A new survey commissioned by Irvine seeks to further understand the opportunities and challenges facing California-based arts organizations. The anonymous survey is open to anyone who works in California-based nonprofit arts organizations and is part of an effort to address critical issues facing the arts community in California. The survey will close on September 17. Click Here to take the survey.

Continued

Continued

Legislation Information Alert from the Education Coalition:

Sacramento -- The Education Coalition announced opposition to the Republican Senate budget proposal that permanently cuts billions from our schools, and sets up yet another risky borrowing scheme that relies on temporary fixes and shortchanges our students by billions more in future years.

Continued

Continued

Welcome to the 1.0 launch of our new website! Built on the Drupal platform, this is an open source content management system (CMS) that utilizes Web 2.0 technology to create, not just a static site, but an online community that is far more interactive through elements such as polls, social networking opportunities, and blogging etc. We are very excited about the new direction of the website, and its potential to strengthen the vibrant artistic community that is already here in Los Angeles. Continued

April has been an exceptionally exciting month for Arts for LA.

It started with making the annual trip to Washing DC as part of Americans for the Arts Advocacy Day. In addition to a full day of hard-core lobby training, our local delegation visited the offices of House Representatives Lucile Roybal-Allard (D-34), Diane Watson (D-33) and Xavier Becerra to thank them for supporting an unprecedented increase...

Continued

Money money money – California and Los Angeles’ budget issues are sure to affect every one of us. In the next few months, legislators at the state level will work to create a fiscal solution for our projected 14-billion dollar deficit. Locally, the City of Los Angeles’ projected 6-million dollar shortfall is already mobilizing communities throughout the city.

Continued

Report Out! Over thirty Arts for LA members met with Councilman Tom LaBonge on Thursday, February 29th at LACMA West to discuss his role as Chairman of the Arts Parks and Aging Committee, Cultural Tourism, Sister Citys and the Cultural Master Plan. The discussion started with the following caveat: The current budget shortfall will affect every department. With real dollars being cut, community groups, commissionsand cause-centered stakeholders are gearing up to save their interest. So must the arts community. Continued

Yesterday, Governor Schwarzenegger released his much anticipated 2008/09 Budget. As expected, it reveals a 10% across the board cut in many line item allocations. Of particular interest to the arts field is the Arts Education Block Grants, which, aside from the 10%, reduction, remains intact. Continued

Arts for LA, in partnership with the Arts for All: County Los Angeles County Arts Commission Blueprint for Arts Education recently conducted a survey of school board candidates running for a seat in 20, of 28 Arts for All school districts in LA County. The goal of the survey is to to assess candidate's awareness of and commitment to arts education in the district.

Continued