Joint Committee on the Arts

Alright. As folks start coming in, I'd like to just kinda 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, wanna call this hearing of the Joint Committee and the Arts to order. We wanna thank you for joining us in person or online for today's informational hearing. Certainly wanna 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.

They're gonna their panels will be presenting the very first ever Sector Specific Strategic Plan to 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 is 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, and economic impact of of almost $300,000,000,000. And we know that the arts are truly a cornerstone of our state's identity in our global leadership. But we know that, of course, the 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 we you know, toward intentionally investing in them.

And we know we just celebrated the 50th, you know, the Anniversary of the Arts Council and learn the history of all of that incredibly important work and there's been ups and downs over the years. But we know that at the heart of this plan, we've 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 non-profit 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 wanna thank the Arts Council for its incredible work coordinating this multifaceted conversation.

All those who participated across the State and all of these workshops and through public comment. And I'm looking forward to hearing from our panelists. So, today's a momentous day may revise unfortunately, you know, quite frankly, we're a little disappointed in lack of adequate arts funding in the proposal. It's also appropriations day where we find out about bills that are gonna be moving out of the appropriations committees in each chamber. So we're surely hoping for some good news on that front.

As I know that some of the folks in this room are watching some of those bills really carefully. We also know, and we've had a hearing on this, and 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, couple of the budget items that we've been advocating for 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 resource 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 we had a great hearing yesterday on LA '28 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 major 2028 LA Arts Festival Programming, including legacy projects that will hopefully be coming together around the Olympics and Paralympics. And we had representative, 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 Small Cuevas has been working particularly on Cultural Districts in her own district, a 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.

You know, but it's a 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 question 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 all 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 the Assemblymember Zbur and I worked really hard on that with a lot of other folks. And we've already I serve on the film commission.

We've already been green lighting over a 100 TV and Film projects now that are happening in the state, not just in the LA area, but also in 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, you know, by years and years of you know, of under investment and various headwinds have really taken their toll.

And there's been extensive journalism in the LA Times and elsewhere about that 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, you know, many of whom have been out of work, you know, for going on two, four years in some cases. I mean, it's really scary. I'm certainly supporting the Senator Schultz's AB 2319, which is a bill that seeks to create a standalone $100,000,000 credit for post production incentive program.

And I, you know, I'm hopeful that will make its way out of appropriations today. And then finally, I just very apropos to our discussion today, I just wanna 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, you know, competitive world and according to the recent Otis Report on the creative economy for a variety of reasons, we saw contraction in creative sector jobs in '23, '24, and, you know, we certainly wanna 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 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 Covenant Arts Council. Are we able to get the slideshow up?

Okay. Great. So that's great. That'll happen. So I vamped enough.

See? I'm good at something.

Improvisation.

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 Programs Consultant at the California Department of Education, and then Michael Wiafe, who's here as well as Assistant Deputy Director for Policy and External Affairs for the California Workforce Development Board.

So I'm really excited for this first panel. We're gonna 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. Fifty 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 fifty years, we've been leading that work and for fifty years, we've been expanding that work because creativity is everywhere in the State of California. It's 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 that would be great on the screen if it is possible. Perfect. And what I'm gonna do is walk you through the power point. I'm gonna hand it over to Rachel.

Rachel's gonna hand it over to Allison. Allison's gonna hand it over to Michael. And this is gonna give you a full overview of what the project is, what we endeavor to do and where we landed. And I wanna thank you for being our phenomenal Chair of the Joint Committee on the Arts for the past eight years. You're 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 next slide. April, is that possible?

Can you push that? AB 01/2027 in 2023/24 established the work group and by direction of the legislature, tasked us with establishing the creative economy work group, 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 gonna talk of 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 legislature, legislation was also incredibly focused that they wanted representation specifically from artists, from advocacy organizations, from Film and Television, non-profit 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 work group. And this is also really critical because this interagency work group met to help advise the Arts Council and our consultants to figure out how are we gonna 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 wanna acknowledge that we also had California Film Commission. We also have Office of Small Business Advocate. We had Go Biz. 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 gonna 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 gonna stop here and I wanna pass this on to Rachel who can take it from here.

Thank you. California has more creative workers than any other state.

Is your 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 ten 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 placed that year, ten 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 the 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 Markusen and Art Strategist Annie Gadbois 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 ten years ahead.

