Episode 7: CA Arts & Culture Summit Creative Equity: "Building Sustainable Futures for Artists and Communities" Transcription

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CA Arts & Culture Summit One on One with Panelist re: Creative Equity: "Building Sustainable Futures for Artists and Communities" - Transcription

Eduardo Robles: [00:00:00] Hi, Eduardo Robles for Californians for the Arts and Voices of the Community here at the second annual California Arts and Culture Summit here with Tiara Amar. Just got out of the creative conditions panel and we're happy to have you here to talk a little bit further on you know, your key takeaways and just some ideas that, you know, you were able to discuss with the other panelists.

Eduardo Robles: You know, just go ahead, take the mic.

Tiara Amar: Totally. Yeah. I feel really lucky to be here at Whipper World Arts. We work with musicians. We're a musician centered organization, so we really prioritize the perspectives of working musicians. And it was cool to really talk about the things that are on the minds of musicians.

Tiara Amar: So guaranteed pay is their top priority. The opportunities to play for small listening audiences and then the consideration of the musician's cost of doing business when determining compensation for them. And it was cool to put that in a conversation in a room with such [00:01:00] experienced people with, in, in like different parts of the creative ecosystem.

Tiara Amar: So to hear what that looks like from a policy perspective, from Jamie to look like what that looks like, first from the city's perspective, from Marcus, and then to, talk through the A.I., the technology question is really, is really interesting too.

Eduardo Robles: Yeah. Like at the core of, it's like a lot of like art worker rights, right?

Eduardo Robles: Like some hu basic human rights. You know, rights to create, I mean, to their creative expression, to to be able to work and, you know, thrive and, you know so heard a lot of you know interesting strategies that you're involved in. Can you speak a little bit more about some of those kind of guaranteeing income strategies?

Eduardo Robles: Yeah. Or kind of pooling money or, just kind of elaborate more on, what you're doing.

Tiara Amar: Yeah. So we work specifically on the live music ecosystem and what that looks like. And the live mu music ecosystem and how people are paid for live music has changed a lot actually. And, what we work on [00:02:00] specifically is how can we expand what the live music ecosystem looks like?

Tiara Amar: So expand to non-traditional venues that makes music more accessible to folks who don't have access to it. So that's like. Public schools, prisons, hospitals, care centers, section eight housing. Places where, where, you know, based on like a lot of research, a lot of scientific research on benefits of music, the physical, social are where music is really needed, but music is not accessible.

Tiara Amar: And it is interesting because lot the. the idea of artist work is real work has, has not been really accepted in the music economy. It is still not in, in a lot of places in the music ecosystem accepted that the performance of live music is labor and that all labor necessitates compensation.

Tiara Amar: And so to say, even like the music industry is in a place where even to say that like musicians should be paid for performing music, period. Is, is not, is not commonly accepted. So that's part of the [00:03:00] transformation work that we're trying to do is get this as a, as a bottom line principle for the ecosystem that the performance of live music is labor.

Tiara Amar: All labor deserves to be compensated. That's step one. And then step two is how can we do it fairly? How can we do it transparently? How can we do it like inclusively? For black and brown folks, disabled folks, queer folks.

Eduardo Robles: How do you see, musicians as art workers, but also music, it's also, you know cultural heritage and you know tradition bearers, you know how have you encountered those kind of in advocacy work?

Eduardo Robles: Yeah. In terms of like, you know, advocating for, artists or culture bearers.

Tiara Amar: Yeah. So. Live music is humanity's oldest ritual. You know, like drumming together is one of the first things we learned how to do. And it, it is, it musicians are such important keepers of history, keepers of history of a place keepers of, [00:04:00] community.

Tiara Amar: And in the past decade in the Bay Area, we've seen such a mass exodus of musicians from the cities that, that they're like. They, they, they were integral to building the culture of, you know, in Oakland blues musicians having to leave Oakland when, like Oakland has been such a, like, pillar of the blues.

Tiara Amar: That's really heartbreaking. And we know that musicians are. Vital cultural workers. They're keepers of the history of our spaces and their builders of the future. We work with one, we have a fellowship program that's specifically focused on roots music where we model what deep investment into roots music can look like.

Tiara Amar: And it's like one of the only, if not the only grant of its size that's specifically focused on roots music. So we offer $25,000 grants to exceptional roots musicians. And one of our fellows is drawn blind boy Paxton. And his fellowship project that he's gonna be working on for the next 18 months is building [00:05:00] old American banjos.

Tiara Amar: Old American banjos being an instrument, super vital to black music, to the, to, to the evolution of black music and also the future of black music that are no longer like commercially manufactured at scale. And so his project is to do that real work of learning this practice, of building the banjos and then playing music with them.

Eduardo Robles: Amazing, amazing work. Amazing work. Especially as we have, you know, rich tapestry of, you know, culture traditions throughout California. And so just interested in that, you know, as we, you know, legitimize, you know, artists as workers, but also culture bearers as workers, you know, that, you know, that they're being employed in, you know, some, some interesting projects, but how do we, you know, build, you know, the, the, the actual policy, you know, actual language in, in, in, in legislation.

Eduardo Robles: what topic in the panel just spurred your curiosity? You wanted to learn more or [00:06:00] you think needs more attention?

Tiara Amar: Yeah, definitely. What I'm really working on right now in my advocacy work is thinking about how can we engage musicians.

Tiara Amar: In the advocacy work itself and also how can we engage them with the things that they already have skills in doing with the things that they're already experts in. And so we have been working with a number of other organizations based in the Bay Area on the Fair Play Initiative, which is a grassroots campaign to, call upon this the, the, the officials of four cities to recognize musicians work as labor and set pay minimums for the, the work of musicians in their city charters. So nowhere in the country are it, are there procurement standards or prevailing wage ordinances for musicians? But this is true about other types of work.

