On Tuesday March 21st, in conjunction with the National Arts Advocacy Day (Americans for the Arts), Oakland artists and advocates are launching a campaign to implore Oakland City Council members and Mayor Schaaf to take a real stand for development without displacement by investing in arts as a cultural preservation strategy, starting with $3 million to increase the Cultural Funding Program (keeping artists creating, working, teaching in Oakland) and to develop a deep community leadership process for the 2017 Citywide Cultural Plan.

SF ARTS ADVOCACY 2017 MEDIA KIT

Join an all-day campaign to reach out to your local elected officials through social media to thank them for their continued public investment in arts and culture, to encourage them to increase resources to the arts across SF, and to remind them of the value of cultural and creative expression as core to San Francisco values and identity as a city.

The goal is to have every SF Supervisor hear from #ArtsDaySF advocates in all 11 Districts, from every corner of the city, representing a myriad of arts disciplines and project sizes!

ABBA is committed to providing non-partisan, well informed, and timely information on policies that impact the arts and cultural ecosystem in the bay area. We've compiled a few resources to share.

ABBA's endorsement of Proposition S (SF)  - explanatory essay "Vote S to Stabilize Artists and Homeless Families" by Rebecca Bowe

SF Candidate Questionnaire by ABBA

Voter's Edge - online tool for CA voter's, see your ballot online and track your choices AND see your options to submit your ballot

Ballot.FYI Solid, non-partisan summary of CA ballot measures 

SF Department of Elections' online voter guide 

San Francisco Public Press - Breaking down the ballot by theme

Alameda County - List of Measures 

Ballotpedia - lists Dept of Elections info along with news coverage

Advocacy & Nonprofits - Info on NP engaging in advocacy vs. lobbying activities

Trevor McNeil

How would you describe the specific impact of artists and arts organizations on the life of our city?  Please use at least one example of the arts changing lives or communities.

Arts are the vanguard for change in so many ways. I think about the “controversy” over naming our schools after slave owners. For me it’s not a controversy, we need to create a culturally-relevant system of heroes and civic identity. You know where that starts? Murals in the mission, street theater with the Mime Troop, and café life in North Beach. I’ve been involved in these efforts – I’ve worked with the Mime Troop, painted with Calle 24, and worked to keep the Roxie theater open. Art brings people together but more importantly, operates outside the system of power that more often than not is keeping down, whether directly or institutionally-disguised silence – those very populations I teach in my classroom and are the focus of any social justice-minded school board commissioner.

How will you ensure that San Francisco’s historically underserved communities are able to access the full benefits of the arts and resources for creative and community expression?

Again, I think transparency is needed in the SFUSD. There are schools with supplemental budgets and activism parent that arrange for field trips, class visits, and extra materials to be donated to the schools. That’s great. I applaud all activism at all levels. But as a District I think we need to be more aware and more public about these types of discrepancies. Advocacy, political pressure for extra funding, and public-private partnerships will follow. As the only public school teacher on the ballot this fall I am keenly aware of the opportunities and challenges activating the creative potential of our city. I take students to the Asian Art museum (free) and arrange for silk screen lessons at the Mission Cultural Center. As a board member for my neighborhood association, we partnered with local businesses and schools to create fun art walks. That type of activism and that experience as a front-line arts-invested educator I think will make me a good voice for making sure that not only are the arts an crucial part of SFUSD’s students’ experiences but that ALL students are accessing those opportunities equally.

Over the past year the arts have been utilized to improve safety and protect the environment. For example, artist studios have activated vacant buildings. Murals have highlighted bike corrals and warned residents about the dangers of pollution. Name one or two ways you would leverage the work of artists and arts organizations to cultivate vibrant neighborhoods and achieve civic priorities.

I would require that in our school classroom scope and sequences that teachers needed to identify specific activities, partnerships, and resources that were replated to the arts. Project-based learning is also a professional development area I would push.

