went with it. And that was a panel with like, um, manufacturers. And that was a panel with,   policy advisory people. And we got together and  it got national news.

Shira Lane: But what was more important is after that exhibit finished, that group continued to meet, they became a working group, and eventually they were able to pass legislation that eliminated them being able to market that as disposable and change and force the marketer,   the distributors, and the producers to change their design.

Shira Lane: So thank you Art. We can make huge differences and that's where I'm getting at. So, hurry up. Covid happened. We had to do our creative economy meetings online and we were able to help hundreds of people, so artists,   could not get unemployment. They could not apply for the PPP. A lot of them were just lost.

Shira Lane: We had hundreds, and so we quickly got online and we brought in the city. It was great because then the city officials were able to actually hear from the local artists. [00:40:00] What was really going on, and they could hear from hundreds of artists. And then we mobilized that. And with that we were able to raise about $20 million through the CARES Fund.

Shira Lane: And later on, another $10 million from arpa. And the, and that all went directly to artists? Not all of it. Sorry. A lot of it went directly to artists and it was the first time that the city ever gave,   money directly to the artists. And that was because they had that creative direct relationship, and we built that relationship.

Shira Lane: So I think that's really important. Out of that program, we started a Sacramento shop. I'm gonna get to all this. We started Sacramento shop. It was a market for,   it was a way to help artists because we knew as Covid was happening, things were gonna get closed up. They wouldn't be able to do their market.

Shira Lane: They weren't gonna have any way to make money. A lot of artists kind of get their funding from,   festivals and markets. So we decided we need to get them online as quickly as possible. So we created a program and we got them online. We photographed,  we built a platform to sell and we did an online [00:41:00] platform, kinda like a little FU, to Amazon.

Shira Lane: We did same day delivery. We did it all. And  that program was also about sustainability. It was about circular economy. If you had packaging. You as a producer maker, needed to accept your packaging back because we wanted it to be a zero waste. And that's circular economy. It's creating an economy without any waste.

Shira Lane: That got the attention of Heidi again, who I worked with,   on the carts for the arts. And she was like, Hey, I really like what you're doing here. I wanna invite you to be on the SB 54 implementation,  thing. And I was like, I don't know what that is. But if Heidi says jump, I say, how high? So I jumped into that.

Shira Lane: So, SB 54. Yeah. Gotta go. SB 54. SB 54 is about, is  is a really big bill. It's a really big bill and it's extended producer responsibility. And what that means is that the plastic producers now have to pay for the damage their plastic is creating. Yeah. and what that means is that. Now. So there's gonna organize an organization that will collect money [00:42:00] from these producers and that organization is going to distribute that money to do mitigation source reduction, which includes reuse.

Shira Lane: And that's why we were brought in and we were brought into implementation just to kind of give you what implementation means when a bill passes, which is great and that's all great, but then there's the implementation part where it goes now to the department and the department has to figure out how the heck do we do this?

Shira Lane: And that is a public process as well that you should get involved with. So if you have passed something you should get involved with. And because you also build relationships. So in that process, it was really cool to hear that my suggestions, my ideas, my concepts were actually implemented into regulations.

Shira Lane: It's kind of wild, but you guys, you guys are creative and you can do that too. Because these are people that are in this,   arena of adv, um, policy. We call 'em policy wonks. And they're like very got narrow tunnel vision. They don't often see the big picture. They need creatives [00:43:00] like you to come there and tell them like, Hey, have you thought about this?

Shira Lane: And have you seen it from this perspective? And they actually really appreciate it. They really do. I know I gotta go. Okay. And, The future. One second. Sorry. I'm taking it. the future where I wanna see is I wanna see,  creatives going out. You have superpowers use them. Thank you.

Jennifer Laine: Wow. Well, I hope you all,   got to witness some really wonderful examples of coalition building use, using data for storytelling, cross-sector partnering and just fierce advocacy to advance policy goals and to work towards a more equitable, creative future for all of us here in California. I'd like to welcome all the panelists back out onto the stage for a final round of applause.