Are there more than five forces shaping the creative ecosystem looking ten years ahead?

Absolutely. But, you know, the authorizing legislation didn't send us in the direction of trying to boil the ocean. Right? We 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 ten year forecast out to 2025 titled the automated world toward human machine symbiosis. That's 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 and 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 Work Group and their wisdom to identify priority actions, which you'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 .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 what are really the priority areas. Can we go to the next slide, April? So this is essentially the six action priority action areas for California's creative economy. And what you see here is 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're gonna hear from the next couple panels and speakers is they're each gonna speak to some call this a wheel, some call it a pie. I think it's a wheel of fortune. So they're gonna spin the wheel of fortune and they're gonna 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 thirty 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 full library exists in 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's overtourism a concern? I know like in Greek ruins but

Well, yes. It's not yet in California, but I will say

I think we have the opposite problem right now.

We I think it 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? Because historic business, 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 wanna be able to really help other local government maximize and protect at the same way.

Yeah. Great. Thank you.

We wanna 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. We 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 gonna 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'm in particular. The other piece then 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 tool kits for local municipalities and government so that they can, amplify this work as well. So I'm gonna stop here.

I know we're our time is short but if you have any questions before I hand it over to Allison, let me know.

Why don't we let's hear from all the panelists and

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. So, but let's why don't we hear from our other panelists and hopefully we'll get some more members to come down.

Alright. 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's strategic plan, preparing and supporting the workforce for creative sectors.

First, I wanna 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 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 Work Group 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 informed 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 a 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 a pro approximately $5,000,000 over the last five years to support the development of apprenticeship aligned pathways in in 47 high schools across California.

Pre apprenticeship aligns CTE programs connect classroom instruction with structured work based 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, IATC master class 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 schools 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 wanna take a moment and acknowledge the state agency leaders who have supported this work, including Director Danielle Brazell 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 Burnes 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 Mindi 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?

Yep.

Okay. Wonderful. Thank you. Really, 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 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 wanna 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's 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 four excuse me. Next slide.

One more, please.

Nope. Oh. Where'd the slide go?

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, $3,500,000 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 $1,500,000 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 formally 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 IATSE, the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees. This is equity at scale, not just in theory.

This work reaches Californians who've been historically excluded from creative careers and gives opportunity to expand access, representation, and socioeconomic mobility. About 83% percent 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. Wrap around supports for participants goes a long way. This includes transportation, financial assistant assistance, additional tools, and case management. In a high cost region, in a population experiencing personal and systemic barriers, those supports are not optional. They make participation possible.

In surveys, 95% say wrap around 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 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 aligned to CTE standards.

That's more than just making sure that our our K12 partners are operating in the space connected to employers, but this is really connecting K12, 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 strategic plan for creative economy in Areas 1 and 4. 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 gonna hear more from, 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 wanna 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 W2. So, I kinda 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—do we count the entertainment side because that's part of the creative economy but doesn't 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 for the definition of creative economy and.

Every, every, every—you know, Otis has a definition. The National State Assembly is—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, we're not, we don't have a, a way to compare and track that actually will inform the state of California if we have—if we're losing or gaining our market share.

So, so, what, and what's the process for developing a statewide definition of creative?

I, I think that's something that we've been struggling with.

Yeah.

To be perfectly honest. Yeah. The process is interagency conversations, continuing the work groups, finding out how do we, 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, 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, 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, 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 credit, you know, California Research Bureau Services or state librarian? I mean, I, you know, what, what, is there a, is there a, how do we—what do we need to do together?

How would it help you if we?

If it—and is it worth doing? I mean, you know, is it, is that an important thing for us to spend some time?

Personally, I think what we track is is how we measure success.

Right.

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? Yeah. 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 form I think we have to create a formula. I, I actually do and then the state can begin to really make sure that, that that we're all at least working with the same definition.

Yeah.

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, and it's a similar conundrum because the, the work is—most of our data on workforce is labor market information, which only captures W2 employment, right? And so, we have a lot of statewide initiatives such as the Strong Workforce Grant Program and others, CT Incentive Grant, that really bases things—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, where they would really have to fight sometimes to show the, the, 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, 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, on the W2 employment data that comes through our EDD system.