Every neighborhood in the city has a neighborhood or merchants association. I think as political members of the SFUSD the commissioners of the board of education and uniquely placed to help our schools and principals reach out to these associations. I am on the record as being in favor of an “adopt a school” approach where commissioners take special responsibility for a percentage of our schools and are that school’s advocate on the Board (mostly as a spokesman and support system, obviously we have to look out for the interests of all our schools and neighborhoods). This approach I think could leverage the keen outreach skills our elected Commissioners have with empowering schools to identify community partners they could work with on beautification, social justice, and community awareness campaigns.

Research shows that students with an arts-rich education have better grade point averages, lower drop-out rates and score better on standardized tests in reading and math. How will you ensure every San Francisco student is provided a robust arts education in school and has access to ample opportunities to engage in art outside of school?

We need site-by-site breakdowns of the number of hours of arts-based learning and exploration that happens. The District touts it’s arts education but the experience of parents is different. I suspect the District is using the numbers of schools with robust fund-raising (often which goes to art and music electives) to boost their numbers. That’s why consistent transparency is so important and a major goal of mine if elected.

How can the SFUSD help retain our artists and arts organizations?

I am on record as being the pro-teacher affordability candidate. Aside from fully-funding arts programing, as a union rep and the only public school teacher on the ballot I am confident that I would represent the strongest pro-teaching platform that puts the recruitment and retention of front-line teachers the number one stated and acted on priority of the Board of Education.

Do you support the SF Arts and Families Funding Ordinance, restoring allocations of some Hotel Tax revenues to the City’s arts agencies and resources to prevent family homelessness?  Why or why not?

Yes. I’ve been active with the SF arts commission (mostly in-roads with film and the Roxie theater) and support this.

Rob Geller

How would you describe the specific impact of artists and arts organizations on the life of our city?  Please use at least one example of the arts changing lives or communities.

The impact of artists and arts organizations on our city is profound.  The Community Music Center on Capp Street in the Mission is a beautiful example of an arts organization changing lives and bringing music to diverse communities. Through the CMC, my children have studied instruments, sung for years in a childrens’ chorus, performed as singing Angels in the annual La Poserela holiday show, sang for seniors and with seniors, performed in small summer ensembles and solo recitals, and participated in all kinds of musical enrichment.  This 95-year-old organization is a treasure, offers sliding scale rates and financial aid, and is wonderfully reflective of the cultures of the Mission District.  One of my goals as a School Board Commissioner will be to hire more music teachers in the Elementary Schools, so students can have more music instruction, so they really become fluent in the second language of music, and benefit from the mathematical and neurodevelopmental boost music study offers.

How will you ensure that San Francisco’s historically underserved communities are able to access the full benefits of the arts and resources for creative and community expression?

Let’s bring more arts and resources directly to the underserved communities, and continue to support, and expand, progams like AIM Concerts and similar enrichment in all Elementary Schools.  Let’s hire comedians to teach comedy in the schools, to counteract all the awful news and violence children may be exposed to in disadvantaged neighborhoods.  We can hire art therapists and expand the use of art therapy to work through behavioral health issues.

Over the past year the arts have been utilized to improve safety and protect the environment. For example, artist studios have activated vacant buildings. Murals have highlighted bike corrals and warned residents about the dangers of pollution. Name one or two ways you would leverage the work of artists and arts organizations to cultivate vibrant neighborhoods and achieve civic priorities.  

Living in the Mission, I am surrounded by beautiful murals celebrating and depicting all kinds of manifestations of life, often intimately tied to and reflective of their immediate neighborhoods.  I would love to see more of them, all over the city, in every neighborhood.  It would be great if San Francisco had the vibrantly painted fire hydrants, utility boxes and bus benches on the streets that they have in other cities.                    
                                               
Research shows that students with an arts-rich education have better grade point averages, lower drop-out rates and score better on standardized tests in reading and math. How will you ensure every San Francisco student is provided a robust arts education in school and has access to ample opportunities to engage in art outside of school?  

We can strengthen current and build new connections between SFUSD and outside arts organizations.  Part of my platform is to try to put dedicated music teacher back into every Elementary School, which will improve all the areas mentioned.  We can do this by working to increase the amount of money in the currently $65 million PEEF fund and/or reapportion the money already in the fund.  The construction of the new School of the Arts campus on Van Ness will give our arts education a great boost.

