May 14, 2026 · JtCmte Arts · 20,831 words · 11 speakers · 63 segments
Thank you. Thank you. All right, as folks start coming in, I'd like to just kind of make a few comments as folks continue to make their way in and we can ask the panelists that are not working on the PowerPoint logistics to start making their way to the front table. First of all, obviously want to call this hearing of the Joint Committee of the Arts to order. We want to thank you for joining us in person or online for today's informational hearing. Certainly want to ask colleagues to make their way down. This is a fun and funky day because we've got the Appropriations Committee also meeting, and several members have expressed their regrets, but they obviously have to attend there. Thank you also to our expert panelists. We've got some wonderful people that are coming in to speak today about a variety of topics relating to California's creative economy. and our future of creativity in the state. Our panelists will be presenting the very first ever sector-specific strategic plan at the state, California's Futures, Creative Strategies for Cultural Resilience, Economic Growth, and Global Leadership. And they will share their perspectives and their findings as part of the Creative Economy Work Group that was created to steer this project. And I was honored to be part of this process, both through the original legislation that enabled and laid out a path for this work and then getting to attend a number of these really fantastic sessions, including the opening session, which was in Santa Monica at a beautiful place on the beach. So as we convene today, we're acknowledging fundamental truth about our state. California's creative economy is not just a cultural engine. It's an economic powerhouse. Of course, we're the fourth largest economy in the world. We know that our creative economy is an enormous part of that trajectory and that strength. We've got a creative workforce of nearly a million people, jobs, an economic impact of almost $300 billion. And we know that the arts are truly a cornerstone of our state's identity and our global leadership. But we know that, of course, this sector is not immune to disruption. and to maintain our leadership, we've got to move beyond merely celebrating the arts, as we like to do, but toward intentionally investing in them. And we know we just celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Arts Council and learned the history of all of that incredibly important work and there been ups and downs over the years But we know that at the heart of this plan we got to prepare and support our creative workforce stabilize and grow creative businesses, ensure that we've got a lens on equity as we invest in arts and culture. It's about ultimately building infrastructure that allows for independent artists and nonprofit organizations and organizations of all sorts of different types, in addition to commercial studios and galleries and others. It's all about everyone working together to thrive together. And I want to thank the Arts Council for its incredible work coordinating this multifaceted conversation, all those who participated across the state in all of these workshops and through public comment. And I'm looking forward to hearing from our panelists. So, you know, today's a momentous day. May revise. unfortunately you know quite frankly we'll disappointed in lack of of of adequate arts funding in the proposal it's also appropriations day where we find out about bills that are going to be moving out of the appropriations committees in each chamber so we're certainly hoping for some good news on that front as as I know that some of the folks in this room are watching some of those bills really really carefully we also know and we've had a hearing on this a really tough federal headwinds in the arts and with libraries and museums as well, both on the funding side and then also with, you know, certain cultural war that's being waged on various institutions. Now, a couple of the budget items that we've been advocating for are funding for California Humanities, funding out of Prop 4 for our museums, funding for state public media outlets, which are reeling from federal defunding. They're such an important media and cultural source for so many of our communities, from our cities to rural and insufficiently resourced communities. And they provide a really important platform for emerging and diverse storytellers and artists and filmmakers, including historians and documentarians. We also have, just in this very room, we had a great hearing yesterday on LA28 and the upcoming international sporting events that are coming, both the World Cup this summer and then also, of course, the Olympic and Paralympic Games in 28. And we're looking to try to assist with funding for a major 2028 LA Arts Festival programming, including legacy projects that will hopefully be coming together around the Olympics and Paralympics. And we had representatives, including the mayor of Los Angeles, who was here to speak to those issues. Also, I joined my colleague, Senator Smallwood Cuevas, who hopefully will be coming, in requesting meaningful funding for our cultural districts program. It's a wildly popular program amongst our legislators. We had a fantastic statewide tour of the cultural districts just a couple of years ago. Of course, Senator Smallwood Cuevas has been working particularly on cultural district in her own district, the Black Cultural District in South LA, which many of us got to tour just a couple of weeks ago. And she's working on the statewide budget ask. But we've seen what successful model this has been in terms of incorporating local governments and artists and arts and cultural organizations, which has been boosting local economies, building community engagement, creating more economic support through tourism. and we know how much of a difference they make for mom-and-pop small businesses. The other, of course, area that we've been spending a lot of time is trying to make sure that we are protecting and growing our TV and film production around the state. Very challenging given a lot of the headwinds that have been faced in that sector both structural and then also geographic in nature as certain jurisdictions continue to throw incentives at TV and film production to try to lure away that work from our region But we were able to get a really substantial TV film tax credit expansion and extension passed last year with Assemblymember Zabir, and I worked really hard on that with a lot of other folks. and I serve on the Film Commission. We've already been green lighting over 100 TV and film projects now that are happening in the state, not just in the L.A. area, but also outside of the 30-mile zone, and we're seeing some encouraging results. But we know there's so much to do. The damage caused by years and years of underinvestment and various headwinds have really taken their toll, and there's been extensive journalism in the L.A. Times and elsewhere about the challenges there. I will say that in order to address some of the post-production job losses that we've been seeing, including visual effects artists, our studio musicians, and our editors, many of whom have been out of work for going on two, four years in some cases, it's really scary. I'm certainly supporting Assemblymember Schultz's AB2319, which is a bill that seeks to create a standalone $100 million credit for post-production incentive program. And I'm hopeful that will make its way out of appropriations today. And then finally, just very apropos to our discussion today, I just want to mention that I'm advocating, we're advocating for additional funding to support advancement and implementation, basically next steps for the Creative Economy Strategic Plan. We know that it's an increasingly competitive world, And according to the recent Otis report on the creative economy for a variety of reasons, we saw a contraction in creative sector jobs in 23-24. And we certainly want to make sure that we're doing everything we can to continue California's focus and support for this vitally important part of California heritage culture and economy. So that's what today's all about, and really looking forward to this great roundup of folks who are here to talk some shop. And let's turn it over then to our first panel. So we've got Danielle, of course, is here from the Executive Director of California Arts Council. Are you able to get the slideshow up? Okay, great. So that's great. That'll happen. I vamped enough. Yeah, that's perfect. Okay, see? I'm good at something. Improvisation. Yes, yes. Rachel Hatch is the chief impact officer for the Institute for the Future, which is a wonderfully titled organization. Maybe one day I can go be a fellow there or something. Allison Frenzel, who's the education program specialist at the California Department of Education. And then Michael Weoff, who's here as well as Assistant Deputy Director for Policy and External Affairs with the California Workforce Development Board. So I'm really excited for this first panel. We're going to be talking about the strategic plan, depth, breadth, and cross-sector envisioning. And we'll start with you, Danielle. Thank you so much. I'm going to put my timer on so we can be very focused, knowing all that's going on today. 50 years ago the state of California actually made a strategic investment to care about the creativity and culture of its people and they founded the California Arts Council so for 50 years we been leading that work and for 50 years we been expanding that work because creativity is everywhere in the state of California It a California value We were tasked with developing the first sector specific strategy and plan for the creative economy. We could put up the PowerPoint and that would be great on the screen if it is possible. Perfect. And what I'm going to do is walk you through the PowerPoint. I'm going to hand it over to Rachel. Rachel's going to hand it over to Allison. Allison's going to hand it over to Michael. And this is going to give you a full overview of what the project is, what we endeavor to do, and where we landed. And I want to thank you for being our phenomenal chair of the Joint Committee on the Arts for the past eight years. You are exceptional. I know it's in your blood as well. And so we are very, very grateful for your leadership and your support. Thank you. California's future is indeed creative. And this is the title of the plan because these are strategies for cultural resilience, economic growth, and global partnership. Let's see if this is going to work. And I may need to advance it on the laptop. Nope. Let's go to the next slide, April. Is that possible? Can you push that? Aha. AB 127 in 2023-24 established the workgroup, and by direction of the legislature tasked us with establishing the creative economy workgroup to develop the strategic plan for the creative economy. Next slide, please. The legislature was very clear about some deliverables. The plan needed to focus on attracting creative economy businesses, retaining talent in the state, developing marketable content that can be exported for national and international consumption and monetization, reach marginalized communities, and incorporate the diversity of California. Those are some of the highlights. Next slide, please. The process in any one of these projects is really important to set up right. So I'm going to talk a little bit about that. Next slide, please. The first phase, and the legislature also said to make sure that you do this in a phased approach, right? So the first phase was really focusing on developing the plan framework. Next slide. Actually, can you go back? Thank you, April. Phase two is about community engagement, implementation planning, and operationalization. And then the third phase is implementation and evaluation. These are really important, and they take time, and they take resources. Next slide. The legislation was also incredibly focused that they wanted representation, specifically from artists, from advocacy organizations, from film and television, nonprofit arts and culture, labor, philanthropy, government, economic and business development, gaming, academia, some of the highlights of the representation that we had on this 30 plus member work group. Next slide please. And here are these beautiful faces, these extraordinary human beings who joined, including yourself Senator Allen, to take on this bold assignment. And it's important for us to recognize that these are people who represent all of these different sectors of the creative economy. The creative economy is many different types of businesses, but it is fueled by people. Next slide, please. We also had an interagency workgroup, and this is also really critical because this interagency workgroup met to help advise the Arts Council and our consultants to figure out how are we going to do this program and project together and how do we make sure that the recommendations are not situated with any one agency, because this is really a collective impact strategy. Each one of these agencies, and many more within the state, might I add, are really committed to advancing the creative economy in California. We have Allison with us today, but I just want to acknowledge that we also had California Film Commission. We also have Office of Small Business Advocate. We had GoBiz. So it is pretty comprehensive on that front. Next slide, please. No planning process is complete without a North Star. And what we really wanted to make sure we could accomplish is that we could lead an inclusive and resilient creative economy that empowers artists, cultural workers, and entrepreneurs to drive creativity and innovation for our state. This is not situated in any one location, but it is across the state. Next slide, please. We went out to bid, as we do, and we had a very robust competitive bidding process, and we selected Institute for the Future. And we wanted Institute for the Future. I'm going to pass this on to Rachel because I really love their methodology, and they could take a fresh look at the creative economy through a completely different lens. We had so many experts in the room that could have done this in a sense, but we also wanted to have a set of fresh eyes. So I'm going to stop here and I want to pass this on to Rachel, who can take it from here. Thank you.
California has more creative workers than any other state.
Sure, mic on.
Than any other state.
Hold on. Let's switch it. Improvisation again.