Yeah. Okay. Alright. Well, we I mean, look, I, I think—obviously, we wanna be helpful and, you know, if anything, you, we, you need from us in, in terms of driving that, that forward on the legislative side, please, you know, be in touch with us about it. The only thing I wanted to ask about, you know, this whole interagency partnership on the strategic plan, obviously, really important.

You know, I get may—maybe—I don't know if the question is for you or for any of you, quite frankly. I, you know, just the extent to which we are gonna be able to make sure it's, it's integrated into broader state initiatives, as opposed to just, you know, our climate issues, health, infrastructure, as opposed to just being siloed.

I mean, I, I think we all worry sometimes that the arts and creative work ends up getting so—it's just not central to, to a lot of the, a lot of the, a lot of the kind of big state initiatives that the governor is putting his time into and how do, how do we work to, to change that?

If I may jump, jump in at this point. You, you know, I, 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, I would say that, that, that, at the core of the creative economy is, is human beings. And it's a theme you may be.

I thought it was all AI now.

We're gonna, we're gonna, we're gonna continue to, to own this and, and to safeguard it. And, and I would say that collaboration is also inherently human-centered. And it's something that that human beings can do with great skill and intent, and we can we can do it when we, 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, 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, so, I think as long as we continue to break down silos and continue to be, like, humans, champion the work, champion the, champion—championing, wow—the work and finding each other, it'll continue to to happen.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Well, in in respect for all the other creative economy folks that are here, that you just mentioned, Danielle, I just appreciate the panel's presentations and all, and but most importantly, all the work that that you're all doing, that's, that's nicely reflected in your presentation today and the discussion. I certainly look forward to, to working together to make sure you're able to keep the, keep the progress moving. So, with that, love, love to thank you, thank the panel, and, and ask the, the second panel.

You got it. Thank you so much.

Yeah. So, thank you. So, this next panel, we're gonna 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 Danielle'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 key—Ri-Karlo Handy, who's an entertainment executive, founder and CEO of the Handy Foundation.

Followed by Joanna Reynolds, who's Creative Jobs Collective Strategist for Arts for LA. Then, Alejandro Gutierrez Chavez, who's Executive Director of The Arts Connection and Arts Council San Bernardino. And then finally, Roxanne Messina Captor, who's a filmmaker and educator and arts advocate and chair of our arts—excuse me—Arts Council. So, let's start with you, Ri-Karlo.

Thank you. Thank you, chair.

Nice to see you.

For having us. Nice to see you. So, good morning. My name is Ri-Karlo Handy, and my work over the last thirty 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 Brother, but my original technical skill is 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, KDL TV 13. You know, recording basketball games, educational videos, you know, music videos, and then, that eventually led me to, 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 coordinator, story—story editors—several other occupations over 400 alumni in six years. And, and these are at companies like Lionsgate, AMC, Netflix, projects like the Living, 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, you know, projects. It is also, includes, like, the photographer and the social media manager hired to tell the story of a restaurant or a gym. These are the where people start to get those jobs on in the Main Street economy. And there is 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, 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 W2 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 postproduction companies, transportation companies, to grow that economy, you know, their—that, that industry cluster is not really captured in that and, and how we tell these stories.

But there's other states and other countries that recognize those clusters like the postproduction 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 postproduction, more than 50% of the cost of the production, is captured locally where the postproduction happens.

Right.

And so, for me, like, that's—I come from that unscripted world. A lot of those editors, a lot of those folks are in California, but we have to main, you know, to incentivize and maintain those workers here and support those folks. And a lot of those folks are also working on these w—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 job own jobs first blueprint names the creative economy as a strategic sector, but the recent first jobs first implementation, you know, didn't have one creative project funded. And that's, you know, that's what happens when data is not fully captured.

It doesn't feel like it's having as big of an impact as it as it really is. And so, what I learned through this process in the Creative Economy Work Group is that the Creative Economy is much larger than we imagine if we centered around the people, and, 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 apple 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 wanna 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 gonna be very important. For example, in 2022, we had a cohort of folks who are treating 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 then the technologies being used now, but they are 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, you know, not enough funded projects to get more people into the workforce with the with the new technology and the new skills. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. Great. Alright. We'll go to—next, we're going to Joanna. Good morning...

