Mayor Garcetti welcomed over one hundred arts and culture leaders from the Los Angeles area to City Hall today to give him advice, insight, and feedback on how the city should invest and support arts and culture in the coming years.

Mr. Garcetti kicked off the event by characterizing Los Angeles as "the most creative city in the nation" and commiting to "put LA...on a map where arts and culture define the backbone of every neighborhood we have."  Mr. Garcetti's administration is in the process of vetting and identifying a successor to Olgay Garay-English who will serve as the general manager of the Department of Cultural Affairs even while preparing to launch a master plan process for culture in the city of Los Angeles.  "LA is where creativity lives," Mr. Garcetti said.  "I want to see a city where art is a value for the whole city government."

Mr. Garcetti's "round table" was designed to provide arts and culture leaders an opportunity think broadly about our work, to envision our work interacting with the entire city.  Following his remarks, the mayor's Manager for General Services Christine Jerian kicked off a brainstorming activity that invited attendees to share their ideas for what would transform Los Angeles as a cultural destination.  Writing on post-it notes, representatives from all over Los Angeles jotted down ideas and suggestions, then attached them to sheets of paper around the room.  The second question invited attendees to weigh in on what qualities or traits the city should consider in its search for a new general manager for DCA.  After attendees had an opportunity to weigh in on both questions, city staff collected the papers and organized the responses into theme areas.  Not surprisingly, the themes touched on many enduring areas of focus for the community: city funding, grants, artist studio and living space, arts education, and increased collaboration between DCA and other departments and the community at large. Attendees suggested the DCA manager be accessible internally and to the community more broadly, have political savvy, good fundraising skills, and be a known figure in the arts and culture community.

City staff resolved to follow up with attendees on the full slate of ideas and suggestions once they had an opportunity to review each idea and log it as part of their process.