More creative workers. California has more creative workers than any other state. And yet, as you referenced, Chair, in recent years, while the country on the whole has gained creative jobs, California has lost them. The research that I'll briefly walk you through begins to assess why, but importantly, what the next decade looks like if current trajectories hold. I'm Rachel Hatch, Chief Impact Officer at Institute for the Future, and we're a nonprofit based in Palo Alto, California, with a track record of more than five decades of helping organizations, communities, and leaders become future-ready. Our research spans sectors, corporate, government, philanthropic, nonprofit, and typically focuses 10 years out. So right now, we're spending our days thinking about the year 2036. and with fresh eyes because, you know, last week we might have been working on a project on the future of beverages with a brewing company. The week before, it's maybe the future of mobility with a transit agency and more. So we really place that year, 10 years into the future at the center and walk around it from a number of perspectives, in this case, the future of the creative economy. We value our partnerships with the state on strategic foresight efforts. Recent examples include the Future of Work Commission with the Labor and Workforce Development Agency I think that was 2019 to 2021 or so to the creative economy in these recent years with California Arts Council and to the present. We've just completed research as an input to California's fifth climate assessment. Next slide. Methodologically, it's important to note that foresight research isn't prediction, It's preparation. The goal is to think more creatively and systematically about a wide array of long-term futures so that decisions that are made today are built for the world that's arriving, not the one that we're leaving. We began this study with a comparative analysis. We got curious about how other states like Washington, Massachusetts, New York were approaching the creative economy and also looked at reference points from abroad, places like Ontario, Canada, and Berlin, Germany. Qualitative research followed, conducting in-depth interviews with Californians in the creative economy and pairing their lived experience with interviews with subject matter experts to kind of stress test some key concepts. We conducted what we call signal swarms, tracking weak signals in the present that give us clues into how the future might be different, a form of kind of pattern sense making. In the field of strategic foresight, this is really inspired by the work of William Gibson, who said that the future is already here. It's just unevenly distributed. So our job was to aim to gather up some of that unevenly distributed future from across the state and to see it with clear eyes. The forces we surfaced aren't speculative. They're already showing up in the statewide data and certainly in the lived experiences of Californians. Next slide. These research activities took place in 2024 and 2025, and along the way, I personally appreciated learning from members of the Creative Economy work group, many of whom you will hear from, some of whom you'll hear from today, who played a key role all the way through from foresight to insight to the action phase that you see pictured here. Next slide. At the center of the inquiry, we placed California's arts and culture ecosystem, our people, our institutions, our places. And this approach, this framework was inspired by the work of economist Ann Markison and art strategist Ann Gadwan that we came across during our literature review. So you'll see that at the center are people, institutions, places, and next slide, around it are five future forces that are shaping this cultural ecosystem looking 10 years ahead. Are there more than five forces shaping the creative ecosystem looking 10 years ahead? Absolutely. But, you know, the authorizing legislation didn't send us in the direction of trying to boil the ocean, right? That wouldn't have served anybody. Instead, we curated a set of forces that people up and down the state could hold in our minds at the same time, kind of trying to unboil the ocean in service of future readiness. The first of them, imagine it's 2035. This is a world in which technological transformation, particularly AI, is redefining creative work and the demand for creative products. Now, as a force shaping our world, AI is not new. I will see heads nodding in this room around that. Just this morning, for example, I was reviewing this in preparation. I was reviewing this IFTF forecast from 2015. So this was a 10 forecast out to 2025 titled The Automated World Toward Human Symbiosis That what we were starting to call it then So this is not new We know this but the acceleration of AI will call us to invent new ways of showing proof of human for creative work in certain forms. And it will stretch certainly our social safety net for California's creatives. Second, imagine a 2035 in which environmental changes are disrupting life and work even more than they are today. This is a future that demands hardening of physical plants at our cultural institutions and that increasingly calls on artists to serve as second responders in times of acute climate events. In a decade of increased climate migration on a global scale, we will need the kind of social cohesion and relational health that creatives can help support. And the research pointed to three more future forces around affordability, particularly around the decoupling of work and living locations, access to capital or lack thereof as capital becomes more concentrated, which we know discourages risk-taking in creatives, and our fragile social fabric, which impacts mental health, belonging, and well-being. Each of these gives a sense of how the operating environment is changing, providing the foundation for the Creative Economy Workgroup and their wisdom to identify priority actions, which we'll hear about from Danielle in a moment. The forces shaping the next decade do not sit within one agency's mandate. Climate resilience responsibility lives across Cal OES and Natural Resources Agency and more. AI policy is moving across multiple bodies. So the California Arts Council holds a certain strategic coherence for the creative economy sector. But the forces shaping it cut across many agencies. This is a threshold moment for the state to look and see what becomes visible when we take in these forces together. We can't steward what we can't see. Earlier, I mentioned the comparative analysis to other states. And while it's true that in recent years, California's creative workforce saw a 2.6% decline against a 0.3% national gain, At the same time, none of these places have a firm grasp on AI disruption. None of them have fully addressed the affordability question for creative workers. And for California, what an enviable moment our state is actually in now with the fresh release of California's fifth climate assessment, an opportunity to really consider the nexus between climate and the creative economy. So who's getting it right is partly a matter of studying what moves different communities are making that California can learn from, but it's also a matter of recognizing that California has the standing to lead on questions that no one has fully answered yet. I'm grateful to our partners at California Arts Council, to the legislature, and particularly the Joint Committee of the Arts for your commitment to building future readiness in this way. Back to you, Danielle.
So that sets the table for what are really the priority areas. Can we go to the next slide, April? So this is essentially the six priority action areas for California's creative economy. And what you see here is it's all on one page, and it can be a little overwhelming. So I always just say let's go to the next slide because it gives me a little bit more of less of an anxiety attack. Because we have to take information almost at bite size but we also have to craft the story And what you going to hear from the next couple panels and speakers is they each going to speak to some call this a wheel some call it a pie I think it's a wheel of fortune. So they're going to spin the wheel of fortune and they're going to speak to this. But a few things, this is not rocket science either. We've been talking about preparing and supporting the workforce of the creative economy sectors for 30 years. We're making great headway. Prop 28, for example, great headway is happening with workforce development, but it's also happening at a time when our industries and our technologies are changing. We need to stabilize and grow creative economy businesses. Sure, the non-profit sector, but as we saw in the LA Times the other day, we need to make sure that faux library exists in Los Angeles and prop houses are closing at a rate that we have not seen. Those are real jobs, and it's impacting our film and television market share because we can't source the materials. I would also say it's our history. The objects in these warehouses are actually our history. We need to increase revenue through the promotion of cultural identity and tourism. This is really where cultural districts come in, and this is tricky because over-tourism is a concern and gentrification is a concern. So how do we make sure that we can retain our cultural identity but really get that market capture? Number four is about leveraging. Where is overtourism a concern? I know like in Greek ruins. Well, yes, it's not yet in California, but I will say. I think we have the opposite problem right now. I think, yes. However, we do know that gentrification and displacement is a big concern. And so if something becomes a super hot neighborhood and everybody wants to get there, then what happens with the historic businesses that may get displaced? So this is actually where cultural districts come in. If we look at the historic black cultural district that was just designated, this actually aligns with city planning. So there's a direct link between state designation and local protection for historic small businesses. And that's a piece where we want to be able to really help other local government maximize and protect at the same way. Yeah, great. Thank you. We want to leverage all state opportunities as incentives for cultural and creative development. This is where our cross-sector partners really come in. Really looking at climate, OES, CDE, right, labor. All of that really comes together to make sure that we're working to protect and grow and sustain the creative economy. define and track the ROI for the creative economy and creative workforce. Now, ROI, this is one of my favorites. You all know this. ROI, we talk about what's the return on investment. Sure, dollars and cents. But again, we know what's the return. Like, how do we quantify the return on imagination for California? If you can't see yourself in a role, in a position as a creative entity, How are you even going to imagine the possibility of your future? So we think on that ROI, there's a plus factor that we need to add in to the actual transaction and dollars and cents. That is something that I think we're really excited about, I am in particular. The other piece, the last one, is develop state capacities and infrastructure to support the creative economy. That means placing artists specifically in residence with climate. That means building out toolkits for local municipalities and government so that they can amplify this work as well. So I'm going to stop here. I know our time is short, but if you have any questions before I hand it over to Allison, let me know. Let's hear from all the panelists. Sounds great. And I know there's some other members that are planning on coming soon. The Assembly has been having some... It's all okay. We understand. ...parliamentary debates over the Voting Rights Act. But why don't we hear from our other panelists, and hopefully we'll get some more members to come down.
All right. Good morning, Chair, and thank you so much for your time today. I really appreciate the opportunity to provide an overview of the California Department of Education's current efforts that align with Goal 1 of California Creative Economy Strategic Plan, preparing and supporting the workforce for creative sectors. First, I want to highlight that CDE's creative economy work was propelled forward by SB 628, the Creative Workforce Act of 2021, which designated creative workforce development as a state priority and opened up the opportunity to support program development and sector growth statewide. Oh, next slide, please. Thank you, April. There we go. I was honored to serve on the interagency Creative Economy Workgroup with the California Arts Council to support the development of the strategic plan in early 2025. We now have targeted goals and outcomes that build off of our existing body of work to support statewide alignment for the sector. And today, I will be discussing how CDE's worked over the last five years and formed the development of the plan and how future work will be shaped by the plan's proposal. As outlined, workforce development within the creative economy focuses on creating clearer pathways into both traditional and entrepreneurial careers, strengthening coordination across education and workforce systems, and expanding access to skills-based training and work-based opportunities. The first area of focus is the alignment of the education and workforce systems. CDE recently updated the Career Technical Education Model Curriculum Standards for Arts, Entertainment and Design Pathways. The new standards were approved by the State Board of Education in 2025 and serve as an industry skills framework for California schools. Over 180 industry professionals worked on this project over a two-year period to ensure alignment of the standards with workforce needs. Additionally, an industry-designed digital badging certification protocol was established to assess technical competencies and apprenticeship readiness across learning environments. Another outcome to highlight is the establishment of the Entertainment Equity Alliance in 2022. We formed the Entertainment Equity Alliance to bring together creative economy workforce training providers, union leaders, and government agencies at both state and local levels in a collective impact capacity. EEA functions as a programs hub and resource platform for career seekers and has to date hosted three large-scale careers and entertainment events at Expo Park in Los Angeles, serving over 2,700 high school students each year. The second major area of focus is pathway development through work-based learning and the establishment of a registered apprenticeship network for the creative sector. CDE has invested approximately $5 million over the last five years to support the development of apprenticeship pathways in 47 high schools across California Pre CTE programs connect classroom instruction with structured work learning and provide students with a competitive advantage in apprenticeship programs. In fact, a recent Hollywood High School pre-apprentice with the Handy Foundation, who you'll hear from later today, was hired as an assistant editor-apprentice and had the opportunity to work on the recent Michael Jackson biopic, showing how the CTE pre-apprenticeship pathways effectively bridge school and work in the sector. In support of local implementation, a library of open-source, apprenticeship-connected model course outlines and instructional resources was developed, and these materials are intended to help local programs align coursework with industry expectations and apprenticeship pathways across 34 occupations in the creative sector. This work has also involved coordination across multiple state agencies and workforce initiatives. And you can go to the next slide, please. Including the California Workforce Development Board's High Road Training Partnership grant program that you'll hear Michael speak more about, and the California Film Commission's Career Readiness and Pathway programs. In partnership with CDE, the California Film Commission actively supports schools with production tours, IOTC masterclass trainings, job shadows, internships, and funding to expand access to work-based learning for students across the state of California. And finally, while Proposition 28, the arts and music in the school's funding, is not under my purview at CDE, I can say that this unprecedented investment in arts education will have a significant impact in years to come. None of this work would be possible with the great cross-agency collaboration and alignment of priorities and sector strategies across both education and workforce systems. I want to take a moment and acknowledge the state agency leaders who have supported this work, including Director Danielle Brazel of the California Arts Council, Deputy Secretary Abby Snay of the Labor and Workforce Development Agency, Director Leah Medrano of the California Film Commission's Film and Television Tax Credit Program, Chief Adele Burns of the Division of Apprenticeship Standards, Director Kaina Pereira of the California Workforce Development Board, Vice Chancellor Anthony Cordova at the Chancellor's Office for Community Colleges, and my amazing boss, Director Mindy Parsons at the California Department of Education. It truly takes a village and we work together all the time and so it's really important to understand that none of this would be possible without the great leadership in our state. So systems alignment is happening in California due to these champions and with the Creative Economy strategic plan, we all now have a North Star to refer to in designing future programs. Thank you again for your time, and I'm happy to answer any additional questions.
