Recommendation to request City Manager to report back to City Council in 90 days on the feasibility of establishing a percent for arts policy as an ongoing funding source for public art in the City; and report back on similar models cities across the nation use to fund public art programs.
So thank you, guys. If I can have the curve, please read the first item. Communication from Councilwoman Price. Councilwoman Gonzalez. Vice Mayor Lowenthal. Councilwoman Andrews. Recommendation to request the city manager to report back in 90 days on the feasibility of establishing a percent for arts policy as an ongoing funding source for public art in the city. Thank you. I'm going to turn this over to Councilwoman Price. Thank you. This agenda item actually was initiated by you, Mr. Mayor, during your comments at the state of the city. So I want to thank you for initiating this item in this conversation and getting it started. And as you said, at the state of the city and as I wholeheartedly agree, a city cannot thrive and be a place where people visit and live and offer exposure to the youth without a strong arts programing, without strong commitment to the arts, and without a wide variety of options in terms of different types of arts that people can enjoy and participate in in the community. So the purpose of this item is really to get the conversation started and to ask our city staff, led by our city manager, to look at all the different models that are adopted around the nation to support arts programing in various cities. And my intent with this particular item is to really focus not on a particular organization or a particular type of art, but really talk about how we can bring about more support for the arts in their totality. Visual arts, theater, arts, music, everything that we would put under the umbrella of arts, we as a city should be supporting, regardless of the organization or the entity or the the person that's pushing it. We really should be focused on how we provide arts programing and arts opportunities for our residents and our communities. So this is obviously something that is very important to me and my council colleagues. On a personal note, my family and I partake in just about every arts opportunity that we have, the opportunity and the and the time to participate in our kids. It's there growing up with arts in their life and they are very lucky to live in a city like Long Beach that has so many great programs already and so much potential for additional growth and outreach in terms of the great work that we already do and that we have the potential to do. So I hope that my colleagues will support this particular item, which really just asks us to be educated further and gives us some options on how we can go about getting funding for the arts. So thank you. Thank you, Councilwoman. I know you made that. You made the motion, Councilwoman Gonzalez, to me the second. I also want to thank the mayor for this. I think during State of the City, I counted all of the different responsibilities he gave us as a city council. But this is one that I'm most excited about, and I'm glad that Councilwoman Price brought this forward, and we had the support of our other council colleagues in bringing this forward. I, too personally share the passion of arts and theater. I serve on the board of the ICI tea. I absolutely love discussing art and music with a lot of our downtown residents. I just did my first my holiday pictures with my family in front of the Powell mural, because I just absolutely love the fact that we have these places here in in the city. I'm going to have a first birthday I made in Long Beach. So that's also very exciting. And I think all of you here collectively have given so much to the arts and have made our local community so much more vibrant than it than it can be. And I see so much more potential with that. So I am wholeheartedly as well, like Councilwoman Pryce supporting this item. I think it's an opportunity and an avenue for us to get more information back to see what is possible. I know with our former blue ribbon committee there have been discussions. Our Arts Council, our local grassroots community associations like Kalb. I see a friend here and so many of you have also participated in our local events. So this may be an opportunity as well to see how we can support continuing local events like Day of the Dead and like other events that have happened so very often in our city. So I look forward to this. I look forward to seeing the information come back from our city management staff. And I thank you all for being here. Thank you. Vice Mayor Lowenthal. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. And I wanted to thank Councilwoman Price for including me. In this motion, many of you in the audience have been working on having the city. Adopt and include an envelop more of the arts in the various projects that we're able to do. And as many of you know, we had an opportunity to do that when we had redevelopment and when we were doing far more projects. And you have, in the absence of that, found ways to continue to show a vibrancy in our community through the arts. We can feel that in the texture of the different projects are working on. So I'm looking forward to finding a way for us to include this as part of just the way we operate. It needs to be a part of the way we operate. And I know that it's the present for the arts program is active in at least 27 states around this country. There's no reason why the city of Long Beach can't do it. And I look forward to hearing back the different options on how we can bring this back because we won't have redevelopment back. And so we'll have to look to ourselves to be able to find this beauty and enrichment and culture in all of our public facing efforts. And and for that, I thank you thank you