Tiara Amar: Other types of work are, are in each city's charter. Like there's, there's pay minimums for, for, for [00:07:00] work. So we're working with the Union Local Six, working with Jazz in the neighborhood independent Musicians Association, Richmond Jazz and Blues Demonstration Gardens and a bunch of other allies and folks who have come together to involve musicians in this advocacy work to talk to the cities of Richmond, Oakland Mountain View, and, San Francisco Big one, San Francisco, to, advocate for musicians being included in something like a, a prevailing wage ordinance. And. It really stems from the idea of like, there should be pay minimums for musicians work, and also there should be set working conditions under which musicians can do their work.

Tiara Amar: There's very limited professional protections for musicians. They're often working in really unsafe conditions for very long hours that aren't compensated. So this is a legislative campaign. We hope that really will protect musicians and help that make, help it help it be more sustainable for them to live in the cities they wanna live, to live in the cities that they are, like fundamental to the cultural heritage [00:08:00] of.

Tiara Amar: And so yeah, we have exciting news on that front. We're working with legislators in San Francisco, in Richmond, you know building movement getting the musicians involved and, and as always centering their perspectives on, on, on what they need.

Eduardo Robles: So there's a real opportunity here for California to lead right?

Eduardo Robles: In building creative policies for, you know, musicians.

Tiara Amar: Yeah, if I can. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, there's, there's millions of dollars that we put into the arts. Never enough money that we put into the arts, but there are, there are millions of dollars, but. Very little of it gets to musicians. Even when the municipality is investing into big events with live music, there is no pay standards for how musicians should be paid, what they should be paid, how they should be treated.

Tiara Amar: And that's, that's, that's not anyone's fault. There's just like not an an infrastructure for folks in the city to be trained in what a reasonable rate of pay is for a musician. And so this campaign is also like. Our collection of organizations can offer that training to the [00:09:00] cities of like, this is what an ethical engagement with a musician would look like.

Tiara Amar: And just setting a pay standard, setting considerations offering advice on accessibility and safety. And, and it's a really exciting opportunity for the cities and also for,

Eduardo Robles: in terms of like art workers, the, the movement, you know, just. Basic rights for arts workers.

Eduardo Robles: How do you see yourself aligned, you know, alongside, you know, other folks in, in, in, in the summit?

Tiara Amar: Yeah. I really resonated with what Marcus said, who was in the panel which is like, why did he get into this work? And part of that was that he wanted to take care of his people. And that's something I really resonate with.

Tiara Amar: I, I really wanted to take care of the people. Around me, my community who I'm very lucky are a lot of artists or a lot of queer trans artists of color who we know are, are so fundamental to like the cultural, the culture of the society that we live in, but are often completely [00:10:00] underpaid, unrecognized for their contributions to that.

Tiara Amar: And it is such an exciting opportunity to like. Be in a place where I feel like I can contribute to the shifting of the tide. You know, get money in the hands of the musicians, of the artists who really deserve it. And, and also money with no strings attached. So not like apply for like a nine step, nine stage grant, then you don't get the grant.

Tiara Amar: But just like, here's a grant, there's no strings attached. Do it. That what you need to do. And, and we all benefit from that. Another thing that came up is that when you give money to artists like it. It is almost the best way to put money into a community. And what we've realized through our fellowship program is these are huge grants, $25,000 grants.

Tiara Amar: You know the first thing that a musician will do when we give them a $25,000 grant is give it, is give it away to the musicians around them. You know, they'll, they'll rent the studio, their hire local musicians. They're so collaborative in their practice. And so it's like not really giving one person $25,000.

Tiara Amar: We've essentially been able to like. Reach [00:11:00] a, a, a lot of a local art community by, by making one serious, deep investment and trusting a musician who is like within that community who knows that community to, to, to distribute it. Yeah.

Eduardo Robles: You, you mentioned a little bit of, of research that, you guys commission can you talk a little bit more on that research and, yeah.

Eduardo Robles: I'm just interested in. If, if there's any like economic data Mm-Hmm. You know, as you know now, they're the Bureau of Economic Analysis is, you know, collecting all sorts of data. Mm-Hmm. And, you know, live venues and art is, is, has there been a conversation with, you know, that data?

Tiara Amar: Yeah, yeah. So our research stemmed from witnessing.

Tiara Amar: A lot of the mythology associated with artists during Covid, and wanting to disrupt those things by getting the perspectives of musicians and collecting data on their livelihoods and incomes. And so our research [00:12:00] was able to identify the top three priorities of working musicians and also notice that Covid wasn't.

Tiara Amar: Such a drastic shift. It definitely exacerbated really longstanding problems in the music ecosystem, but it wasn't the birth of of these problems. These are like longstanding problems that we need intervention on. And so we found the top three priorities of working musicians, which is guaranteed pay for a gig.

Tiara Amar: Like I was saying. I, I think I said this already, consideration of expenses small listening audiences. And with that we wanted to also explore like, what are the solutions, what are the interventions that are working? And so while the first part of our research really fleshed out some of these like economic challenges that musicians are facing musicians who make the majority of their income from performing or teaching they're being paid at the same rates that they were being paid in 1985.

Tiara Amar: Which is completely untenable to live in a city like San Francisco, live in a city like Oakland. [00:13:00] And we also found that like. There was a lot of momentum in, in, with the uprisings in 2020 to change how folks are hired. But there, there's still such a high level of discrimination in the hiring process that we really wanted to address, especially for musicians with disabilities and especially for black musicians.

