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guitar solo

Vice Chair, staff is ready when you are.

Good afternoon.

Welcome to the Monday, December 8, 2025, 1 p.m. meeting of the Arts, Culture, and Creative Economy Commission.

The meeting is now called to order.

Will the clerk please call the roll to establish a quorum?

Thank you, Vice Chair.

Commissioners, please unmute for roll call.

Commissioner Carter?

Present.

Commissioner Eisenberg?

Present.

Commissioner Gutierrez?

Is it absent?

Commissioner Hershey?

Here.

Commissioner Ohebu?

Present.

Commissioner Roscoe?

Present.

Commissioner Smith?

Present.

Commissioner Wallace here Commissioner Winlock present and

Charlie Vulo is absent vice-chair we have quorum I would like to remind

members of the public in chamber that if you would like to speak on an agenda

item please turn in a speaker slip before the item begins after the item

is called we will no longer accept speaker slips you will have two minutes

to speak once you are called on.

We will now proceed with today's agenda.

Please rise if you are able for the opening acknowledgement

in honor of Sacramento's indigenous people and tribal lands.

Oh, sorry.

Sorry.

Right one.

It's not in here.

You don't have it either.

I don't.

I got it.

All right.

The original people of this land, the Nisanan people,

the Southern Maidu Valley and Plains Miwok, Potwin-Wintoon peoples, and the people of the Wilton Rancheria,

Sacramento's only federally recognized tribe.

May we honor and acknowledge the Native people who came before us and still walk beside us today on these ancestral lands

by choosing to gather together today in the active practice of acknowledgement and appreciation

for Sacramento's Indigenous peoples' history, contributions, and lives.

Please remain standing for the Pledge of Allegiance.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Next is approval of the consent calendar.

Clerk, are there any members of the public who wish to speak on the consent calendar?

Thank you, Vice Chair.

there are no speakers for this item.

Thank you.

Are there any commissioners who wish to speak on this item?

Is there a motion and a second

for the consent calendar?

I move that we approve

the minutes.

I have a motion by

Commissioner Winlock.

I second.

And a second by Commissioner

Smith.

All in favor say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed?

Any abstain?

The motion passes.

And for clarification, was that a motion to move the consent calendar or just the minutes?

The consent calendar is the minutes as well as the follow-up log.

Both of them?

And attorney, that's okay?

Unless someone who voted yes didn't want to approve the follow-up log.

So, seeing none more good.

Okay, so we're going to make an adjustment to the consent calendar, to the discussion

calendar.

So the Sound Business Summit update will go first, followed by the everyday creative

program update.

and I would like to call on

one moment

so I'll jump in and help with this

Jason Zhang, Office of Arts and Culture

Culture and Creative Economy Manager

I'd love to invite our staff

who is here today with the Department of Sound

Department of Sound

They have been our partners over the last several months on a really exciting program, following up on recommendations that we had received as a part of the Sacramento Music Census, which indicated that there was a really strong desire for musicians and producers to have the tactical tools to have a better knowledge of business revenue-generating strategies.

and that's the work that we had begun and had engaged with Department of Sound, led by John Hamilton,

to provide a series of workshops in November.

And with us today is Najiri Bennett, who is Program Coordinator with Department of Sound.

He's going to share a little bit more of some of the background, the accomplishments,

and the excitement for what they have all brought to Sacramento. Najiri.

First of all, good afternoon, everyone.

My name is Nijiri Bennett, Program Officer at Department of Sound.

I want to thank you for the opportunity to share an update on the Sound Business Summit,

which the city helped to launch this fall.

So, Department of Sound is a Sacramento nonprofit founded in 2018

that uses music and podcast production to support emotional wellness

and teach practical industry skills,

primarily in our middle to high school and after schools and day school as well,

because we believe that sound should be a community utility and not a luxury.

So for this, our first Sound Business Summit,

this is a way for us to extend that mission with local working artists,

providing them with tools, training, and access

so that they can build a sustainable career here in Sacramento, not somewhere else.

