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Arts Initiatives Could Ease Restrictions, Boost Funding by Ryan ZumMallen | Archive | 02.23.10 |
+ 11:00am | The Long Beach City Council will discuss the possibility of creating a Blue Ribbon Panel to examine arts funding and support for artists during the upcoming March 2 City Council meeting. The motion is one of several arts-related ordinances submitted by Councilmember Robert Garcia. Among the others is the adoption of the Cultural Master Plan sponsored by Councilmember Suja Lowenthal. The plan was created by local arts advocates to outline future objectives and goals. The Cultural Master Plan and the creation of the Blue Ribbon Panel are expected to encourage live entertainment throughout the city. “The arts provide a competitive advantage for cities working to attract business and smart growth,” said Arts Council executive director Craig Watson in a press release, “As well as provide amenities to citizens and healthy alternatives for youth, particularly in tough economic times. These arts initiatives are part of an overall strategy to keep Long Beach growing as a great, American city." A Los Angeles Times article (click here) today points out that six of the nine Councilmembers sponsored or co-sponsored the arts initiatives for the March 2 meeting. “There are so many creative people in our city,” said Councilmember Garcia in a press release. “If our residents are going to fully benefit from that economically and culturally, the Council has to lead the way, by creating the right conditions for the arts to thrive.” The proposed Blue Ribbon Panel would be composed of nine community members and would report to the City Council on arts-related issues. Click here to read our policy on covering the Long Beach City Council.
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28 Comments so far.
Mary E. Barton These ideas are great! Not knowing details, of course, but just reading the basics of the proposals, I believe implementing these proposals will give the arts community here a real energy transfusion! Hooray! Randolf I'm so thankful to see these changes happening. This City is filled to the brim with starving artists who love Long Beach. The City is taking the right approach to 'get out of its own way' so artists can do more to beautify Long Beach on all fronts. Dennis Not one dime of public money should be spent unless it is publicly announced what is getting cut to balance the funds. $10,000 for Art, the $10,000 gets cut from road repair, or the library, etc. I get tired of reading about "starving artists" as if that is my problem and obligation. Perhaps they starve because they create "art" that isn't, at least to people with money to buy it so they won't starve. Sure their friends may think it is "great", but if they aren't in a position to buy it and support the artist what difference? No public funding when we have a $20 million hole in our budget that will just keep getting bigger as Sacramento contiues its abusive fiscal policies as well. Now is not the time for feel good, touchy-feely projects from the city coffers. Matt @Dennis I understand your frustration with the lack of fiscal responsibility by the government at all levels. I just wanted to point out, however, that some of the greatest pieces of art ever created were publicly funded. Also, one shouldn't be so critical about what is and isn't art. History is the only judge of such a thing. Last but not least, with the growth of the internet many artists are now starving because citizens are illegally downloading music, tv shows, photography, and movies with out paying a dime. Just something to think about. lb resident Artists have been subsidized by the City for years and the art community wants this entitlement continued when the City can not pay its unfunded pension costs without a major reduction in expenses. We just finished preparing the first stage of a long range plan for the arts. A major sustainability problem is that art providers do not act jointly to help each other and see each other as competitors for donations. Garcia and Lowenthal need to read this report. Mitch Dennis, you need to take a chill pill!!! It is because people like you, that do NOT support local "Arts", that the artistic community needs help. Why don't you get out there and see what "Arts" are available. Maybe even you could contribute! friend of LB @Dennis, and fyi everyone: If you read the proposals, there is nothing that costs city money. Not. One. Cent. The Blue Ribbon panel will look at ways to fund arts which will certainly mean, in the main, private sources, grants, and existing budgeted funds. The other items are just ordinance changes. You're tilting at straw wind dogs. Meanwhile, public funding for arts comes back ten fold in attracting business and higher-income residents. Read up on the DeMedicis. Read about SOHO (NYC) in the 1980's. Read about Paris in the 1890's. Look at what LA and SF do. Refusing to spend public money on arts is one of the most short-sighted, ideologically driven but pragmatically tone-deaf, clueless courses a civic-minded person can advocate. The arts are an investment only fools fail to make. Finally, the arts shouldn't be completely dictated by the wealthy. People who cannot afford to purchase works of fine art or attend the greatest performances should not be denied the opportunity to enjoy and experience art. Great cities get this, and make it a reality. Lame cities listen to people like Dennis and stand on ceremony over who pays for what while their residents have to settle for television and movies to satisfy their cultural needs. Do you want to live in Bakersfield by the Sea? Or more like Paris with a Port? It's a no-brainer. Fund the Arts! Great Job! The city isn't spending money, but is finding ways to reach out to our local artists and show support for what makes our city look and feel "rich." Dennis, open books, turn off your TV and that Limbaugh guy and look around the city, try and find an understanding of what art is and visit MOLAA, the galleries in our city, the plays, the symphonies, local school