Governor Gavin Newsom signs SB-628 to advance California’s Creative Workforce Act of 2021
Press Release
Contact: Eduardo Robles
Manager of Communications
Californians for the Arts
eduardo@californiansforthearts.org
(916) 520-6049
October 11, 2021
For Immediate Release
Governor Gavin Newsom signs SB-628 to advance California’s Creative Workforce Act of 2021, a program that will address economic recovery, cultural equity, and job opportunity in the arts, culture, and creative industries.
Sacramento, CA -- California Arts Advocates, California’s statewide arts advocacy organization, is pleased to announce Governor Newsom’s signing of SB-628 to support the California Creative Workforce Act of 2021. California now becomes the first state to pass a creative workforce bill. The bill introduced by Senator Ben Allen of Santa Monica and sponsored by California Arts Advocates, will direct the California Workforce Development Board and California Arts Council to establish an earn and learn program – in consultation with local governments and community nonprofits – to employ creative workers in their communities for a period of 12 to 24 months and to provide training to new creative workers with an emphasis on providing opportunities to individuals and communities who may have faced barriers to participation and employment in creative work. Employment funded by the project will pay a living wage and shall be structured so as to promote transition to actual unsubsidized employment with post enrollment job placement in a living wage job serving as an important underlying objective of the program.
SB-628 represents an innovative solution to help build back the arts and creative industries workforce by offering job creation opportunities for the recently unemployed and workforce development for a new pipeline of creative workers with an emphasis on diversifying the workforce. The training and development prescribed by SB-628 will serve people who are at the beginning of their careers in the creative arts, Veterans, and returning citizens, and, among other things, would focus on building marketable skills in the arts and creative industries.
With SB-628 the State of California is poised to invest in a workforce that will help bring social and emotional wellness, community cohesion, jobs and economic benefit to every community across the state. On the bill’s passing, Senator Ben Allen (D-California) commented, “The arts and creative industries are a force for raising awareness, recording history, amplifying voices, and building community. They’re also central to who we are as Californians.” Senator Allen, who is also Chair of the Joint Committee on the Arts, additionally remarked, “With this new law, more people will have the opportunity to train for careers in California’s creative workforce, regardless of their backgrounds or connections.”
Julie Baker, Executive Director of California Arts Advocates states, “Establishing and investing in the California Creative Workforce Act will put California in a leadership position as a forward thinking, innovation partner to business and to California’s economic recovery as well as to prioritizing and centering the creative workforce to community and economic development. It is also a critical step to ensuring equity, diversity and a living wage as we will build back the creative industries from the impact of COVID 19.”
About California Arts Advocates (CAA)
Founded in 1996 as a nonprofit 501(c)(4) statewide advocacy organization by leaders in the arts field, CAA has been the collaborative force behind the battle to protect arts funding in California, as well as the successful passage of several bills that return arts programs to schools, and laws that positively impact the arts. CAA has recently been instrumental in lobbying for historic investments in the recovery of the arts, culture and creative industries and increasing funding for the arts in California in the last 5 years by over eight hundred percent.
About Californians for the Arts (CFTA)
CFTA, a 501c3 organization was established in 2011 by California Arts Advocates as a partner organization to increase public awareness of the importance of the arts; to ensure that the arts are an ongoing part of the public dialogue, and to encourage Californians to care about the arts as a critical component of their own lives and the lives of their communities.
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