The ACCM (Arts, Culture and Creativity Month) 2021 Convening will be held on Tuesday, April 27, 2021 as a full day virtual convening to develop effective and informed arts advocates across California.
Tuesday, April 27th will be a full day virtual convening involving up-to-date advocacy action updates, breakout sessions on relevant topics facilitated by leaders in their field, and a celebration of the rich California artistic community.
The entire Convening will be FREE and open to all, but you must register for each individual session. We want this information to be accessible; all sessions will be recorded and hope they will be shared widely.
Sunrise Yoga
Start your day with breath, movement and mindfulness before a full day of learning, networking, and unifying our statewide advocacy voice for the Arts. Building self-care into your advocacy regiment helps to build resilience and tenacity is the work that seems to never stop. Use your whole body as a tool for advancing the Arts in CA.
Featured Presenter:
Zaquia Mahler Salinas, Artistic Director, Disco Riot
Opening Session - From a Campaign to a Movement: Arts Advocacy Today
What has COVID taught us in terms of advocating for the arts that we did not know before? Who are the current leaders for arts advocacy and what has changed in terms of our case making and our strategies? Join our opening session and get the pulse on arts advocacy today as we shift from single campaigns for arts funding and legislation to a national coalition led movement to recognize that arts are a critical industry, artists are essential workers and the creative sector is an economic and community driver for healthy outcomes prioritizing racial and cultural equity.
The opening session kicks off with guest speaker Mayor Todd Gloria as he share his story of civic engagement from being a staff person for Susan Davis to City Council member to CA State legislator to now the first person of color and the first openly gay person to serve as San Diego's mayor and how arts and culture fits into his leadership framework.
Then join Californians for the Arts Executive Director Julie Baker in conversation with national and statewide advocacy leaders to get specific details on what we are advocating for today and to be informed of important legislative and budget priorities. Be inspired to become part of the movement and hear from new and long time leaders as they share their stories of engagement, success and activation in support of the creative industries.
Lead Moderator:
Julie Baker, Executive Director, Californians for the Arts
Featured Speakers:
Todd Gloria, Mayor of San Diego
Betty Avila, Self Help Graphics & Art
Jeff Chang, Vice President of Narrative, Arts and Culture for Race Forward
Tom DeCaigny, Create CA
Matthew Lee Erlbach, Be An Arts Hero
Victoria L. Hamilton, Arts and Culture Advocate, Co-chair, San Diego Regional Arts and Culture Coalition
Jenny Koons, Theater Director and Organizer
Harini Krishnan, Vice-Chair San Mateo County Arts Commissioner/South Asians For Biden CA
Maria Leon De Leon, NALAC, Nat’L Assoc of Latino Arts and Culture
Casey Lowdermilk, NIVA CA
Nina Ozlo Tunceli, Americans for the Arts
Michael Strickland, Live Events Coalition
Cat Willis, Tannery World Dance and Cultural Center
Featured Performance:
TBA
Youth Empowerment Panel: Let THEM Lead
It's been made clear, especially through COVID, that our youth are a gold mine for creative solutions and masters of innovative resilience during times of crisis. In this session we open the door for a panel of dynamic young people to not only share about the challenges their communities faced, but also the solutions they brought to the community table. Tap into this empowering session and not only hear the voices of the future, but gain insight on how to engage and activate youth in your communities.... FOR CHANGE!
Featured Speakers:
Josiah Bruny, CEO, Music Changing Lives
Catherine “Cat” Corral, Co-Founder & Executive/Artistic Director, trancenDANCE
Matt D’Arrigo, Co-Founder and Director, The Center for Creative Youth Development (CYD) at the Clare Rose Foundation
Tamaira "Miss Tee" Sandifer, President, Studio T Arts & Entertainment
Youth Change Makers: Viviana Alcazar-Haynes, Anaya Bullard, Hannah Feuerwerker, & Terrell Powell
Intersections: Arts AND…
How do artists, arts organizations and the creative industries intersect with important social impact issues and other critical sectors, such as public and mental health, transportation, housing and homelessness, and the environment? The session will explore how artists are essential workers and are vital not only to our social and emotional well-being but to our ability to imagine, create and sustain a more robust, meaningful and just economic recovery. Learn from and be inspired by real life examples of how arts leaders and arts advocates are making the case for the inclusion of arts and culture at all levels of local, state and federal government, as well as at the grassroots level, and how these cases lay the groundwork for Governor Newsom’s $15M newly proposed program, the California Creative Corps and Senator Allen’s CA Creative Workforce Act (SB 628).
