The San Diego County Board of Supervisors approved the formation of an arts and culture commission last week for the first time in 30 years to manage funds and support arts and cultural activities for the region.
County staff will begin organizing the 13-member body that will uplift organizations that serve diverse communities, improve access to arts and culture, and ensure the region is accessing grant opportunities to develop the region's arts and culture sector.
Recent reports indicate that Arts and Culture contribute to the region’s economy. In the city of San Diego alone, an estimated $1.1 billion was spent by the nonprofit arts and culture industry, according to the last Arts and Economic Prosperity 5 Report. This investment created 35,914 jobs and about $48 million in local government revenue.
“Increasing arts and culture opportunities creates new jobs, benefits existing and new organizations, and increases economic growth through the spending of residents and tourists alike,” a boarding document reads.
According to a board document, each Supervisor would have the authority to nominate two members interested in arts and culture with knowledge of the arts community in San Diego for the appointment of the commission. The ordinance also requires three youths ages 16 to 24 to serve on the commission.
A full-time county staff member will manage the commission.
A Public Art Advisory Council (PAAC) was created in 1980 by the county Board of Supervisors to designate a local arts agency in the region. With the PAAC, the county recieved and distributed federal and state grants, including the California Arts Council State-Local Partnership Grant, and served as the central entity for arts and culture.
The board eliminated the PAAC in 1993 due to budget cuts, leaving a void for a central entity devoted to the region’s arts and culture. The elimination of the PAAC consequently left the county ineligible for Federal and State funds related to arts and culture.
Despite San Diego despite five cities residing within San Diego County having municipal art agencies, there is no regional entity to support cultural policy programs or public funding of the arts across the region.
Last year, the board appropriated a total of $5 million $1 million to each supervisorial district, for “community enhancement funds,” and directed staff to study how to expand that effort through a new arts agency.
County staff is directed to expand and improve existing county programs relating to arts and culture, Updating the Community Enhancement Grant Programs to better assess which grants are being used to find arts and culture organizations, update policies to make grants more accessible to artists and organizations, and exploring the possibility of using County spaces as workspaces for local artists.
According to the board letter, arts funding in the community has “a history of imbalance that favors larger, more established institutions rather than funding more grassroots organizations”. Arts and Culture programs are often the first to be cut from schools and other settings due to limited funding sources, especially in communities of color.
“Low-income and communities of color have historically used arts and culture to navigate and survive systemic racism and oppression. To promote greater cultural diversity and inclusivity and empower historically disenfranchised communities, it is important to elevate the work of smaller, emerging artists from communities that have not had access to arts and culture resources,” reads the board letter.
