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I'm a columnist, and a journalist.  I take my role very seriously, and part of that role is to present facts accurately.  I am, however, encouraged to have an opinion, share my insights and experiences, and argue for points of view I feel are valid.  If people disagree with me, LBPOST.com provides a tool for commenting on specific posts.  I actually welcome dissent because it broadens my perspective, and allows readers to make their minds up for themselves.

I am a long-time advocate for arts and culture in Long Beach.  Ten years ago, I and some friends co-founded LongBeachCulture.org to be a virtual hub for the creative community, to establish an on-line artist registry, and create a powerful online calendar to promote cultural events.  Through this experience, I learned firsthand how creative thinking, and some hard work, can yield amazing results.

One of the results that arose from creating LongBeachCulture.org was an expanded dialog with the creative community.  I was amazed to learn that many people, both individual artists and those working in arts organizations, felt frustrated by the Public Corporation for the Arts, (now rebranded via a 'dba' as Arts Council for Long Beach.)

Like many people, I tried to find ways to make things better, to improve the way the Arts Council viewed individual artists, and to improve the image of the Council in the eyes of non-artist residents.  I raised funds for their Passport to the Arts program, and even served as an artist in that program.  (I don't think I ever cashed the checks they sent me.)  Ultimately, however, it became clear to me that a new model was needed.

My goal is not to eliminate funding for arts and culture.  My primary goal is to find the best way to deliver the highest percentage of funds committed by the City to individual artists and arts organizations.  I'd like to see 100% of City funds earmarked for the arts committed to grants, rather than 55%.  I don't think that's a foolish goal to have.

I suggested one alternative model, but trust that the collective intelligence of our great City can produce the best solution to serve our City's unique needs.

Corrections

In my previous 'A Modest Proposal' posts, I made some errors.  Here is the corrected information:

- Arts Council for Long Beach, according to Craig Watson, the newly appointed part-time Executive Director, has six full time employees and three part time employees.

- The contract between the City of Long Beach and the Public Corporation for the Arts (dba Arts Council for Long Beach) specifies that $240,000 is earmarked for operational expenses, and $300,000 for grants.  $193,987 is set aside for 'Staff (+ other consult).'  One of the line items in the contract is an expenditure for 'advocacy,' on which they spend $1,500.

- According to Malina Moore, Public Art Coordinator for Santa Monica's Cultural Affairs division, the division has five full time employees, and one part time employee.  According to public documents I found on-line, of the $1,492,275 the City of Santa Monica commits to arts funding, about 20% goes to operational overhead.  In Long Beach, it's about 45%.

[Ed. note: Overhead comprises about 25% of the Art Council’s total operating budget, and 45% of funding received from the City of Long Beach.]

- Recently, I spoke with Suchi Branfman, Chair of Santa Monica's Arts Commission.  She explained that the Commission and the City staff work together, and that my statement that the Commission members "do most of the work," was entirely inaccurate.

If other factual errors are found in any of my posts, I hope that they'll be pointed out to me, and I will do my best to correct and/or clarify the mistakes.

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