Governor Gavin Newsom Accepts CFTA's 2022 Arts Champion Award

For Immediate Release

CFTA is proud to present the 2022 Arts Champion Award to Governor Gavin Newsom for increased investments to the arts and cultural field for four consecutive budget cycles, including an historic $600 million in 2021-22. The Arts Champion Award recognizes individuals who valorize the strength of arts, culture, and creativity to connect and unify; innovate and drive community prosperity and well-being. California arts champions believe in creativity as a driver to find solutions to social and economic problems, and further see it as a public value.

Upon accepting CFTA's Arts Champion Award, Governor Gavin Newson takes the opportunity to underscore the impact the arts make on daily lives. He highlights the positive behavioral impacts arts education has on youth, and the greater opportunity it gives to young people to achieve higher education. Newsom uplifts the economic impact the creative industries make to boost the California economy, and the job growth it contributes to the state's workforce. He closes his acceptance speech by honoring the transformational value of the arts to bridge community, ideas, and help society heal.

The Governor’s budget proposal for 2022-23 includes over $80 million in new funding for arts and culture initiatives, including a one-time general fund of $30 million to the California Arts Council (CAC) to be spent over three years for Cultural Districts; $50 million one-time General Fund for the California Department of Parks and Recreation to create new installations in the Parks Program for state and local parks; and $173,000 ongoing General Fund to the CAC to support the California Poet Laureate and California Youth Poet Laureate and other literary programs in all 58 California Counties.

In December 2021, CAA sent their budget proposal letter to the Governor asking for $50 million to fund the CA Creative Workforce Act of 2021, SB628, authored by Senator Ben Allen (D-Santa Monica). SB628 will put creative & cultural workers back to work and help diversify the workforce with opportunities for BIPOC to enter full-time employment and earn a living wage. SB628 was sponsored by CAA with broad support from labor and the entertainment, artistic and creative industries and signed by the Governor on October 9, 2021. CAA’s letter also requested the state to increase the ongoing general fund support for the CAC from $26 million to $40 million annually or to roughly $1 per capita per person. We urge the Legislature and Governor Newsom to support these public investments in the 22-23 CA budget. 

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