How can the SFUSD help retain our artists and arts organizations?  

Hire artists, musicians, dancers and comedians to work in the schools!  There are thousands of such artists and performers in San Francisco.  Let these artist/teachers live in newly-built teacher housing.  We should support initiatives that make it possible for local arts organizations to afford their increasing rents, and perhaps even find space in SFUSD sites for them to operate.  We can raise money for the arts by regularly auctioning off art created by students in District-wide events.

Do you support the SF Arts and Families Funding Ordinance, restoring allocations of some Hotel Tax revenues to the City’s arts agencies and resources to prevent family homelessness?  Why or why not?

YES!!  This is an absolutely essential measure to keep families and arts organizations in our increasingly unaffordable city.

Phil Kim

How would you describe the specific impact of artists and arts organizations on the life of our city?  Please use at least one example of the arts changing lives or communities.

San Francisco has a deep history rooted in the Arts. Recently, a few friends and I went on a Mission Mural Walk by Precita Eyes. I learned so much about the rich culture, deep history, and transformative work of organizations such as Precita Eyes, and the community partnerships and organizations that continue to grow and develop our youngest minds. It is clear the impact of artists and art organizations like Precita Eyes are not only preserving the past, but molding the future of local artists and our City.

We live in the most innovative, progressive, and creative hotbeds in the country. We must leverage all our resources to ensure these programs and partnerships are cultivated and endure.

How will you ensure that San Francisco’s historically underserved communities are able to access the full benefits of the arts and resources for creative and community expression?

It is critical that our schools become as much a part of our neighborhoods and communities as any other organization. They can act as centers for nurturing creative minds – young and old. As Commissioner, I will look to not only build on our currently existing arts and creative programs, but to also expand our offerings across our District. Our underserved neighborhoods need the resources (money) to be able to build sustainable programs that become pillars in our communities of creative expression, just as much as we provide access to technology and computer science. We must ensure we are providing all students in every neighborhood with a holistic education, and that our historically underserved communities have all the resources at their disposal.

Over the past year the arts have been utilized to improve safety and protect the environment. For example, artist studios have activated vacant buildings. Murals have highlighted bike corrals and warned residents about the dangers of pollution. Name one or two ways you would leverage the work of artists and arts organizations to cultivate vibrant neighborhoods and achieve civic priorities.

I believe that the culture of a school and community can be shaped by the aesthetics and imagery of our structures. As I was on the Precita Eyes Mural Walk, I was struck by the messaging that each mural tried to convey. I wonder the extent to which our District has partnered with local artists to bring life to our buildings, and I am committed to ensuring we revitalize wasted space to ensure we are promoting the arts in every corner of our schools. Additionally, I hope to strengthen our curriculum to include examples of locally- and culturally-responsive pedagogy to ensure we are highlighting the work of local artists, activists, and truly speak to the context of the art in our City.

Research shows that students with an arts-rich education have better grade point averages, lower drop-out rates and score better on standardized tests in reading and math. How will you ensure every San Francisco student is provided a robust arts education in school and has access to ample opportunities to engage in art outside of school?

I am only one of three candidates who is a credentialed educator. I hope to leverage my experience in education (as a former teacher) to look deeply into curriculum, teaching, and learning in SFUSD to ensure we are providing a holistic and meaningful educational experience for our students – including access to arts before, during, and after school. We already have robust after school programs, but we need more opportunities so barriers are minimized as much as possible. I am dedicated to ensuring our schools provide robust arts education for our students, and finding ways to highlight our proof points to incentivize parent/family engagement and provide models for other schools.

How can the SFUSD help retain our artists and arts organizations?

I believe that, through developing and growing our partnerships, we can ensure artists and arts organizations are partnering with the District in providing professional and developmental opportunities for local artists. 
Do you support the SF Arts and Families Funding Ordinance, restoring allocations of some Hotel Tax revenues to the City’s arts agencies and resources to prevent family homelessness?  Why or why not?

Though I have yet to come to a final decision on Prop S, I do fundamentally believe that the City must build sustainable funding streams and revenue to the City’s arts agencies and dedicate resources to prevent family homelessness. I have not yet done my own extensive research into the proposal, but plan to soon.