for your patience and your guidance on this issue. Thanks. Thank you, Vice Mayor. Next up is Councilmember Yaw Ringo. Thank you, Mayor. Ah, gracious. Right. Art, for art's sake, MGM, the lion. I want to thank the mayor and council members Priceless Northern Solace and Andrews for bringing this forward. The art is huge in terms of not only Long Beach, but for our communities as a whole. Having been a former community college trustee. I also see the importance of programs in our schools, in our in our K-12, as well as in our community college and in our university. Because that's how we learn and that's how we keep students busy. I don't think I need to harp on the fact that when we keep young people busy with either playing music or acting in theater or painting or doing any of the numerous parts of arts and crafts and and other things that are that are important in the arts world, that we lower crime, we we divert their their attention from hanging out and being not laden with gangs and making them do something creative or helping them do something creative. So I would want to. Include. In this study that as we move forward, if we can connect with with the schools, with the K-12 and the community college and university to help them with their programs. We hear every year that when there are budget cuts in education, one of the first programs to go always in the schools are arts programs. And so we need to find a way to support them as well in regards to being able to sustain their programs and keep them going and not have those programs be the first to go with it because it's a low lying fruit. We need to keep arts is important. It's important to our community and it's important to public safety as well as all aspects of our community life. So. Just want to throw that out there in terms of when we continue with the study city manager, if we can also be inclusionary of our educational entities as well. Thank you, Councilman Andrews. Yes. Thank you, Mia. You know, first of all, I want to thank Councilwoman Price for asking me to sign on to this item. You have a number of great artists living in Essex this week, and I know that they would agree with me in saying that public art is very much needed in our city. It creates an attachment to one community and inspires others. It also reflects the unique diversity that Long Beach is made up of. With that said, I'm looking forward to hear a report back from our city manager. Thank you very much. Thank you, Councilmember Richards. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I want to thank Mayor Garcia for introducing this idea. I want to thank our council colleagues for bringing this forward. All of the very familiar faces we see in the audience who are engaged in one thing or the other related to art. I personally believe that art is a core and critical element to any urban revitalization, urban renewal effort, and we throw this term around all the time. Uptown Renaissance art is core to this, is key to this. I unequivocally support this. I think public art also sends a message to the public that, you know, you know, we are alive, we're vibrant, we are engaging, we are communicating. I'm looking forward to seeing the results of this feasibility. But what I'm really looking forward to is figuring out creative ways to utilize art and specifically public art as a tool to help revitalize some of our neighborhoods, like I've seen in Philadelphia has a mural arts project, which is really cool, where it's like areas of town that had a bunch of vacant space and blight. And they began painting murals. And now they have one of the best mural programs in the nation where you can literally go and see 4050 murals is a month backlog just to go to these neighborhoods no one would ever enter in just to see, you know, 70 foot mural of Wilt Chamberlain or whatever. Right. Really cool art. So this is this is what I see as a as an effort for us to get serious about art the way Philadelphia has. Thank you. Thank you, Councilman Mongo. I know I've met with some of you and talked with others of you at community events. And I think that one thing that is constantly forgotten, but not in my mind, is the impact and role that arts play in our economy. Arts are linked to jobs. Arts are linked to thriving business corridors. Arts are linked. And I don't just mean arts in the typical way that some people believe a mural or a sculpture. Though I would have appreciated an ice sculpture in the median at Wardlow instead of bike racks which were controversial. I mean, it would have been great to have had a fun to pull from at that time. It's also important the arts that we talk about that are linked to our job readiness programs and the arts that are linked to our we go to programs and many of you have been partners in a lot of that. And so I first want to thank you for all you've already done. Many of you know that there's hard budget times ahead and we have to look at what we get a return on investment with. And many of you know that I've written some some things on the impact that the arts have on the economy and jobs . And so I believe arts are an area similar to infrastructure where you get that return on investment more quickly because it really impacts the neighborhoods more quickly with those things. So thank you to each and every one of you if you haven't already read the L.A. Aces report on how arts drive the economy and museums drive the economy and tourism. Please do. It's remarkable, and I hope that it's all in our minds and ready to go when we have to make these tough decisions. Thank you. And Councilmember Austin. Thankfully and I think I'm last, but I wanted to also weigh in and thank the mayor and my council colleagues for bringing this item forward. Creativity drives everything in our city, particularly today. But I think arts also help us