ARTS POSITIONS
Provided to the Arts Democratic Club
1. What will you do to make the Arts a top priority of your administration? Please name your specific initiatives.
San Francisco International Arts Festival
The arts are one of the major contributors to the economic engine of San Francisco. The arts contribute more to our economy than all the sports franchises put together.
The most conservative estimate suggests that the arts generate $300 million a year in San Francisco.
As Mayor, I will work to merge the economic revitalization of the City with its extraordinary talented arts community. I will introduce legislation to fund a San Francisco International Arts Festival beginning in May 2005. This type of event will focus the eyes of the world on our artists, and at the same time, bring the best of the world’s artists to the City.
San Francisco is home to some of the most renowned artists and arts organizations in the world, largely because it is unique as an arts city. While we share a similar geographic footprint to some of the smaller urban centers of the world, San Francisco also has a well-established artistic infrastructure similar to that of the largest urban centers.
If we are able to harness the economic muscle of our existing arts infrastructure for a couple of weeks a year, strategically realign how we package and present what is already here, attract key international projects, and creatively market them, we could have some of the best art events in the world. Events like the San Francisco
International Arts Festival could be produced and promoted at a fraction of what it costs other cities, while providing sound economic benefits to artists, arts organizations, and the City at large.
Arts, Music, Sports and Preschool for Every Child Charter Amendment
The major focus of my current legislative efforts is to improve public education, including arts and music education, in San Francisco. To that end, I recently released a report entitled Great Schools for a Great City that found that:
1. Quality public education is highly correlated with higher earnings potential, reduced crime, lower rates of teen pregnancy and substance abuse, and greater self-esteem.
2. Urban public schools have the greatest need for comprehensive educational programs – including preschool programs, arts and music programs, sports activities, and after school programs – but often have the fewest resources to provide them.
3. The choices businesses make about where to locate include the quality of public services the City provides, including public safety, transportation and education.
4. While California once led the nation in public school spending and performance, investments have greatly declined. Despite its high cost of living, San Francisco per pupil spending ranks 34th among 43 comparable central city U.S. public school districts of similar size. Adjusted for cost-of-living, SFUSD teacher salaries rank 99th of 100 metropolitan areas.
5. SFUSD enrollment has dropped in recent years as families have left San Francisco in search of affordable neighborhoods with high-quality public schools.
6. Since 2000, the SFUSD has made strong improvements in achievement measures and financial management.
7. The Sustainable Funding for School Arts and Music Task Force created by the Board of Supervisors recommended in 2001 an increase of arts funding from $90 per student to $200 per student annually (or approximately $7 million annually in increased funding) to provide adequate resources in the four major arts disciplines (visual arts, music, drama and dance).
8. The SFUSD Athletics Office estimates that $5 million in additional funding is required annually to provide for comprehensive middle and high school sports programs; an additional $2.5 million-$5 million is required to provide part or full-time physical education teachers at all 78 SFUSD elementary schools.
9. To achieve national average staffing ratios of librarians to students at the SFUSD, an additional $3 million annually is required. Costs to provide the national recommendation for library books per student are unknown.
10. The San Francisco First Five Commission estimates that the costs to provide universal preschool for all eligible children would be $21 to $30 million for a one-year program (4 year olds) and $42 to $60 million for a two-year program (3 and 4 year olds).
11. As the economy begins to recover, now is the time to invest in our children’s future, before further declines begin to erode the progress the SFUSD has made.
As a first major step to address these findings, I authored and introduced at the Board of Supervisors the Arts, Music, Sports and Preschool for Every Child Charter Amendment for the San Francisco March 2004 ballot with the support of a majority of the members of the San Francisco Board of Education. The measure will be considered by the Board of Supervisors this fall.
The measure, developed in conjunction with education and arts activists in San Francisco, will:
1. Provide guaranteed funding from the City’s General Fund of $20 million annually at full phase-in for arts, music, sports and physical education and librarians at the San Francisco Unified School District;
2. Provide guaranteed funding from the City’s General Fund of $20 million annually for universal preschool for four-year old City residents consistent with goals of the California First Five Commission and establish a City goal of providing universal preschool for all four-year old City residents by September 2009; and
3. Provide direct financial support from the City’s General Fund and/or in-kind City services worth $20 million annually to support the San Francisco Unified School District for classroom purposes.
I would appreciate the Arts Democratic Club’s endorsement of this measure.
2. What will you do to make SF a leading city in North America for cultural tourism?
One of San Francisco’s greatest assets is its cultural diversity. From individual contemporary painters, poets, actors, sculptors, filmmakers, and musicians to established arts centers such as our museums and symphony, San Francisco possesses a treasure trove of artistic wealth. However, few mayors have recognized this city jewel and sought ways to showcase it. As Mayor, I am prepared to highlight San Francisco’s many strengths, ensuring that the arts receive its natural place of prominence.
