The Arts Work for California
April Brings California’s Celebration of Arts, Culture & Creativity Month
By Julie Baker, Executive Director, Californians for the Arts
In a state that exports innovation and imagination and represents 25 of the Nation’s creative industries, it stands to reason there is a month for California to recognize the contributions and impact of arts, culture and creativity. This April, California’s Arts, Culture & Creativity Month (ACCM) brings new statewide activations and celebrations of the arts through programming and advocacy tools. Californians for the Arts (CFTA) directs this month-long spotlight on the arts to raise visibility and awareness of the value that artists, culture bearers, cultural organizations, and creative workers generate for Californian’s economy and communities. All CFTA-led events take place virtually and are free to attend; the public is encouraged to participate all month long. CFTA anticipates more than a dozen local governments will be participating formally in ACCM 2022 through announcing proclamations in their cities and counties. A guide for passing local proclamations is available for download here.
This year’s ACCM programming is shaped by the theme, “The Arts Work,” with a particular emphasis on creative workers, in alignment with California’s groundbreaking Creative Workforce Act (SB 628), signed into law in October. CFTA provides an active ACCM 2022 toolkit of weekly messaging campaigns that express how the artists and organizations working in all cultural forms help society to heal, build community, advance justice, empower youth, and create jobs. Weekly webinar panel discussions with thought leaders and practitioners in the field will take a deeper dive into exploring these impact areas while examining the conditions in which arts workers are trying to build lives and livelihoods, and what policies or systems change we should be considering to strengthen their efforts and to build a more just economy broadly.
And new to ACCM is The Arts Works Showcase. CFTA invites artists and arts organizations from across the state to submit existing works of art or arts-related projects that exemplify one of the five themes. Submissions will be hosted on a web gallery for the public to view. This new program intends to uplift creative workers and honor their work with weekly drawings for cash prizes.
While it is important to take the time to celebrate the endurance and resilience of the arts, it is also a time to recognize the public policies and investments arts, culture, and creativity industries need to sustain and thrive to help rebuild a more equitable and just industry for all creative workers to access.
ACCM programming is also designed to empower arts advocates to take action and to spur greater investments in the arts. During arts advocacy week, April 25–29, advocates meet virtually with their elected officials and share the investments and policies they urge lawmakers to make in the California budget process. This year’s budget includes proposed investments of $30 million for California cultural districts, $50 million for arts in parks, $50 million for the CA Creative Workforce Act, $799 million for Expanded Learning Opportunities Program for Arts Education, $50 million for museum grants program (SB 963, Laird) and funding for SB 1116 (Portantino) The Performing Arts Equitable Payroll Fund.
For a complete list of events and programs associated with ACCM 2022, click here.
As the Executive Director of California’s statewide arts advocacy organizations since 2018, Julie Baker has worked to increase the legislative clout and visibility of the arts and culture communities by building coalition across the for and non-profit sectors of California’s creative industries,. She serves as the California State Captain to Americans for the Arts’ National Arts Action Summit and on the State Arts Action Network Council and as the co-chair of the Western Arts Advocacy network for WESTAF. She is on the board of California Heritage: Indigenous Research Project, a founding member of the Nevada County Relief Fund advisory council and was elected to the Nevada County school board in November of 2020.
Over the years, Julie has owned a fine arts gallery for emerging artists, co-founded Flow art fair — a satellite to Art Basel Miami Beach — opened a consulting firm Julie Baker Projects and curated an annual music series at the Crocker Art Museum. Julie also served for eight years as the Executive Director of The Center for the Arts, a non-profit performing arts venue and California WorldFest, an annual music and camping festival located in Grass Valley, CA. She is the recipient of the inaugural Peggy Levine Arts & Community Service Award from the Nevada County Arts Council. And the 2021 Alene Valkanas State Arts Advocacy Award from Americans for the Arts, which honors an individual at the state level whose arts advocacy efforts have dramatically affected the political landscape.