Jennifer Laine: Thank you all and I believe everyone has their full bio in the digital program, so if you wanna reach out, it should be in there. And, and thank you again for your, for all your work. Okay.

Jennifer Laine: Okay. We've made it with that. I would love, I'm so honored to welcome the incredible inspiring and [00:44:00] absolutely unstoppable Julie Baker to the mic.

Julia Baker: Well, friends, we've made it. It's been a very long day. How do you feel?

Julia Baker: I feel really great because I'm so inspired by all of you, and I wanna say that I was listening to the open mic. And the open mic was a very important portion of this because I think it's really important that we hear from your voices what's going on, what we're missing. And I wanna acknowledge what we heard and how important that is, and that every event should give people the chance to share and hopefully feel the safety to share how they feel.

Julia Baker: So with that, I just wanna thank you all for being present and engaged. Today. I'd like to thank Unseen Heroes, our logistics partner, the Sofia Theater, the stage crew, the people in the booth, right? The wonderful artist [00:45:00] from Lunar Soul who made all of these beautiful graphics and I happen to buy a dress that match

Julia Baker: the Bay Area Video Coalition and voices of the community who,   have been backstage and around all this time interviewing people and it's, they're gonna be segments that are gonna be on radio and public tv. And the caterers who kept us fed.

Julia Baker: Oh, I guess I should say advance the slides. Okay. So we,   will, I, I guess I'm gonna say this. We are starting an advisory,   council, and these are our first advisory council members.  Michael Alexander. I see you here.  wonderful. Thank you, Michael. Who's been on,   involved in arts and culture for.

Julia Baker: 55 years and  led by our co-chairs, Rachel Osajima and Victoria Hamilton. I'm not sure if they're in the room still there. It's Rachel. Thank you. This is the beginning. These are former board members,   and it will grow. This is just the first portion of as we're starting our advisory council.  next slide please.

Julia Baker: tomorrow, who's gonna, advocacy day? [00:46:00] Advocacy day is a free event that we produce. We have over 280 people. This is a record for us who registered to be a part of advocacy day. We have over, I think, 200 meetings or something like that. I'm not, I don't know the statistics, but it's a, because I don't do this portion because we have a team and that's an remarkable thing.

Julia Baker: And we have a team because of you all who are members, and we have a team because of our. Sponsors and our funders and our annual funders. And without that, including our grant from the California Arts Council and including the foundations that support us, we couldn't produce a free advocacy day. So,  I hope you'll join us tomorrow at 9:00 AM  which means our team will be there much earlier.

Julia Baker:  in Capital Park. It's called Area 27.  I'm sure you all,   will find us there and,  and there'll be a rally between nine and 11:00 AM We'll be honoring some of our,   art Star legislative,   awards as well as Mayor Darryl. Steinberg, who has been an incredible supporter for the arts [00:47:00] here in Sacramento and has been a terrific supporter of arts, culture and creativity month since its inception in 2019.

Julia Baker: So I hope you'll join us tomorrow for advocacy day and such An important thing, and I want to thank the team, the Field engagement team, led by Tracy Hudak and Janika Bisby and Martha Dempson

Julia Baker: for all their incredible work to produce that event. It's gonna be. Amazing. Next slide. Okay, so these are all the people that made this happen today in terms of the financial support. And we, all of you who do these events know it's very, very expensive. I heard the feedback in terms of the ticket price.

Julia Baker: Let's get some more funders to underwrite this event so we can make this accessible for everybody. We want to do that. We have to also run our own business and make this make sense that is part of our responsibility so that we can be a sustainable organization. I know all of you understand that, but at the same time, let's find those funders who can make it so everyone can afford to be here.

