Drew Boyles

City: El Segundo City
Position Seeking: Councilmember

Question 1: Please share the most meaningful arts and cultural experience you had growing up.

Growing up in Chicago, I was fortunate to have incredible opportunities to learn from the wealth of museums and different cultures in that city: some of my fondest memories are of field trips to the Art Institute of Chicago, the Museum of Science & Industry and the Field Museum. In my youth, I drew avidly, often sketching for hours on end. In my teenage years, I played guitar in a band and later was a member of a breakdancing group that would perform at various functions.

Question 2: What do you think should be the role of City Council in the development and support of the region’s arts and cultural infrastructure?

City leadership should support creative ways to cultivate art and cultural experiences throughout its community. As both a Board Member of ESMoA and the Chairman of El Segundo’s Economic Development Advisory Council, I have been involved in multiple discussions to make El Segundo more of a destination for arts and culture. In fact, I introduced a local gallery owner to various people in town as she spearheaded the successful Art Walk last summer. Additionally, I commissioned a 500-square foot mural painted by El Segundo artist Damian Fulton on our commercial property in the Smoky Hollow area

Question 3: What’s your vision for the city? What role, if any, does art and culture play in achieving that vision?

I believe a wide variety of cultural and arts experiences should be woven into everyday life from early childhood through the later years, so I envision an eclectic and culturally vibrant El Segundo, in which art influences all ages, all industries and all walks of life. El Segundo has tremendous potential to become the hub for innovation, where technology, entertainment, media and the arts meld into breakthrough combinations. Creativity and the arts will become increasingly important to our economy and our future, providing both a balance and complement to more and more tasks being automated with technology

Questions 4: A recent report by the Otis College of Design found that 1 in every 7 jobs in LA County is supports the creative sector and economy in Los Angeles County. What strategies, if any, would you pursue to enhance the region’s creative economy (i.e. cultural tourism, indirect and direct jobs, nonprofit and for profit organizations)?

As the current Chairman of El Segundo’s Economic Development Advisory Council, my mission is to attract and retain businesses. In that role, we have been educating the business community and our City Council on the dependence of the creative sector on our businesses’ continued success. We have industry thought leaders present on a regular basis, and I have cited the Otis College Report on the Creative Economy time and again over the past couple years to that council. I will continue to be a bridge-builder between government, commerce, academia and the arts if elected to City Council