Tiara Amar: And so those really shaped the way we approach the like. Last piece of our study. So there's a four piece study, and the final part is the recommendations that I was just talking about. The recommendations for ethical pay and professional protections that we released that highlight case studies around the country for folks doing really experimental and imaginative work to kind of reimagine what artists' work looks like.

Tiara Amar: So it also looks at. How businesses can change longstanding practices of not paying artists. So for example, we worked with an organization called Northwest Folk Life on a [00:14:00] super folk festival in October, November, 2022. And Northwest Folk Life and huge credit to the artistic director of Northwest Folklife, Benjamin Hunter.

Tiara Amar: Who, really called in the changing of a longstanding history of like not paying musicians at Northwest Folk life. Um, and, and in our collaborative festival with Whipper World Arts and Northwest Folk life, we were able to pay the musicians, a really, a really solid amount of money for the first time in Northwest Folk life's history.

Tiara Amar: And so the key to our research is also demonstrating that it is really possible to change longstanding business practices and it benefits the entire ecosystem. Venues, businesses, presenters, artists, audiences to pay musicians fairly.

Eduardo Robles: Sorry. No worries, no worries. Well, thank you so much for taking the time and talking to us a little bit more. And, you know, thank, thank you so much for sharing all this knowledge. And we'll we're happy to share some of this, some of your research. So. Uh, sorry I didn't close that up. Real good.

Nurit Smith

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 here in Sacramento, California. I'm, here with Nurit

Nurit Smith: Yes.

Eduardo Robles: Nurit Smith. Yes. And our board member,

Nurit Smith: yes, I am a new board member and I'm really excited to be a part of this team.

Eduardo Robles: Yes. And Nurit just facilitated a panel on creative conditions. Very stimulating conversation on, you know, how we're building protections for artists, initiatives for artists so they can thrive. And just wanted to, you know follow up on that conversation, maybe like some insight that you got from the panelists.

Eduardo Robles: And just your, your overall take on the needs for, you know building creative conditions for artists to thrive.

Nurit Smith: I love it. Um, can I grab Yes. Okay. Um, this is not live right? No. We're gonna be editing it. Thank you. Because it seemed quite live. Um, I, I loved, moderating this panel on the creative conditions

Nurit Smith: for this, uh, actually it's the conditions for the creative economy. That's what it's, so I loved moderating this panel on the conditions for the creative economy, what we're seeing, some trends and, the impact of [00:01:00] technology and innovation for our community. I think we just scratched the surface.

Nurit Smith: Frankly. I know from having an earlier conversation with these panelists that there is a wealth of knowledge and research and learnings that have come about over the past few years. And I do think that COVID really helped move and exacerbate a lot of the the challenges, but also the opportunities to solve.

Nurit Smith: Those issues that we've been seeing inside of the creative economy. I wanted to make sure that we weren't only talking about artists, but the whole holistic view of the creative economy. The work that I do at the Music Forward [00:02:00] Foundation, majority of it is about career paths within music and live outside of being on stage.

Nurit Smith: You know, what are. All those jobs and careers in, in the space. And I feel as if one thing that popped up a few times is even how we define the creative economy. Some think that it's just artists that make up the creative economy, but there are hundreds of thousands of jobs that are not just the person on, on stage or painting or doing the artwork, but everybody else supporting and empowering that artwork. So I wanna make sure that that conversation is, being brought to light in all that we're doing.

Nurit Smith: I dunno if you have more questions, but I can keep talking about stuff. Keep going. Yeah. Um.

Nurit Smith: The O net codes was brought up at one point in the conversation, and this is [00:03:00] specifically talking about occupation codes that define all the different jobs that the Department of Labor is identifying and tracking, and the majority of jobs within live entertainment.

Nurit Smith: Are not being tracked. And as Nicole mentioned as well, there are animators and new industries in that are based out of like graphic design and animation that are artists that are not being defined and they're occupations aren't being tracked. And what happens is that it, if it's not being tracked at the Department of Labor, education is not teaching into it, and we're seeing more and more a divide between education and industry.

Nurit Smith: And I could tell from some of [00:04:00] the conversation that was happening on that stage too, on our panel, is the education of artists is not being taught, again, in that holistic way of how to monetize your art, how to write grants for your art, how to build your network, right? How to build these cooperative and collectives to support your work And part of that has to do with our educators not having those tools and the knowledge and the Department of Labor on the other side, not identifying these careers and occupations. So that's why we keep seeing this misalignment between what is being taught in schools and the workforce.

Eduardo Robles: so we're seeing I get to talk about it.

Eduardo Robles: Yeah. No, no. I mean, we're seeing, you [00:05:00] know that artwork is real work and we're seeing a you know, workers utilize across the sector. But yet there is that undefinable workforce, the creative workforce, right? Like how, how do we speak, like you said, as a unified sector to, the, like the, the, the, the Department of Labor, for instance.

Eduardo Robles: Where, where are you seeing the clarity? Where is like, how is it, you know, crystallizing? We have Prop 28. We have, you know, the the housing act, you know, and all of these kind of legislations. We just had that big summit with the NEA, you know health and wellbeing. Yes. So there, it, it seems like it's, it's happening, but just not like.

Eduardo Robles: Throughout the sector, you know, like, I guess what I'm just trying to say is like how, how, how, how is it more like articulated as a unified workforce?

Nurit Smith: Right. Well, I think one of the, the challenges is so much of the work we do inside of this economy is invisible. We literally wear black to [00:06:00] be invisible backstage.

Nurit Smith: Right? And so it, I think one of the first things is identifying All the jobs, all the roles, all the, the people that make up this workforce. And articulating it from the Department of Labor all the way right into the community and the, and inside of schools. So they're learning career, technical education that is aligned with the jobs that are available.

