Save the date!

April 16, 2024 is our 2nd annual CA Arts & Culture Summit in Sacramento.

Last Year’s Event Overview

Join Californians for the Arts and Create CA for the inaugural CA Arts & Culture Summit in Sacramento on Monday, April 17. The Summit will take place during California’s 5th Annual Arts, Culture & Creativity Month. As our first major in-person event since the beginning of COVID, 2023’s events allow us to share space and be in community together. This is an opportunity to strengthen our network of support within the arts & culture community in California.

The Summit will unite arts and civic leaders for two days of events filled with knowledge-sharing, coalition building, and movement visioning. Participants will get a deep dive into recent statewide advocacy wins for the arts such as Prop 28, CA Creative Corps, Cultural Districts, CA Creative Workforce Act and more. They will also examine policy solutions for centering and supporting artists and cultural workers and developing cultural policy to support pathways to creative careers. The Summit will bring together arts advocates, cultural policy thought leaders, public and private arts funders, artists, creatives, educators, culture bearers, teaching artists, students, public officials and creative industry representatives from across the state to build our movement to prioritize arts, culture and creativity as key drivers for California’s economic health and community vitality.

The CA Arts & Culture Summit is partially funded by a grant from the California Arts Council.

SOLD OUT - Sold out -

CA Arts & Culture Summit
Monday, April 17, 2023 | 9am-5pm
Location, The Sofia 
Registration Fee: $200

Together again in Sacramento to celebrate, innovate and advocate for arts education, arts workers and the creative economy.

Scholarships are available and are being partially funded by the California Arts Council and Summit sponsors. No longer available.

Thanks to a generous sponsorship from the Sacramento Office and Arts and Culture we are offering scholarships for Sacramento City-based artists and creatives to attend the Summit. No longer available.

Announcing CA Arts & Culture Summit keynote speaker: Favianna Rodriguez

Favianna Rodriguez is an interdisciplinary artist, cultural strategist, and entrepreneur based in Oakland, California. Favianna is regarded as one of the leading thinkers and personalities uniting art, culture and social impact. Through her thought leadership as President and co-founder of The Center for Cultural Power (CCP), an organization igniting change at the intersection of art and social justice, she has been instrumental in building a cultural strategy ecosystem that supports BIPOC artists in the U.S. Recently CCP was selected to be a statewide administering organization for the CA Creative Corps, a new program of the California Arts Council. We are very excited to have her kickoff the Summit!

Summit Schedule

April 17
CA Arts & Culture Summit
The SOFIA | 2700 Capitol Ave, Sacramento

8:30am - 9:30am: Check-in, breakfast and coffee in the lobby

9:30am - 10:00am: Welcome 

10:00am - 10:30am: Favianna Rodriguez, Keynote

10:30am - 10:45am: State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond

10:45am - 11:45am: Panel One
Title: Lessons Learned: Reimagining the Creative Ecosystem 2.0
Description:  In the first panel, we will hear from arts and cultural leaders, policy makers and funders on what we have  we learned in the last three years that changes how we approach our work; ways that public investment and public policy can help shift systems  and support transformation; how we  can best support and center artists, culture bearers, creative workers, and creative entrepreneurs; and what's needed now to continue to build equitable investment in the arts.

Moderator: David Holland (WESTAF)
Panelists: Kristin Sakoda (LA County Dept. of Arts & Culture), Tara Lynn Gray (CAL-OSBA), Chelo Montoya (CAC), Mark Slavkin (Create CA), Jennifer Bates

11:45am - 12:45pm: Panel Two
Title: Art in All
Description:  In this panel we will hear from community based organizations across the state and learn about examples and strategies that center artists, culture bearers and creative workers in social change and community & economic development. Panelists will also explore what have we learned in the last three years that changes how we approach our work; what are ways that public investment and public policy can help shift and support transformation and systems change, and how can these systems best support and center artists and creative entrepreneurs and what's needed now to continue to build equitable investment in the arts. 

Moderator: Maria Jenson (SOMARTS)
Panelists: Leslie Castellano (Ink People), Brandon Steppe (David’s Harp Foundation), Carolyn Johnson (Black Cultural Zone), Moy Eng (CAST), Betty Marín (ACTA)

12:45pm - 1:45pm: Lunch & Networking, opportunity to meet with affinity groups

1:45pm - 3:15pm: Breakout Sessions (90 minutes; Choose one)

1. Title: Ensuring Equitable & Culturally Responsive Arts Education with Prop 28
Description: In this interactive workshop, participants will explore and collectively develop strategies to fulfill the promise of Prop 28, The Arts and Music in Schools — Funding Guarantee and Accountability Act. Together participants will strategize how to provide quality, equitable & culturally responsive arts education for all California PK-12 students by adopting promising practices, combining various program models, and cultivating community engagement. Participants will leave with concrete actions they can take to help school communities understand and guide their implementation of Prop 28.

Facilitators:
Heather Heslup (Pure Art Solutions) & Peggy Burt (Mindful Strategies)

2. Title: Equitable Grant Making Practices
Description: Data shows that our industry needs to improve our grant making processes to ensure more equitable distribution of funds.  This workshop will help guide arts and culture grant making approaches with practical examples of racial equity funding, strategies, and resources you may bring with you back to your organizations or share with funders across the state.

Facilitators: Hollis Wong-Wear (hww.com) & Randy Engstrom (Third Way Creative)

3. Title: The Head and The Heart of Arts Advocacy
Description: This workshop will motivate and equip arts advocates to articulate their unique stories and combine them with research and messaging to make the case for the transformative power of the arts. Hector Flores from Las Cafeteras will guide participants through understanding the value and power of effective storytelling. Ryan Stubbs from the National Assembly of State Arts Agencies will provide research insights into effective messaging and data that resonates with a wide range of stakeholders. Participants will develop their own stories, messaging and data to put advocacy into action.

Moderators: Hector Flores (Las Cafeteras) & Ryan Stubbs (NASAA)

3:15-3:30pm Break 

3:30pm - 4:30pm: Panel Three 
Title: From the Field
Description:  In our third and final panel we will hear from artists, culture bearers, and creative entrepreneurs on the policies, resources, and conditions needed for a just and equitable future for creativity to thrive. Panelists will share lessons learned over the last three years;  how the pandemic has informed new ways of making; explore catalytic policies that center the needs of artists and creative entrepreneurs; and identify what is needed to continue building equitable resources for arts and culture.

Moderator: Danielle Brazell

Panelists: Tiana Randall-Quant (BLKLST Collective), Honey Mahogany, Penelope Louise Oliver, Kevin Dublin, Sioux Bean

4:30pm -4:45pm Closing Remarks and Performance 

4:45pm - 5:30pm: Networking + Cocktails

5:30pm: Event Concludes

7-10pm: Party for the Arts, Elks Tower | 921 11th St, Sacramento

The Summit and Party on April 17th is followed by a separate event, Arts Advocacy Day on April 18th.

Sponsorship Opportunities

Partner with us to make the CA Arts & Culture Summit programs possible. Sponsorship opportunities starting at $1000 are now available.

April is Arts, Culture & Creativity Month

The CA Arts & Culture Summit and Arts Advocacy Day are offered as part of Californians for the Arts’ 5th annual Arts, Culture & Creativity Month (ACCM) - the month-long statewide celebration and activation of California’s of artists, culture bearers and creative workers.

Visit the ACCM 2023 webpage for more information on the programs, resources and actions being offered and to learn about the history of ACCM.

THANK YOU TO OUR SUMMIT SPONSORS