Ian Kalin

How would you describe the specific impact of artists and arts organizations on the life of our city?  Please use at least one example of the arts changing lives or communities.

Arts and artists are absolutely essential to the life, character and future of San Francisco. I have witnessed this through my work as a Board Member with the Blue Bear School of Music. This San Francisco institution, the “original school of rock” and currently housed in Fort Mason, has improved the lives of thousands of people and served as a community hub for artistic education. One of their programs delivers instruments, instructors and musical programming to the City’s poorest citizens and also augments public school education whose music funding has been cut. Blue Bear, and other institutions like it such as the Community Music Center in the Mission, are part of the core ecosystem of San Francisco’s cultural vibrancy. We believe in expression. We believe in taking care of each other. And we believe in keeping centers like this inside our great City.

How will you ensure that San Francisco’s historically underserved communities are able to access the full benefits of the arts and resources for creative and community expression?

By protecting, and increasing the investment in, arts and creativity education.

Over the past year the arts have been utilized to improve safety and protect the environment. For example, artist studios have activated vacant buildings. Murals have highlighted bike corrals and warned residents about the dangers of pollution. Name one or two ways you would leverage the work of artists and arts organizations to cultivate vibrant neighborhoods and achieve civic priorities.

Neighborhood priorities and civic priorities go hand-in-hand.  Through partnerships between the private-sector and public sector as well as managed partnerships with neighborhoods, cooperative projects can help diverse people achieve common goals. As demonstrated by our City’s public 311 call logs, people everywhere in San Francisco care about the City’s appearance and cleanliness.  Therefore, when city officials coordinate with artists to create mural projects like those highlighted in the question, we are actually achieving a core City service.  I believe public spaces can also be used for innovation and Smart City experiments.  For example, consider the “Living Innovation Zones” that the Mayor’s Office launched in partnership with the Exploratorium and other partners.  These projects educate, convene people, improve the city’s character, and often lend themselves to improvements in the city’s transit and wi-fi infrastructure.

Research shows that students with an arts-rich education have better grade point averages, lower drop-out rates and score better on standardized tests in reading and math. How will you ensure every San Francisco student is provided a robust arts education in school and has access to ample opportunities to engage in art outside of school?

We need to significantly improve the level of funding in San Francisco’s schools. I have a detailed plan for how to achieve goal, in collaboration with SFUSD’s diverse stakeholders. The details of this plan are available at IanKalin.com.

How can the SFUSD help retain our artists and arts organizations?

For individuals, we need to significantly increase the salary of arts teachers.  For organizations, SFUSD should invest in them directly where appropriate to augment any gaps in their ability to deliver a world-class arts education to their students.

Do you support the SF Arts and Families Funding Ordinance, restoring allocations of some Hotel Tax revenues to the City’s arts agencies and resources to prevent family homelessness?  Why or why not?

Yes.  Because I was compelled by the thoughtful and evidence-based argument presented by Jonathan Moscone in this SF Chronicle Op-Ed.

DISTRICT 11 - Kimberly Alvarenga

How would you describe the specific impact of artists and arts organizations on the life of our City?  Please use at least one example of the arts changing lives or communities.

District 11 is building stronger communities by using community-building processes. We are home to an incredible collection of murals. Community leaders worked with Precita Eyes to bring young people and elders together to inspire many of them. Our murals share the history, values, and understanding the diversity of our working class district. You can see an example of that storytelling in “Waiting for the 52”, one of the most recognized murals in the Excelsior. Our most recent murals celebrates the life of Demetrio “Demie” Braceros, our former gardener at Cayuga Park. Demie was known for his wood-carved statues and sculptures which have made the park a place of community reflection. The mural intersects the two different mediums of visual art, emphasizing how art defines District 11.

How will you ensure that San Francisco’s historically underserved communities are able to access the full benefits of the arts and resources for creative and community expression?

