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REBUILDING OUR COMMUNITIES – June 28th, 2023 

Annual State of the Arts Summit

On June 28th, Arts for a Better Bay Area and several partnering organizations hosted an annual art convening focused on rebuilding our arts and culture communities at the A.C.T. The Strand Theater in San Francisco. Artists, administrators, government officials, and representatives from various networks convened to learn from one another to strengthen the arts sector in the wake of the COVID pandemic.

The theme, "Rebuilding Our Communities," explored collective ways the arts community can develop and bridge supportive connections as we emerge from the pandemic. Our goal is to strengthen our networks and build support allowing us to mobilize around critical issues, important policies, and other matters. Our hope is to help create a stronger, more resilient arts community.

This half-day convening and event included plenary statements and key information from regional arts leaders about the local and regional arts sector, break-out sessions and discussions, networking, and more!

Event recordings and event component episodes (posted July 2023-February 2024)

Event and media partners, Voices of the Community, and BAVC Media production teams will be posting edited and fully produced video files to the Arts for a Better Bay Area (ABBA) and Voices of the Community YouTube Channels so that you can watch and learn from the events' talks and sessions. Please stay tuned for the first video (end of July). 

Each month starting July 2023 (through Dec. 2023), the media teams will produce and publish five unique TV and radio show episodes from the five main components of the event, introductory and keynote presentations, and the four breakout sessions: (1) Introductions/opening & Keynote Presentations (2) Breakout session - Economic Recovery in the Arts, (3) Breakout session - Housing for the Artist Workforce, (4) Breakout session - Regional Economic Recovery Through the Arts, (5) Breakout session - Proposition E Updates and Discussion. Additional interviews with event participants and speakers will be posted as well.

These videos will be linked to this page (below), Arts for a Better Bay Area's YouTube Channel, and the Voices of the Community landing page. 

State of the Arts 2023 Video components:

• Video 1 - Introductions and Keynote Speakers (please see video full description below the videos for links to jump to video speaker components)
• Video 2 - Economic Recovery in the Arts: Regaining Patrons and Artistic Engagement - Breakout session
• Video 3 - Housing for the Artist Workforce: Revisiting Artists’ Housing - Breakout session
• Video 4 - Regional Economic Recovery Through the Arts - Breakout session (partial video)
• Video 5 - Proposition E, 2018 & Arts Impact Endowment Update - Breakout session (partial video)
• Interview - Jonathan Moscone, Executive Director - California Arts Council
• Interview - Ralph Remington, Director of Cultural Affairs - San Francisco Arts Commission
• Interview - Maria Jenson, Creative & Executive Director - SOMArts Cultural Center
• Interview - Meredith Winner - Co-Founder & COO, Building 180 & Paint the Void & Lyzette Wanzer - Author, Editor, Instructor
• Interview - Fernando Pujals, Deputy Director - Mid-Market Business Association & Foundation & Rachel Osajima, Director - Alameda County Arts Commission
  
• Interview - Vallie Brown, Director - San Francisco Grants for the Arts

Resource Directory

We are working on creating a resource directory so that you can access information and materials related to the four breakout session topics covered at the Summit. We will continue to develop this directory, so make sure to circle back to review!

Materials: 

• Economic Recovery in the Arts
• Housing for the Artist Workforce
• Proposition E Updates and Discussion (general information from the 2018 campaign)
• Regional Economic Recovery Through the Arts

Survey

If you attended the event, we thank you and ask that you take a few minutes to complete our survey. We value your feedback and want to take your thoughts and ideas into consideration as we look toward programming for next year.

SURVEY LINK

Sneak a peek at some of the Summit photos on our Facebook Page here.

Event Schedule (6/28/23):

• No-host bar throughout the event
• Light refreshments to be provided during the networking hour
• Covid Policy
• Visiting: The Strand Theater offers ADA-accessible entries, seating, bathrooms, and elevators. Please visit The Strand's website to learn about public transit and parking options.