Lead Moderator:
Jennifer Laine, Executive Director, San Benito County Arts Council
Featured Speakers:
Jason Foster, Destination Crenshaw
Katrina Pineda, Arts Health Early Career Research Network
Ben Stone, Smart Growth America
Mallory Rukhsana رخسانہ Nezam, Civic practice artist
Marie Acosta, Board member CFTA/CAA, Sacramento Artist Corps
Featured Performance:
Voices of Our City Choir
Brown Bag Lunch with CFTA Executive Director Julie Baker
Speaking Truth to Power: Bending Toward Justice in the Creative Industries
Truth and acknowledgment are critical to building mutual respect and connection across all barriers of heritage and difference. This meeting will be an opportunity to network with colleagues on a statewide level, learn about anti-racist advocacy on a state and federal level, preview what equitable funding ecosystem in the arts can look like and come to shared understanding on the necessity for arts leadership to deepen equity and anti-racism work.
This is a predominantly Black, Indigenous and Person of Color developed and led session on how we might disrupt the behaviors and practices that support injustice. We'll conclude with a dynamic workshop presentation from the I.D.E.A WAVE COLAB that will give participants an opportunity to interact and engage in collaboratively envisioning a culture where historically excluded voices are centered and supported as we shift the current towards an equitable future where all can thrive.
Our goal is that attendees leave understanding that they, no matter their positionality, are a powerful agent of change in our sector; and must advocate for the arts for all.
Lead Co-Moderators:
Leticia Rhi Buckley, Senior Civic Strategist, The Music Center
Jade Elyssa Rivera, Programs and Operations Associate, Californians for the Arts
Featured Speakers:
Ana Cervantes, Grants Writer, Arts Connection - The Arts Council of San Bernardino County
Quanice G. Floyd, Host, Black Arts Admin B*tch Podcast
Anika Kwinana, Director of Social Responsibility and Inclusion, Western States Arts Federation
Lakhiyia Hicks, Founder + Project Manager, HOMEplxce
Ted Russell, Director of Arts Strategy & Ventures, Kenneth Rainin Foundation
I.D.E.A. WAVE Colab Team (Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Anti-Racism)
Featured Performance:
Día de Los Muertos Ceremony - Calpulli Tonalehqueh
Arts Workers are Essential: The Creative Workforce Movement
Creative labor is undervalued and arts and culture organizations are undercapitalized. Covid-19 has devastated the creative sector, underscoring the long-standing racial and economic inequities inherent in our cultural infrastructure. This moment of crisis is forging a powerful arts worker movement. How are leaders across the sectors using this moment to advance legislation and programs that meet the needs of arts workers in the 21st century? What can we learn from cross-sector workforce development movements in this time of change?
Lead Moderator:
Gustavo Herrera, Executive Director, Arts for LA
Featured Panelists:
Van Ton-Quinlivan, CEO of Futuro Health
Brooke Ishibashi, Be An #ArtsHero representative
Deborah Cullinan, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts
Featured Performance:
Antione Hunter
The Art of Advocacy: Practical Steps to build your Advocacy Movement
Create Your Own Micro Advocacy Plan. Explore the art of advocacy using the tools in your own tool box by craft your advocacy story with your artistic practice.
Lead Moderator:
Ron Muriera, Owner/Consultant, RPM Consulting
Featured Panelists:
Anthony Rendon, Speaker, California State Assembly
Keasha Dumas Heath, Executive Director, The Museum of African American Art
Featured Performance: Keasha Dumas Heath's Powerful Testimony at Assembly Committee on Arts & Entertainment Hearing
Keynote and Performance
Thank you to our Membership and 2021 Convening Sponsors:
Arts, Culture, and Creativity Month, and our advocacy in 2021, is dedicated to the late Larry Baza.
Arts and culture, civil rights, Latino and LGBTQ+ activist Larry Baza died of COVID-19 on Saturday, February 20, 2021.