BILL NUMBER: SCR 70 CHAPTERED BILL TEXT RESOLUTION CHAPTER 44 FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE MAY 22, 2008 ADOPTED IN SENATE FEBRUARY 7, 2008 ADOPTED IN ASSEMBLY MAY 19, 2008 INTRODUCED BY Senator Scott JANUARY 14, 2008 Relative to the Arts Council's Arts Day. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST SCR 70, Scott. Arts Council: Arts Day. This measure would recognize the Arts Council's more than 30 years of service to the state's residents and visitors. It would also proclaim October 3, 2008, as Arts Day. WHEREAS, The Arts Council was established in January 1976 to encourage artistic awareness, participation, and expression; to help independent local groups develop their own arts programs; to promote the employment of artists and those skilled in crafts in both the public and private sector; to provide for the exhibition of artworks in public buildings throughout the state; and to enlist the aid of all state agencies in the task of ensuring the fullest expression of our artistic potential; and WHEREAS, The Arts Council is dedicated to championing the expansion of the arts, artistic excellence, access to the arts for all residents of the state, and equitable resource allocation across geographic and cultural segments; to the integration of the arts into the educational curriculum as part of life-long learning; to the building of cultural bridges between the state and other nations; to the preservation and advancement of the state's diverse artistic and cultural heritage; and to collaboration between the state's public and private sectors; and WHEREAS, The stated mission of the Arts Council is to make available and accessible quality art that reflects all of the state's diverse cultures; to support the state's broad economic, educational, and social goals through the arts; to provide leadership for all levels of the arts community; and to present effective programs that add a further dimension to cities, schools, jobs, and the creative spirit; and WHEREAS, The Arts Council provides organizational and technical assistance to a nonprofit arts industry that contributes more than two billion dollars ($2,000,000,000) to the state's economy and one hundred million dollars ($100,000,000) in state and local tax revenues, and that provides 150,000 nonprofit arts jobs and an additional 500,000 jobs in the commercial entertainment sector; and WHEREAS, The Arts Council's arts-partnership programs give at-risk and underprivileged youth access to the resources needed for lifetime success in the workplace, universities, schools, churches, businesses, and social services agencies; and WHEREAS, The Arts Council has a 25-year history of partnering with, and supporting, local arts agencies and statewide service organizations, which in turn provide programming and services to local constituencies; and WHEREAS, When the Arts Council celebrated its 25th anniversary, it launched The Year of the Arts--2001, a major public outreach and public awareness campaign to generate support for the importance and impact of the arts in the state. This was the first major public and private sector partnership in the arts designed to build a media and press foundation as the first phase of a multiyear effort to increase the public value for the arts; and WHEREAS, The Arts Council's support from the General Fund was decreased in the 2003-04 fiscal year from 18 million dollars ($18,000,000) to one million dollars ($1,000,000), a 94-percent reduction that followed previous cuts from the 32 million dollars ($32,000,000) directed to the Arts Council in the 2000-01 fiscal year. Such a dramatic reduction affected the Arts Council's programming and administration more radically than any other occurrence in its 27-year history, and required the Arts Council to position itself in a new and very different role while maintaining its commitment to furthering the arts in the state; and WHEREAS, In the year 2004-05 fiscal year, the Arts Council's budget remained consistent with that of the 2003-04 fiscal year, and as such, the Arts Council continued its focus on efforts that promoted the public benefit of the arts, including infrastructure support for the state's arts service organizations, grants supporting arts education activities that serve pupils in kindergarten through grade 12, inclusive, and the publishing of "The Arts: A Competitive Advantage for California II," which updated the Arts Council's groundbreaking 1994 economic impact report; and WHEREAS, The Arts Council collaborated with the Institute for Local Government, an affiliate of the League of California Cities, to publish "The Economic and Cultural Impact of the Arts in California: Local Officials Tell Their Communities' Stories," which describes how the arts bring a competitive edge to local economies, how public art changes the world around us, and how the arts bring people together in the community; and WHEREAS, Through the efforts of the Arts Council, sales of the Arts Council license plate have increased significantly, providing more funding for the Youth Education in Arts, Artists in Schools, and Creating Public Value for the Arts programs; and WHEREAS, The Arts Council has collaborated with the State and Consumer Services Agency and the Public Utilities Commission to provide energy conservation and efficiency grants to artists to work with teachers and students to develop creative approaches that promote energy conservation and energy efficiency in the state; and WHEREAS, The Arts Council also partnered with the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection to create artists' residencies in four migrant centers, coordinating arts activities that promote strategies to increase energy efficiency in buildings. More than 500,000 Californians were indirectly served through exhibitions, public service announcements, and performing arts activities; and WHEREAS, The Arts Council and the Department of Parks and Recreation are cooperating in a joint pilot project to bring performing artists to 15 state park venues; and WHEREAS, The Arts Council's special initiatives--the California Music Project, My California: Journey by Great Writers, the California Poet Laureate, Poetry Out Loud, the Next Generation, International Connection, and the Arts Marketing Institute--promote the state's creativity and artistry throughout the state, nation, and world; and WHEREAS, The Art Council's Arts Day special events, commemorations, and other local community events will help change the perception that the arts are merely a luxury, and instead are an integral part of the economic, educational, and social fabric of our state and our nation; now, therefore, be it Resolved by the Senate of the State of California, the Assembly thereof concurring, That the Legislature hereby recognizes and joins in the commemoration of the Arts Council's more than 30 years of service to the state's residents and visitors; and be it further Resolved, That the Legislature hereby proclaims October 3, 2008, as Arts Day; and be it further Resolved, That the Secretary of the Senate transmit copies of this resolution to the author for appropriate distribution.