Nurit Smith: You know, this is why I, I love. California for the Arts and California Arts Advocates. This is why I'm a part of this coalition in the state of California, is because we cannot do it alone. We have to find those partners, the collaborators, the artists that are, [00:07:00] able to share this story, share their lives, share their careers, and that's how we'll be able to continue to shine a light on this multi-billion dollar force here in the state of California.

Nurit Smith: Did I answer your question?

Eduardo Robles: Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, definitely, definitely. So it's like a labor movement kind of. We need to, like, do, we need to organize

Nurit Smith: completely like a, a labor movement. And there are organizations like Music Forward that are helping to rewrite some of those codes. And identifying some of those industry codes as well.

Nurit Smith: Not only the occupation codes that reflect what we are doing today, not what we did 50 years ago, right? Because the technology has impacted those, the roles the skill sets [00:08:00] needed The platforms that need to be understood how artists monetize has changed dramatically. So we have to be able to teach that, and then advocate to make sure that the resources and that the effort and time and experience that artists and this economy is putting into our society, into our world is being.

Nurit Smith: Given the resources that it needs.

Eduardo Robles: How do you see education right now? Kind of stepping up to, support, I guess this workforce much needed workforce. It's, it, it's, it's there is, you know, our education has proven that, you know, it helps. You know students thrive in education. So how are, you know, superintendents, how are they moving art and culture to be more, you know invested in in education?[00:09:00]

Nurit Smith: Well, it's interesting because I come at it from a, a little slightly different angle. We work in. Not music education. We work in music, business education. We want, and we, and I, I advocate for more of this learning of the business side of the arts. So as young people are being taught. Instruments and dance and stage and painting and all the different modalities of, of art and creativity.

Nurit Smith: We wanna make sure as they're heading into sophomore, junior, senior year in high school, that they're also being taught skills in entrepreneurship. Right. They're also being taught that. Careers in music don't end in band and orchestra, [00:10:00] right? And we have partners inside of the California Department of Education that are seeing this and are tapping industry partners to help refine and redefine what career and technical education looks like.

Nurit Smith: And I think that that goes back to the, the partnerships, to be able to. Ensure that our young people in this state and the next generation are as ready and prepared and have been exposed to so many careers and opportunities that they can see themselves mapped into the creative economy.

Eduardo Robles: Yes. Yeah.

Eduardo Robles: So a lot of, a lot of infrastructural work. I think, you know, even if they're, you know, folks doing arts administration is still like, the pipeline is still not. You know, it, it's not like becoming a teacher or like, you know, the, the, the, the, the, the, the practice of becoming an art worker. There's. A lot of barriers.

Eduardo Robles: So how to, you know, make it a little bit more [00:11:00] smoother. Right? Yeah, yeah,

Nurit Smith: yeah.

Eduardo Robles: And, you know, higher education, you know, like how, how is higher education, you know supporting this workforce too. 'cause you have folks that are coming outta the humanities, coming outta the arts and, you know, there's no formal kind of entrepreneurship, you know formation to, you know, come out into the world.

Eduardo Robles: And, support like us, that system, a system of the, the creative ecosystem. Right. So, what do you, what do you see in higher education? Who, who, who is leading in higher education in terms of like this preparation for artists and arts workers?

Nurit Smith: Well, I think what's great in that CTE space as well, that goes up to what they call grade 14.

Nurit Smith: And so community colleges are also leaning into this space. And I love pipelines that we're developing, like with Compton Unified School District into Compton College into. An apprenticeship. And I think that that's where [00:12:00] we are able to really see higher ed step in because we've now positioned an apprenticeship as a goal.

Nurit Smith: But we also know that higher education is not available to everyone. Right. Whether it is a, a barrier of, money and resources or that it just is not part, doesn't work and that's not how they learn and grow. We wanna make sure that there are opportunities on the job training that there. Learning and earning at the same time because the so many careers inside of our economy doesn't need a four year college degree.

Nurit Smith: But if we can find and define those pathways and pipelines, then we can help this next generation thrive.

Eduardo Robles: Well, thank you so much for all of this rich conversation. And yeah, thank you.

Nurit Smith: [00:13:00] Thank you, Eddie.

 Danielle Brazel, executive director of the CAC

Danielle Brrazel & Glorielle Garcia (Guest)

Eduardo Robles: [00:00:00] So we're here at the California Arts and Cultures Summit, and I have with me

Danielle Brazell: Danielle Brazel, executive director of the CAC.

Glorielle Garcia: Gloriella Garcia, the operations manager for CAC.

Eduardo Robles: Yep. We're here at the summit for artwork is Real work. What has been the highlight of the day for you?

Danielle Brazell: Well, I will tell you the highlight of the day has been the incredible panels.

Danielle Brazell: And really being able to hang out and be with my colleagues and learn from my colleagues from across the state,

Glorielle Garcia: networking, getting to know another aspect that I'm usually not used to seeing and learning from all of you.

Eduardo Robles: And, you know, it looks like we're a movement, right? Like, there's just so many conversations that, you know art and culture is, you know, you know, advancing.

Eduardo Robles: You know, what is the future looking like?

Danielle Brazell: [00:01:00] So seeing the movement at this stage, some of us have been at it a really long time, and what I'm seeing is that the momentum continues to increase and the investments, the advancements are actually happening. First of all, the strategic plan that was unveiled.

Danielle Brazell: Today for Californians for the Arts was absolutely amazing. And to see how much, how far we've come and yet how far we are to go

Eduardo Robles: how about yourself?.

Glorielle Garcia: I'm very new at this.

Eduardo Robles: No, but we're all, that's how we're all convening and learning from each other. So. The points of the summit, right? Like we're, we're changing the narrative. Yeah. We want more people, you know, we're building the movement. Yes. So, where do you see [00:02:00] yourself in this movement or where are you in the movement?

