April

• ‘San Francisco Arts Post Prop E, A Policy Win for Arts & Culture. NOW, WHAT?’ convening brought together 30+ arts and culture community members to discuss local advocacy for the arts, share ideas, and pose questions.
• ABBA joined over 200 arts and culture leaders, organizations and advocates from California in Sacramento for the first annual statewide Advocacy Day.

May

• Arts for a Better Bay Area joined 29 other Bay Area arts/culture and nonprofit leaders to discuss San Francisco Arts Commission and Grants for the Arts recommendations for the Arts Impact Endowment (AIE) in a 2-day Working Group.

April

– ‘San Francisco Arts Post Prop E, A Policy Win for Arts & Culture. NOW, WHAT?’ convening brings together 30+ arts and culture community members to discuss local advocacy for the arts, share ideas, and pose questions.

On  April 11th, ABBA joined forces with Theatre Bay Area and Californian’s for the Arts to share information about the passing of Proposition E (Arts for Everyone, Doesn’t Raise Taxes) in Nov. 2018 and discuss why advocacy is still vital to the health of the arts ecosystem in the Bay Area.

ABBA positioned the meeting to allow ample time for attendees to share their ideas, interests, and concerns.  Many participants shared their thoughts and questions, including how the arts/culture community could work collaboratively to be more proactive in advocating for resources, funding, and equitable plans for both. Several participants added that they felt it could be beneficial to build/shape a mechanism or structure that worked to consistently develop recommendations that could be directed to inform and provide feedback to funding and resource sources, etc. We hope to continue to host and facilitate this type of forum that offers a public platform to the community – stay tuned for updates!

– ABBA joins over 200 arts and culture leaders, organizations and advocates from California in Sacramento for the first annual statewide Advocacy Day.

On April 23rd, 2019, ABBA joined leaders and advocates from all over the state for the first statewide advocacy day. Led and coordinated by Californian’s for the Arts in collaboration with other state organizations and agencies, the day-long event focused on building awareness of the impact arts and culture have on our state. With a great turnout of delegates, warm weather, and planned advocacy points to share with state representatives, the day was a tremendous success. ABBA was proud to be a part of this first kick-off for this annual affair.

ABBA and other Bay Area delegates visited the offices of Scott Weiner (CA Senate), David Chiu (CA Assembly), and Phil Ting (CA Assembly). Priority areas were shared with each representative as developed by Californian’s for the Arts and partners.

Some priority areas shared were:

• Support Governor’s Newsom permanent funding increase of $10 million in the 2019 budget
• Recommend continued increased and permanent funding for the arts
• Value arts and culture as creative solutions to pressing societal issues

(See further details about the event and all priority advocacy points, here.)

May

– Arts for a Better Bay Area joins 29 other Bay Area arts/culture and nonprofit leaders to discuss San Francisco Arts Commission and Grants for the Arts recommendations for the Arts Impact Endowment (AIE) in a 2-day Working Group.

The Arts Impact Endowment was developed as part of the funding allocations from Proposition E. A new allocation, it was created to address emerging and evolving needs in the arts and culture sector, through community-driven priorities. This fund starts at $2.5M for the first full year and is projected to increase by 3.4% each year.

As part of the community-input process to support recommendations for the AIE, ABBA was invited to join a 30-person Working Group to support the development of the Cultural Services Allocation Plan (CSAP), a 5-year guiding document for funding decisions for the AIE.

Participants from the Working Group expressed their gratitude for being invited to the table to review and discuss AIE recommendations with other thoughtful and passionate community leaders. Just as in the prior month, where ABBA invited the community to meet and discuss advocacy opportunities and voice their thoughts, some expressed that processes connected to the CSAP were perceived as somewhat swift and wished there was more time to review and consider community challenges and needs. Moreover, as also shared at the convening in April participants felt it could be of great benefit if the community had a way to continue conversations that offered an opportunity to capture ideas and concerns on an ongoing basis.

With this, the two City arts agency directors voiced an interest in exploring a platform or mechanism to aid in ongoing community-driven discourse that could be supportive towards any arts and culture focused initiatives – and one that is facilitated and led by the arts and culture community. ABBA looks forward to investigating this type of opportunity with San Francisco City agencies. We will report back with any news and updates we have towards this effort.

In addition to the Working Group forum and outcomes, ABBA is planning another convening to review the recommendations for the AIE that include input from the Working Group. Please stay tuned for this invitation!