events. The arts are crucial to the development and maintenence of a great city. How can you not see that? Imagine all of that stuff gone, an artless city, what would that look like? Also Matt, music downloads do not make artists starve, an uncultured population and people spending money on crappy commercial music, movies, television keep people spending their money on giant industries that rip off their "artists" and get them to sue teenage downloaders. I mean really, downloading Britney Spears is causing starving artists? Simpleton For people that love the "arts", I suggest you donate to them. I have. But funding art with taxpayer money is foolish in a time where the city can't meet its obligations for basic services. The street conditions in Long Beach are atrocious. Before we pay for decorations along the streets, let's make it less of an off-roading experience. Opposite Man Dennis- Tread lightly. Opposing views are not tolerated around here....no matter how clear and concise your points may be. It is how you stated. It is touchy feely, with out transparency and accountability. Let the lesson of Our Person Of The Year and The Orange Twist be an example. There we're opposing views to such things, but we're quickly nullified because it felt prickly. Just go with it. Personally, I cant think of a better representation for artists in this area than the illustrious "Blue Ribbon" panel will be. Geeze, I just can't wait to see the highly qualified members of that panel. If theyre anything like the other "advocates" and "art agents" in this area, it will truly be a treat for us all. So, just go with it Dennis. Hooray for everything! Yay! Hip hip hooray! John Greet Along with some here, I am always nervous when elected public officials agree to discuss "funding options" for anything. In almost all cases such options include either full or partial public funding (i.e. tax revenues from our General Fund). This is not to say that public funding for the arts is appropriate, or not, or necessary, or not, only that it seems that elected public officials seem to tend to forget that just because we might feel we *should* do a thing, doesn't always mean we *must* or *can*. Like almost every other municipality in California these days, Long Beach continues to experience persistent budget deficits. Our so-called balanced budget of 2009-10 went right back into the red within about a week of it's passage. As much as we, as a community, may desire to support the arts with local public funds, we *must* accept the likelihood that we just cannot afford to do so right now. A discussion of "funding options" should, indeed must, consider many alternatives but any decisions reached must be *fully informed* by the City's currently harsh fiscal realities. JoeS This city wastes all the money that should be spent on infrastructure and public safety. Public funding for arts is just welfare for the upper crust paid for by the poor. If you like art, buy a ticket. Don't steal money from everyone else so you don't have to pay the real cost. The biggest issue is that most of this "art" cannot support itself in the open market. That is why they are on welfare. Dennis I think it is funny that becaused I am against our city spending public funds we don't have on arts that some (many?) assume that means I don't support arts and live in a box, how judgmental! It is up to the arts community to engage the whole community for support, "community" does not mean government. If, as was written by FriendofLB there is no public funds or resources that are spent or engaged at the expense of core services then great; but if they are then they should be voted down. I guess I'm supposed to go home now and upload Rush on my iPod while I watch Glenn Beck as I eat pork rinds and drink PBR in my t-shirt while I clean my guns so I can fit the tidy little stereotype some like to create for others. Antonio Ruiz Please read the initiatives before criticizing them. These are not reckless calls for more government spending. In some of them, it's actually trying to get government out of the way (a favorite conservative slogan). In others, it's seeking strategies to fund arts as economic development engines; create jobs, stimulate sales tax and multiplier effects on local economies. This may involve any number of strategies yet to be discussed. We can have a rational discussion about the role of government and what is defined as core services but to oversimplify the role of government and not discuss the need for partnerships and collaborative strategies between business, education, the non-profit sector and government to stimulate economic and community development is a very shortsighted vision. We fund services through taxes, fees, and grants. This is the price we pay for what we need to function as a civilized urban society. While I may be a progressive socially, I also do not believe that over-restrictive economic policies are the answer. I, however, must raise my eyebrows a little when I hear critics talk about basic services and yet don’t blink an eyelid when cities spend millions to attract private enterprise that take advantage of tax breaks, zoning realignments and other tricks of the trade. But when someone brings up similar strategies for the Arts, which also create jobs, provide economic stimulus and stimulate creativity in schools, neighborhoods and businesses, well, that’s different. Again, I’ll have that debate about the role of government but please don’t act as if government is only for some and not for others. Please don’t dismiss the need for collaborative strategies between all sectors of our city. We all have a vested interest in the future of this city. We live here. We pay taxes here. We all have visions for our children and our children’s children. Arts and Culture are our lifeblood and soul of a city. From the history of our city embedded in the Ranchos and at the Historical Society to teaching young people to express themselves through creative mediums as opposed to violent outbursts to enhancing the educational experience with creative tools, Arts and Culture are not luxuries. They are everyday