Glorielle Garcia: Where in the movement. I gotta say I'm more, because I'm operations, more budget focused, very strategic in that realm. So I am, what's the word? I am embracing the art, the art, creativity, and I wanna expand that a little bit more, in knowledge. And so, yeah.

Danielle Brazell: So I wanna just say, shout out to all of the people who manage the contracts, who move the money, who manage the bureaucracy.

Danielle Brazell: Who makes sure that arts, culture, and creativity is getting into the hands of communities throughout the state. And this woman right here is behind it all. Yeah.

Eduardo Robles: That's the artwork is real work. That's the worker, you know, that's, that's the movement. Your, your, your movie, moving the work forward.

Danielle Brazell: Art workers are our accountants.

Danielle Brazell: [00:03:00] Art workers are operation managers, art workers are facility managers. They are supervisors. You know, there's, there's no question that in order to be an arts worker, it manifests in multiple ways. Yeah.

Eduardo Robles: Yeah. Well, thank you so much, Danielle, for taking the time, you know, to, you know, talk to us and, you know, for welcoming us to Sacramento. You know, you're the leader of the Arts Council and congratulations on that appointment. Thank you. Very inspired for your leadership.

Danielle Brazell: Well, Eduardo, likewise, and we've known each other a minute and it's really great to see you blossom and I hope you are thriving.

Eduardo Robles: Thank you so much. That's off the record, but.

Alex Gallardo (Guest)

Eduardo Robles: [00:00:00] Hi, we're here at the California Arts and Culture Summit, and here I am with Alex.

Alex Gallardo: Alex Gallardo with Arts Council of Kern.

Eduardo Robles: Alex, what brings wonder? What, how, how does artwork, how is artwork real work or cultural work or economic work?

Alex Gallardo: I'll go with the first question you asked was, how do you nourish wonder?

Alex Gallardo: I think it's a opportunity. Give the opportunity to the people who, who, who want to grow and are wondering. So just giving out that opportunity and being a part of, and helping them out. I think that's a good way to, to nourish it.

Eduardo Robles: Yeah. What did you like today?

Alex Gallardo: The whole experience. I was here last year.

Alex Gallardo: I liked it last year. This year was, was also really good. A lot of good topics that talk about, I manage the Arts and corrections program with Arts Council of Current, so I always kind of take a little bit there and, and, and, and how to make my program better. And I think there was pretty good points out there.

Eduardo Robles: Yeah. And you're part of a big mo bigger movement of how, you know,

Eduardo Robles: like art and culture as being, you know, kind of use that as a

Eduardo Robles: solution.

Alex Gallardo: Yeah. You know, we really want to empower those that, that are, are, feel like they're powerless, feel like they're [00:01:00] forgotten. We really want to bring that out there and also give them, give 'em that sense of that, you know, they can do, they can still contribute to the community.

Alex Gallardo: They can still do things that you know, make 'em feel as a community. So, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I love it. It was good. Beautiful.

Eduardo Robles: Wonderful. So we got a little story on Wonder. Can you tell us a little bit about your community, how you're taking all of this back to your community?

Alex Gallardo: Well, like I said, we we, we are arts and corrections and, and, and we, we, we plan to grow and expand.

Alex Gallardo: So part of my thing is to recruit artists, teaching artists to go and, and to give back to the community, get back to the institutions. So, yeah, man, it's just, just a positive thing overall.

Eduardo Robles: Well, thank you so much for taking the time to talk to us. Alright.

Dalouge Smith (Guest)

Eduardo Robles: [00:00:00] Hi, this is Eduardo Robles with Californians for the Arts, and I'm here with our board member

Dalouge Smith: Dalouge Smith.

Eduardo Robles: Yeah. So we're here at the summit. What has been a through line in all of the conversations or what has been most inspirational for you? Which, what is the, the emerging thing that we need to be?

Eduardo Robles: The, the, the urgent priority we need to be doing to advance you know rights for cultural workers investment into our culture.

Dalouge Smith: Yeah, i, I would say that one of the most outstanding reoccurring themes that I've been hearing through the day is the imperative of continuing to center artists and. Their livelihood and their creative contributions, that everybody else in the ecosystem needs to be making that the starting point.

Dalouge Smith: And that from there then we're gonna see stronger community. We're gonna see more dynamic [00:01:00] futures, we're gonna see the integration of arts in the overall wellbeing of California. So I'm excited by the, I'm excited by the number of artists that are here and the way that they're. Really owning that imperative.

Nataki Garrett

Eduardo Robles: [00:00:00] Hi, my name is Eduardo Robles with Californians for the Arts and Voices of the community here with our keynote speaker, Nataki Garrett. And we are gonna talk to Nataki about some of her key points in her keynote address. One being was very thrilled. With your ideas on the role of the artists in society and you know, the policies that are emerging for artists.

Eduardo Robles: And it was great that you highlighted some of these initiatives that you're a part of. And where do you see, you know more policies emerging? You identify arts and health. You identify arts in the environment. But in this kind of in your ideas of transformation. How do you see the role of art and the artists?

Nataki Garrett: Well, first of all, thank you. Thank you for the question. I I, I kind of believe that, what is happening in this country is it's catching up with ideas that are already in motion. So [00:01:00] when arts for everybody, I was born through one Nation, one project, one of the things that has happened over the past few months is the revelation that in some of our collaborations, people have been doing this work for decades.

Nataki Garrett: You know, they, they saw the need. They, they focused on ways of, of, of, of solving the problems within their communities. And they were looking for other ways to, to support it or for resources to help them do, continue to do what they were doing. I feel like president Biden is also catching up. You know, I feel like the, this idea that you might make policy around something that everybody accesses, you know when I lived in Oregon, one of the things that kept coming up was we can't fund the arts because we have to fund houselessness.