maintain a balance here in the city of Long Beach. And, you know, it's so part so much part of our identity and our DNA as a city to have creative residents, but to also to to honor and and support creative efforts of artists of all types in our city. In Eighth District, we also obviously have the Expo Arts Center, where we we profile art and we try to push a lot of events to to bring the community into who can benefit from such arts. We have Long Beach Arts and I mean, obviously we're extremely supportive of our Arts Council City wide. I'd just like to just echo all of the comments that have been made here and and ask the staff in their, their efforts to provide us a report back on options that you be artistic and creative because we understand that this may not be something that is a line item in our general fund, but there are, I think, options out there that will will meet that that need as well. And so I would just ask that you do that and you know, thank you for the arts community for coming out and being supportive of this. If it's 1%, we'll figure it out. Thank you very much. Thank you. So I'm going to make a few comments before we go to public comment, which we'll do here in in a minute. But let me just first start off by thanking Councilwoman Pryce, as well as Vice Mayor Lowenthal and Councilwoman Gonzales and Councilman Andrews for authoring this item. I think that for a lot of you out there and I know most of most of you that are out there, this is something we've been talking about now for probably a good year, a little over a year. And it was a commitment I think I made to all of you early on that we would get here and that this was important not just for me personally, but really for the city and every great. City in America has a thriving art scene. That's just a fact. And you can't have a successful city without artists being a important part of that and and the culture that comes with with artists. I want to just begin by saying thank you, because I know that we're passing an agenda item tonight, but it's also a culmination of a lot of work. And I don't want to, you know, pass on the night without recognizing some of the efforts that actually got to this point because this didn't happen. You know, just because I woke up one morning and wrote it into a speech, it happened because a lot of people worked really hard for many years to advocate for this, and sometimes with not a lot of support and other times with community grassroots support. And I remember the blue ribbon commission that was started years ago, maybe five or six years ago, that made a recommendation in this direction. I think about the recent Arts Council conversation around 1% and the information and report that came out of that study as well. And I would hope also, Mr. West, that as we do the study and you kind of look at best practices, that we look at those two recent contributions to the debate as starting points as far as ideas as well. And so I think what the we'll make sure that that's something that that's included. And I also want to just thank you for, you know, keeping the the hopes alive. It's been a I think, both exciting but also very difficult few years for the arts. And there's a lot of transition happening. I mean, the economy is better. We're starting to see some good news coming out of of people reinvesting. But there's still a lot of support. And 1% for the arts program, by the way, is very common in most large cities in the United States. This is not a unique phenomenon. This is this is excelled in most big cities. And we had tight hours in the past directly to our redevelopment agency fund. Most cities weren't doing that. And so we did that for us. And it worked for us for a time. You know, it could have worked better in many ways, but it was what it did, its job in some respects. And now we don't have any sort of percent for the arts now. That's not to say that the city doesn't commit itself every year to putting money towards the arts. And it does. And in fact, in the last two budgets I've proposed and this Council has been affirmatively increased modestly, but increased funding for the arts, which I want to thank the Council for doing for the last two years as well. And so what we're really hoping is that and I think what Councilman Price mentioned is we're going to take a broad look at what a 1% for the arts policy to get, kind of what the best what the best ones out there are. So we can maximize this into something that really works for us. The more that we can do, the more inclusive it is. I think we all agree is better and we want it. We want to have the model 1% for the arts program in the country. We want this to be the model for for the country. And just to. And just to close, I think that what's exciting to me is that this program should really be about all of the arts. And it's it's not just, you know, it's not just the symphony and the Long Beach Museum and I city and the opera , but it's also Cal State, Long Beach and the University Art Museum over there and the work they're doing. And it's also. KALB And the individual artists that are kind of working. Some of the guerrilla artists that are out there and doing other work, you know, in the neighborhood. So I think it's really for for everyone. And I think a good 1% for the arts program really supports all and whatever we all end up deciding is the funding mechanism and the process will get there. That's not that decision is not done today. That will be done months from now with plenty of opportunity for conversations from there. So just thank you all again. And I'm going to open this up now for for public comment. So please come forward. Just say your name, please. For the record. I'm Victoria O'Brien, the executive executive director for the Arts. Council for Long Beach. I have the pleasure to work in