realities in homes, neighborhoods, businesses, schools. Open your eyes wide. You would be surprised at what you will discover. John Greet Antonio Ruiz: I hope you will agree that our art is but one part of an overall definition of our cultures. I would argue that culture and our community's acknowlegement of, and commitment to, it is better defined by our individual and collective attributes and our willingness to support and to preserve the more artistic aspects of those cultures with our *personal* time, talents and treasure than by how much tax revenue some of our elected officials agree to spend upon it. A balanced approach to arts funding that includes some public fund subsidy may well be ideal but if our City budget suffers persistent and ongoing deficits, and it has, then we simply *cannot afford* to fund arts programs from our General Fund at greater levels than we do currently. I submit that it is in the fiscally lean times for our City such as these that we truly learn how important some arts programs are to a majority of our private and corporate citizens. If the arts prove as important to them as some would have us believe, then they should rightly prove more willing to increase arts funding from their personal accounts, and not from those managed by government. Antonio Ruiz There are many expenses of government that I do not agree with. That's what lobbying your representative provides you; an opportunity to influence that process. What puzzles is this self selective process by some of you to define what is "important" for the community and what is "important" for government. Follow your logic about defining core services and there is a long list we can debate. The Arts are not just defined as the Opera or the Symphony. The arts are music classes in schools. They are programs that allow the disabled to learn new skills and to express themselves. They are after school programs in our libraries and recreation centers that allow young people to showcase their talents, learn new skills, discover new options for life. They are policies and programs that encourage real economic development. These are not cheap hat tricks and mumbo jumbo slogans. As a citizen of this city and a taxpayer, I submit that there are many ways to add to the development of this city. Fixing sidewalks is one. But so are policies that bring jobs to a city. Tourism brings dollars as well as jobs. We all have a vested interest in ensuring that policies and sometimes programs are in place to enhance those efforts. The money to keep the streets fixed, the police and fire funded, the marinas operating, the traffic signals functioning come from somewhere. They come from a strategic vision that adds to a city, builds both its physical and creative self and acts as a magnet for big and small business. I want to live in a city that is multi-dimensional; not empty of character and vision and beauty and creativity. Those cities are dying or dead. Spending money to make money is not an empty slogan. Continue to create roadblocks to reasonable growth, strategic economic and community development, visioned progress and you will be left with never having to worry about fixing your streets because no one will be living here except the ghosts. Sander I will be reading through, and writing about, the proposed initiatives in detail in the next few days. For nearly a decade now, I have been advocating for a simple set of changes to the municipal code that would 1) cost nothing, 2) help revitalize beleaguered business districts, and 3) attract new businesses and well-heeled residents to the City. Some of these ideas seem to be included in the proposals that will be submitted to the Council. There are expenditures, however, that can and should be justified. There are stacks of non-partisan studies clearly showing that a municipal investment in arts and culture infrastructure leads directly to increased tourism dollars, a reduction in crime (and the cost of law enforcement), improved academic results in k-12 schools, and much more. These are not pie-in-the-sky theories. These are proven, well established results-based strategies. We can, as a City, choose to ignore them and suffer the consequences, or embrace and implement them and enjoy their rewards. unpopular artist viewpoin Doesn't look to me like they are talking about publicly funding art projects with taxpayer dollars-not at this time anyway. Sounds like an easing of restrictions and a waiving of fees for artists. I'm wondering how much a loss that will really be to the city in terms of revenue anyway. Anyone have the real facts, the hard numbers on this? If so, please speak up and report them! Chances are that there are not too many artists marching down to city hall applying for business licenses and paying the fees. Don't think that waiving fees will have much of a fiscal impact on the city. It will feel good to say they did it and artists who have been skirting the issue will no longer be scofflaws. As for the easing of amplified music restrictions- what is it going to hurt really? As long as neighbors are repected I think it is in the best interests of the community to support live performance. Already people are experiencing less and less live music performances in their lives. And while we're at it, let's try to get some quality music going. Involve music students from area schools and colleges. Now that I've gone this far, speaking as a so called artist, I will gladly support myself, thank you very much. I am not too interested in begging money off tired arts organizations tied to government money and particular ideologies. I'll make beautiful and useful handmade objects that people want to buy. I'll pay musicians money for music they make and I enjoy and other artists for the work they make that strikes a chord with me when I can afford to do so. That's what works for me. I also don't like the idea that the city and arts organizations see art primarily as a tool to increase revenue, tourism and public relations. Just doesn't feel right to me. Getting the city out of the way of artists doing what they do is good. Creating