Supervisor Avalos introduced District 11 Art Walks, which helped to not only give our local artists visibility while engaging members of the community. Mama Art Cafe and Cumaica cafes are two of our greatest partners in holding space for our neighborhood artists. I want to continue those traditions. We also need to think outside of the box as to what it considered “art” by cultivating cultural and ethnic forms of art, dance, and music to create cultural vibrance along our merchant corridors. We have so many forms of art that come out of the the diverse cultures in our district that are not always seen at face value by the mainstream art world.

Over the past year the arts have been utilized to improve safety and protect the environment. For example, artist studios have activated vacant buildings. Murals have highlighted bike corrals and warned residents about the dangers of pollution. Name one or two ways you would leverage the work of artists and arts organizations to cultivate vibrant neighborhoods and achieve civic priorities.

Many of our alleys and stairways along Cayuga and Outer Mission were considered unsafe and uninviting for many years. We used murals and mosaics to bring new life to these spaces I want to continue to the work we’ve done to renovate those areas. In terms of environmental messaging, I want to use the indigenous histories that many of our Latino and Filipino residents have to tell the story of how our ancestors valued the earth to make the connection of how we need to respect our environment today.

Research shows that students with an arts-rich education have better grade point averages, lower drop-out rates, and score better on standardized tests in reading and math. How will you ensure every San Francisco student is provided a robust arts education in school and has access to ample opportunities to engage in art outside of school?

I will advocate for more funding for Rec and Park to prioritize art-inclusive after school programs. Many of our park clubhouses are rented out to nonprofits and community organizations. We should be looking to house the organizations appropriately instead of just pushing them into tiny Rec and Park facilities, so that they can better provide the services people need. We can also do more work with the Excelsior YMCA to create after-school and senior programs. Finally, we need to address how gentrification impacts arts organizations that are working to benefit our young people. Loco Bloco was pushed out of it’s space at San Francisco Community School because newer residents were complaining about noise. This organization was helping young people to find a purpose instead of getting into trouble. They’ve since moved to the Mission District and our young people lost an incredible mentoring resource.

How will you improve affordable housing and tenant protections, both for low income and middle class San Franciscans? Do you support artist-specific affordable housing? Why or why not?

I do support artist-specific affordable housing. Of all of the candidates, I have the most experience with creating policy and with securing tenant protections and will bring that to this office. Again, we need to think outside the box of art as a mainstream idea, or something that you see in a museum. All kinds of people create art. We need to ensure that community artists have the same protections that we all have. When we lose our musicians, our muralists, our dancers, and our storytellers, we lose the soul of our community.

What can the City do to address skyrocketing rents -- for office, studio, rehearsal and performance spaces -- for artists, arts groups and other nonprofits?

In District 11, Communities United for Health and Justice is a coalition that has mapped out spaces that can be used for the arts, by creating partnerships with community members and organizations. There is a lot of space in D11 for this to happen. Supervisor Avalos secured 6 million dollars for the Geneva Car Barn and I want to see it through that there will art space provided there.

Do you support the SF Arts and Families Funding Ordinance, restoring allocations of some Hotel Tax revenues to the City’s arts agencies and resources to prevent family homelessness?  Why or why not?

Yes. District 11 is home to many low income families that are one paycheck or major catastrophe away from being homeless, and we have one of the highest rates of family displacement in the city. When we talk about homelessness, families are often the invisible face of the issue. It is critical that we are securing the funding needed to pull them out of these circumstances.

Private development in some portions of the City must set aside 1% of their construction budget for art, or support for arts facilities.  Would you support extending that 1% for art requirement on new development to the entire city?  Why or why not?

Absolutely yes. We need it. When we were looking at Healthy San Francisco, we looked at it from a citywide lens, that everyone had the right to affordable health care. That is how we need to look at issues such as housing and space for our arts, because it impacts our young people, our families, or seniors, our LGBT communities, and our immigrant communities, just as much as poverty, health, and education do.

DISTRICT 9 - Hillary Ronen

How would you describe the specific impact of artists and arts organizations on the life of our City? Please use at least one example of the arts changing lives or communities.