District one. And live in District two. And I'm here just to say such a huge. And heartfelt thank you. Mayor Garcia, Vice Mayor. Lowenthal, council members, city manager West and. Esteemed other staff and leaders here tonight. I could not be more thrilled. We are so appreciative. Of your leadership. In bringing this item forward. And by we, I mean. Everybody. Would you all. Stand? Everybody who is here for the arts tonight. Stand. But this is just to show you a small representation of what we believe the feeling. Is out there tonight on behalf of the arts and cultural community. In Long Beach. Thank you so much. This subject has floated ever since. The last 1% for the arts went away with the redevelopment agency. As you've. Mentioned, it's come up time and time. Again in studies and. Surveys in research. And so we're just here to say that we will do whatever we can. To support, facilitate help in any way that we can to add to the research, to facilitate discussions. We just want to. Continue to work with. You and to express our appreciation for this great step tonight. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Next speaker. Please. Excuse me. Good evening, Mayor. City council members and city staff. My name is Antonio Ruiz, publisher of Plaza magazine. Com. I want to thank all of you for considering this motion to explore percent for the arts as a funding stream. I was a member of that Blue Ribbon. Task Force where. This very issue was discussed, and I'm glad to hear that even though it says in the motion public art, which is traditionally meant a lot of a lot of things to a lot of different people, I'm glad to hear that you're talking about really a very broad definition of it. We did discuss in that task force and in other meetings the the importance of including in that discussion funding to arts for arts, education for artists, community arts organizations, arts support resources, performance and exhibition venues, and a very long list of other needs that we've identified over over time. In addition, the task force recommended that an arts and Culture Trust fund be formed to receive the money and dispersant. And there are numerous models around the country that can be studied. I'm hoping that you'll take a look at those models. Craig Watson, who's the executive director of the California Arts Council and a former executive director of the Arts Council for Long Beach, has indicated that he would be happy to send us more information on trust funds because he, in fact, was the person who brought it to our brought it to the task force. Therefore, I want to thank you again for the motion and thank you for supporting the arts. Thank you. Next speaker. Please. My name is Mark Zeder. I own a gallery here. A lot of honorable council members. Mr. Mayor and Mr. City Manager. For me and many artists, this is the beginning of a very important conversation. Setting aside percent for art in Long Beach would be a great start. I know that spending money for art is a huge challenge and at the same time it's a great opportunity to make smart choice dialog between art community and the city government is crucial. Art is a nature given people's ability to self express themselves. We know it as visual arts, performing arts, literary arts. No matter how we defined a monetary need for self-expression, it has to do with helping people and people's ability to be engaged in creating art. Kids, youth. Adults and older generations. Hands on creating art. In the past, money for the art. Was often. Spent on things like public entertainment. Strange looking objects in the middle of our streets or on abstract decorations, questionable space enhancements, and many other things which in result did not help to activate the community in creating art at all. All good inventors, all good intentions were present. However, facilitating the development and maintenance of environments where art processes can be practiced is rarely addressed. Yes, I believe facilitating environment for art is the most important cultural need in Long Beach. Just to make things even more worth of study, one more element a basic requirement to engage in art are love for self-expression, money and space. All in once, please think about the answer to the question How many residents can engage in art right now? Who has that ability to afford space supplies and exhibition location at once? My answer is not enough. Therefore, the role of government support is imperative. Percentage for the art idea is a fantastic start. Myself and many of my artist friends would like to make ourselves. Available to all of you. For dialog. Let's sit down and work together as a language community. That cares about our cultural. Reality as a token of an effort to educate and inform. For over a year, every Sunday at a lot of gallery, we host the lecture at 3 p.m. and discussion called What Is Art? It is offered free of charge to anyone interested in the subject. And with you I think you have on your desk introductory page of that class. And of course, you're invited to join. Now lastly, I think society expects people to be creative, competitive and full of passion to work outside the box. Yet the very source of those abilities, the process of creating art, has been neglected. Let's change that forever and for better. Thank you. Thank you very much. Next speaker, please. Mr. Moon and the council. Excuse me. I'm Renee Simon, a resident of the third district. I'm here to speak in support of the proposal to establish permanent, consistent funding for the broad range of arts offering in Long Beach. Written Art, performing art, painting, sculpting, dance, design, art. I've got a terrible cold and probably others I can't even put a name to today. As a member of the former redevelopment agency. During the nineties, we created the program of 1% for the arts. As