FYI

Urgent: Oakland Arts Funding To Be Axed!



Arts funding for the city of Oakland's entire Cultural Arts and Marketing Department is on the chopping block, pending a vote on Tuesday, October 21 by the Oakland City Council. This is a grave and urgent situation.

Oakland City Council is proposing to cut all Cultural Funding and Public Art staff positions, as well as the entire Oakland Cultural Funding Program's grants budget, to close the budget gap. This would essentially close down the Cultural Arts Programs, as there would be no staff, even if public art dollars are generated by new construction. All staff and teachers in the already-fragile arts sector will also lose their jobs. This is a serious threat to a thriving but already under-funded community. While the City's finances are in a dire situation, the cultural arts department has historically borne more than its share of cuts and now represents only 0.4% (4/10 of 1%)of the overall city budget, yet serves 6,273 children and youth through the art in the schools program, and another 957,650 people through performances, events, etc. Most of these children would not have access to arts without these programs.

The arts are not a luxury. Children and youth who participate in arts programs and learn positive ways to express themselves are less likely to engage in unsafe or criminal activities. Neighborhoods with visual and performing arts venues bring in revenue to the local economy, help prevent crime and violence by "keeping the lights on," and add to the overall quality of life in our city.

What you can do to save arts funding in Oakland:

1) Come to the Oakland City Council meeting on Tuesday, October 21, 6pm. This topic is currently Item 19 on the Agenda, so it may be a long meeting. To view the evite for this meeting, visit evite.com/pages/invite/viewInvite.jsp?event=ACFFSJPPTIYVQCGKBKXY.

2) Contact your council member and let them know that cutting arts funding is unacceptable to you - a voting member of their district.

There are currently three council members who are opposed to cutting arts funding: Nancy Nadel, Jane Brunner, and Desley Brooks. All other council members have indicated that they will vote to cut the program. Contact your council member to let them know you object to cutting funding for the arts, and let the three council members that support the arts know how much you appreciate their support. Below is contact info for each of the district council members:

District 1, Jane Brunner, jbrunner@oaklandnet.com, (510) 238-7001
District 2, Pat Kernighan,pkernighan@oaklandnet.com, (510) 238-7002
District 3, Nancy Nadel, nnadel@oaklandnet.com, (510) 238-700
District 4, Jean Quan, jquan@oaklandnet.com, (510) 238-7004
District 5, Ignacio de la Fuente, idelafuente@oaklandnet.com, (510) 238-7005
District 6, Desley Brooks, dbrooks@oaklandnet.com, (510) 238-7006
District 7, Larry Reid, lreid@oaklandnet.com, (510) 238-7007
At-Large, Henry Chang, Jr., cityochang@aol.com

3) Sign the Oakland Art Gallery's online petition at ipetitions.com/petition/Oakland_Arts_Funding/index.html.

4) Forward this to people you know including artists, educators, and those work for arts organizations, enjoy arts events, or have a child in an arts program in one of Oakland's schools or community centers.