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ARTS DEMOCRATIC
CLUB
CONTEXT
FLAME OUT!
2003
The 2003 Election cycle has two important elections that impact the arts. The first is the San Francisco Mayoral Election.
The second is the California proposed gubernatorial recall election.
In this unusual election year, it is important to assess the health of the cultural sector at both the local and statewide level.
San Francisco
It is hard to imagine a worse condition for the arts at the local level. Funding sources for the arts are collapsing in all areas: public funds, corporate support, foundation support, and audience revenues. Bay Area foundations alone have reduced their total funding for arts organizations by over $30 million in just two years, an amazing 50% reduction from the 2001 total. City funding sources-- never reliable or well managed even in the best of times-- have been hit hard by the reduction in tourist revenues. Individual support and audiences have dried up. The City has lost over 60,000 dot com jobs since 2001, many of which supported the cultural sector. In addition, over 40,000 tourism jobs have been lost because of the suffering economy. In one city alone, more jobs have been lost in the past two years than in entire states.
This has had a huge impact on struggling cultural organizations, which were hit hard in the late 1990s by exorbitant commercial rents and hyper-inflated housing costs for staff. Large organizations are able to restructure and reprogram, but many smaller organizations have shuttered their operations.
In short, 2003 has been a flame out for the local cultural sector.
2003 Mayoral candidates must speak to these realities and propose solutions.
GO TO MAYORAL ELECTION
California
It is even harder to imagine the spectacular flame out of support for state cultural organizations. Earlier this summer the California Arts Council nearly failed to convince state legislators to keep it alive, a disaster of national implications for arts organizations. After 25 years in existence, political support for the current bureaucracy is at an all time low. Legislators barely supported a $1 million general fund appropriation for the agency, a 97% decline from over $32 million just two years before. Even those who voted for the bare bones appropriation did so while holding their noses, despite a noble effort by artists statewide. Worse, the CAC is now crippled by direct competition with arts organizations for foundation and corporate fundraising.
Less dramatic but equally damaging budget reductions have had an impact on the entire cultural sector of the state, including education, libraries, preservation, cultural trade, and tourism.
It is clearly time to rethink and reengineer state funding and support mechanisms for arts and culture.
2003 Gubernatorial candidiates must speak to these realities and propose solutions.
GO TO GUBERNATORIAL ELECTION
Leadership
At the local and state level, we need leaders who will articulate the importance of the arts to our diverse populations, the crucial role the arts play in building our economies, and the vital role cultural activity has in attracting and retaining a creative work force. We need leaders who will formulate new strategies and support mechanisms for the arts. We must help elect leaders who will carry the banner of the cultural sector, point to best practices in other jurisdictions, bring cultural leaders together, and work with legislators to implement reform.
Culture is people
together.