welfare for artists through publicly funded arts organizations when basic services are lacking throughout the city isn't a practical idea an in my opinion unhealthy for artists in general. If I had money to spend on arts in Long Beach I would spend it on early arts education first (grades 3-5) and 6-12 next. Each year we graduate fewer and fewer students with an appreciation of art in general- make art important to them and you will have a more supportive audience for art in the future. friend of lb Dennis - it's YOU making assumptions. Same for MR Greet and several others. The Blue Ribbon committee has failed before it is even established. The City will steal money from all of you to fund bad art. Government can do nothing right. etc etc etc bla bla bla. How about this: Read the motions instead of tilting at windmills. Opposite Man Yea Dennis, quit "making assupmtions"! the Blue Ribbon panel will be a smashing success, as have the Arts Council and the RDA has been before. They have done such an impressive job to this point, how can you doubt it? And your assumption that the City will steal money from you to make bad art....perhaps you have not witnessed the awesome glory of the Orange Twist. It only cost a little more than 100K. Why would you express any doubt about this latest venture, which is connected with the same people who brought us The Orange Twist. Personally, I'm just happy all of this money went to an artist outside of the state of California. It lets people know we care about other areas as well. And finally, by expressing some doubt or an opposing view, show that you have not "read the motions" because you are too busy "tilting at straw wind dogs" and "tilting at windmills".....I love little catch phrases. They neatly nullify your viewpoint Dennis, and that is important. Instead of someone stating "Given the history of this City and the obvious failures of the past, I understand and accept your doubt towards this panel." Nope. Not gonna get it. Rather, you are clueless and obviously don't know anything because you are miss informed. So I say it again Dennis....Go with it! Hip Hip Hooray! Art is neat! Yay for everything!!! Scott Blumenthal A master plan is not only good, it is essential. A blue ribbon panel is an interesting idea that could work very well. The other points are slam dunkers for the most part and should have been implemented years ago. Scott Blumenthal Dennis.....so sorry you feel that way....I can understand where you're coming from, however, the arts bring in money, jobs, business and create an atmosphere and environment conducive to growth and is uplifting, inspiring and gives back many-fold. fireman, man opposite man says "this latest venture, which is connected with the same people who brought us The Orange Twist" Really? Robert Garcia was connected to the Orange Twist? I think garcia was probably in high school when that happened. RDA? You may have heard craig beck is gone. Arts Council? Mr Watson is brand new. So is the city manager (though he had nothing to do with the arts proposals) So who exactly are you talking about? These proposals are obviously a RESPONSE to the kinds of complaints you are making. Amazing that the attempt to ADDRESS your issues somehow turns out to piss you off. In any case, on the facts, you're simply WRONG. football coach DENNIS - "Not one dime of public money should be spent unless it is publicly announced what is getting cut to balance the funds" Wow, what a great idea! Maybe they should have public meetings and publish a budget with that information Oh wait - they do already! It's called the City Council! It's called - the budget! It's a public document! Wow, what a concept. Thanks for angrily suggesting that the city do what in fact it already does! Way to add to the discussion! Opposite Man Yes Fireman, I am completely wrong. There was nobody around now that was connected with the RDA nor the Arts Council nor the Long Beach Council that had ANYTHING to do with The Orange Twist, the lack of any formal Art Program in the LBUSD, or any of the other issues in Long Beach. As you stated, everyone was either in High School or they have gone. I'm sure the Blue Ribbon Panel will have NOBODY that was here while the Orange Twist was created several hundred years ago because they were all in high school or they are gone. Thank you for pointing out the obvious errors of my thoughts. I get it now. Nobody had anything to do with anything from yesteryear, and now the Blue Ribbon Panel will change all of those issues because the people from before were in high school or are gone now. Fireman, you are great critical thinker and I am in awe of your insight. oh ye of little faith "a committee is a group that keeps minutes and loses hours" - Milton Berle -on the other hand, who will appoint these blue ribbon panelists? who wants to sit 'round that table? what are their motivations? what are their special qualifications? whose interests do they really represent? filed under: -things people want to know & -things people no longer care about fireman Yes Opposite, you are COMPLETELY WRONG. "this latest venture, which is connected with the same people who brought us The Orange Twist" NO. It's not. The arts initiative was drafted in Robert Garcia's office. One of its pieces is from Suja Lowenthal. So again, I'd ask you: Who that is involved in pushing this package "brought us" the Orange Twist. NAME ONE PERSON. You cant, because YOU ARE WRONG Opposite Man Got it Fireman. The City Council that the Blue Ribbon Panel will answer to is a completely different City Council that was helpless to do anything about the placement and money spent by the RDA. The ol' phrase "I refuse to have a battle of wits..." applies to this conversation. Over and out.
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Ryan ZumMallen has served as the managing editor of the LBPOST.com since 2007. He graduated from CSULB with a degree in Print Journalism in 2008 and is a member of the 2009 class of Leadership Long Beach. You can find him on various basketball courts around the city.
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