Thank you. Thank you, Allison. Let's now go to Michael.
Wonderful. Thank you so much. Good morning, Chair Allen and members of the committee, as well as members of the public. Can you all hear me okay?
Yeah.
Okay. Wonderful. Thank you. I really appreciate the opportunity to be able to speak to you today, and a note of appreciation to my fellow panelists for the partnership in this work. I'm here representing the California Workforce Development Board, a department within the Labor and Workforce Development Agency, and I'm excited to dive deeper into some workforce-related outcomes to strengthen the creative economy. First, I want to mention that there have been various efforts across the state related to workforce, including funding from state partners at the Employment Training Panel and the Jobs First Regional Investment Initiative, where it was demonstrated that of the 13 Jobs First Collaboratives, four of them identified film TV and the arts as regional strategic sectors leading to investment in both urban areas such as Los Angeles and rural regions such as the Redwood Coast As Action Area 4 excuse me next slide One more, please. Oh, no, that's okay. As Action Area 4 encourages us to do, CWDB was able to leverage the High Road Training Partnership resources to invest in the creative economy via the Arts, Media, and Entertainment High Road Training Partnership through the BRIC Foundation and the efforts by the Hollywood Cinema Production Resources High Road Training Partnership. BRIC, short for Break, Reinvent, Impact, and Change Foundation, secured a three-year, $3.5 million award from CWDB to support a sizable network of registered apprenticeship programs to provide paid on-the-job training, continuous mentorship, career coaching, and ongoing support for participants. In the model of High Road, the network includes community-based organizations, education partners, employers, and labor unions. Additionally, Hollywood CPR secured a $1.5 million award to address the growing demand and diversify the workforce in partnership with their local community colleges. The outcomes from these efforts showed us promising impacts, delivering on the vision of the California Creative Economy Strategic Plan. Even with the reported volatility in the sector, the program is producing strong work-based learning and placement outcomes and is championing the earn-and-learn strategy. Over 375 participants were placed in on-the-job training opportunities with over 225 employers. For participants facing compounded disadvantages, outcomes remain strong. 76% placement for participants who experience multiple barriers to employment. These include veterans, folks experiencing housing instability, folks experiencing intellectual or developmental disabilities, or folks who are formerly incarcerated, just to name a few. And critically, we're connecting Californians to career track opportunities with labor standards and worker voice. Over 70 participants received union membership with IOTC, the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees. This is equity at scale, not just in theory. This work reaches Californians who have been historically excluded from creative careers and gives opportunity to expand access, representation, and socioeconomic mobility. About 83% of participants were people of color. About 81% face one or more barriers to employment. For these participants experiencing the program, the more intangible but equally important outcomes were measured. 85% experienced increased career confidence, and 93% reported improved sense of belonging in the industry. Incredibly important. Action Area 1 encourages us to reflect on the nature of the creative economy to ensure that the workforce is prepared, that creative workers often operate in project-based, freelance, or independent models, so employability alone just simply isn't enough. Workers also need the tools to sustain themselves through gigs and contracts. That's why one of the biggest learning from our HRTP efforts in the sector is that entrepreneurship training should be embedded in the core curriculum for all participants, including financial literacy, business development, marketing, and networking. This work continues to double down on some of what we already know. Wraparound supports for participants goes a long way. This includes transportation financial assistance additional tools and case management In a high region in a population experiencing personal and systemic barriers those supports are not optional They make participation possible In surveys, 95% say wraparound supports help them participate. This work builds on durable infrastructure, strengthening the ecosystem and cross-sector coordination that our colleagues spoke to, systems change that outlast any single short-term grant. It has produced the Entertainment Equity Alliance that Allison spoke to, open source handbooks so that other folks can replicate this work, a standardized competency framework and digital badging that we now understand is increasingly important to ensure it is reviewed by industry recruiters to communicate industry-ready workforce skills and to be marketable to future employers. And as Allison mentioned, again, 34 apprenticeship tracks with related supplemental instruction align to CTE standards. That's more than just making sure that our K-12 partners are operating in space connected to employers, but this is really connecting K-12 community colleges to apprenticeships and to union careers. These span animation, VFX, games, post-production, virtual production, and live entertainment. each aligned to California CTE model curriculum standards. The registered apprenticeship pathway is a standout. Apprentices are just about universally placed near 100% placement, with the majority experiencing wage gains. As workforce development, we're always thinking about how to ensure that California's economy continues to work for all, and that means navigating with rapidly changing economic conditions. These efforts so far have demonstrated that California can modernize creative economy workforce development in a way that is equitable, skills-based, and durable in alignment with the state's strategic plan for creative economy in areas one and four. Thank you.
Danielle, I turn back to you. Thank you so much. Thank you so much, Michael. I'm so sorry I'm not sure what happened with your slides, but we will update the deck and get that over to you. I would just say that you're going to hear more from the next couple panels, but the work is happening. It's not happening maybe at scale yet, and I think that that's where the potential is. I want to go back to defining the creative economy, right? Something that Michael just said that I think is really important is that artists and creatives And people that work in the creative economy work sometimes on a contract. They sometimes gig. They sometimes get a W-2. So I kind of think we might be undercounting because we actually don't know how to capture those that are in the gig economy or that are on contracts, right? And then do we count other parts of the creative economy as well, like culinary arts? Do we count the entertainment side because that's part of the creative economy, but does that step into tourism? So I think on the define and track the ROI for the creative economy, we have a little bit of a conundrum that we're trying to work out as we look in the next phase. That's this whole question of sort of the definition of creative economy. Right. Every, you know, Otis has a definition. The National Assembly of State Arts Agency has a definition The City of San Diego has a different definition The City of Los Angeles may have a different definition So we don't have a way to compare and track that actually will inform the state of California if we're losing or gaining our market share. So what's the process for developing a statewide definition of creative? I think that's something that we've been struggling with, to be perfectly honest. Yeah. The process is interagency conversations, continuing the work groups, finding out how do we then come up with at least a pilot so that we can begin to test and then adjust? Which data do we collect? Which data do we not? And it's because this is about people which have jobs and occupations, and then we have businesses, and those businesses happen also in place. we need to come up with some sort of a formula so that we can really define and track that ROI.
Right. Yeah. I mean, I, I mean, it makes me, well, because I know that GoBiz, for example, has different numbers than, than, you know, Otis in terms of the creative economy jobs. And so I, so what, I guess one question is what, so what can we do to help push that definitional question forward? I mean, should we get Senate Office of Research involved, the California Research Bureau Services, or State Librarian? I mean, is there a, how do we, what do we need to do together? How would it help you if we... And is it worth doing? I mean, is that an important thing for us to spend some time with? Personally, I think what we track is how we measure success. Right. And if we don't measure success, how do we know if we're losing more market share before it's too late? Right. Because we know that we can get labor numbers quicker.
Yeah. But labor doesn't include, let's say, gig workers at the same level. Right. So we have to figure out how we do that reporting. And then on the business side, we we get it through tax filings. So we have to just kind of – we have to create a – I think we have to create a formula.
Yeah.
I actually do, and then the state can begin to really make sure that we're all at least working with the same definition of what the creative economy is. I actually just had this conversation with the lead who has worked in the agriculture sector for years in my office, And it's a similar conundrum because the work is most of our data on workforce is labor market information, which only captures W-2 employment, right? And so we have a lot of statewide initiatives such as the Strong Workforce Grant Program and other CTE incentive grant that really bases funding allocations on regional workforce priorities. And those regional workforce priorities are determined by labor market information data that can be collected in those different regions, which does not include the business ecosystem and the nonprofit ecosystem. And so apparently I learned today that it's similar in other sectors such as agriculture where they really have to fight sometimes to show the actual workforce need because it's only capturing a percentage of that data instead of the entire story. So I think figuring out a way to understand how to create a metric ultimately and capture the correct data will help all of our programs even in other sectors that are struggling with similar issues tell the true story of what that workforce need is instead of just only being solely focused on the W employment data that comes through our EDD system Yeah okay All right well we I mean look I think obviously we want to be helpful and you know if there's anything you need from us in terms of driving that forward on the Lettis Soto site, please be in touch with us about it.
The only thing I wanted to ask about this whole interagency partnership on the strategic plan, obviously really important. I don't know if the question is for you, or for any of you, quite frankly. Just the extent to which we are going to be able to make sure it's integrated into broader state initiatives, as opposed to just our climate issues, health, infrastructure, as opposed to just being siloed. I mean, I think we all worry sometimes that the arts and creative work ends up getting so – it's just not central to a lot of the kind of big state initiatives that the governor is putting his time into. And how do we work to change that?
If I may jump in at this point, you know, I think one way that we've been able to leverage it, as I mentioned, with the high road training partnerships is flexible funding. And so we're able to be able to utilize that funding, and we're able to. So some of that direction went into health, for example. We have health HRTPs as well as, you know, what I spoke about today, arts, media, entertainment HRTPs. We also have our HRCC, which is construction careers, and that's in the transportation sector in partnership with Caltrans. And so being able to have one workforce model, at least for us, that we're able to then be able to tailor industry by industry has been kind of our secret sauce in being able to operationalize into different spaces. I can't speak on behalf of other departments and agencies for what that might work, how that might work for them, but that's worked for us. Senator Allen, I would say that at the core of the creative economy is human beings, and it's a theme you may be –
I thought it was all AI now.
We're going to continue to own this and to safeguard it. And I would say that collaboration is also inherently human-centered. And it's something that human beings can do with great skill and intent. And we can do it when we really have to. And the creative economy has a core group of people, many of whom are here with us today, who are deeply, deeply invested in this work and continuing this work. It's a matter of also making sure that this work gets fueled. And I would just like to add one of the things that Michael didn't mention about himself, but some of his work that has really motivated the cross-agency alignment in the career education space is the Career Education Master Plan. So with that, it really opened up the opportunity and doors for us to start thinking about systems alignment in a real and different way across workforce and education systems and really justified a lot of the collaborative work that I mentioned today across those different agency leadership teams. So I think as long as we continue to break down silos and continue to be like humans, champion the work, championing the work and finding each other, it'll continue to happen.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. Well, in respect for all the other Creative Economy folks that are here that you just mentioned, Danielle, I just appreciate the panel's presentations, but most importantly, all the work that you all doing that nicely reflected in your presentation today and the discussion I certainly look forward to working together to make sure you able to keep the progress moving So with that I love to thank the panel and ask the second panel to come
You got it. Thank you so much.