Art plays an essential role in our city. It builds community by bringing people together to celebrate, heal, contemplate, and practice resiliency. It provides a space for expression to make sense of the world and those around us. One of my favorite examples of resiliency was the response from Mission artists to the defacing of "Por Vida," the LGBT mural outside of Galeria de la Raza. Rather than let fear and hatred take over, artists organized a rally, arts conference and fundraiser. It was an honor to work with groups like Galeria, Calle 24 businesses and the LGBT community to denounce the homophobic and hateful actions of a few. Despite the role that artists play in our community, many continue to be displaced and their spaces remain threatened. As Supervisor, I will continue working to pass laws that keep tenants and artists in their rent-controlled homes, and identifying and creating revenue to build thousands of units of affordable housing.

How will you ensure that San Francisco’s historically underserved communities are able to access the full benefits of the arts and resources for creative and community expression?

While large-scale arts entities like the ballet and opera play important roles in the arts community, I believe our smaller arts nonprofits need a greater degree of support because of the unique role they play in giving voice to historically underrepresented communities. As Supervisor, I will fight for funding to support cultural equity in the arts. I will also push for the Arts Commission to increase the size and flexibility of its grants to arts organizations, as well as provide greater resources to individual artists -- whether that be in the form of grants, establishing an artist registry, or support in securing affordable workspaces. I am proud to support Prop S on this November’s ballot, and will continue working with the arts community to innovate and identify revenue to support a thriving arts community for generations to come.

Over the past year the arts have been utilized to improve safety and protect the environment. For example, artist studios have activated vacant buildings. Murals have highlighted bike corrals and warned residents about the dangers of pollution. Name one or two ways you would leverage the work of artists and arts organizations to cultivate vibrant neighborhoods and achieve civic priorities.

During my time in the D9 office, I’ve already been working with local artists and community on ways to improve the vibrancy and safety of our neighborhoods. In my neighborhood, the Portola, we’ve been working to turn vacant lots - previously used as illegal dumping grounds - into green spaces that beautify the corridors along San Bruno lining the freeway. I’m very proud of the first pocket park we created on Burrows St., where we worked with local artists and neighbors to clean up the space, plant trees and greenery that offsets the impact of GHG emitted from the freeway, and paint murals that brighten up the area with Portola pride. We’re currently working on another pocket park on Thornton Ave. If elected, I will continue prioritizing projects that bring neighbors together, in collaboration that improves and beautifies our public spaces.

Research shows that students with an arts-rich education have better grade point averages, lower drop-out rates, and score better on standardized tests in reading and math. How will you ensure every San Francisco student is provided a robust arts education in school and has access to ample opportunities to engage in art outside of school?

As the District 9 Office Chief of Staff, I have been successful in advocating for funds for important efforts through the annual budget process. As Supervisor, I will fight for increased funds for the school district to provide arts education in our schools, and for the Department of Children, Youth and their Families and the Arts Commission to support afterschool arts programming. I also look forward to working collaboratively with Board of Education members and arts organizations to identify new resources for arts education in District 9 and San Francisco as a whole.

How will you improve affordable housing and tenant protections, both for low income and middle class San Franciscans? Do you support artist-specific affordable housing? Why or why not?

As Chief of Staff to District 9, we’ve passed significant legislation directly addressing San Francisco’s housing crisis. I authored and organized the campaigns to pass legislation addressing harassment of tenants, increasing relocation payment to tenants evicted under the Ellis Act, regulating buyouts of tenants from their homes, and preventing the eviction of educators and families during the school year. I also led the efforts to obtain more affordable housing in our district by spearheading a moratorium on market rate housing, pressuring the mayor to dedicate $50 million of the housing bond for the Mission, designating $35 million from the general fund for housing in last year’s budget, and getting the Metropolitan Transportation Commission to promise funding for affordable housing in transit rich areas of our district. I absolutely would support artist-specific affordable housing, and look forward to working with arts organizations and stakeholders to create below market rate developments to house our artist communities. As Supervisor, I will continue fighting to keep tenants in their homes and prioritizing building 5,000 units of affordable housing especially in D9.

What can the City do to address skyrocketing rents -- for office, studio, rehearsal and performance spaces -- for artists, arts groups and other nonprofits?