it applied to the downtown area, developers were asked to set aside 1% of their total development costs to provide some kind of public art generally associated. Oh, thank you. Generally associated with their development project, we enlisted the Arts Council of Long Beach as our partner in helping to select and recommend projects. You can see some examples of the result in, for example, the lobby murals in the landmark Square Office Building, which was, I think the first such project, as well as various sculptures along Ocean Boulevard. That program established what can indeed be adapted as a workable model for another funding strategy. To my knowledge, we had no significant resistance from developers. The reason, I believe, was that as investors. In the city, they could see the value of this public art in increasing the value of their properties. Today's issue is somewhat different in seeking a funding strategy for arts programs in general, but I believe the concept is perfectly adaptable . By encouraging the expansion of our strong, diverse arts culture in Long Beach. You'd be increasing the value of investing here, increasing the city's attraction as an arts destination, and increasing the quality of life for all our residents as our city continues to welcome new development. Attaching a percent of that growth for art assures a steady stream of public funding and a strong message that Long Beach finds value in the cultural growth of our city. I would hope that you would consider carefully the two most important elements of such a funding strategy. And we're running out of time. So I'm going to let you finish with one more. Absolutely. Go ahead. One that it will provide consistent, dependable funds for our present and future arts programing. And second, that it reflects the Mayor and City Council's strong policy support of the arts in Long Beach. Thank you. Thank you so much, Renee. Next speaker. Good evening, council members. My name is Daniel Calzado with Coldwell Banker, Coastal Alliance. I live in Belmont Shore. I want to thank you for the forward thinking of Long Beach and how. The Downtown Association of Long Beach has done a phenomenal job building the downtown area to capitalize on what we're talking about for the arts and give young kids a chance to show their art and create a career doing so, helping their lives for their entire life. I could totally see shutting down Pine Street for one month a night, having downtown Long Beach, Artwalk. It'll help the local economy. All the bars and restaurants. And it'll also be a family affair so local artists can sell their art and have bands playing stuff. I could also see a public gallery where local artists can exhibit their art publicly and also have the chance to sell their art. And if done properly, these two ideas could be cash positive. Everything I'm saying is all to attract vibrant, young, entrepreneurial millennials into this city, which will bring companies and people who want to live here for the rest of their lives. So that's all I wanted to say. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Next speaker, please. Good evening. My name is Kelly Torello. I'm the executive director of the Long Beach Symphony. I'm also the volunteer president of the board of directors of the Association of California's Symphony Orchestras Helping California's Orchestras Thrive. I've been a proud homeowner in District five for 18 years, and I've lived in districts three and four for a decade before that. But I work in District two. And as you know, the Long Beach Symphony is a world. Class. Ensemble, the only symphonic orchestra in the region and the seventh largest in the state of California. You may not know that we. Serve 50,000 residents of Long Beach every year, 10% of our population. From every single one. Of your districts that totals tens of millions of. Residents over our 80 year lifespan. And we're not going around. We're not going anywhere. We're going to be here a very long time. We are proud to be a major force in this city, in the. In the. City's arts and cultural offerings. We look forward to expanding and being part of your renaissance to meet greater meet the needs of more Long Beach citizens. And I wanted to thank you so much on. Behalf of the board of directors, our musicians. And the tens of millions of residents we will serve. Thank you for making this a priority. I personally am offering my services to make sure that our mutual dream comes to fruition. Thank you. Thank you so much. Next speaker, please. Very good. You are fully supportive of this measure. With the exception of a couple of things. First of all, I wouldn't do a 1%. I'd go at 2%. Number two, for immediate funding, easy source will cut the mayor's travel budget by 50% and the council budget by 35%. Which is very much. I want to make sure that the arts organization and I saw some articles in the paper without engender doing this, that the arts organization comply fully with the California Public Records Act, as well as the Brown Act and keeping any records that may contribute to that. I'm a big fan of opera. And I really think we should push that. And a lot of people mistakenly mistakenly avoid opera because oftentimes it's in a foreign language. You can't understand it. Pavarotti. I think it was about five years before his death demonstrated that you didn't need to understand that language. After he finished, I believe it was don't quote me, I think it turned out and at the Met, he got a tremendous standing ovation, as always. And then he as an encore, segway into and without telling anybody, saying 11 and a half pages at the Hartford New Haven Railroad Times schedule, timetable, and no one knew the difference . As a matter of fact, it was the first time in the recorded history that a two and a half minute standing ovation over the fact