So thank you.
So this next panel, we're going to hear testimony from artists and organizations in our communities that were members of the Creative Economy Work Group. You saw some of their beautiful faces just now in the earlier Daniel's presentation. They all have great backgrounds that showcase the talent and leadership that makes our state such an important magnet for creativity. So we'll start with Ricardo Handy, who's an entertainment executive founder and CEO of the Handy Foundation, followed by Joanna Reynolds, who's a creative jobs collective strategist for Arts for L.A. Then Alejandro Gutierrez Chavez, who's executive director of the Arts Connection and the Arts Council of San Bernardino. And then finally Roxanne Messina-Captor, who's a filmmaker and educator and arts advocate and chair of our Arts Council. So let's start with you, Ricardo.
Thank you. Thank you, Chair, for having us. Nice to see you. So good morning. My name is Ricardo Handy. and my work over the last 30 years in the entertainment business includes being a network executive, a director, a showrunner. I worked on projects with studios like NBC and Fox and Warner Brothers, but my original technical skills editing, which got me through the door, which I learned as a high school student as a part of a workforce investment program at Oakland Public School District, KDOL TV 13, recording basketball games, educational videos, music videos, and then that eventually led me to Hollywood. But that experience inspires the work that we do with the Handy Foundation, one of the first registered apprenticeship programs directly connected to sustainable film and TV jobs. And as a career pathways program with the California Film Commission, we've placed apprentices directly on various shows as assistant editors, production coordinators, story editors, several other occupations, over 400 alumni in six years. And these are at companies like Lionsgate, AMC, Netflix, projects like Love is Blind, Walking Dead. But what this work has shown us is that registered apprenticeship can lead to these good, sustainable jobs. But this sector is not just those big budget projects. It also includes like the photographer and the social media manager hired to tell the story of a restaurant or a gym. These are where people start to get those jobs in the Main Street economy. And just like there's a Main Street economy, there's a Main Street creative economy supporting it, telling those stories in the community. And that's where we find a lot of these apprentices. That's where their careers are starting, and they're already contributing to the economy, building this workforce starting from there. And so we bridge that gap, you know, for the studios, and they're all a part of the creative economy together. But the problem is, you know, no one hires their wedding photographer on a W-2 as a full-time employee. These are all fractional jobs that operate on 1099 and LLCs and S-Corps, but they're still a part of this greater ecosystem. And when those workers help grow the economy and then later become vendors, later become post-production companies, transportation companies, to grow that economy, that industry cluster is not really captured in how we tell these stories. But there's other states and other countries that recognize those clusters like the post-production tax incentives in New York and New Jersey you know like a show like Survivor may shoot in Fiji but more than 50 of that post more than 50 of the cost of the production is captured locally where the post-production happens. And so for me, like I come from that unscripted world, a lot of those editors, a lot of those folks are in California, but we have to incentivize and maintain those workers here and support those folks. And a lot of those folks are also working on these 1099s and LLCs as well. So they're just not captured in the workforce. As an editor, that's what I did for most of my career. So if policy only follows where the camera shoots, we miss much of the economic activity that actually happens. California's own Jobs First blueprint names the creative economy as a strategic sector. But the recent Jobs First implementation didn't have one creative project funded. And that's what happens when the data is not fully captured. It doesn't feel like is having as big of an impact as it really is. And so what I learned through this process in the Creative Economy Workgroup is that the Creative Economy is much larger than we imagine if we centered around the people. And those people don't all look the same on paper. You know, those workers don't look the same as it's not always a one-to-one, apples-to-apples situation. So we may need to adjust how we count them and our policies and our data collection so, you know, we can better understand those gaps. One other thing I want to share is the fact that, you know, this technology moves really fast. So it's an advantage and a disadvantage. And so our speed is going to be very important. For example, in 2022, we had a cohort of folks who were training in Unreal Engine, which is what they use a lot in virtual production to show sets like the Mandalorian and things like that. And some of our guest speakers that had worked on Star Trek years before were just learning that software now. And so our apprentices are not only learning the workflow and the technology that's being used now, but they're some of the first people learning and being able to implement that, which allows us to be ahead of the curve if we're able to expand on these kind of programs and not just kind of rely on one company, one organization, or not enough funded projects to get more people into the workforce with the new technology and the new skills. Thank you.
Thank you. Great. All right, we'll go to next we're going to Joanna from Arts for LA.
Oh, are we on? We're on. We did it. Good morning. Thank you so much for the opportunity to be here today. My name is Joanna Reynolds, and I lead the Creative Jobs Collective for Arts for LA. and our CEO, Gustavo Herrera, serves on the Creative Economy Work Group that helped shape the state's Creative Economy Strategic Plan. It's an honor to share how we're putting that vision into practice in Los Angeles County as a model for other communities. Arts for LA is an arts advocacy and service organization that supports artists, arts workers, organizations, institutions across Los Angeles County's arts, culture, and entertainment ecosystem. The Creative Jobs Collective is the initiative through which we are advancing a stronger local creative economy. The Creative Jobs Collective is a cross-sector, multi-year collective impact initiative with an ambitious goal to help build 10,000 living wage creative jobs for underrepresented communities in LA County by 2030. The creative jobs collective was launched in 2021 in response to the economic disruption of the pandemic and has continued to meet the moment through a variety of subsequent crises including the writer's strike and the devastating fires last year and the ongoing challenges at the federal level. This work is essential to building sustainable equitable career pathways into the creative sector. The Creative Jobs Collective directly advances the state's creative economy strategic plan, specifically through the first two goals, preparing and supporting workforce for creative economy sectors, as well as stabilizing and growing creative economy businesses. Our work centers people, so the creative workers first, including salaried employees, freelancers, and gig workers whose labor powers this industry. At the local level, we developed and launched a creative employer toolkit that provides recommendations on recruitment, hiring, equitable employment practices, and living wages. And this toolkit is designed to raise employment standards across the sector, mobilizing values-aligned employers who commit to these recommendations. We are working and have already secured our first cohort of employer endorsements and job placement commitments as we work toward our 10,000 job goal, and we're engaging both nonprofit arts and the commercial entertainment sector. We see art, culture, and entertainment not as separate silos, but as interconnected ecosystems sharing many of the same workers, challenges, and opportunities. Too often, the nonprofit and commercial sectors are treated separately, but we believe deeper collaboration across both is necessary to strengthen the entire creative workforce and ensure opportunity reaches everybody. And as we look ahead, we are focused on expanding this work through strategic partnerships, policy innovation, advocacy, and local organizing. And our goal is simple but urgent, to ensure that arts workers can stay, live, and thrive in Los Angeles. Thank you.
Thank you. And let me just welcome our good friend, Senator Susan Rubio, who's from Eastside. And actually, her face was featured in the Creative Economy workgroup slide that was shown a little earlier. So just welcome, Senator, and really glad to have you here. We're on panel two. We're next going to go to Alejandro Gutierrez Chavez.
Good afternoon, Chair Allen and Senator Rubio. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to be here and speak with you all. Great to share space with this amazing panel and to be talking about the creative economy as I think about my neighbors, my friends, my family members who are in San Bernardino County, and Inland Empire who are working within the creative economy, finding ways to pursue their careers at home. As mentioned, my name is Alejandro Gutierrez Chavez. I serve as the Executive Director of the Arts Council of San Bernardino County. Also was one of the Creative Economy Work Group members. We are the Arts Council of the county. Our mission is to advance the arts, culture, and creative economy across the largest county, landmass-wise, in the nation. And we're also one of the creative core administrating organizations. We were collaborative of three different organizations, our Inland Empire Community Foundation Arts Connection overseeing the San Bernardino County side and then Riverside Arts Council and the California Desert Arts Council First I want to thank you for your leadership in developing the California Creative Economy Strategic Plan This plan really helped our local communities. It legitimized their work and what they've known for years and doing the work that arts and culture really is the building blocks of care for our communities. and that artists are the problem solvers to a lot of our challenges that we're experiencing. As many of you know, the Inland Empire is the fastest growing region, both in population and economy, in California. Through my work collaborating with artists, nonprofits, schools, healthcare systems, universities, I've realized that when thinking about creative workers and artists, we needed to broaden our scope and understanding of what is possible with creative work. Before leading Arts Connection, I worked in community health systems where I helped support regional efforts tied to the California Advancing and Innovating Medi-Cal, or CalAIM, specifically working on expanding the community health worker workforce and the promotores workforce. That work shifted drastically because of the leadership of you all in the state of California that recognized that health outcomes are not only shaped inside hospitals and clinics, they're shaped through trust, relationships, through culture, language, and community connection. Community health workers and promotores became a trusted bridge on behalf of healthcare institutions and communities. I believe today we're at a similar moment with artists and creative workers and culture bearers where the state has the opportunity to unlock the potential of putting artists to work across not only the existing work that they're doing, whether it's in film, media, television, or performing arts, but how can they contribute to climate resiliency? How can they contribute to supporting the mental health and well-being and the connection of belonging to our communities? What would it look like for community health workers to be working alongside artists? What would it look like if California pioneered and advanced the idea of a creative health worker, artists and culture bearers embedded alongside health care, behavioral health systems, the aging services, senior centers to support healing, connection, and belonging. As California faces a multitude of challenges, whether it's climate instability, the Inland Empire faces that future now. We live in the worst air pollution in the nation is in our home. And so we're already seeing artists proposing solutions on how we could adapt and be resilient to these changes. And so right now, California has opportunity to figure out how can we begin embedding artists into unlocking human-centered solutions to some of our state's growing challenges. And so my hope and my invitation to you all is that you think about how we are embedding artists and creative workers through policies and systems that they could provide value in such as our health care system our aging population behavioral health and recognize them for what they truly are They our community greatest problem solvers and they provide the foundation of the building blocks of care for our community Thank you.
All right, we'll go to Roxanne.