Julia Baker: And let's bust it out. Let's be 800 [00:48:00] strong. Let's be a thousand strong at the California Arts and Culture Summit. But we wanna thank all of these folks up on the the screen who made this happen for us today. So please thank our sponsors. And our annual funders. And I wanna thank, I wanna,   specifically shout out the arts and Culture department at the City of Sacramento.

Julia Baker: Megan, are you still in the room?  and her team, they, they're doing great work in the city of Sacramento, as you've heard in so many places around the state that this is happening. But we've always had our home here for the summit and for advocacy day. So thank you.

Julia Baker: Next slide. I'd have to shout out again our board, because again, I mean all of you who are involved in nonprofits have been a part of nonprofits who are on boards yourselves know how critically important that marriage is between a staff and a board. And we have, I'm so emotional right now. Does anyone else get tired and emotional?

Julia Baker: Okay. We have an amazing board. So if you're a board member and you're still in the room, you're not at the bar yet, can you stand up and, and we can acknowledge you as board members.

Julia Baker: Thank [00:49:00] you. Okay, next slide please. All right, so this is our team. Again, small but mighty. We're currently nine people.  and every one of them has put so much into making this happen today. But there is one person in particular that needs to be acknowledged with some thing that it nefe is gonna bring out for us.

Julia Baker: And I wanna call out Terry Ball to the stage.

VOC CFTA EP 6 (Master 1): Oh my God.

Julia Baker: So Terry, Terry has been the project manager for today. Yesterday we also were hired to do the SLP convening. And tomorrow for advocacy day. I don't know how many pieces and parts she manages and how much duct tape and things that she has in her car, but it's incredible and everybody needs a Terry Ball on their team, so thank you.

Julia Baker: We had to sneak those flowers in because Terry's in charge of the flowers. And  and I said, well just put 'em, you [00:50:00] know, aside, because Terry's also the person who will never think that they're for her. Right. And her incredible wife, Vicki, who is a, like, I think she is,   a, this equity or a sa  she's a USA lighting designer.

Julia Baker: She's a USA lighting designer, right? She's a high level lighting designer. She's a professor of lighting as well, and we get her as part of the package deal. So, Vicky,

Julia Baker: thank you. All right. So,  I would also ask that you do one more slide, please.  so this is how we're gonna grab you. Now we're gonna ask you Yes, the QR codes, which were brought back during covid, right? We all forgot about QR codes, but they're back now and everyone knows how to use them. This is the survey.

Julia Baker: And it's really, really important we get your feedback. We only do this because we want to serve our community and we wanna do it as best as possible. And that's really critical for us to hear from you [00:51:00] and to, for us to listen and for us to keep our eyes wide open and to be humble and have humility in producing events like this.

Julia Baker: So thank you for doing that. And I think next slide, if you got all that. Alright, so all I'm gonna tell you is this, you know,  You are all part of this. You are. We cannot do any of this work without you. It would be,   really. Really lonely and ineffective. And so you are all a part of this. You are a part of this movement to advance arts and culture, to center artists and cultural bearers, to make sure our communities are grounded in the transformative power and arts and culture and creativity.

Julia Baker: And you are all doing that on a daily. So I thank you so much for all the work that you do. Give yourselves a huge round of applause. And then I just would love to do a group photo.  and I invite anyone, honestly at this point to come up on the stage if they'd like, there [00:52:00] are stairs on either side. And come take a photo with us and then I invite you to go out there, drink, party.

Julia Baker: You can drink water iced tea, or you can have beer from Sierra Nevada, our sponsors. You can have wine and you can also have some mixed drinks that are also from our sponsor,   milestone Brands. And they just came on board right recently. And also we have vendors here today upstairs, some artisans here from  Sacramento.

Julia Baker: Including an amazing bookstore, some visual artists, some jewelers. So we invite you to go upstairs. There's more food. There's the DJ rock bottom, and there  are the cocktails and everything else. And that is all part of your admission ticket. So please enjoy that. Do it. And now join us up on the stage and with that, we call the second annual Carts and Culture Summit.