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 writers' 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 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've—are working and already secured our first cohort of employer endorsements and job placement commitments as we work towards 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 non profit 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 East Side and, and actually was, her, her, her, her face was featured in our in the creative economy work group 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 gonna 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, and great to share space with 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 in 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, land mass wise, in the nation. And we are 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 wanna 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, of you all in the, the state of California that recognize 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 health care 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, 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 is—faces that future now. We live in the worst health—the worst air pollution in the nation is in our, 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're the, we're—they're our community's greatest problem solvers, and they provide the foundation of the building blocks of care for our community. Thank you.

Alright. 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 gonna 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 wanna speak on behalf of my fellow council members, Dorka Keane, Roy Hirabashi, Leah Goodwin, and all of us who have volunteered our expertise and 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, artist jobs are flaky.

When are you gonna get a real job? So, when I wanted to get an apartment in New York, my parents had to cosign. If I was a receptionist at a—if I was a receptionist at a company, I wouldn't have had to get them to cosign. I was making more money.

I was in one of the top ballet companies in our nation and working on Broadway at pension health and welfare through our unions, but I was told you can't have an apartment without your parents cosigning. 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 bills—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 gotta 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 Eighteenth Street Art Center, run by Jan Williamson, does an amazing job of putting—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've looked at a way of doing it by put—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 1,800 seat theater that does three musicals in the summer, and a, 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 gonna go work?" So, that was all I had to say.

Thank you for everybody else.

Thank you. Thank you so much. Wonderful panel. Let me just take one moment of personal privilege to recognize Roy...here, who's with the creative economy work.

He's one of our work group members and also our arts council member and just appreciate, appreciate your presence. Okay. Let's, let's go to Senator Rubio who's here and wants to make some comments and ask some questions. And by the way, some of—I think most of the folks from the first panel are still here. So, if you wanna pull them back and re reenlist that, I'm sure they'd be well 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 is so important. I think many of you—I see several in the audience know how hard I worked on the arts, and, 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 twenty years. In fact, I'm still a teacher. But I was an artist myself. I did live theater in my twenties. I won't tell you when, but a few years back and and my passion for the arts, for creative, you know, creative writing and I paint.

There's so much creativity in me, but, you know, my passion comes from not having that support early on, which really, you know, stifled my ability to grow as an artist. And so, here I am, a Senator. But it took me a little while, but it, it is true. You know, I—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.

You know, that's what inspired me in elementary, always doing plays and and so much that that we used to do in elementary. And as an elementary school teacher, we had absolutely no funding. We don't have a teacher that try to promote the arts. And, you know, 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, and I'm glad that you brought the, 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 wanna 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 just wanna thank all of you. I, you know, like I said, I am very committed to this. I've, you know, I, I think I was part of a coalition out there and, that passed the, 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 $50,000,000 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 just wanna 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 but it really did help for me.

It opened up doors in the business world. But more importantly, I was able I was able to give back to my students. I taught in the classroom twenty years and, and, 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, I'm, you know, I'm from the Inland Empire. I wanted to share that I do represent Ontario and Montclair, and I know, for example, that she, Cheech Marin, what is it, art gallery, just brings a lot of people to the community. That's, you know, people are spending in restaurants.

They're spending in, 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. Yeah. I just wanted to just, just, you know, I mean, I, I've made a little joke about AI a little earlier, which probably is painful for people. Let, let, but, but I wanna, I wanna confront the issue.

Right? I mean, I, 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, this, there was a, a front page story. I think about this the 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's, there are some opportunities in terms of jobs, but obviously a lot of concern. How are you all—how are each of you in your collective and in your different roles grappling with this challenge and, and opportunity, risk, threat, etcetera?

I think just for our work as training that kind of future generation of editorial and, you know, workers on these Hollywood productions. And me, as a current producer, I produce several TV shows currently, you know, on some levels is 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, the History Channel project you mentioned in the bible, you know, this is an alternative to actually filming live reenactments. Right? But it's in in some ways, there'll be artists working on it in the same way animators might work on animation.

And in some cases, you you may end up meeting more staff. I remember those a time when nonlinear editing was introduced. It was like these nonlinear, you know, digital processes of editing and versus a, 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, you know, new possibilities of new kinds of forms of content and storytelling. And I do think that, you know, the audiences will continue to resonate with things that are human centered. You leave it—you're seeing it now, you know, where people kind of feel like it's, it's, it's fake.