Nataki Garrett: And I was like, well, even the unhoused need access to the arts. And so I think that there's a, a tremendous amount of possibility with this sort of future [00:02:00] focus on creating more policies. Policy for me is about, is like money. You know, like, so we need the resources to be able to continue to support artists in the work that they do.

Nataki Garrett: And then you have to kind of listen to the artists, because the artists will tell you, right? So the policies that I spoke about were created by artists. And so, how do you, how do you deepen that? And further that you make sure that the artists have what they need so that they can keep their ear to the ground and listen to the needs of, of, of our, of our country and culture.

Eduardo Robles: Yes. And, you know, I really, admired, you know, how you are kind of identifying, you know, the need for transformative work in these kind of eco, in these ecologies that have already been har harmed, you know, and you're mentioning kind of the houseless and and, and, and youth and so in terms of social justice, you know, and how we are, you know, moving the needle on that.

Eduardo Robles: Any, uh, how about, your positioning the artist as this transformative [00:03:00] maker? How about, you know, organizations or, or entities, funders, how can they support You know, this, this, this kind of move this, transformative work.

Nataki Garrett: Yeah. So like I, I, I just sort of focused on my speech on ha after having run a few organizations and really trying to figure out ways to shift the organizational focus from.

Nataki Garrett: I don't know donors and, you know, the, whether or not the patrons feel like there's enough room between their knees and the seats in front of them. How do we, how do we refocus the energy of those spaces on being a space for artists to thrive? And so I do believe the mandate of organizational culture especially arts organization has to be around how do you serve the people who are actually bringing this, this, you know, this richness to everybody's lives.

Nataki Garrett: And I think the other thing is about access. You know, I worked for a theater once and you know, we had this, this conversation with community leaders and this one very important [00:04:00] community leader was late to the meeting and she said, I just couldn't find the door. And I was like, well, this is a public theater.

Nataki Garrett: You know, the very least you should know how to access the door. That's our fault. You know, how do you provide access? How do you make sure that everybody knows that they're welcome? How do you open up the possibilities for, for welcoming people? How do you give them access to the work that happens on the inside?

Nataki Garrett: How do you invite people into spaces so that they know that it's for them? Right. I, I experienced this at my last two organizations. You know, patrons who were, who didn't really wanna shift the way that we brought audience in because they. Didn't wanna sit next to people who weren't their friends, you know?

Nataki Garrett: And I think, I think that's where some of our arts organizations are being, are stuck. You know? How come there's not a lot of resources in the arts industry because we've relied on ticket sales and that's okay. You know, rely on ticket sales. But I. You know, you have to expand who, who comes, and you have to expand who buys the tickets, and you have to expand the [00:05:00] invitation to make sure that everybody feels like they are a part of what you're doing.

Nataki Garrett: So I think that policies that focus on helping to stretch and broaden our horizons around how we build audience is gonna be really important as well.

Eduardo Robles: And how about how do we move beyond this one time pilot funding? Like what is the game changer in the arts? Like there is I mean there was the arts and, you know, wellbeing, you know, conference that you mentioned. You were amongst all of, you know, the leaders in the nation. Where are we going in terms.

Nataki Garrett: Yeah, so I was at the NEA had an arts and culture summit and that was led by the NEA's director Maria Rosario Jackson. And, you know, this really strange moment where the folks from the Department of Transportation were like, we got billions of dollars and we want to help the, help the artists have access and.

Nataki Garrett: But then when they read the, like the paragraph on the policy where you're supposed to [00:06:00] access it, it's like not even written in a language that anybody can understand, much less write a grant or proposal to get the resource from there. Right. So I do think that the future is about greater accessibility.

Nataki Garrett: You know, I think that if they want, if they, those people who make policy decisions and. Allocate resources for for people to have what they need in order to make the art that they do. They actually have to make it more accessible, you know? And then I, I remember having a conversation with a, a major grant funder and, one of the, something that stuck with me in that conversation was this idea that you.

Nataki Garrett: You know, it's really hard to replace a grant from my organization, is what the person basically said. And I was like, well, what if you created a granting process that didn't require replacement? You know, what if it was about, what if inside of the source funding was a way to help the organization build out a way to gain more resource over time?

Nataki Garrett: I worked for an organization [00:07:00] that had funding for a project that was focused on, local tribes, native American tribes. And of course, as soon as the funding ran, ran out. Yeah, the project was over. And so you're just abandoning people, right? And so, you know, somebody approached me about creating a different project, a new one.

Nataki Garrett: And my thing was like, I'm not gonna create anything unless it, it meets two criteria. The first is we'll start this project and we will not end it until the people that we are connecting to and collaborating with feel like they've gotten what they needed out of it. Right. And so the second thing is that we, we actually have to invest in ongoing funding, not, not the one-off funding.

Nataki Garrett: We actually have to build it into the program so that you are sourced out for five years and then in the second year you're sourced out for five more years beyond that. And then if the people say after eight years they don't want it, you reallocate that funding towards something else and you start a project, another project.

Nataki Garrett: [00:08:00] That can begin and end with the needs of the people that it's servicing, as opposed to, you know. You know, every, all these great servicing organizations and, foundational funders, they get to say, oh, we are, we're serving all of these groups of people right, for 10 minutes. And, and then they move on.

Nataki Garrett: Right? And I, I just, I, you know, as a, as somebody who grew up in Oakland in the eighties and seventies and eighties, and I'm somebody who benefited from some of those programs, but really, literally, they'd descend into the area and then they'd create a program. And then like, you know, next year it wouldn't be there anymore and you'd be out.