Thank you, Senator Allen, Senator Rubio. This hearing is very important, and I'm honored to be with this panel. I also am going to talk from personal experience. I am Roxanne Messina-Captor. I'm a filmmaker. I'm also an educator and arts advocate. And as chair of the California Arts Council, I also want to speak on behalf of my fellow council members, Dorka Keen, Roy Hirabashi, Leah Goodwin, and all of us who have volunteered our expertise in time to the Creative Economic Workforce Committee. I started as a professional ballet dancer and a Broadway dancer. and my whole career and most entertainment attorneys would say the same thing. We heard one thing, artists' jobs are flaky. When are you going to get a real job? So when I wanted to get an apartment in New York, my parents had to co-sign. If I was a receptionist at a company, I wouldn't have had to get them to co-sign. I was making more money. I was in one of the top ballet companies in our nation and working on Broadway. I had pension health and welfare through our unions, but I was told you can't have an apartment without your parents co-signing. What does that do for one's self-esteem? What does that do for one to say, how am I a productive member of our society? And that concept artists face constantly. As a member of the Board of Actors' Equity, I was part of the responsibility of the people who founded the career transition for dancers. Dancers' careers end when most other people's careers are starting. What we found was the skills you learn from an early age as dancers, discipline, perseverance, dedication, passion, leadership, and collaboration are all skills that apply to the business world. And this career transition, which is still going on, the Entertainment Industry Community Foundation is the one that administers it. That's where the dancers learned they had skills that did apply that made you not in a flaky position. Almost every entertainment attorney I know wanted to be a writer or a musician. And every single one of them were told, You've got to get a job that's going to support you. So they all have scripts in their back pocket, and they all have bands that they play in because that's their passion, but they do the work of entertainment attorneys. And they are excellent at what they do, believe me. So I also think that artists have an inherent curiosity. And as an educator, I learn from my students. It's part of the cultural exchange. The 18th Street Arts Center, run by Jan Williamson, does an amazing job of giving artists what they need. A one-year residency, a studio, pension health and welfare. These types of programs are programs we should look at statewide. These are artists that now have all the things that makes the art position a viable job. The LA Music Center has an educational program that pairs professional artists with schools So where there is lack in arts education these professional artists which are now getting income and also pension and health insurance they have that opportunity and they're interacting with the schools to help have arts programs there in various disciplines. When I was on the board for Actors' Equity, we did look into having what they have in Europe, a dance, theater, and music company in every small town. And we looked at a way of doing it by placing these things on college campuses. That sample can be seen in the La Jolla Playhouse, which is part of the university there, where there's artists that are now working with the students. and the Western Stage Company, which is in Salinas, which our arts council went and visited. They have a two-year program for students in the summer. It's a professional summer stock theater. They bring up professional directors, choreographers, and talent to work with the students. They have two theaters, an 1800-seat theater that does three musicals in the summer and a straight where they do Shakespeare and straight plays. So that matching of the professionals with the students, it's beneficial to the students and to their next career. They're not just students coming out wondering, where am I going to go to work? So that was all I had to say. Thank you for everybody else.
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much. Wonderful panel. Let me just take one moment of personal privilege to recognize Roy Hirabayashi, who's here, who's with the Creative Economy Work. He's one of our workgroup members and also our Arts Council member. And I just appreciate your presence. Okay. Let's go to Senator Rubio, who's here and wants to make some comments and ask some questions. By the way, I think most of the folks from the first panel are still here. So if you want to pull them back and re-enlist them, I'm sure they'd be willing.
Well, first of all, thank you for allowing me to be here as the building goes. We usually have conflicts that pop up all the time. So sometimes we have to be in and out. So my apology for not being here earlier. but it's so important. I think many of you, I see everyone in the audience know how hard I worked on the arts, and I have a lot of partners here that we worked on bills to ensure that we bring funding to programs. My story mirrors yours. You know, I just heard you say you're a teacher. So was I for 20 years. In fact, I'm still a teacher. But I was an artist myself. I did live theater in my 20s. I won't tell you when, but a few years back, and my passion for the arts, for creative writing, and I paint. There's so much creativity in me, but my passion comes from not having that support early on, which really stifled my ability to grow as an artist, and so here I am, a senator. But it took me a little while, but it is true. Something that you said caught my attention in terms of how the arts just help people just in general. and as a teacher I always brought the arts to my classroom because I know that the arts are disappearing. That's what inspired me in elementary, always doing plays and so much that we used to do in elementary and as an elementary school teacher we had absolutely no funding. We didn't have a teacher that tried to promote the arts and I took it upon myself but it wasn't the experience for every child and I just don't think that the arts should be for those that are privileged. It is a fight that I've taken on many, many times. I think we should make it accessible, and I'm glad that you brought the program from La Jolla Playhouse as an example because I think that we have to do better, and funding programs that are strategic, that do encourage artists that want to give back to their communities to come back. As you stated, I think you said that they have professional artists and producers and choreographers, all that that we need in our schools, but I just want to thank all of you. So, like I said, I am very committed to this. I think I was part of a coalition out there that passed the bill. We were trying to ensure that small theaters didn't go under during the pandemic. In fact, I was able to work closely to secure $50 million to help those small theaters who were not able to put performances, weren't able to fundraise. And I think it was 1,200 at the time that were really in trouble. And I just want to just share a little bit of my background so you know how committed I am. and how important I think it is. I was a very shy little girl who would not speak in public, and that just really broke me out of my shell and opened up opportunities. I'm still shy, and I have to work at it, but it really did help. For me, it opened up doors in the business world, but more importantly, I was able to give back to my students. I taught in the classroom 20 years, and that was my mission, making sure that the arts didn't disappear in classrooms. So I hope anyone that has ideas calls me, engage me, especially bringing it to our schools. We know that the budget is very strained these days, but I think we can find small opportunities to continue to give back to our communities, making sure that small theaters don't disappear. And I always talk about it in terms of the regional benefits. I'm from the UN Empire. I wanted to share that I do represent Ontario and Montclair. And I know, for example, that Cheech Marin, what is it, our gallery, just brings a lot of people to the community. That's, you know, people are spending in restaurants. They're spending in just in everything that we have locally. So it does bring a lot of foot traffic. So that's my commitment to all of you, and thank you for sharing, and I'll turn it over to the chair. Thank you.
Thank you. I just wanted to just, you know, I mean, I made a little joke about AI a little earlier, which probably is painful for people. But I want to confront the issue, right? I mean, I was just reading the piece in the LA Times, I think, yesterday about the extent to which so much of Hollywood production is now shifting over. I mean, you know, there was a front page story. I think about this. It's a biblical-based TV show that's getting a lot of buzz. It's almost entirely AI background generated. Talk to us about how we should be thinking about the future force of AI. Obviously, there are some opportunities in terms of jobs, but obviously a lot of concern.
Aaron, how are each of you in your collective and in your different roles grappling with this challenge and opportunity, risk, threat, et cetera?
I think just for our work as training the kind of future generation of editorial and workers on these Hollywood productions, and me as a current producer, I produce several TV shows currently. You know, on some levels, there's a cost savings for the networks, but on other levels, there's gaps in education on how to actually use that technology. And so the workers that actually create those so like the History Channel project you mentioned in Bible this is an alternative to actually filming live reenactments right But in some ways there'll be artists working on it in the same way animators might work on animation. And in some cases, you may end up meeting more staff. I remember there was a time when nonlinear editing was introduced as like these nonlinear digital processes of editing versus a linear process, what that opened the door for was shows like Big Brother, shows like American Idol, where you have 20-something editors working on one show. So I can't predict exactly what AI, what all the workflows will open up, but it will create new opportunities for new kinds of content. And I think if we have the most innovative people that know how to wield that technology and they're getting trained and they're the most advanced at utilizing it, then we can create new possibilities of new kinds of forms of content and storytelling. And I do think that the audiences will continue to resonate with things that are human-centered. You're seeing it now. People kind of feel like it's fake. They don't resonate with it as much, but it's something we've got to get ahead of. But I do think that we have to look at it as technology that we can utilize, and there are being creative ways to advance and tell more stories more rapidly is one of the advances. But I will say that AI has, you know, there's generative AI of creating content, but then there's also just the automated systems that are being learned behind the scenes. And our students have been learning that for a couple years because the workflows are changing faster than the actual content.
I so agree. So agree. I don't think AI can. Well, we don't know, but I can't see it ever replacing this, the human heart, the human soul. You know, I use it for the technology aspect of it. You know, it can be very helpful in cutting corners, but it never is the final. You always have to do a complete rewrite of a speech, a rewrite of anything, because it doesn't do it. It's great to format. You know, if you have a speech and you say, can you cut this down or format, then it's good. But I don't see it. I have students that try to get away with giving me AI-generated scripts, and guess what? It doesn't work. I always send them back and say, go rewrite it. Yeah. So you can tell. Yeah. Yeah. Although I've read that Matthew McConaughey now is doing a big push about having a special part of the Screen Actors Guild that is going to handle AI if there's any artists. Right, use of their likeness. Yeah, yeah, use of their likeness. And I think that's important. I think the unions do have to step in on that.
Well, is it the heart of the strikes and all the rest?
Senator Rubio. Thank you. So it is a concern. Of course, we want to make sure that everyone has jobs and they're not being displaced. But there is a reality, and that's the reality that technology is moving really fast. You know, I can remember the days where we didn't have computers, and before you know it, now they're creating things for us. So I have been exploring as an educator.