They cannot recognize—or resonate with it as much. Based on that, we gotta get ahead of and, and, but I do think that we have to look at it as technology that we can utilize and there are being, you know, creative ways to advance and tell more stories more rapidly is, is one of the advances.

But I will say that it, 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 connect—well, we don't know. But I can't see it ever replacing this, the human heart, the human soul.

You know, I've—I use it for tech, 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 or rewrite of anything because it doesn't do it. 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. Always send them back and say, go re—go rewrite it. 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. You said they're like.

Yeah. You said their likeness. So and I think that's important. You—I think the unions do have to step in on that.

Yeah. Well, it's at the heart of the strike and the strikes and all the rest. Senator Rubio.

Thank you. It is a, it is a concern. Of course, we wanna make sure that everyone has jobs and 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 a 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've been out of the classroom for seven years, but I don't 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't bring the creative economy together with educators, school board members, as well as superintendents, I think we're gonna miss the mark. And I just wanna hear your thoughts of what you think about it because they're always asking me how do, how do we do better.

And I think bringing people like yourselves to share some of those deficiencies or where they need to, to go, I think that they would be able to reroute resources to employment programs that can help our students or kids support you in the future without being displeased.

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 gotta go away. That's not gonna 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 a technology that's gonna 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 artist.

Yeah.

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, 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, it's disrupting business and I think to your point, Senator Rubio, also education and how do we prepare educators to understand this technology.

But I—and 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 years, taught sixth grade. So, 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, a creative—a creative human made it?

Yeah. So, those are questions I'm thinking about.

Yeah. And I'll 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 could be used in the workplace and an actual work situations. But what I'm finding is we, 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 end, like bringing work based opportunities, work based learning into the schools, but also bring 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, and, and, you know, some tools you learn how to wield like a wild bull, and you know how to you know how to use them and, and they're to a benefit. But if the tool is using you and, and you're just, you know, letting it run, run rapidly, not using it to advance, you know, you know, 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 the some parameters and some guardrails early on to the teachers on, hey, how this how you can use this tool properly and how you can not just let this tool kinda run things for you, I think that's gonna be key because these are very powerful tools that could be, like, have have us accelerate, but they could also slow you down if you don't know how to use them properly.

Okay. Yeah. Thank you. Oh, go ahead.

I will say in our, the creative employer toolkit that Arts for LA 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, but I think it's really important that we know when, when it should be there and when it shouldn't.

And so, our toolkit addresses some of that in the creative workplace.

And, 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 you 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 Duarte, City Of Duarte. In Duarte, 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, that they go into the music realm, they wanna do visual arts, they, they go into that dance and every other creative class that they wanna participate in. And so, you know, in the future, I, like, as I'm always exploring, like, how do we bring what we have there? And when I think it was replicated from something that happens in Orange County. I think they have the first school. This is the second.

And, 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, to embed it in our, our curriculum in 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, with creativity if a child chooses to. But if, 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, I'm just gonna be an influencer. I'm gonna make money influencing. And they they are completely dismissing education altogether because their friend is making money and so they wanna make money. And I think we're gonna get to a point where that's where most kids are gonna go. Why am I gonna spend four years in university when I can make millions just doing TikTok or whatever else?

But again, I'm just searching for ideas, not, 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? Awesome. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Alright. Well, thank you. Thank you guys so much. Let's, let's go to our next panel. Looking ahead, where we've got Rebecca Ratzkin who's with California Arts Council Equity Measures and Evaluation Manager, and then also Julie Baker, who's the CEO of Californians for the Arts and California Art, Arts Advocates.

Come on up and thank you. Thank you for that wonderful panel. Thanks for all the work you've done too.

Alright. Let's get started with Rebecca.