that the 605 at a Stanford would be arriving 20 minutes late period. So it makes no difference what the language is. But I think we really should push for opera. Thank you. Thank you. We have a great idea if you guys saw the front page of the calendar section of the L.A. Times today. But Lobby Chopper was on the front page of the calendar section of the L.A. Times today. So. But fantastic. Their show right now is amazing. Next speaker. Good evening, everybody. Thank you, Mayor Garcia and the city council. My name is Jan Hauer and I'm the president of the board of directors for Long Beach Camerata Singers. We are your choral organization and I have both board members and singers here tonight supporting your measure. We're very grateful that this is being considered, and I think you'll find both economic return on investment when you do your study, as well as return on investment in terms of the city's reputation. So in closing, I would like to say we sing your praises for this measure. Thank you, guys, next week. Good evening, Mayor. City council members. My name is Tasha Hunter and I am currently on the board of Directors for the Arts Council of Long Beach. I'm proud to be on the board of directors and I want to first say thank you for making this a priority. The 1%, yes, of. Course, we would love more. But thank you. That is a tremendous effort. I also have the honor of currently working with Long Beach Community College, where I see so many students every day who are artists and to know that they potentially have a job in the arts because we're raising community youth that are so creative right now. I have one right here that is a young artist and I can say without the arts, there's a lot of energy that could be spent in a bunch of different ways that could not be could be in effective ways. But the arts help strengthen young people, all people. And bringing in Long Beach is so beautiful all the way around and seeing the joys in the arts that we have here, it will not only bring people from other parts of the community, other parts of the city, state, country. If we continue this, it will definitely be a premier destination place like some other cities that we have. So I want to say thank you and I want to let you know that Long Beach and art matters. Thank you. Next speaker, please. Hello. Mayor Garcia and council members. My name is Sayan Supersu. I'm a member of the Arts Council here, the Language Arts. I also work with the Cambodian community and partnering with the Arts Exchange. So I want to give you a personal story about how art saved my life when I was growing up here in the nineties. If you've been around a long beach that long, you know what took place at that time. So I'm not going to go into detail about it. But for me, being involved with the art literally saved my life because it inspired me to stay focused in something creative. And now I'm back in the community to actually teaching high school kids salaries here with the art and partnering with the arts exchange to teach them how to be an artist and what careers they could have by bringing other artists in to present and do a workshop. So I'm here to push for the 1%. And, and and thank you for your time. Thank you very much. Next speaker, please. Yes. Hi. I have some correspondence copies that I would like to submit for each of. It just reinforces what I have to say tonight. And my name is Paula McComb. I'm a resident here of Long Beach. I've been here many, many years. Grew up here. And of course, I am an artist. I paint abstract, representational art. And I happen to be a member of. Of the Cultural Alliance for Long Beach. I just want to say, dear Long Beach council members, please give some conscious consideration of voting for the arts proposal that's placed on tonight's agenda. Though our great city, Long Beach, has undergone many cuts in programs in the recent past due to California's economic challenges. I believe that it is now an optimal time to seek new ways of providing. A new portion of the city's budget back to the arts. Several artists in our community, including myself, have collaborated in groups through nonprofit arts organizations. Such as kelp. And we did this to promote many of our artworks over the last several years. The proposed additional funding to the arts from the city government will assist artists more readily in the creation and recognition of their art forms and that support spaces of audiences of Long Beach to. To appreciate. An experience. I'd lastly like to speak of my daughters. I had two daughters that have attended Long Beach School System and who are now young women. And they have gone onward to pursue careers in the art field. So there's no doubt. That our younger generation of artists will benefit from the establishment of a percentage to the arts policy as an ongoing funding source for the public. Thank you for your consideration. Thank you very much. Next speaker, please. Good evening, Mr. Mayor. And City Council members. My name is Kenny Allen and I'm the managing director of Evolve Theater. I'm here just to say thank you so much for your support for the arts. And and I have a short statement to read on behalf of the art exchange. And the 1% for the Arts Fund has historically had a huge impact on the amount of art produced in Long Beach and consequently improve the quality of life for its residents for decades. This new legislation will again guarantee that art be stitched into the very fabric of our city. One development at a time. The many enduring, successful projects and programs previously created around town with this fund are a testament to the importance of these dollars. And I am very grateful to the mayor and members of our City Council for their support of this endeavor. And that was from Nico Galvez from the Art Exchange. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Next speaker. Hello. My name's Rene Tanner. I'm an artist and a resident here in downtown Long Beach and my professional life. Previously, before I moved to Long Beach, I was a public art project manager in King County, Washington State. I worked for an agency called For Culture, and I'm here to say it's one of the oldest and most established public art agencies in the in the country. And there's not a project that goes down that the first thing people say, whether it's a dump or a road or a jail, is where's our public art? And that's a little bit what we need here in Long Beach. I was shocked when I moved here that percent for art went away. And I'm so proud, Mr. Mayor, that you've reinitiated this concern and that it's on its way. It's going to happen. I'm one of the people that's like, if you really want to model, let's go for 2%. I tried to change my sign, but I didn't have an aggressive let's go for 2%. If you want to model and let's be realistic about what public art funding is about. It's 1% for the 99%. It's 1% for it brings the thinking of artists into every public endeavor, every construction dollar spent, whether it's a park, whether it's this or that. Artists are at the table and artists are engaged and they're bringing community identity to the forefront. This is how you do it. This is what a great city does, and I'm so happy that this is on the agenda. It's my mantra and I'm a believer and I'm back in you 100%. What do we got to do to make this happen? Final word. We got to have it in the civic center and it's not too late. We cannot build this civic center without a percent for art. And we can we can make it happen. Whatever you got to do, make that be the catalyst for this program. Bring it into play before we start construction on those projects. Thank you. Thank you very much. Next speaker, please. Good evening. Mayor and city council members. And fellow Long Beach residents and creative community American Luna, Long Beach artist and volunteer member of the Cultural Alliance of Long Beach. I want to thank you for your support for this 1% for the arts. And from sitting here and here and everything sounds like we're all on the same page. And this is great news. I know it's early in the process, but you know that I would like that we consider all areas of art and that's been mentioned before. That it supports all the creative community, creative organizations. Also that it supports our youth. Our youth and our education is very important. I myself am a product of the Long Beach. Educational system and arts was fundamental for me. And having been away from from negative things in my environment growing up. So I'm here and this is for me, this is very personal. I would like to thank. The community. For their support and everyone that's here and that we continue this dialog that 1% is a start and that it's a necessity so that when the economy goes bad that it doesn't go. Hopefully the economy doesn't go bad, but that this doesn't go away. Instill this in our youth. Thank you very much. Thank you. Next speaker. Good evening. My name is Brian Trimble and I am the interim director of the University Art Museum at Cal State Long Beach, which is in the third district. And, you know, I just wanted to say, since I'm representing Cal State Long Beach, that we have a university here in town that boasts one of the largest schools of art in any public institution in the nation. And as a university, we train artist. And, you know, the arts are an economic juggernaut and especially in Los Angeles in the southern southern California region. It is a multibillion dollar industry. And so what we do with this 1% is we're actually modeling for these kids and these students that are growing up here in our city, that they can work in their fields, that they can become artists, that they can be able to live their lives as creative people and make a living and contribute to their communities. So. And Long Beach State is a great partner in the arts to this city. And I really encourage you that when you approach this project, that you do tap into the expertize that is in this room, that is in our community, because we do have it here. And hopefully they will help you find your way in this. And I'm going to I'm not going to say if we do the 1%. I'm going to say when we do the 1%. Okay. And lastly, I just want to say, I really agree that we take this broad based approach to looking at 1% of the arts and that we don't just focus on something like public art, that we do bring in other elements, that we look at education, how we connect to the school districts. And I really want to make sure that when we do this, that we focus on bringing public art to every district in our city and that we don't just focus on the downtown area. Okay. So thank you very much for your time. Thank you. Next speaker, please. Good evening. My name is Maha AFRA. I didn't prepare a speech. I'm talking. From my. Heart. I'm the director of the resident dance company at Camp, the Cultural Alliance of Long Beach. And I'm the chair of the dance department at Cypress College, and our students go to Cal State, Long Beach. Okay. It's amazing school. I'm here to advocate for this education because I feel that is. Like the poorest member. Of the arts. We've been operating at SCAD as a dance company, not only dancing, but also offering classes to senior citizens, to children and to youth. Out of the grace of Mike Wiley, the owner and the volunteers of Camp. Please, please help so we can expand our classes and our community outreach, not only at Cal, but other districts. That's not only art, but also dance makes a big difference in people's life. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much. Next speaker, please. Honorable mayor and. Honorable council members. I Karen Dhesi, artistic director, producer of International City Theater. And I want to thank you for your support of this idea and your shared understanding of the arts and from what you've expressed and how much you also value what we all do. And I hope it's not just. Public art but fine arts and performing arts as well, because we all make a difference. I produced Produce. Five main stage productions and six education. Programs that serve. Every district. And every demographic from 4 to 104 in our great community. And I think Shakespeare might say. The arts. To think. Perchance to dream. Thank you so much. Thank you. Next, bigger piece. My name is Cheryl Lake and I am a resident of Long Beach. I'd like to thank Councilman. Eric Garner. For speaking up in behalf of children. I have been involved in arts all. My life and in very much everything but painting. I'm not talented in painting. But I do understand that each person, each child has this inner ability to express themselves in art. They need that opportunity. I pledge my self as a volunteer to help in any. Way I can, and I do. Appreciate children and their their impotent help, their potent talents that are inside themselves that they would desire to express. Thank you. For the 1%. And please do not forget their children. Thank you so much. Good evening. My name is Liza mitchell. Many of you know me, the founder of Artists Art Program and the curator for the Hotel Maya currently. I'm thanking you as well because it's economically something you guys are going to be able to translate from the arts to how it can be reality by this 1%. I look back on these six years. I've lived in Long Beach right. Before the. Crash. I moved here. And I was able. To do what I did. I just closed my 38th gallery and empty buildings. About two months. Ago because a vibrant artist was able to earn enough money to rent it and and live there and make it a studio. I did that with a small stipend of $250. A month from the. Dolby. And because I sold a painting, I bought a Warhol when I was in college for $900. And I sold. It for $55,000 when I got laid off as. The GM of a media. Company during the crash. So I would say something I want you all to. Think about as well, that you're not only investing in the intangible of your children's futures in the art, but I believe. Detroit got out of. Trouble by selling four paintings. It is something that if perhaps you had a commissioner that oversaw all of your assets. That you're going to be creating with this. 1%. It's something I. Really, really. Thank you, Mayor. You've been such incredible supporter, Suja and Linas as well especially. And thank you for bringing this up and following through. On your thoughts and your your beliefs in the years. That I've known you. I really appreciate. It. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Sylvia. This is our last public speaker. And we'll go to the vote. By Tom Stout live in the Wrigley Information File. Art is important. I was a shop teacher. My major was industrial art. Sort of a stretch, but it still was. There's a lot of mechanical arts that are pretty amazing art. Elementary, middle high school are like most art programs are suffering. Same as industrial arts programs. Money gets tight and music art are some of the first programs that disappear. And they're not the ones that come back very quickly. You know, so, you know, there's public art, private art. I mean, I like a friend of mine's a sculpture. He has three sculptures at Long Beach State. His name is James Russell. He's got sculptures in Cerritos. He's got sculptures in a city of industry. Matter of fact, he has them all over the world. Are polished stainless steel. They're beautiful. I traded them a car for one of them. He got divorced and he didn't have his wife got the car, so I built him a Volkswagen. So I you know, I'm not wishing them ill health, but. It's, you know, art's important. I mean, industrial arts is just important to me. I mean, there are if any of us ever have an option, go to the SEMA Auto Show in Las Vegas if you want to see rolling art. They are there. I mean, there was a stainless steel sculpture that you actually drove. It was polished stainless steel. It was amazing. How in the hell the guy had enough time to do it? I have no no idea. I mean, every piece had to be polished, then welded in place, and this thing was made up of a thousand different pieces. And I just wish vocational arts had as much support as the arts do. You know, Lombard City College, thanks to Miss Turanga. Cut out 13 vocational arts programs. I think automotive, when you figure you watch Barrett-Jackson, you have cars that sell for hundreds of thousands of dollars or millions of dollars. They're rolling pieces of sculpture. People value them. I value people that are craftspeople that can build and rebuild cars. I mean, they are truly artist. A friend just displayed a car at CMA GTO. The owner spent $400,000 on it. Why? Beyond me. But it was a good payday for him. So. Arts are important. Support them. You know, it's one of the first things to go. And it's one of the more important things. I mean, anything you can learn to do with your hands has meaning, whether it's woodworking. Auto body programs, whatever. So, you know, we'll this thing, you know, I hope it survives. You know, and there's a lot more people, you know, on the high end of this district that really support it. So do what you can. Thanks, Tom. Well, thank you. Thank you for that. We're not going to go out and go to go to a vote. Members, please go and cast your votes on the motion. Motion carries. Great. Well, congratulations, everybody. Again. Thank you. Thank you all for coming out. I know you have been working on this for a long time, so thank you all. We'll all be in touch soon. Thank you. We're going to transition into our next our next item, which is item three.