Nataki Garrett: Right. And so I think we have to stop those kinds of policies, those imperialistic policies that are really not helpful and they don't build in a connection to people. We have to be a little bit more like, um, LA Symphony, what they're doing. You know, they, infiltrated the entire school district in LA and, and they were the ones who decided that everybody should have access to, to music, [00:09:00] right.

Nataki Garrett: And they've just raised money to make sure that could happen.

Eduardo Robles: Now, just kind of going back to the artist there is the transformative moment of the artist becoming an artist, but how about the artist becoming an advocate? It seems like we need more of that for this kind of like sustainable you know, advocacy, investment. what was your kind of like, turning point into like more policy driven, you know, practice

Nataki Garrett: birth. My, yes, my, my father wrote the charter for the first ethnic studies program in the nation at San Francisco State start. He was a part of the, the, the group of people that started the San Francisco State strike, which is the longest. Student strike in, US history. My mother was a student there at the time.

Nataki Garrett: They ended up moving to the, to dc They built a a school with their hands called the Center for Black Education. It's in my, it's in my blood and bones. Like I, so I'm, I'm kind of, I, I guess I'm an [00:10:00] anomaly. But I also feel like. You know, artistic expression is usually a reflection of what's happening in society and it's only politicized when the dominant power, power culture decides that what is being expressed is outside of their need.

Nataki Garrett: I. Right. So it becomes political because of that. And so advocacy is, is I think is embedded within almost every single story. You know, everybody has something that they need or want to be changed in order to create the best possible life for themselves. And, you know, that's what usually what plays are about, you know, people really investing in.

Nataki Garrett: And looking for and living through circumstances and looking for a way to survive those circumstances and to live in a world that's better than the one that they're in right now. You know? And so that's a part of it.

Eduardo Robles: So I guess that's how we're gonna get arts for everybody. Yes. Yeah. We need, we need, we need, we need to do that.

Eduardo Robles: Yes. And thank you so much for, you know, taking, a [00:11:00] moment to, to, to talk to, you know, Californians for the arts and voices of the community. Of course. Really appreciated and very inspired by all of your work.

Nataki Garrett: Thank you very much. Nice to meet you, Eduardo. Yes, thank you. Thank you.

Tamaira Miss Tee Sandifer

Eduardo Robles: [00:00:00] Hi, this is Eduardo Robles with Californians for the Arts and the Voices of the Community. Here at the second annual California Arts and Culture Summit. We just got out of the panel achieving economic Justice through community place keeping, and I have our moderator for the panel, our e our esteemed board member Miss Tee Sandifer, who brought very inspirational facilitation on the topic. And I just wanted, you know, to hear a little bit more on what inspired you today with these panelists or what inspired you with the audience. There was a lot of, you know, kind of engagement with that and, just invite you to, you know, kind of talk about I.

Tamaira Miss Tee Sandifer: Sure. Well, I think some of the, the key things that presented themselves, I mean, nothing, you know, we didn't script anything that we did and we knew going in that we wanted this to be a, a two-way conversation rather than information dissemination. So, some of the takeaways I would suggest is the fact that, you know, [00:01:00] artists are living in the future.

Tamaira Miss Tee Sandifer: And that we're problem solvers and solution bringers. And I think that was really, really brought home really, really well. As it pertains to economic justice, yes, we can visit the money piece and we even had somebody in the audience. Who will become a mentor for people in starting and building their nonprofits.

Tamaira Miss Tee Sandifer: But in addition to that, the wealth of words and the wealth of knowledge and the wealth of, uh, language that only exists in certain realms and learning that language so you can exist in these additional realms that cause you to be more successful in your craft and in your career. And I think, you know, those sorts of things typically only happen.

Tamaira Miss Tee Sandifer: When you're in community with like-minded, like-hearted people that are willing to kind of do that exchange, that unspoken exchange. And I would also offer, you know, we talked a great deal about place keeping. Some people will suggest, you know, there's a buzzword place of making, but we wanted to. To delve into place keeping, not only is it about you making space to make your art or become [00:02:00] an artist, but how about place keeping so that there's some level of permanence to your existence as an artist, but also where you can create and disseminate your creativity from.

Tamaira Miss Tee Sandifer: And so. You know, even touching, you know, brushing the surface of, of difficult to talk about things like gentrification and redlining as it pertains to occupying real estate that you call your own. So you know, just the panel was, it was rich, it was fun, it was funny, it was exciting. And I believe that people walked away, lifted with actionable steps, how they can grow not just as artists, but as artists who are making money and changing other people's lives.

Eduardo Robles: Yeah, this really you know, call to leadership, you know talk to your community Mm-Hmm. You know, build those leaders that intergenerational you know lifting up. And so, you know, what are, you know, the, there are business models, you know, there are individuals, [00:03:00] like seeing kind of community how do, how do we, how do, how do we build commu, I, I guess community?

Eduardo Robles: 'cause there's gatekeepers, there's folks with, you know, with good intentions and, you know, they get shut off. How, you know, as you know, we think of building leaders. How, how do we build support system for folks? That might not have a lot of support within the community.

Tamaira Miss Tee Sandifer: Well, I think you know, one of the key ways that came up, especially during the panel, is talking to people.

Tamaira Miss Tee Sandifer: Like talking to people e even people that you know, you, you don't know, that's not, not necessarily in your realm of, of day-to-day activity, but, but show up and talk. That was number one. The other thing was just dissemination of wealth. Just, you know, in a more strategic and intentional way, you know, instead of giving to the people that are lateral or the people that you know, or the people that you see regular.

Tamaira Miss Tee Sandifer: How about generating downward or generating left or generating right, or even generating up in a way that yes. Okay. There's an organization that they do this in this specific community. We don't typically fund this sorts [00:04:00] of work, but we're gonna fund this work this time to see if we can get these outcomes so that we can get this new data that we can kind of play around with.