Good afternoon. I think it is almost. If we could get the PowerPoint up again. Well, 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 Brazell mentioned, this is a three phrase process and so I will be talking about phase two 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 Brazell spoke to this. For importance of advocacy to build awareness and political will, really an understanding and an education as we're doing here today about the importance and 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 art symposium and creative meet up meet ups, 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, of, funding such as Proposition 28. In the Inland Empire in San Bernardino County, the Garcia Center for Arts and Creative has 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 to also hire artists and support organizations there to provide needed services around prevention and early intervention around mental health. Next slide. Things that are already underway and upcoming, things that started actually through the planning process itself. And we spoke to the interagency work group, 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 work groups and the advisory committees that were established through the creative economy work group. 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 wanna indulge me for a second to thank the chair for his incredible leadership over the last ten years, I think,

in the legislature, as joint committee chair, the longest joint committee chair, for the arts. So, Yes. Recognize that, amazing leadership and to Senator Rubio for her championing of the performing arts equitable payroll fund in particular. And I no shortage of irony that we are sharing a wall today with the press conference that was happening for the governor's May revise.

It sadly does not include any funding, for either of the initiatives that you both are, championing and, which so many people here today wanna see happen and and importance of actually being able to implement this important plan.

So I just wanna 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. A creative economy is massive. It generates $288,000,000,000 in value, seven and a half percent 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 need could be captured in 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 lo no longer capturing arts and culture 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 LA 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, 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? Toymakers 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 six 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 our 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 poi 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 too as leaders understand that. Today, we rank thirty fifth 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 $50,000,000 for grants in their fiftieth anniversary year, and including that $1,000,000 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 across 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 for step 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. I wanna acknowledge the presence of Assemblymember Burner who's welcome to join us as as a joint hearing here of the of the two houses. Glad to have. Tasha and I toured the state with some of you. 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, you know, we welcome you here and give give you an opportunity to get settled if you wanna make a couple comments.

Thank you.

But questions, thoughts from my colleague?

I just wanna reiterate because I think the numbers get lost. So I'm gonna just reiterate what you stated, but I'm looking at some of the reports that that you provided through this report, and it's, you know, $288,900,000,000. 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 provide are produced nationally. And and yet, that's the first thing that goes when budgets are being balanced.

And and so that, you know, that just strikes me. It also based on your report, a 100 821,000 jobs. Again, significant. And and as Californians, we're known as, you know, the arts capital. I would say in terms of, you know, 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 and doing what we can to support you. And any way we cancel it, 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. Amen.

And then we 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 from the 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's 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 com 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 could we can't do it without you. We're just we're the advocates. We've got grassroots folks here today who wanna 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.

Yeah. 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 $350,000,000,000 budget.

And budget asks right now that we're asking for is a total of $66,000,000 It's not that much, but it's huge to the folks behind me. Right.

And so I 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 I just one question I wanna ask you, Julie. I know you were working on there there was some there's an idea that came up at the at California Art for the Arts Summit about programs that embed artists and municipal agencies and departments. Yeah. And do do you wanna share with us anything that would 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, 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, 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 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. Alright. Thank you. Thank you both.

Thanks for all the partnership and, let's let's go on to public comment. I really appreciate. Alright. So folks who wanna 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 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 and a half million dollar grant called Designing Creative Futures. The program is for us to find employment in art organizations for in parts previously incarcerated people. People coming out of prison, perhaps who have been been beneficiaries of art programs that the state has funded, and placing them in jobs with various art organizations, theaters, galleries, museums, film studios, etcetera.

Yeah. So we're gonna have to just make sure it's six to two minutes. So

Okay. Yeah.

Yeah. That that's really about it. Okay. We're seeking another grant for 3 and a half million dollars to continue this program and to expand it. And so my colleague Daniella will give you a few more details about it.

Yeah. Okay I can. 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 arts internships over the next three years, we are requesting $3,500,000 This is an important innovation to expand opportunities in the creative economy for our most disadvantaged people. Our out of 139 person who were employed post internship, 95 were working in the creative sector while 69 were hired by their worksite and eighty four were enrolled in college or vocational training with a recidivism rate of less than six percent.

We estimate that by keeping at least 100 people from returning to prison for one year, we have saved the state $30,300,000 based on the 130,000 annual dollar annual cost of incarceration. So we appreciate the legislative support of our 3,000,000 contract for three years, which was allocated to CLA in 2022 to place 150 person in sixteen week paid arts internships. With this support, we're extending the contract for a fourth year and place a total of 234 persons with eight 83% completion rate.

Please give our budget request, which has been championed also by our committee member, Matt Haney and Senator Scott Wiener, signed by 10 additional legislator, your thoughtful consideration. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you very much. Alright. Next speaker.