I think that there's an intersect where we have educators and then we have the arts, and I've been exploring a summit. perhaps bringing that creative economy together with like school districts, because I don't know, I been out of the classroom for seven years but I don know how to help school districts implement programs that will help our students get to the next level in their future But if we don bring the creative economy together with educators and school board members, as well as superintendents, I think we're going to miss the mark. And I just want to hear your thoughts of what you think about it, because they're always asking me, how do we do better? And I think bringing people like yourselves to share some of those deficiencies or where they need to go. I think that they would be able to reroute resources to implement programs that can help our students, our kids support you in the future without being displaced. I think it's a technology, and we have to recognize that, and we have to train in using it to the best it can be. Turning our backs and saying, oh, it's bad. We've got to go away. That's not going to work. I mean, if you look in the past, the original Apple computer was this big, you know, and now we can have a little phone, you know, and there was beta and then there was CDs. So, you know, there's always the technology that's going to be ahead and we just have to stick with it and figure out how it's best used in the hands of the people that really know how to use it, which is the artists. So can I ask just in general if you know of any program or some kind of collaboration with schools that any of you have been doing that maybe works and we can try to implement statewide? And if not, what ideas do you have for us to collaborate to make sure that we put the information in the hands of the educators and the school board members who make decisions on funding that they can also be collaborators and making sure we have that in our schools? Yeah, I'll just touch base a little bit on what's happening in San Bernardino County. Our county superintendent schools, our superintendent offices, has a summit for education and AI and well-being. I think the disruption of AI in the question of how it's disrupting is layered. I think one is disrupting business, and I think, to your point, Senator Rubio, also education and how do we prepare educators to understand this technology. But another thing that I'm a bit I'm thinking about is how is it. And I'm also an educator. I taught for a couple of years, taught sixth grade. But I'm thinking about how how social media has impacted the well-being of our communities and seeing the lawsuit that happened, I think, in New Mexico. And I'm also thinking about how AI may disrupt the well-being of our students and the learning trajectory that they're on. And so I think that's something that definitely should be inquired and studied because that's a question that I'm asking, along with how AI is disrupting creators and how can we authenticate what's AI and what is a creative human made it. So those are questions I'm thinking about. Yeah, and I'll just add because we do work with high schools directly on not only training their students doing work-based learning for where some of these tools can be used in the workplace and in actual work situations. But what I finding is we probably need to scale opportunities to train the teachers right to actually give them opportunities to learn these tools themselves too not just so kind of a both and like bringing work opportunities work learning into the schools but also bring the opportunities for the teachers to learn how these tools are being used in the workplace because they may not have experienced that themselves yet And because these are tools and, you know, some tools you learn how to wield like a wild bull and you know how to use them and they're to a benefit. But if the tool is using you and you're just, you know, letting it run rampant and not using it to advance your own education, your own capabilities as a human, you're using it as an easy button, that is where it becomes dangerous. And so I think that given some parameters and some guardrails early on to the teachers on, hey, this is how you can use this tool properly and how you can not just let this tool kind of run things for you, I think that's going to be key because these are very powerful tools that can help us accelerate, but they could also slow you down if you don't know to use them properly. Thank you. Oh, go ahead. I will say, in the Creative Employer Toolkit that Arts for Lay and the Creative Jobs Collective built, we do have some AI guidelines in there for creative employers to recommend ways to use AI or not use it. And I think that's where it's important. It's like to learn the tool and how it works so you know when to use it and when we shouldn't be using it and when it can take away from, you know, the critical thinking development of students that we don't want to lose while still upskilling them with tools and having that knowledge and making sure that they're not left behind. But I think it's really important that we know when it should be there and when it shouldn't. And so our toolkit addresses some of that in the creative workplace. And there have been various seminars that have come to Santa Monica College or New York Film Academy by experts in that area and people who had helped develop AI. and basically everything we've said here is what they say. You know, it's a tool. It's the new tool, and we all have to just learn it and learn how it's best to use it. And thank you. You know, I wanted to share with you that I represent Doherty, City of Doherty, and Doherty, we have the School of the Arts, which is a model that I wish we could replicate across the state. Of course, it's treated very differently than public education, and they do everything that California state standards require, but then after hours they have kids on different tracks. So if someone wants to do music, they go into the music realm. They want to do visual arts. They go into that dance and every other creative class that they want to participate in. And so, you know, in the future, I guess I'm always exploring, like, how do we bring what we have there? And I think it was replicated from something that happens in Orange County. I think they have the first school. This is the second. And so I'm hoping, again, I'm constantly pushing to see if we can, you know, collaborate in a much better way to, you know, because we're talking about the arts, creative, the creative economy. And, again, most kids will not get it unless someone specifically tries to embed it in our curriculum and our schools. But they're just doing such great work. And I always think of so many kids who are just full of energy. That was me, and they just don't know where to place their energy, and so they end up in trouble or maybe causing some problems for themselves in the future. But it's just a beautiful way to marry the education piece of it and with creativity if a child chooses to. But, again, if you have ideas, please reach out to my office because I'm still trying to push that direction because kids don't want to be in the classroom today. My sadness is I've seen students drop out, and they'll say, you know, I'm just going to be an influencer. I'm going to make money influencing. And they are completely dismissing the education altogether because their friend is making money, and so they want to make money. And I think we're going to get to a point where that's where most kids are going to go. Why am I going to spend four years in university when I can make millions just doing TikTok or whatever else? But, again, I'm just searching for ideas. We don't have a lot of time, but please reach out or give me a proposal or bring some ideas to the table, and I'm happy to explore it with you. Okay, thank you, Mr. Chair. All right, well, thank you. Thank you guys so much. Let's go to our next panel, looking ahead, where we've got Rebecca Ratzkin, who's with the California Arts Council, Equity Measures and Evaluation Manager, and then also Julie Baker, who's the CEO of Californians for the Arts and California Arts Advocates. Come on up, and thank you. Thank you for that wonderful panel. Thanks for all the work you've done, too. Thank you. All right, let's get started with Rebecca. Good afternoon, I think it is almost. If we could get the PowerPoint up again. Well, good afternoon, Chair Allen and Senator Rubio. Thank you so much for your time to present and discuss the Creative Economy Strategic Plan today and for your attention during this busy day. My name is Rebecca Ratzkin. I'm the Equity Measures and Evaluation Manager at the California Arts Council and the Project Manager for the Creative Economy Strategic Planning work. I'm here to briefly present on the town hall activities that we did after the submission of the plan itself and our next steps for further planning, implementation, and evaluation of activities. As Director Brazile mentioned, this is a three-phrase process, and so I will be talking about Phase 2 work. Next slide, thank you. At the close of the planning process, we were able to leverage funds to go on the road and test the plan with California residents across the state. We set out to, one, road test the plan to see if it resonated with communities, two, gather additional input and learn about models and successes at the local level, and three, stimulate conversation and build awareness to build momentum for implementation. Next slide. So we did 26 town halls across eight regions, really spanned the entire state. 1,500 people signed up, 1,100 people or more than that attended. We received feedback from hundreds of people. And it was a majority of nonprofits and artists or individual creative workers. However, we did also have government representatives and other for-profit businesses who did attend and participate. Next slide. We heard a lot. There was a lot of discussion. There were panels. There were breakout groups. And here's what we heard. This is nothing new to the field. But all of these actually connect directly back to the plan itself and specific strategies within those plans. Overall, there was positive response. People felt affirmed that the state invested and cares about the importance of the arts and culture and creative workers in the state. And as we heard from one of our other panelists, that this helped legitimize the work that they do in their communities and in their lives. So key themes, lack of access to information, services, and resources, which connects directly to goal number one and creating a cultural hub. And secondly, new financial models needed. So goals number two and goals number four that really explore the possibility of how to do that through cooperatives and mutual aid networks and other such strategies Three desire for definitions and data for support Director Brazile spoke to this. Four, importance of advocacy to build awareness and political will. Really an understanding and an education, as we're doing here today, about the importance of the activities that are happening across the state. And lastly, leveraging networks and partnerships, which relates to goal number six about strengthening the infrastructure to implement the Creative Economy Strategic Plan. Next slide. There are bright spots. We heard about some of them in the last panel, but others that we heard a bunch about. This is not an exhaustive list, but we wanted to call out a few that are really happening across the state. In Nevada County and upstate, they've been able to implement through the cultural district and creative core projects, business of arts symposium and creative meetups, which is all about supporting individuals and entrepreneurship development in the upstate region. In Central Coast or North Central Coast, collaboration with three of the arts councils in San Benito County, Monterey and Santa Cruz counties to develop a plan for workforce development for teaching artists to be credentials and take advantage of funding such as Proposition 28. In the Inland Empire in San Bernardino County, the Garcia Center for Arts and Creative has a program for creative instruction and to develop training and mentorship and opportunities for exhibition for individual artists. It's very much all about supporting and promoting the creative workforce. And finally, in Ventura County, taking advantage of mental health funding to also hire artists and support organizations there to provide needed services around prevention and early intervention around mental health. Next slide. Next steps. Next slide. Lastly, I just want to speak to the things that are already underway and upcoming, things that started actually through the planning process itself. And we spoke to the interagency workgroup, really reconvening them and to further define the implementation and resource requirements that we need to move forward with this plan. That's both the interagency workgroups and the advisory committees that were established through the Creative Economy Workgroup. We need to map existing resources and initiatives. and fully understand the whole host of opportunities and activities that are already happening at the state and the local levels. And with that, to track and follow along with the success of what those programs are and to see where there can be replication, where there can be intervention, where there can be further support. Discussion and modeling on the creative economy industry cluster definitions. we heard about the complexity of what this looks like and that there's varying proposals for doing that at the state and the local level, both regionally. And we feel that having a consolidated and statewide adopted definition will really help everybody start to row in the same direction, so to speak. And with that, to pilot data collection tools for neighborhood-level data purporting. A lot of things that happen are actually not aligned necessarily with census tracts or block groups or zip codes, but happen in a more organic fashion, for example, within a cultural district or within a certain neighborhood as defined by the community itself. So how do we actually fill the gap of some of the data resources that we see publicly to further identify workers and benefits economically and otherwise within a neighborhood and a community We need to establish a more detailed and this is underway implementation plan specifically with timelines roles responsibilities resources needed, and also to take advantage of the California Arts Council's strategic planning process that we will undergo in the next year to really understand how this agency plays a role and how to align with programming and other activities of the agency. Next slide. Lastly, it's really to get into implementation and evaluation. Phase three is where everything comes together. This is an iterative and long-term process, and so we see a lot of moments of reflection, evaluation, assessment, and revision of the activities that happen along the way. Thank you again for your time. We're very excited to get going on this work and to continue in partnership with everybody that you met here today and with others who couldn't be in the room and are engaged across the state, locally, regionally, statewide in this process. Thank you. Julie Baker, CEO of California for the Arts and California Arts Advocates. And I just want to indulge me for a second to thank the chair for his incredible leadership over the last 10 years, I think, in the legislature as joint committee chair, the longest joint committee chair for the arts. So we want to. I recognize that amazing leadership and to Senator Rubio for her championing of the Performing Arts Equitable Payroll Fund in particular. And no shortage of irony that we are sharing a wall today with the press conference that was happening for the Governor's May revise, which sadly does not include any funding for either of the initiatives that you both are championing and which so many people here today want to see happen and importance of actually being able to implement this important plan. So I just want to thank you for the opportunity to present on California's future is creative, its present is creative, its past is creative, the state's first sector-specific strategic plan for the creative economy. I was honored to be a member of the task force and as the CEO of the statewide advocacy organization for the arts, culture, and creative industries, introduced the idea for the plan to the legislature back in 2023. What can I tell you that you haven't already heard? This plan is not merely a set of recommendations. It is a vital, urgent blueprint to protect what makes California a global capital of innovation and culture. Our creative economy is massive. It generates $288 billion in value, 7.5% of our total economic output, and supports over 820,000 jobs, more than any other state. And I think as we heard today, that may not even include everything that could be captured in those numbers. Yet this cornerstone of our identity is at a crisis point. Despite overall state job growth, our creative workforce remains 7% below its pre-pandemic peak. We lost 2.6% of arts and cultural production jobs between 2022 and 2023, and sadly, the BEA Bureau of Economic Analysis data out of Washington is now no longer capturing arts and cultural production data at this moment in time. Artists, culture, and creative workers are being displaced from the communities they've helped to build. This plan is meant to be actionable, not reflective, and