Californians for the Arts, in partnership with local organizations, is holding four regional conversations to discuss the state of the nonprofit performing arts in California. In San Diego we are working with SDRACC (San Diego Arts and Culture Coalition) and The Old Globe. Bringing together organization leaders and artists to discuss the current crisis, provide background on how we got here, what the current situation is including a recent data report, and how through public policies and resources, philanthropy and innovative business models we can move forward to a more sustainable and equitable future. Highlights of the program include a presentation on a recent report by CVL Economics on the state of California nonprofit performing arts, the introduction of the CA Nonprofit Paymaster Program, recent legislative efforts including SB1116, the advocacy needed to build awareness, and a panel discussion with local leaders on new approaches and resources needed to sustain live nonprofit performing arts in California.
Partners: SDRACC (San Diego Regional Arts and Culture Coalition) and The Old Globe
READING RECOMMENDATIONS
Decomposition Instead of Collapse: Dear Theatre, Be Like Soil | RESCRIPTED | One of the biggest obstacles to systemic change is the unwillingness to move beyond the current paradigm we inhabit. We won’t be able to identify solutions or viability / scalability of those solutions until we move beyond an economic paradigm driven by scarcity.
Center Stage: The Role of Live Performing Arts In Revitalizing California Communities |**Full report that was presented in the session** California’s live Performing Arts sector is crucial to the state’s economic, social, and cultural wellbeing. The economic activity generated by the Performing Arts sector has often been undervalued or overlooked, but it can and should play a central role in economic development planning. Three years after the onset of COVID-19, it is clear that a return to a pre-pandemic economic landscape is unlikely.
Partners & Speakers
Julie Baker, CEO - Californians for the Arts and California Arts Advocates
Adam Fowler, Founding Partner - CVL Economics
Katy McDonald, Chief of Staff - San Diego Symphony
Timothy J. Shields, Audrey S. Geisel Managing Director - The Old GlobeDesiree Clarke Miller, Executive Artistic Director - Moxie Theater
Speakers
Timothy J. Shields joined The Old Globe as Managing Director in 2017. In his time in San Diego, he has enjoyed becoming involved in the community. He currently serves as a board member of the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce’s LEAD program; an advisory board member of the San Diego Downtown Partnership; and Vice President of the Balboa Park Cultural Partnership. He brings to San Diego many decades of not-for-profit theatre experience. He was Managing Director of Princeton, New Jersey’s McCarter Theatre Center (2009-2017); Milwaukee Repertory Theater (1998–2009); and Geva Theatre Center in Rochester, New York (1992–1998). He has also held administrative positions at Children’s Theatre Company in Minneapolis, Denver Center Theatre Company, and McCarter Theatre Center in an earlier period of his career. He served as President of the League of Resident Theatres and as Vice President of the board at Theatre Communications Group. He has been the Chair of the ArtPride NJ board; a member of Milwaukee’s Latino Arts Board; and a board member of the Cultural Alliance of Greater Milwaukee. He holds a B.F.A. in Drama Production from Carnegie-Mellon University in his hometown of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Adam J. Fowler (He/Him) is a founding partner at CVL Economics, a Los Angeles-based economic consultancy practice specializing in inclusive economic development and growth with an emphasis on the role of the creative economy.
In recent years Adam has led several high-profile engagements including the annual Otis College Report on the Creative Economy and economic analysis on the state of the screen industries for LA County’s Department of Economic Opportunity. He has presented widely on the power of creative industries to support economic vibrancy and the importance of investment in removing barriers to creative career pathways.
As a recognized thought leader on the future of the creative economy, he has provided commentary to a wide variety of media outlets, including the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, Bloomberg, and National Public Radio.
Website: www.cvleconomics.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/cvleconomics/; https://www.linkedin.ccom/in/adamjamesfowler
Twitter: @adamjfowler
Julie Baker, CEO, CFTA & CAA
As CEO of California’s statewide arts advocacy organizations since 2018, Julie has worked to increase the legislative clout and visibility of the arts and culture communities by building coalition across the for and non-profit sectors of California’s creative industries, producing a month long arts awareness and advocacy campaign every April, and fighting for resources and legislation to serve and protect artists and cultural workers. She serves as the California State Captain to Americans for the Arts' National Arts Action Summit and on the State Arts Action Network Council and as the co-chair of the Western Arts Advocacy network for WESTAF. She is on the board of California Heritage: Indigenous Research Project, a founding member of the Nevada County Relief Fund advisory council and was elected to the Nevada County school board in November of 2020.