Last year, I played a key leadership role in championing passage of Proposition J, which established funds to help Legacy businesses, including arts nonprofits, pay increases in commercial rent in exchange for longer term leases. As Supervisor, I will work to ensure the growth and success of this first-of-its-kind program, which can mean the difference between an arts group staying in San Francisco or moving outside of the Bay Area altogether. I am proud that Precita Eyes Muralists in the Mission was one of the first legacy businesses nominated. Also while in the District 9 Office, I supported the successful extension and expansion of the Nonprofit and Artist Anti-displacement Mitigation Fund to help arts nonprofits stay in place or rent/buy a new space in the city. As Supervisor, I will continue identifying new ways to improve this program, including making the requirements more flexible. I also look forward to exploring collocation opportunities for arts collectives and organizations.

Do you support the SF Arts and Families Funding Ordinance, restoring allocations of some Hotel Tax revenues to the City’s arts agencies and resources to prevent family homelessness? Why or why not?

While I don't always support set asides, I support the SF Arts and Families Funding Ordinance because it restores funding that was previously intended for dedication to the arts when the hotel tax was originally established. Having fought to open the City’s first navigation center here in D9, and having led the charge calling for a State of Emergency on Homelessness, I also support the Ordinance's efforts to end family homelessness. As Supervisor I will maintain innovative collaborations with community groups and nonprofits to find new and effective ways to solve homelessness.

Private development in some portions of the City must set aside 1% of their construction budget for art, or support for arts facilities. Would you support extending that 1% for art requirement on new development to the entire city? Why or why not?

Yes, I support extending the 1% arts set aside across the City. I would also like to explore creating incentives for developers to use the in lieu fee option to bolster the Public Art Trust Fund given the almost nonexistent use of that option. The funds could be used for workspaces for artists, as well as supporting nonprofit arts organizations. I would also push for the Planning Department to better track the public art within private developments created by the 1% requirement, and make that information readily accessible to the public so that all San Franciscans can enjoy those installations.

DISTRICT 9 -  Melissa San Miguel

How would you describe the specific impact of artists and arts organizations on the life of our City? Please use at least one example of the arts changing lives or communities.

I was born and raised in the Mission district. Despite the challenges of growing up in a violent neighborhood filled with gangs, on my walk back home from school, I would purposely walk down Balmy Alley. I found peace in the beautiful murals that dotted my neighborhood and would bask in the colors, images and beauty of the artwork because it made my day better no matter what was going on. Indeed, art has played a big role in my life as I learned how to play my first instrument – the violin – in our City’s public schools. I know first hand how powerful the arts can be in changing and improving one’s life. I believe in the power of art to positively impact lives and touch the beauty that exists in all of us. This is the power of artists and art organizations – they can shape lives, perspectives and visions of our community.

How will you ensure that San Francisco’s historically underserved communities are able to access the full benefits of the arts and resources for creative and community expression?

As the proud daughter of Peruvian immigrants and daughter of a working-class union family, my parents worked hard to support my creative endeavors. I benefitted from public arts programs in our schools where I studied violin and voice. My parents also enrolled me at the Community Music Center in the Mission, where I played piano for several years. We need to restructure funding and other resources to address barriers to underserved communities so our youth can have these types of opportunities. We need a Cultural Equity Assessment of current investments in arts and cultural resources, and we need a citywide cultural planning process that maps all arts and cultural assets, specifically formal/informal culture producers that serve marginalized communities. People of color make up 57% of the San Francisco population. Our publicly funded arts agencies’ grants to artists and collectives should reflect the diversity of our city so we proactively address funding barriers for underserved communities. Other localities like Nashville’s arts and culture department, Metro Arts, piloted a change to their grant-making process to increase this type of equity.

Over the past year the arts have been utilized to improve safety and protect the environment. For example, artist studios have activated vacant buildings. Murals have highlighted bike corrals and warned residents about the dangers of pollution. Name one or two ways you would leverage the work of artists and arts organizations to cultivate vibrant neighborhoods and achieve civic priorities.