to outline what California must do to ensure there is a creative workforce for our future. The legislature and administration took decisive action last year to stop the hemorrhaging of creative talent in L with the increase in the film and TV tax credit But this plan so far represents only a million dollar taxpayer investment that could have if implemented properly a multitude of benefits if acted upon and resourced Without comparable action to the film and TV tax credit, California risks losing the very industries it helped build, especially as nations like South Korea and the United Kingdom make strategic long-term investments to attract and retain creative talent. Who will be the next generation of innovators, to your point, Senator Rubio, storytellers, and imagineers. Who will be our next award-winning playwright, like Luis Valdez, or visionary visual artists, like Ruth Asawa, toy makers, like we have at Mattel, music producers, dancers, architects, designers, and all of the folks that make up this creative economy? And will California create the conditions and investments to ensure human creativity thrives. California has some big problems to solve, and I think, as my colleague Alejandro said, artists are the problem solvers, and creativity will lead the way. This plan outlines a path forward, including Goal 6, to build state capacity and infrastructure to implement these recommendations. Specifically, we want to encourage the cross-agency and cabinet-level collaboration to realize this plan's full potential. The skills of the creative workforce are relevant across all sectors, but a plan is only as good as the political will to fund it. Investing in our creative ecology must be viewed as a public safety intervention and a mental health strategy. Arts participation is proven to boost community mental health outcomes, increase civic engagement, and reduce recidivism rates. When we fund a local arts organization, we are not just supporting a show. We are investing in our social fabric, providing connection, meaning, and catalytic economic benefits. We urge this body to fully support and fund the core strategies of the Creative Economy Strategic Plan. Given the current temporary surplus driven in part by the AI boom that we are talking about today, it is only fitting that this unexpected windfall be directed towards supporting human creativity. the very thing that distinguishes us from the technology and gives meaning to our work and lives. Such an investment is profoundly meaningful. It would be a powerful, tangible affirmation for all arts and culture workers throughout the state and an investment in the social fabric of every California community. At this critical moment, when the federal government is attempting to cut cultural funding, I mean, eliminate it, actually, free expression is under threat, and AI poses this genuine risk to creative jobs, California has a chance to demonstrate its strength. We can assert through an unwavering commitment to diversity and creativity that culture is not a luxury but an essential public good and a core part of our civic lives. It's disheartening to see leaders statewide right now in San Diego continue to put arts and culture programs on the chopping block first in an attempt to balance budgets on the backs of California arts workers. Our state is looked upon as a leader in this essential creative economy, but our funding hardly reflects that. And I know you two as leaders understand that. Today we rank 35th in the nation per capita on spending, but our state produces one in four creative jobs nationally. We need to do better. So here's the ask. Specifically, we ask you to commit to sustained public funding, to adequately resource the awesome agency you've heard from today, the California Arts Council, so it can implement the full scope of the strategic plan. This year we ask that they increase their funding to $50 million for grant in their 50th anniversary year and including that $1 million for the implementation of the plan that Senator Allen has put forward. Fund the Cultural District Program and invest in proven place-based economic solutions. Fund proven workforce development programs like the California Creative Corps. And ensure fair pay at cross our creative workforce through continued investment in the Performing Arts Equitable Payroll Fund that Senator Rubio has championed this year in the budget. This plan and the statewide engagement tour were important first steps in the process to ensure a thriving California creative economy. We call upon you now to align our state budget with our stated values, ensuring that California remains the global leader in culture, creativity, diversity, and innovation for generations to come. Thank you. Thank you. I want to acknowledge the presence of Assemblymember Berner, who's welcome to join us as a joint hearing here of the two houses. I was glad to have Tasha and I toured the state with some of you a few years back when she was arts chair. We got a chance to get a real window into the wonderful cultural districts programs that we have. And we welcome you here and give you an opportunity to get settled if you want to make a couple comments. But questions, thoughts from my colleague? I just want to reiterate because I think the numbers get lost. So I'm going to just reiterate what you stated, but I'm looking at some of the reports that you provided through this report. And it's, you know, $288.9 billion, the value added to our state's economy by the arts. That's significant. But I also, you know, what you just said right now, one in four jobs are produced nationally. And yet that's the first thing that goes when budgets are being balanced. And so that just strikes me. It also, based on your report, 821,000 jobs, again, significant. And as Californians, we're known as the arts capital, I would say, in terms of Hollywood and our theaters and everything that we're providing. And I just feel we have an obligation to continue to push harder in terms of maintaining jobs, keeping jobs, expanding opportunities, and doing what we can to support you in any way we can. So just thank you for sharing. Senator. Thank you so much. I'm glad I made this joint. It's great to be with you here and with such leaders in our state. I love that you called it the creative economy because I remind people that one, art is the soul of who we are. There's no human society who's ever existed without art. And art, great art, is often born out of suffering. And we've suffered for many years. So we should expect art to be thriving as we make peace with ourselves on what we've gone through from COVID to any number of things that our communities are still going through right now in California. And then when we go forward and we think about that in terms of economic development, jobs, what it means for our young people to see that the creative economy is not just influencers on Instagram, but it is a job where you can make money and earn a living and a good wage in California. Those are things that add value every day to our economy our GDP not only the big Hollywood jobs but you know everything down to our cultural arts districts that create thriving ecosystems in our community And so when I look at what going on in the city of San Diego we are as a delegation prioritizing how do we support the arts especially the smaller arts organizations that work with our most vulnerable communities in doing that great combination of creativity, repair, healing, and economic development. So thank you for everything you guys do and supporting the arts economy and the creative economy in California. Chair, if I could just say, you know, I appreciate all of you because you are our champions and we can't do it without you. We're just, we're the advocates. We've got grassroots folks here today who want to make public comment and share how important it is, but we can't do this work unresourced. And that is the fundamental problem. And it is historic and it is ongoing. and yet we have the data that proves that not only is it incredibly important economically, it is important for our lives, our mental health, healing from all of these things that are going on and to provide the meaning of why we exist. And AI won't do that for us. So it is essential that we actually put the dollars behind it. So right now, because the governor hasn't, we have to get that leadership. from the legislature in this final budget process. And at the end of the day, this is almost a $350 billion budget. And the budget asks right now that we're asking for is a total of $66 million. It's not that much, but it's huge to the folks behind me. Right. And so I just implore the legislature to take it up at this moment because we've got about a month, and let's do it. Thank you. Thank you. Well, right before we go to public comment, I just – one question I want to ask you, Julie. I know you were working on – there was some – there was an idea that came up at the California Art for the Arts Summit about programs that embed artists in municipal agencies and departments. Yeah. And do you want to share with us anything that may be happening in that space? Actually, Rebecca can. Okay, okay. Yes, yeah. We are actually partnering with Stanford University, who has a cultural policy fellows program, And we are currently working ourselves with a cultural fellow on the implementation design for this creative economy plan. And also we've been working with the Office of Land Use and Climate Innovation with another cultural fellow to embed with them to support the launch of the climate assessment plan. So the work that they're doing also includes a field scan of all different types of both artist residency and cultural strategists that are engaging across the state of California. So we will have also that data by the end of this calendar year to really be looking at the landscape and what are their opportunities for that. That's also an action item within the strategic plan that we're very interested in carrying forward in partnership with our academic partners and with other agencies across the state like San Mateo County and Los Angeles County who have similar programs. Great. And we're excited to also be working with California Behavioral Health Association on ways that we can embed arts and culture and artists inside of mental health solutions. There's a lot of examples of this in other states that are leading in arts and prescription and social prescribing of the arts. And I think California has a tremendous opportunity to address that crisis and utilize an underutilized workforce, as Alejandro was indicating as well. Yep Thank you All right Thank you Thank you both Thanks for all the partnership And let let go on to public comment Really appreciate it All right so folks who want to make comments please come to the microphone and share your thoughts with us Thank you, Senators. This has been very enlightening to me. Thank you. I'm Michael Solomon. I'm on the Board of California Lawyers for the Arts. Our nonprofit organization is primarily to support artists. We're a lawyer's organization for the most part. We do mediations, often involving artists. We have a legal referral service, and we have educational programs for lawyers and artists. We are currently involved in a program that is funded by the state with a $3.5 million grant called Designing Creative Futures. The program is for us to find employment in art organizations for previously incarcerated people. People coming out of prison, perhaps who have been beneficiaries of art programs that the state has funded, and placing them in jobs with various art organizations, theaters, galleries, museums, film studios, etc. Yeah, so we're going to have to just make sure it went to six to two minutes. Okay. Yeah. That's really about it. We're seeking another grant for $3.5 million to continue this program and to expand it. And so my colleague, Daniela, will give you a few more details about it. I am a program coordinator for California Lawyers for the Arts. I'm honored to be here. This is an important request because in order to continue designing creative futures and place an additional 75 formerly incarcerated persons per year in paid arts internships. Over the next three years we are requesting $3.5 million. This is an important innovation to expand opportunities in the creative economy for our most disadvantaged people. Out of 139 persons who were employed post internship, 95 were working in the creative sector while 69 were hired by their work sites and 84 were enrolled in college or vocational training with a recidivism rate of less than 6%. We estimated that by keeping at least 100 people from returning to prison for one year we have saved the state at $30,300,000 based on the $130,000 annual cost of incarceration. So we appreciate the legislative support of our $3 million contract for three years, which was allocated to CLA in 2022 to place 150 persons in 16-week paid arts internships. With this support, we're extending the contract for a fourth year and place a total of 234 persons with an 83% completion rate. Please give our budget request, which has been championed also by our member, Matt Haney and Senator Scott Wiener, signed by 10 additional legislators your thoughtful considerations. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you very much. All right, next speaker. We can make a line Okay is that what it is All right This is the most creative line I ever seen I guess it makes sense Yeah all right Yeah Hi, my name is Skylar Palacios. I am a creative performing and teaching artist and a former Healdsburg City Council member, so I'm happy to see more people, artists, and policymaking. But it seems like there's still often a disconnect between actually fully engaging artists. And I wanted to echo the sentiments of Chair Roxanne Captor when she spoke about artist housing. In the report, it said 44% of artists in California make under $40,000 a year, and it is already extremely to live in the state as an artist. And I think most have realized that the starving artist trope is unrealistic, unstable. And for myself, after I found stable housing, the quality and impact of my art increased immensely and continues to do so. And since I'm no longer concerned about my basic needs, I'm now able to give back to my community, partnering with nonprofits in my area and speaking with youth. Artist housing, perhaps it looks like private-public partnerships, perhaps a requirement for housing. Is that artists must utilize their skills to give back to the community in some way? How do we fund it? Personally, I would nominate the AI tech companies that are squeezing the juices of artists and not contributing anything back. With the rise of AI, artists and our art are unprotected and being used to make money for ads, programming, and other AI art. There needs to be more legislation for protections of intellectual property. and more partnerships with tech companies and artistic institutions to find more common ground as of now, it really feels like it's one versus the other. And it was mentioned, how do we fully impact the economic value of art? And I think it was mentioned before by Tasha or Senator Boner that it's impossible. It's really not something we can do because it's both intrinsic and extrinsic value. it has never been more important to invest in the arts than it is right now. So please do your due diligence in fighting for the funding of the creative economy. If you choose to not fund the arts, no, you will be allowing AI to take over creatively. Ask yourselves, I hope we all ask ourselves, is that the world that we want to live in? That is the full weight of your decision. Thank you. Thank you.
Good afternoon. My name is Janine Mapurunga, and I'm a Sacramento-based community artist and documentarian. In 2023, I received a Creative Corps grant to begin Bien Juntitos, which translates to Well Together. It's a bilingual oral history project preserving the stories of 50 Spanish-speaking immigrant elders in Sacramento. It's a group called the Manitos. The elders asked me to record their stories because they feel disconnected from the younger generations, from their kids and their grandkids. And through storytelling, they feel seen, valued, and connected. The Manito groups exist for nearly 30 years, and today there are over 300 active members. Their stories reflect millions of Californians. Their labor is the backbone of the Californian economy. We all know that 40% of California's population is Hispanic, yet these voices remain absent from historical archives. The project is not just about art. It addresses the loneliness epidemic by creating connections belonging, and intergenerational ties, which are factors strongly linked to positive health outcomes and longevity. Ms. Roxanne mentioned the Creative Corps project by 18th Street Arts Center, and I was one of the people who received that funding, which meant that for one year I was properly compensated for my work, and after this funding was over, I was left without support. It's been two years now that I've carried this project alone, living off my savings, trying to finish this community work. Due to lack of funding, several participants have died before seeing the completion of the book with their stories. And this morning I found out that one of the group leaders, a man in his late 80s, is in the hospital dying before seeing the book he helped to create with their oral histories. Please properly fund the California Arts Council. Community artists like myself are creative problem solvers. We've heard that today.