Julia Baker: A wrap.

Co-Host Edurado Robles Interview with Jennifer Laine- Transcription

Eduardo Robles: [00:00:00] Hi, Eduardo Robles with Californians for the Arts and Voices of the Community here at the second annual California Arts and Culture Summit in Sacramento, California. I'm here with Jennifer Laine, our board member hi. Hi, Jennifer.

Eduardo Robles: So Jennifer is leading a panel policy wins, updates and visions for the future.

Jennifer Laine: Got it. Yeah. Can,

Eduardo Robles: can you tell us a little bit more about. You know what your up the updates and decisions.

Jennifer Laine: Sure, sure. So this panel is the last session of the day and really it's just gonna summarize all the good work and discussions we've been having all day long. It's a great way to conclude today, the summit, and really inspire everybody and get them ready.

Jennifer Laine: For tomorrow, which is Arts Advocacy Day at the Capitol where all of our super awesome and incredible arts advocates will be meeting with their state elected officials and talking about really important policy wins policy things on the horizon in terms of funding and legislation that [00:01:00] we really wanna push forward to support our creative sector in California.

Jennifer Laine: So our session today really. You know, it's been a long day. We've taken a lot in, so it's a really fast moving PechaKucha style presentation, which will be these quick presentations on various policy wins throughout the state happening both at the local level, we're featuring measure P and Fresno, and also statewide initiatives such as the California Creative Core Program and Arts in California parks.

Jennifer Laine: So again. It's a great way to close out the day. We're gonna hit the grassroots level. We're gonna hit the high level and really inspire people on how they can get more involved in government to really advocate and push these policies forward that are favorable to our sector.

Eduardo Robles: Wonderful.

Eduardo Robles: Wonderful. Do you wanna talk a little bit more about, you know, I'm interviewing you. Yeah. Here, thanks. Yeah, no what are some of these wins or, yeah. You know, speak a little bit more on the work that you're advancing.

Jennifer Laine: Sure. So one I can speak [00:02:00] really in more detail about is the California Creative Core program, in part because it's one that I'm closely involved in on the Central Coast.

Jennifer Laine: So this was one time funding kind of coming out of covid relief funding to really put artists. In service, working closely with government agencies and community-based organizations to address really nutty community challenges around public health, civic engagement, social justice, and climate impact.

Jennifer Laine: So one of the panelists this afternoon will be from the Kern Dance Alliance that is working on a creative core program There. I believe, I wanna say there's around 14 to 20 creative core programs happening throughout the state, but we're really towards the end of this program. It was a policy win because we were able to get arts funding out into the field and then really try to pilot these examples of artists working closely.

Jennifer Laine: Inside government and community-based organizations. So how [00:03:00] are artists great second responders. How are they trusted messengers in their community? How can they help address all these challenges at the local level? Where we're at is you know, this funding set to expire. We'll be gathering all this.

Jennifer Laine: Data here on the Central coast we'll be producing a case study on the work that we've been doing because we want to continue to advocate for this funding. We know that the state is facing a major budget crisis that probably lasts longer than a year, unfortunately. But once we're in a bit of a better situation, we wanna make sure that the state reinvests in these programs, so reinvest in the creative core, reinvest in cultural districts, and in creative youth development.

Jennifer Laine: Creative youth development, of course, supports that pipeline of young artists and creatives so that we continue to build California's future creative workforce.

Eduardo Robles: Thank you so much. So what are your visions for the future? I mean, we saw, you know, some of those wins and, you know [00:04:00] it's creative core is about to expire, you know, how are we kind of like mobilizing.

Eduardo Robles: You know, to prove, you know, the value of art workers to invest more. Are there emerging? Opportunities how do we tap into those opportunities?

Jennifer Laine: Yeah, I mean, I think despite the challenges and the, the funding ups and downs that we all deal with, we're, we're gradually making change. We just have to keep, you know, advocating, keep fighting every day.

