City of LA Dept. of Cultural Affairs Budget Hearing Recap!

On Thursday, May 1st ten members of the arts community provided public comment to the City of LA's Budget and Finance Committee. In a year of big budget cuts, Arts for LA felt is was especialy important to have a strong showing of support for DCA, its new leadership and the impending cultural master plan.

It was great display of support for arts and culture and the Department of Cultural Affairs. My sincere thanks and appreciation to you for making the time to advocate for the arts in the City of Los Angeles.

Spending almost a full day in a budget and hearing committee meeting is a huge commitment. Each advocate has extremely busy schedules and carving time to sit and wait to provide public comments is not an easy thing to do.

But their one-minute public statements were on-point, concise and most importantly articulate. This is a tough budget year, for all Community Services and a lack of constituent presence would have surely sent a message to the Budget and Finance Committee that DCA did not matter. Your comments sent an important message to the Committee that the work of the Department of Cultural Affairs is of great value to not only our organizations, but also the many diverse communities you serve.

DCA finally got their chance at 5:45pm. By that time, both Greuel and Huizar had left the building, leaving only Chairman Parks, Rosendahl and Smith to question budget reduction choices. Here's a quick recap for your reading enjoyment.

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Chairman Parks started by inquiring about monies raised by DCA. Olga was quick to report that for this fiscal year, the Department had already raised 5.5 million dollars in grant and corporate sponsorships. That is up from just $851K the previous year. He asked why the Council Civic Fund allocation was eliminated. Olga Garay responded: "It was a tough decision." However several council districts are not using their designated funds and our department has very little fat to trim. Therefore, we decided to cut these funds, knowing that some districts will retain some funds not used from previous years."

The questioning then went to Rosendahl who acknowledged the strong showing of public support for her and the Department (go team!). He then acknowledged that this was Olga's first budget hearing and subsequently thanked her for her leadership and welcomed her to the Department and the City. Rosendahl then asked why the Bridge Gallery art program was eliminated. Olga acknowledged the decision to eliminate the Bridge Gallery Art Program was also a difficult one to make. However, something had to be cut to realize the 6.1% reduction. He then inquired as to whether or not the Department could open some gift shops for tourists and visitors to help generate revenue for the Department. Olga acknowledged the good idea and then was quick to point out that a museum shop is a niche market onto itself, one that needed initial capital and a strong business plan to make the program successful.

Rosendahl praised the Arts and Environment Program of one of his constituents, Venice-based Electric Lodge. The organization's leaders have been working with DCA to conduct "green audits" at DCA facilities that will result in custom made reports as to how each of the venues and centers DCA manages can incorporate green practices. Olga acknowledged the leadership of the Electric Lodge and said that the work with DCA facilities was a pilot that then would be extended to other LA arts organizations and had the potential to become a national model.

Councilmember Smith opened his remarks by saying that Joel Wachs expressed support for Olga's appointment and indicated that the Warhol Foundation would be open to funding the Department.

Smith took his turn by focusing on DCA's workforce-indicator report. Olga informed the Committee that days before the Blue Book was due, she was informed that the metric formula she was instructed to use would replace the workforce-indicators. However, the Department was later informed that it would have to also submit workforce-indicators and was given a very short turn around time. Although the Department submitted the required new document, it was clear when she saw it that some of the statistics reported were inaccurate while statistics submitted prior to her arrival were often wildly inflated. She promised that in the future DCA would submit more accurate figures.

Smith acknowledged that the workforce-indicators format was imperfect, by saying, "many Departments do not allocate the time needed to produce accurate data."He went on to inquire about the Jack Oakie historical site in the San Fernando Valley and its potential to be another "Hollyhock House."

Olga expressed her support of the Oakie House effort by illustrating how DCA, Rec. and Parks as wells as General Services all collaborate to keep Barnsdall Art Park and the Hollyhock house running smoothly. She expressed her keen interest and willingness to collaborate with other departments, funders and entities whenever possible to bring more arts to more people in more areas of the great city of Los Angeles.

Smith then passed the baton back to chairman Parks who inquired about the transfer request. This request gives DCA expenditure authority over a small pocket of money that will be utilized to fund a special initiative and used as a required match to the Durfee Foundation. The two-year pilot project will launch an International Cultural Exchange program that will support approximately 10 LA-based artists wishing to exhibit, present, perform, conduct research and collaborate with arts organizations abroad, with a similar number of international artists to conduct residencies in LA. Parks seemed to think that it was a reasonable request and instructed the CAO's office to "make it happen."

And that was it! A full day for an approximately fifteen minutes of nice, civic, questioning from an exhausted Budget and Finance Committee. It was the perfect end to a pivotal moment in the history of the Department of Cultural Affairs. It is from this place that we begin to build strong council support for the department, its programs and the important role arts and culture play in our city.

Once the Budget and Finance Committee fully reviews the budget, they will make final recommendations to the full City Council on May 19th. As you can imagine, Arts for LA will monitor this process very carefully and will be sure to keep you abreast of the recommendations made by the Budget and Finance Committee.

Again, kudos to a great team for participating in this proactive, strategic advocacy moment. The success of today's display is just the beginning. Our advocacy effort set a new bar for which we each can build upon until the Department is back on a solid track with City Council, the arts community and as well as the general public.

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PS: For those of you who are interested in an extra curricular activity:

Send a note to your City Councilmember informing them of your position and that you recently provided public testimony to the Budget and Finance Committee. The note doesn't have to be fancy, a nice handwritten note thanking them for continuing support of DCA will do - five minutes tops!

Photo: L-R: Mark Seldis, Michael Alexander, Ayndrea Wilson, Michelle Meirtz, Danielle Brazell, Terence McFarland, Cynthia Campoy Brophy, Jilly Carzenes & Sasha Anawalt