We’re advocating for equity, investment, and sustainability in the arts

We advocate for access to arts and culture for those who need it the most, particularly for historically underrepresented and systemically marginalized based on race/ethnicity, age, disability, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, socioeconomic status, geography, citizenship status, cultural practice, or religion.

We support the social impact of arts and culture and celebrate its power to advance social harmony and intercultural understanding. We recognize that the arts create thriving public spaces and diverse cultural institutions; therefore we advocate for the fair distribution of programmatic, financial, and informational resources, so that all Californians can benefit from the transformative power of arts.

We recognize that grant making in the arts has not been equitable and advocate for improving access to public and private funds through equitable grant making.

• Equitable access to arts and culture for all people and all parts of the state.
• Support for artists and accessible, thriving venues for expression.
• Fair distribution of programmatic, financial, and informational resources.
• Arts as a tool for social change.

Recognizing that overall public investment in arts and culture has been historically undercapitalized and that BIPOC centered organizations and creative workforce have been systemically marginalized, we seek to eradicate poverty for artists and creatives by advocating for programs that sustain and increase funding and resources for public arts and culture agencies, nonprofit arts, arts education, creative youth development, the creative industries, individual artists, culture bearers and arts workers. 

We believe the arts work to empower and engage youth, to build community, to advance justice, to create jobs, and to heal. Therefore, we demonstrate the impact of arts and culture on all community and economic development areas including but not limited to housing, transportation, education, the environment, health, public safety, and more and look for funding and opportunities to integrate arts and culture across government agencies. 

We advocate for cultural placekeeping programs and resources including but not limited to funding for cultural districts, capacity building, technical assistance, affordable and accessible housing, and studio/maker spaces for artists and creatives.

• Sustained and increased investment in arts, culture and creativity prioritizing historically underinvested communities.
• To include and recognize arts and culture in all community and economic development solutions.
• Resources for increasing cultural placekeeping.

We support the diversification and growth of the creative workforce and the creation of support systems to expand opportunities for BIPOC cultural and creative workers within the economy. We support thriving wages with benefits designed for this workforce. We recognize that artists are an essential workforce acting as second responders. 

We support keeping and incentivizing creative industries in California. We support keeping charitable tax deductions benefiting individuals and nonprofit arts organizations. We support public art, creator’s rights, cultural districts, technical assistance for artists and creatives, affordable housing and maker spaces. We support increasing cultural tourism across the state.

• Thriving wages,  equitable creative employment opportunities, and social protections for the creative workforce. 
• Incentivizing creative industries and investing in creative workforce development. 
• Keeping charitable tax deductions benefiting individuals and nonprofit arts organizations. 
• Support for creator’s rights, public art, business loans & technical assistance.