On Friday, the Funding Advisory Committee of the City of Oakland’s Cultural Affairs Commission co-authored this letter to Mayor Jean Quan (in preparation for her budget proposal released yesterday).

At present, the City’s Cultural Funding Program (CFP), a program of the Oakland Redevelopment Agency, funds Oakland-based art and cultural activities that reflect the diversity of the city for the citizens and visitors to Oakland.

The CFP focuses on three key areas of support:

• General Support
• Neighborhood Arts
• Arts Education

The Program’s broad goals are:

• To provide access to financial support—through a competitive process—to a wide range of Oakland-based artists and nonprofit organizations providing arts and cultural services in Oakland.
• To infuse Oakland’s neighborhoods with arts and cultural activities that increase exposure to, understanding of and respect for diverse cultural heritages, and to support arts activities that engage the community.
• To support arts education activities in Oakland’s schools and among Oakland youth.

City-sponsored programs include the Organization Project Support Program, the Individual Artist Project Support Program, the Organizational Assistance Program and the Art in the Schools Program.

(Editor’s note: Applications for the 2011-12 funding cycle for all of these programs are due May 19 at 5:00pm. Application guidelines and information are available online right now. )

Supporters argue that a withdrawal of support for any of these programs will negative effect the City’s economic and social health and well-being. The following letter to Mayor Jean Quan reflects their sentiments. OaklandSeen shares the text with our readers with a question:

What would Oakland be like if existing arts funding were eliminated?

Here is the open letter from the Funding Advisory Committee (FAC) to the Oakland Cultural Affairs Commission, dated Friday, April 29, 2011:

Mayor Jean Quan
Oakland City Hall
1 Frank Ogawa Plaza
Oakland 94612 April 29, 2011

Dear Mayor Quan,

Did you know there are 207 non-profit arts organizations in Oakland?

Did you know that each year these organizations earn and spend $74 million dollars right here in Oakland?

Did you know that the City’s General Fund investment of $725,126 in FY10-11 cultural funding has attracted more than $5 million in funding from outside Oakland in the last 2 years alone?

Yes, we know you did!

To support this dynamic and diverse arts community, and to sustain the high levels of economic activity that the arts deliver to Oakland, we hope that in your upcoming budget you will include robust support for:

• The City’s Cultural Funding staff in the Community & Economic Development Agency
• The Cultural Funding programs supporting arts in the schools, arts organizations, and individual artists

Our job on the Funding Advisory Committee (FAC) to the Oakland Cultural Affairs Commission is to inform the City’s efforts to support Oakland’s artists, arts educators and arts organizations.  As we conduct our work we see how resourceful, ingenious and inspired the city’s arts community is.

We know that every dollar invested in the arts sector drives consumers to spend money at restaurants, hotels, and parking garages, and that every dollar is leveraged to raise more funds to pay artists and the salaries of arts workers.

We also know that every hour of compensated work is doubled and tripled by thousands of unpaid hours of community service to enrich Oakland with a vibrant arts scene. We ourselves serve on the FAC as volunteers.

We are private arts funders, representatives of Bay Area local arts agencies, arts educators and arts organization leaders, and artists ourselves. If we know anything, it is that nobody gets into the arts for the money.  And yet, Oakland’s reputation as national arts leader and the contributions, artistic and economic, that the arts community makes have real value. The value is measured in the lives changed by art teachers working with youth in and out of schools and with seniors to give voice to their life stories.  It’s measured in thousands of Oakland citizens coming together to sing in choruses and to dance at festivals; in the thousands more who smile for a moment each day when they encounter a painting in a gallery or walk past a mural, a statue, or an arts installation outside. And of course the arts –unlike any other department in the City– have the power to inspire individuals and to connect communities.

We know there are no easy choices when it comes to managing this year’s budget, but we hope you’ll recognize the vital role the arts play in attracting financial and human capital to Oakland, and include robust support for the City’s Cultural Funding staff and programs.

Sincerely,

Khan Wong, Marc Vogl Co-Chairs
Ebony McKinney, Suki O’Kane, Ted Russell, Nives Wetzel de Cediel, Committee Members
The Funding Advisory Committee to the Oakland Cultural Affairs Commission

cc: Sabrina Landreth, Budget Director, Office of the Mayor
Richard Cowan, Special Assistant to the Mayor for Boards and Commissions.
Lamont Ewell, Interim City Administrator
Samee Roberts, Cultural Arts & Marketing Manager
Steven Huss, Cultural Arts Manager
Nicole Neditch, Acting Cultural Funding Coordinator