We can make a line. Just okay. Oh, is that what it is? Alright. So really, this is the most creative line I've ever seen.

I guess it makes sense. Yeah. Alright. 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 policy making. 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 Kaptur 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 starting 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 am now able to give back to my community, partnering with the nonprofits in my area and speaking with youth. Artist housing, perhaps it looks like private public partnerships, perhaps the 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 artist 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 it's really not something we can do because it's both intrinsic and an 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 core 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 Manito's.

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 thirty years, and today there are over, 300 active members. Their stories reflect millions of Californians. Their labor is the backbone of the California 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 connection, belonging, and intergenerational ties, which are factors strongly linked to positive health outcomes and longevity. Miss Roxanne mentioned the creative core, project, by eighteenth Street Art Center, and I was one of the people who received that, 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 eighties, 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 gonna have to cut you out.

Who prioritize collective well-being. And you know this fund this funding doesn't just fund art. It, Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. Just reminding everyone we've got these time limits because we're both catching flights and but thank you.

Hi. I'm Lisa Trojmovich, executive director speaking on behalf of Spark, 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 2,000,000 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 fifteen 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 to find 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. Yeah, Agree.

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 $1,100,000. And in 2025, the payroll cost created by AB 5 exceeded a 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 AB 5 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're the ones who actually hire local artists instead of importing things from New York or abroad. And we're 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 too. 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 about can you repeat the number, the increase after AB 5?

A 150,000 per year. And that's not salaries and wages. That's just admin infringe.

Yeah. Thanks.

Thank you.

Thank you. And we should you know, connect on some of these d five issues. Okay. Yes, sir.

Good afternoon, chair and members. My name is Sean Fenton. I'm the executive director of Theater Bay Area.

I'm 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 $40,000,000 for the Performing Arts Equitable Payroll Fund, as well as the request for $50,000,000 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 PA EPF 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, PA EPF 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 the 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 bureaus. Please continue to support the future of our creative economy by advocating for 50,000,000 for CAC's fiftieth year and 40,000,000 for the performing arts equitable payroll funds. Thank you.

Thank you. Yes, ma'am.

Good afternoon, chair and Senator. My name is Faith J McKinney, and I am the founding director of Black Artist Foundry, a newly established five zero one c three 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 wanna be clear. Public fund public funding is not supplemental for many of us.

It is foundational. In a 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 under invested 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. Thank you. Yes, ma'am.

Good afternoon, chair Allen and Senator Rubio. Dominique Johnson, executive director of the Stanislaus Arts Council, one of the state local partners of the California Arts Council, and here representing San Luis County, home to more than 550,000 Californians, where creative 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 Chorus 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 collaborate 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 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 and 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 Samuels in Samuels County, we've seen both the promise and the fragility of this sector firsthand. We have the Prospect Theater project, which you utilize, the PA, EP, f.

Really appreciate it. Thank you.

No problem. Thank you so much.

Sorry we have to catch a flight. Thank you. Sorry. Yes, sir.

Hello. My name is Roy Higbayashi. Thank you for the call out a little bit earlier. I was on a creative economic work group, and also I have Cindy on the ICAC council currently. I just want to say all the panelists who are really great in what they're saying, so it's really important. You know, 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 is missing from the story right now for me is the the cultural bearers and folk and traditional artists who are properly undercounted in the in what's happening within our state. Yeah. I started, I co directed and started San Jose Taiko. We started fifty three years ago

Yeah.

As a third taiko group in in North America. And now, you know, that group is touring throughout the country, through The US 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 our states, our cities, our our communities have to be recognized, especially the folk and traditional artists who are doing some really great work, but not really 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. 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 Anova, and I'm the executive artistic director at Celebration Arts Theater, Sacramento's African American theater. We've been in operation for over forty years. As you know, according to the creative economy strategic plan, California's creative economy generates 288,000,000,000 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 11,600,000 gone in ten days and with 40,000,000 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 stories to life.

We, we actually are able to finish this season, our fortieth 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 12,000,000 to 40,000,000 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. Projects like this made possible through grant funding demonstrate the economic and cultural 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 $50,000,000 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.

I love it.

Thank you.

Thank you. That's a great, great, statement from which to adjourn the hearing. Thank you, everybody. Appreciate it. Thank you.