I'm so sorry. We're going to have to cut you off.
Who prioritize collective well-being. And you know this funding doesn't just fund art. It supports community and society's health. Thank you.
Thank you. Just reminding everyone we've got these time limits because we're both catching flights. But thank you.
Hi, I'm Lisa Tromovich, Executive Director, speaking on behalf of SPARC, the Shakespeare and Performing Arts regional company in Livermore. I urge the legislator to continue to protect and expand funding for California Arts Council and programs like the Performing Arts Equitable Payroll Fund. Theater companies are not hobbies. We are businesses, employers, and economic drivers. Even organizations under 2 million have real payroll obligations and workers who depend on us to provide work weeks that the large institutions cannot cover throughout the year. But while corporations like Amazon and General Motors receive millions in public subsidies, arts organizations compete for limited grants. After two years without CAC support and major declines in other funding, Spark now faces eliminating our So Wise, So Young program after 15 years in the community. This means fewer paid opportunities for actors and directors, functioning as teaching artists, and contributing to California's creative economy. We operate leanly, without excessive executive salaries, while helping define Livermore's cultural identity through programs like Shakespeare in the Vineyard, where cultural tourism meets agritourism. If programs like this disappear, we're not just cutting budgets, we're cutting off workforce pathways and the creative life of our communities. Thank you all for all of the work you've done on this project. Thank you so much.
Thank you. Thank you. Very cool stuff, actually.
Good afternoon. My name is Adam Maggio, and I'm the managing director of the San Francisco Bay Area Theater Company. We have an annual budget of $1.1 million, and in 2025, the payroll costs created by AB5 exceeded $150,000, which is almost 15% of our budget. That's not salaries and wages. That's just payroll at fringe and admin. While Uber and Lyft were able to get an AB5 carve out, it's small companies like us who've been struggling to figure out how to make ends meet. And the Performing Arts Equitable Payroll Fund is the lifeline we need and deserve. When we talk about the arts in California, large cultural institutions tend to get all the attention. But collectively, small organizations play an incredibly important role in the arts ecosystem. We're the ones who are truly rooted in and in communication with our communities. We the ones who actually hire local artists instead of importing things from New York or abroad And we the ones who produce work outside of downtown metro areas in the neighborhoods and regions that desperately need both the economic boost and the cultural enrichment provided by the performing arts I know that I'm preaching to the choir with you two. Thank you for your continued advocacy. But it's a scary time for artists and arts organizations, and I just hope you'll continue to prioritize the Performing Arts Equitable Payroll Fund.
Can I ask just a question a lot? Can you repeat the number, the increase after AB5?
$150,000 per year. And that's not salaries and wages. That's just admin and fringe.
Thank you. Thanks. Thank you. And we should connect on some AB5 issues. Okay. Yes, sir.
Good afternoon, chair and members. My name is Sean Fenton. I'm the executive director of Theater Bay Area. I also serve as the president of the Board of California Arts Advocates. I'm also here as an arts worker myself. I'm a performing artist, a member of SAG-AFTRA and Actors' Equity Association, and a proud member of the San Francisco Gay Men's Chorus. I am here today in the strongest possible support of Senator Rubio's request for $40 million for the Performing Arts Equitable Payroll Fund, as well as the request for $50 million for the California Arts Council. Both investments are vital and necessary. The state's Creative Economy Strategic Plan, as we heard, talks about preparing and supporting the creative workforce, stabilizing creative economy businesses, and investing in jobs. The PAEPF is one of the clearest tools the state already has to do exactly that. We just have to fund it fully and keep it going. In the Bay Area, PAEPF funding has helped organizations like African American Shakespeare Company, West Edge Opera, and the Magic Theater retain artists, stage managers, technicians, administrators, and other cultural workers during this ongoing, extraordinarily fragile recovery period for our sector. This is ongoing workforce infrastructure. These are real jobs tied to local economies and community-serving institutions. And if California wants to stem the tide of closures and instability facing beloved arts organizations across the state, we need sustained, multi-pronged investments in the workforce and institutions that make not only this creative economy possible, but the vibrant, connected, culturally rich communities Californians want to live in. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Yes, ma'am. Good afternoon, Chair Allen and
Senator Rubio. My name is Justina Martino. I'm an artist and the director of projects and partnerships at a small organization called Art Tonic. We provide artists with entrepreneurial support, professional resources, and paid opportunities to devote time and energy to their art. In 2025, we received the California Arts Council grant that allowed us to serve 211 artists across 63 California zip codes through virtual professional development workshops. We connected and supported artists across the state from Sacramento and Bay Area to as far as Los Angeles and San Diego. By providing this support, we have helped artists stay in California despite the rising costs that have contributed to the 7% decline in our creative workforce since the pandemic. In the first panel, Rachel Hatch mentioned that our state workforce data does not capture the complete picture of the creative economy. To learn more about the creative entrepreneurs and nonprofits that have been left out of this workforce data, I suggest state officials reference data from the California Arts Council individual artists and nonprofit grant applications. This could give the state a better sense of the individual artists and nonprofits contributing to our creative economy. Thank you, senators, for your commitment to California's artists and culture bearers. Please continue to support the future of our creative economy by advocating for million for CAC 50th year and million for the Performing Arts Equitable Payroll Fund Thank you Thank you Yes ma Good afternoon Chair and Senator My name is Faith J McKinney and I am the founding director of Black Artist Foundry
a newly established 501c3 nonprofit organization that supports black artists across California through funding, professional development, advocacy, and public programming. Just a few days ago, Black Artist Foundry applied for our very first California Arts Council grant. As a growing black-led organization, I want to be clear. Public funding is not supplemental for many of us. It is foundational. In a sector where black-led organizations continue to receive less than 1% of philanthropic funding, many organizations like mine cannot rely on large-scale individual giving, generational wealth networks, or major institutional donors to sustain our work. Public investment helps close that gap. It creates access to infrastructure, staffing, artist compensation, cultural programming, and long-term sustainability for organizations deeply rooted in communities that have historically been underinvested in. The California Arts Council supports more than just programming. It supports jobs, small organizations like mine, cultural workers, public access to the arts, and pathways for historically marginalized communities to participate in California's creative economy. California has an opportunity to lead by demonstrating that arts funding is not charity. It is public infrastructure. Thank you for your leadership. Thank you to the artists and advocates who continue to show up. And I respectfully urge you to support this investment in California's cultural future. Thank you.
Thank you. Yes, ma'am.
Good afternoon, Chair Allen and Senator Rubio. Dominique Johnson, Executive Director of the Santa Claus Arts Council, one of the state local partners of the California Arts Council, And here representing Stanislaus County, home to more than 550,000 Californians, where the creative economy is not theoretical. It's deeply human, locally grown, and essential to community well-being and economic vitality. In addition to my role at the Arts Council, I actively serve with the California Creative Corps Administrating Organizations Working Group. We were an AO for that project. Additionally, I am the vice chair of our local culture commission, and I also serve on the North Valley Creative Economy Working Group. Each of these collaborative efforts is directly connected to and supportive of the California Arts Council's work to advance a more equitable, sustainable, and regionally inclusive creative economy across our state. The 2026 Creative Economy Strategic Plan correctly recognizes California's creative workforce as largely made of freelancers, small nonprofits, sole proprietors, and cultural workers navigating unstable incomes, limited access to benefits, and increasing pressures from emerging technologies, as AI has been discussed today. And this threatens both livelihood and authorship. In communities like ours, rural communities, these are not abstract concerns. They are lived realities impacting artists performers educators and nonprofit organizations every single day This is why continued an increased investment in the California Arts Council and the performing arts equitable payroll fund is essential These programs stabilize creative labor support equitable wages strengthen workforce pipelines and help nonprofit arts organizations serve Employers training grounds and economic drivers within their communities the Stanislaus in Stanislaus County We've seen both the promise and the fragility of this sector firsthand. We have the Prospect Theater project which you utilize the PAEPF. Thank you.
No problem. Thank you so much. Thank you. Sorry. Yes, sir.
Hello my name is Roy Hidwayashi Thank you for the call out a little bit earlier I was on a creative economic work group and also I sitting on a CAC council currently I just want to say all the panelists were really great in what they were saying so it's really important. I don't need to repeat that or even what the other folks are saying right now, but I think what's really kind of important, what's missing from the story right now for me, is the cultural bearers and folk and traditional artists who are probably undercounted in what's happening within our state. I co-directed and started San Jose Taiko. We started 53 years ago as a third Taiko group in North America. And now that group is touring throughout the country, through the U.S. and internationally. And so a group that could come out of the community, San Jose Japantown, which was recently one of our newest cultural districts, is representing not only the city of San Jose but the state of California, but also nationally. So I think what comes out of our states, our cities, our communities have to be recognized, especially the folk and traditional artists who are doing some really great work but not really recognized for that. So whatever we could do, other folks already asked to do it, I'm just asking again. So thanks so much for all your great work. I appreciate all you've done, and thank you so much.
Thank you. Likewise. Thank you. Yes, ma'am.
Hello. Good afternoon, Committee Chairman Allen and Senator Rubio. My name is Erin Inova, and I'm the Executive Artistic Director at Celebration Arts Theater, Sacramento's African American Theater. We've been in operation for over 40 years. As you know, according to the Creative Economy Strategic Plan, California's creative economy generates $288 billion in value and supports 821,000 jobs. I'm here to share that behind that number, as you know, are organizations like mine, community-rooted, under-resourced, and still showing up. The Performing Arts Equitable Payroll Fund, which we received, is exactly the financial support needed for nonprofit performing arts organizations, as stated in the plan. The demand for PAPF proved it, with $11.6 million gone in 10 days and with $40 million in unmet needs. Celebration Arts was fortunate to receive funding, and I can tell you exactly where it went. To the employees who build our sets, run our box offices, and help bring our community's stories to life. We actually are able to finish this season, our 40th season, because of that funding. We're the kind of organization the plan identifies as essential. Cultural hubs, workforce pipelines, community partners, and data and delivery, if we are adequately resourced to be. Increasing PAEPF from $12 million to $40 million is not charity. It is the infrastructure this plan requires to meet its goals. Thank you, Senator Rubio. We and so many organizations like us across the state are ready to deliver.
Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you. Yes, ma'am.
Hello. My name is Jaya King, and I am an artist and muralist here in Sacramento. I've experienced firsthand support from the California Arts Council's Impact Grant. I painted a public mural focused on domestic violence and sex trafficking awareness with Weave. That project also included a series of trauma-informed creative workshops led by my collaborator, as well as a community painting at the local farmer's market. Everyone in this room knows that public art is more powerful than just beautifying a space. It creates access, paid artist opportunities, community engagement, and increased foot traffic benefiting local business. Project like this made possible through grant funding, demonstrate the economic and cultural ripple effect of public art, and help realize the goals of the Creative Economy Strategic Plan. I respectfully ask for the legislators' bipartisan support in funding our cultural districts, the Performing Arts Equitable Payroll Fund, and the $50 million budget request for the California Arts Council for grant funding so that artists, human artists like me, can continue to do our superpower in the state of California. Thank you.
Thank you. That's a great, great statement from which to adjourn the hearing. Thank you everybody. Appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you.