I am committed to supporting the arts and promoting it as a part of my economic revitalization plan for San Francisco. The San Francisco International Arts Festival (outlined above) is just one of the many ideas I have to develop cultural tourism. In collaboration with the SF Convention & Visitors Bureau, the Chamber of Commerce, individual businesses, and the arts community, I believe we can showcase the various artistic talents and local industries through a combination of publicity and promotional advertising in national feeder markets, as well as internationally.
Cultural tourism is essential to San Francisco’s creative and economic revitalization. While San Francisco has many geographic and structural symbols that are unique attractions, we have not made use of many of our other significant assets. Increasing interest in the arts internationally makes it a critical and untapped element in the City’s overall revitalization. City-produced events, such as arts festivals and tours, not only attract a new type of tourist. They also attract repeat tourism, which serves as an audience base that can increase over time.
3. What will you do to increase the percentage of funding for multicultural arts organizations, to more accurately reflect the City’s diverse populations?
Given the unique multiculturalism present in San Francisco, it is critical that support for the arts reflect this diversity. As Supervisor, I have always sought to ensure that such funding is reflective of our diversity. (One of the many reasons I oppose Proposition 54 – the Racial Privacy Initiative – is because such data collection would be eliminated.)
I recognize the unique role that multicultural arts organizations play in individual communities and in the arts community as a whole. As Mayor, I would continue to preserve existing multicultural arts organizations and treasured cultural centers. Additionally, I believe we should be doing all we can to increase the support to individual artists with grants and studying the data associated with these grants to ensure a diverse distribution of this support.
4. What actions will you take to increase overall arts funding in the next four years, especially for small to mid-sized arts organizations?
One of the main sources of funding is arts education monies. During difficult economic times, this is also the first category to be cut from the budget. We need to establish viable methods to supplant after-school arts program with funding, from private sources if necessary. In addition, I am aware of the space needs of artists and the limited funding available for these needs. I am currently researching the effectiveness of the "art on site" fee assessed to developers. I would like to study the feasibility of directing some of this money to establish a capital fund, for example, to create low-cost space for artists and arts organizations.
5. What initiatives will you sponsor to increase the number of artists living and working in San Francisco?
I am proud of my record to protect artists who live and work in San Francisco. During the housing and office space crisis, I worked with the arts community to author the legislation that made immediate, emergency rental assistance funds available to help organizations crippled by massive rent increases during the dot-com real estate bonanza. I was able to appropriate $1.5 million to assist dozens of arts organizations facing incredible rent increases and eviction. This allowed many nonprofits to remain in San Francisco rather than relocating to the East Bay. I have been at the forefront of efforts to minimize displacement of artists and other small businesses through planning reform measures, and anti-displacement efforts for small businesses and nonprofits. I am very active in investigating building acquisition for groups, identifying city –owned buildings for nonprofits, and many other concrete ways of providing and securing space for our vulnerable artist and non-profit community.
6. As Mayor, what actions will you take to streamline the City’s cultural offices and to increase both the accountability and effectiveness of these offices?
The best way to make any government agency more accountable to its constituents is to have representatives from that community actively represented and sitting in decision-making positions. The composition of the Arts Commission and Grants for the Arts must include more artists and arts administrators who represent the City’s diverse population. As Mayor, I will ensure that these appointments are truly reflective of the diverse arts community of San Francisco.
To ensure effectiveness and accountability, I believe City funding for San Francisco artists and arts organizations must equitably represent and serve the cultural needs of the entire population. For too long, there has been a clear class demarcation within the arts community. Local government must be proactive in supporting diverse cultural arts through its funding mechanisms. We must also look at Grants for the Arts and the San Francisco Arts Commission to identify what fiscal and program improvements can be made to ensure increased efficiency.
7. How will you use your position as Mayor to help art organizations secure state, national, and international opportunities? Please list specific opportunities.
With many issues including the arts and arts funding, we have to start thinking like a city-state. There are numerous national and international funding opportunities for Bay Area artists if local government can work collaboratively with the arts community to focus our resources on researching, coordinating and lobbying for this type of funding.
As Mayor, I will mandate the San Francisco Arts Commission to work with the MOED and other local, national, international agencies, cities and national governments to research arts funding opportunities that we can leverage and match with existing Bay Area funds.
8. What will you do to expand industrial arts and crafts in San Francisco in the next four years? Please list specific industry objectives.
As Mayor, there are several steps I can make to secure and expand industrial arts and crafts in San Francisco. I am eager to support existing industrial arts and crafts by ensuring there is sufficient affordable artist workspace. Such industrial-type arts activities have unique needs that also require support. For example, I support the efforts to protect areas in SOMA and along the waterfront for industrial businesses. The recent land-use debates over the eastern industrial areas have enlightened many about the importance of protecting these uses. The arts are a major user of industrial space.
Over the last several years, many of these types of businesses were forced out of San Francisco. We need to assure these types of businesses that there is a place for them here, and work to bring them back into the City. I will work closely with the Planning Department, the arts community, and industrial businesses to ensure that this sector is protected against future speculation and displacement.
