by Patricia Frischer
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| Left to right: Ladan Akbarnia, Juliet Rodriguez, Ada Shido, Monica Hernandez, Jay Bell, Sharlene O'Keefe, Felicia Shaw, Jim Gillam (chair), Renée Richetts, Jennifer Jeffries, Bob Lehman |
The
SD County Arts and Culture Commission celebrated it first
year this month with an event at The
Soap Factory Event Center. It had a busy year writing by
laws, mission, vision, shared values, equity statement, goals and the start
of a strategic plan. It also worked to revised the public art policy which was
sunsetting, thus offering an immediate opportunity to advise. All this in one
year, but one of the most important things it needs to do is make sure it
survives. This means it needs financing. It was financing that closed down the
commission 30 years ago.
A small group of us in an informal Confab worked very hard
to make sure the commission started again with the unanimous vote of the county
supervisors. And we recognized that this could not just be an advisory body, it
had to have funding to pay for full time staff and to do the sort of data
gathering and communication and advocacy that is vital to our arts community.
Both the vision and the mission are pretty standard fare
although hours were spent word-crafting all the documents: “We envision the
County of San Diego as a champion of a thriving arts, culture, and creative
community” and “Our Mission is to support and sustain the growth and vitality
of San Diego County’s diverse arts and culture communities.”
You can read many more details on their website
but the goals were knowledge (like mapping all the arts resources especially civic
ones), engagement (especially with their supervisors so their good works are recognized and supported), communication (make sure you Sign
up for their email messages as right now the mailing list only about 100 strong), and
capacity (the afore mentioned need for finances starting with State/Local
designation with the $75.000 that comes with that title)
Of course, they will need private foundation funding, as
well, and they continue working on their strategy which will grow and change. They
are trying already to move public art funding from 1/2% to one full percent and
to remove the cap of $500K a project. Many of their changes have been
accepted already including the advice that this should apply not only to new county
building over $10m but any renovations over that amount. There are already
members of the commission working on individual public art projects like Renee
Richetts and Sharlene O’Keefe from District 2.
We suggest you meet and communicate with your elected
supervisors and their appointed commissioners.
District 1 Supervisor Nora Vargas: Art
Commissioners Monica Hernandez and Lucas O'Connor
District 2 Supervisor Joel Anderson: Art
Commissioners Renée Richetts and Sharlene O'Keefe
District 3 Supervisor Terra Lawson-Remer: Art
Commissioners Ladan Akbarnia and Jay Bell
District 4 Supervisor Monica Montgomery Steppe: Art
Commissioners Felicia Shaw and Bob Lehman
District 5 Supervisor Jim Desmond: Art Commissioners Jennifer Jeffries and
Jim Gilliam
Youth Commissioners: Juliet Rodriguez, Ada Shido, Michael
Kozma
We have been attending meetings
of the commission for the last year and you can do the same without having to
travel downtown. You can watch online and raise your virtual hand to make a
comment before each agenda items. For
more info: Visit the SD
County Arts and Culture Commission website or contact Giang Meyers at arts@sdcounty.ca.gov
Just a world about CoPlace, the development company that
owns property on Commercial Street where The Soap Factory is located. They use artists to activate run down areas of
town and get it ready for re-development. We well know that artists bring
economic prosperity. But we think that it is time for the artists’ sweat equity
to become real equity.
Affordable housing for artists is a high priority in our
area and Tasha Boerner’s bill AB812, allows for 10% of affordable housing
within a half mile of any designated Cultural District. You can learn more
about this at another important convening. North County Arts Network
Networking Event on Thursday, May 30 from 9:30 to 11
am at the Brooks Theater (217 N Coast Hwy, Oceanside, CA 92054). It is
time to gather and exchange ideas for the future of North County Arts and
Culture. Information will be presented about AB812, Summaries of the Arts and
Economic Prosperity report and progress from the new SD County Commission for
Arts and Culture will be hot topics. This meeting
is for arts organization and local arts agencies leaders and their staff. Please
RSVP
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