Over the years, Julie has owned a fine arts gallery for emerging artists, co-founded Flow art fair — a satellite to Art Basel Miami Beach — opened a consulting firm Julie Baker Projects and curated an annual music series at the Crocker Art Museum. Earlier in her career she was President of her family’s arts marketing firm in New York City and worked at Christie’s Auction house before moving to California in 1998. Julie also served for eight years as the Executive Director of The Center for the Arts, a non-profit performing arts venue and California WorldFest, an annual music and camping festival located in Grass Valley, CA. She is the recipient of the inaugural Peggy Levine Arts & Community Service Award from the Nevada County Arts Council. And the 2021 Alene Valkanas State Arts Advocacy Award from Americans for the Arts, which honors an individual at the state level whose arts advocacy efforts have dramatically affected the political landscape.
Desireé Clarke is a San Diego based Director and Actor with credits in the Coachella Valley, San Diego, Los Angeles, and Houston. She received her BFA in Acting from AMDA: College and Conservatory of the Performing Arts and is also a graduate of the British American Drama Academy. She recently directed Monsters of the American Cinema at Diversionary Theatre and Mother of the Maid at MOXIE Theatre. In 2019 directed a staged reading of Rajiv Joseph’s Gruesome Playground Injuries for which she was awarded the Desert Theatre League Award for Best Director of a Staged Reading. Desireé is extremely passionate about the impact that theatre can have on you than its application as a healthy coping mechanism. She has been a teaching artist specializing in devised theatre for under-resourced and under-represented folx at the La Jolla Playhouse, The Old Globe and Imagine. Desireé currently sits on the board of directors for the Palm Springs Young Playwrights Festival and will be directing Chronicles of Kalki at MOXIE Theatre to close out their 18th season.
Javier Velasco has supplied dances for productions at the La Jolla Playhouse, Old Globe, and has a long-standing relationship with the San Diego Repertory Theatre, where he has staged productions of A Christmas Carol, Cabaret, Hairspray, Tommy, In The Heights, and many others. He has enjoyed many long creative relationships, having worked with: Luis Valdez on the 20th Anniversary production of Zoot Suit, Bandido, and Corridos.; composer Steve Gunderson on the premieres of Suds (NYC) Dixie Highway, Back To Bacharach And David (NYC) and the dance/theatre piece The Brontes/Secret Pleasures, Secret Tears; and Douglas Jacobs and Sam Woodhouse, founding directors of the San Diego Rep. He currently serves as artistic director of the San Diego Ballet, having created over 70 original pieces for the company since its inception, including 10 pieces in collaboration with composer David Burge, to commissioned scores. His ballet set to the poems of Kenneth Fearing, Love: 20 Cents The First Quarter Mile, was given the award for Best Choreography by the San Diego Area Dance Alliance, the third time he was honored by the organization. Most recently, Mr. Velasco wrote and directed The Toughest Girl Alive, which premiered at Moxie Theatre and had a successful run at the New York International Fringe Festival. Mr. Velasco was recently awarded a Creative Catalyst Fellowship by the San Diego Foundation to create new work.
Jacole Kitchen is Director of Arts Engagement and In-House Casting at La Jolla Playhouse. As the co-lead of the Learning and Engagement Department, Jacole helps to expand and nurture community partnership, and foster relationships throughout the greater San Diego community of artists. Directing credits: Iron (Roustabouts Theatre Co.), The Music Sounds Different to Me Now (La Jolla Playhouse - WOW Festival) Pick Me Last and Light Years Away (La Jolla Playhouse POP Tour), Cardboard Piano (Diversionary Theatre), An Iliad (New Village Arts), September and Her Sisters (Scripps Ranch Theatre – Out on a Limb) and more. In addition, Jacole is a private acting coach, and serves as Executive Director for San Diego Performing Arts League (SDPAL). Previous positions: Casting Director and Artistic Associate for San Diego Repertory Theatre, and bicoastal talent agent specializing in representation for professional theatre actors, directors and choreographers at Kazarian/Measures/Ruskin & Associates.
Katy McDonald is the Chief of Staff at the San Diego Symphony, and has been in the role since March 2015. Prior to that, they were the Deputy Director of External Affairs at The San Diego Museum of Art from December 2006 to March 2015. Katy has also worked as the Associate Director of External Affairs at The Museum of Modern Art from January 1998 to December 2006. Katy McDonald received their Master of Business Administration (M.B.A.) from the University of San Diego and their Bachelor of Science (BS) in Philosophy and Political Science from Colorado College.