The arts play a key role in improving safety, highlighting environmental issues and providing visually appealing spaces. However, art can do so much more. Art is a vehicle for community visioning and empowerment. It serves as a powerful organizing strategy and can be a central part of advocacy for transportation, economic development, and health, among a few issues. For example, Performing Statistics is a project that connects incarcerated youth, artists and policy advocates to produce media campaigns, police training initiatives, and mobile exhibitions. Their work has been seen by tens of thousands across Virginia and beyond, and is being used to train every police officer in Richmond, VA. This is something San Francisco can learn from and do. We can be on the cutting edge of putting the arts in the role of positively impacting culture and changing how we interact with one another.

Research shows that students with an arts-rich education have better grade point averages, lower drop-out rates, and score better on standardized tests in reading and math. How will you ensure every San Francisco student is provided a robust arts education in school and has access to ample opportunities to engage in art outside of school?

As a student at Flynn Elementary, I first learned how to play the violin. Throughout my time at Horace Mann Middle School and for most of my Lowell High experience, I sang in my school’s choir. While practicing and performing, I felt free and connected with other musicians. The arts were a big part of my childhood and gave me something to look forward to in school each day. I believe the arts contributed to my academic success. I will fully support efforts to provide robust arts education in schools and will support increased partnerships with instructors and art schools outside of school. We can accomplish this by establishing a city coordinated arts education initiative to ensure that every child receives high quality arts and cultural education. We can utilize best practices from the Promise Neighborhoods as well as shared value and collective impact strategies to link artists, local government, businesses, cultural organizations, faith- and community-based groups, schools, parents, and students. Dallas’ Thriving Minds is one example we can learn from.

How will you improve affordable housing and tenant protections, both for low income and middle class San Franciscans? Do you support artist specific affordable housing? Why or why not?

The Mission has borne the brunt of the affordable housing crisis in San Francisco. There are thousands of working and middle-income families being pushed out of the very neighborhoods they built. Yet, still there is no plan for addressing this crisis, let alone solving it. I will work to establish a plan and coherent approach that puts us on a path to a resolution for our crisis. I will fight to develop affordable housing sites and fight for increased affordable housing units in various developments. I will work to maintain and extend rent control. I support artist-specific housing. Artists are oftentimes culture bearers and community leaders. Yet, artists are under extreme pressures of being displaced from our city. Artist-specific housing is a core step of ensuring the culture of a neighborhood is preserved. Affordable housing and facilities will bring increased community collaboration, expanded production of work and events, and better financial performance for artists, cultural producers, and arts and culture organizations.

What can the City do to address skyrocketing rents -- for office, studio, rehearsal and performance spaces -- for artists, arts groups and other nonprofits?

The city can be proactive in preserving PDR space for artists, art groups and others. We can work with nonprofit developers for artists who help us develop affordable space that meets the needs of artists through the adaptive reuse of historic buildings and new construction. We can also partner with SF-based organizations, such as the Community Arts Stabilization Trust, to extend their model to support artists/groups specifically in the Mission district and neighborhoods of District 9. Ultimately, we need a citywide plan to address this issue so that the needs across neighborhoods and communities are met.

Do you support the SF Arts and Families Funding Ordinance, restoring allocations of some Hotel Tax revenues to the City’s arts agencies and resources to prevent family homelessness? Why or why not?

I support the SF Arts and Families Funding Ordinance. This measure restores allocations of hotel tax revenue to arts funding, improves access to arts experiences with a focus on equity for underserved communities and works to end family homelessness – all things I fully support.

Private development in some portions of the City must set aside 1% of their construction budget for art, or support for arts facilities. Would you support extending that 1% for art requirement on new development to the entire city? Why or why not?

Yes. This will allow developers to fully contribute to our community and incentivize building community relationships while increasing public benefit of these projects. The SF Public Utilities Commission is leading the way in exemplifying how a percentage for the arts can be used to directly benefit marginalized communities. In pooling funds generated from capital projects across the city, SFPUC made investments in three communities, including Bayview Hunters Point. These targeted funds have helped to renovate the neighborhood center, supported employment programs for youth and increased arts collaborations and block parties to revitalize the neighborhoods cultural corridor. These funds can go a long way in our neighborhoods.