Tamaira Miss Tee Sandifer: That shows us how to build arts different and build arts stronger. And I think that that wealth transfer, I think was a word that they used. Was a, a very important addition to the conversation because most often people ask the question, but they ask the question among their peers, how can we solve this problem?

Tamaira Miss Tee Sandifer: Well, maybe the solution to the problem doesn't exist in your immediate circle. It may exist to the circle, adjacent to your circle, and being a little more broad in how we're asking for help and how we're developing a solution. And then, you know, it was really made very clear that, you know, artists, again, we live in the future.

Tamaira Miss Tee Sandifer: And I like that statement. That was the golden statement of the, of the hour is because we really do, we create forward. And so having the resources we need to continue to build forward, we can move arts from. You know, being, okay, let's respond to this situation [00:05:00] because now everybody's hurting, they need healing, et cetera, et cetera.

Tamaira Miss Tee Sandifer: You can move it from a defensive tactic or defensive, you know, response to proactive response, because now you have the resources you need to build forward or to build ahead. And so as the world continues to unfold the way it unfolds or situations present themselves, we're ready to tackle them because we've already built forward.

Tamaira Miss Tee Sandifer: And so I think, you know. Continuing to have conversations and then activation communally in that way, I think that you could start to reshape challenges that most communities are facing just because we're forward thinking and then forward acting and then forward funding.

Eduardo Robles: Mm-Hmm mm-Hmm. So we're seeing this emergence of place keeping, right?

Eduardo Robles: Mm-Hmm. We spoke about this glossary of definitions. Mm-Hmm. Of, you know, how do we, you know, engage. You know, decision makers or even like community organized, how do we empower folks to, you know, um be to have the tools to, you know to politic, you know, for sure. And be able to [00:06:00] negotiate leverage resources.

Eduardo Robles: So can you speak a little bit more on how you see the emergence of place keeping, there was, you know, art Americas, there was some, some, some examples. Sure. There was, you know, the Destin destination? Crenshaw. Crenshaw culture. Yeah. Yeah. They have like an economic

Tamaira Miss Tee Sandifer: studio T,

Eduardo Robles: studio T.

Eduardo Robles: Right. Like they, there's a business model, right? Sure. There's like an economic model, um, sure. For-profit model that so as you, as we start to, you know, define, you know. Place keeping. So that it's not, you know, an, an abstract concept to, I guess, a decision maker.

Tamaira Miss Tee Sandifer: Well, yeah. Yeah. I think it start, it's, it is a narrative that has attached itself to.

Tamaira Miss Tee Sandifer: To practicing artists, to teaching artists and to, you know, artists. This is their full-time thing. That the narrative is that you, you, you get take up space where you can, you, you, you know, you get paid what you [00:07:00] can or you do your art for exposure. Well, that's, that's a narrative that's attached to who we are and what we've built in the past.

Tamaira Miss Tee Sandifer: Well, I think, you know. Especially, you know, some of the things that are coming through the, not just the conversation, but the different organizations represented on the panel is that we can shift that, shift that to an owner mentality, shift that to, you know, yeah, okay, that's, that's what you guys do, but I don't have to starve to do this even, you know?

Tamaira Miss Tee Sandifer: Yes, you're a 5 0 1 C3, but that doesn't mean you only have to survive and sustain. If you get a grant, you can make money. With your art. And so shifting the idea and the narrative that, that you can't make money or you have to survive or you should have to stay in survival mode as a creative, like none of that really applies when you're in, in a multi-billion dollar industry called.

Tamaira Miss Tee Sandifer: The arts people make millions and millions and millions of dollars being creative. So just allowing people or helping people to allow themselves [00:08:00] to shift the narrative that's attached to them. As an artist, you can shift an entire economy. Just by allowing yourself to be monetized or your creative disciplines to be monetized.

Tamaira Miss Tee Sandifer: And then share. Once you get a solution, once you break through a barrier, once you learn something that has monetized you at another level, share that information, share that education, and make those connections. So now you are breaking through, but you're helping others break through.

Eduardo Robles: That's a great place to wrap. Yep. Yeah, that's great. Okay. Wrap. Do you wanna do a little outro? Yeah, yeah, we'll do a little outro. Well, thank you so much Miss Tee for taking the time, you know, to, you know, to talk with us. Again, this is Californians for the Arts with Voices for the Community.

Ines Nefzi (Guest)

Eduardo Robles: [00:00:00] Yeah, we're here at the California Arts and Culture Summit, and I am with

Inez Nefzi: Ines Nefzi. I'm with San Diego Art Matters. We were formerly SD REC, but now we are San Diego Art Matters, and we are an arts advocacy group.

Eduardo Robles: Wonderful. So what has been like the highlight of the day for you? What, what, what, what, what, which one was the panel that most inspired you or I, I bet they were all inspirational.

Eduardo Robles: Which one is your favorite?

Inez Nefzi: My favorite was the first one, which was, art is health. And so I saw that as, that is the work that me and my community are doing. And so to see that from the outside and get recognition for that as like, healers of our community was very impactful. I did tear up and then all the information on Prop 28 and I plan on bringing that all to my community.

Inez Nefzi: It's a little bit fuzzy for us, and so to get that information here was super helpful.

Eduardo Robles: What do you think the importance is for like these convenings, these [00:01:00] summits in terms of advancing advocacy work?

Inez Nefzi: To understand that we are so powerful. We are all here, we're all doing the work and we're not alone.

Inez Nefzi: And, um, there's a lot of us. We're doing great.

Eduardo Robles: Thank you so much.

Inez Nefzi: Thank you, Eduardo.

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