Jennifer Laine: We're taking a, a step forward in the right direction. What I would like to see, and I think this is something that we've really learned from the creative core, is. Wow. An artist with a full-time, salary and benefits. It, it's, it's magic, you know? And, and the thing is, it shouldn't be. Magic artists are entitled just like every other worker, to a livable, predictable, sustainable wage with healthcare benefits, with retirement, so they can live and thrive in California.

Jennifer Laine: That's what I would like to [00:05:00] see, and I think everybody here wants to see that. Moreover. We wanna see it in the schools, we wanna see it in public spaces and in our communities. These are, you know, things that we value. We value beauty, we value connection and belonging, and this is what we can do as artists.

Eduardo Robles: In your experience with the creative core, what has been very productive relationship with a, a department? Or where do you see, I guess again, you know, these opportunities for building for the future? Who is more dialed in than, you know, than another department?

Jennifer Laine: Yeah, I mean, I think what's really exciting is to hear people talking about art, to hear people talking with artists that.

Jennifer Laine: Don't normally do that. In my small county of San Benito. Art is not a regular topic at our county Board of Supervisors meetings, but one of the projects is with Venecia Prudencio, who was a panelist here today. She's a local artist in my community, a creative core artist, and she's working closely with our Department of [00:06:00] elections.

Jennifer Laine: And doing a lot of you know, art space outreach around voter registration, voter education, getting the youth involved in the elections process. And so to see, you know, these kind of non-arts folks talking about this work being creative themselves, coming up with creative solutions to problems they're facing in their offices or out in the community, I think is really exciting.

Jennifer Laine: And then, you know, there's also sort of this meta level of collaboration that was new because of creative course. So we've been able to work really closely with six other county arts agencies from Ventura. All the way up, you know, to Santa Cruz and inland, to San Bernardino County. And so we, that collaboration through the Creative Corps has extended into other opportunities.

Jennifer Laine: For instance, we're gathering around a creative economy forum with a economic organization. We're also gathering around, what was formerly called the Surf Program, but now is called California Jobs First, but really [00:07:00] workforce investment in, in different regions in California. So, you know, there's this kind of metalevel collaboration that's been really beneficial.

Jennifer Laine: And then just, you know, the local, impact as well.

Eduardo Robles: Yeah. Wonderful, wonderful. I, I think I was also thinking of what, what, what's this creative bill of Rights or, you know, the, this, what are, like, where is the sector, you know what's the big thing, the game changer for California in terms of art workers, creative workers, like you said, you know, there's partnerships with, you know, the.

Eduardo Robles: These departments, these pilot partnerships, but you know, how do we kind of like shore up and, you know legitimize through policy. You know, this week we have the Creative Workforce Act. Can you talk a little bit more on maybe that or also the creative economy Strategy plan? Strategic plan. It seems like we're really moving into, you know, this, the future.

Eduardo Robles: Yeah. [00:08:00]

Jennifer Laine: It's so funny because, this word, the future is coming up a lot, all of a sudden. And one, and one really interesting part of that is the state. Another policy win was this approval of $1 million to go to the California Arts Council to convene a creative economy work group to develop a strategic plan for California's creative industries.

Jennifer Laine: The Institute for the Future has been contracted to lead this strategic planning process, and so. You know, this meshing of futurist thinking and planning for the future of our creative workforce is happening right now. And so I think, you know, we talk a lot about the work that we're doing now at the ground level, but really.

Jennifer Laine: What do, like, what signals are we hearing? Are we seeing that's gonna drive this vision for the future? Where are we moving with ai, with technology, with education, with climate, housing's a huge issue and so I think we [00:09:00] absolutely have to kind of put ourselves in that mindset of, yes, we have our challenges now, but where are we headed and how can we really proactively steer that vision in a productive way that will benefit all artists.

Eduardo Robles: Thank you so much, Jennifer for taking the time Yeah. To talk and, delighted for your panel. Yeah, thank you. Okay.

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