Now, one of Sacramento's biggest export is talent.

And with artists being the soul of communities,

we believe as an organization that it is our responsibility to take care of them

because they take care of us and they provide so much.

And when artists leave Sacramento, we not only export our identity,

but we also export revenue with them.

So keeping them here strengthens our cultural fabric.

It fills venues and it grows the local economy.

And so this summit was just one way for us to try to provide an option for artists to stay here.

So how did we get here?

This program was designed directly in response to the Sacramento Music Census,

which showed that 75% of Sacramento musicians rely on income outside of music

and many are unaware of accessible revenue streams like royalties and licensing.

The census made it clear that if we want a healthy music ecosystem,

we need to invest in music business skills and not just provide venue or studio.

So with that in mind, the city awarded Department of Sound a $149,920 grand

to pilot a music revenue development initiative.

with the vision being to combine Making Money with Music,

which is a curriculum from the Center of Creative Entrepreneurship,

with a year-long digital learning hub and an in-person workshop series

hosted here at Chatted Records, one of Northern California's premier recording studios.

We're also very excited to have launched this work in partnership with Venice Music,

which is a next generation distribution and artist services platform founded by Troy Carter,

the former manager of artists such as Lady Gaga and Eve, as well as Susie Ryu.

Now Venice shares our belief that independent artists, especially local ones,

deserve the same level of tools, data, and support, as well as major label acts.

And that alignment has allowed us to give Sacramento artists who participated in the program also a full-year program where they're able to share their music and also get support from the team.

How did we get here?

In the lead up, we explored multiple venues and cohort sizes and ultimately decided to keep the summit an intimate one,

so that's why we brought them to Shattered Records.

We had six sessions, all held at Shattered Records, 18 artists per night for a total of 108 seats,

with a strong emphasis on networking, learning, and follow-through.

Applications opened citywide.

we received 275 applications with 161 coming directly from residents within

the city of Sacramento and from that pool we invited 134 artists ensuring a

diverse mix of genres background and career stages with a focus on on the

cusp artists being prioritized. We define on the cusp artists as those who have

recently performed locally or release music as well. Our outreach included

social media campaigns, direct engagement with local venues and studios,

and support from our local artist ambassadors. The program also benefited

from substantial media attention, coverage by ABC 10, Fox 40, CBS 13, and

and the Sacramento Observer and multiple other outlets helped to amplify the opportunity

and underscore the city's commitment to creative economy.

What did the workshop look like?

Each evening followed the same structure.

Artists arrived around 5.30 p.m. and were welcomed with a guided tour to Shattered Records

facility, a catered dinner where participants could meet one another and begin building

community and a two-part in-depth workshop with Randy Churkto, a veteran music educator and co-author

of the Indie Band Survival Guide and Making Money with Music. Randy's sessions covered core music

business topics such as royalties and publishing, licensing, live performance income, merch, fan

subscriptions and release strategy along with others.

The workshops were practical and applied.

Artists worked through their real scenarios, mapped out new revenue streams, and identified

concrete next steps for their own projects.

To close each night, we featured a short inspirational talk from one of our local artist ambassadors,

the Philharmonic, Camille Genet, Lizzie Paris, Tara Lopez of Rituals of Mine, DJ Abbs One,

and educator Benward Shepherd. The Philharmonic, who recently won NPR's Tiny Desk Concert,

joined us for two evenings and spoke powerfully about building a career from Sacramento while

staying independent. Now for participants feedback. Thus far we've collected

post-workshop surveys from 73 participants. The feedbacks have been

extremely positive. Overall satisfaction 4.8 out of 5. Practical usefulness for

their own goals, 4.7 out of 5. Learning gain, the summit gave me new ways to make

money from my music business, 4.7 out of 5. And as it relates to

confidence, I know how to make next steps within the next 30 days to improve my

music revenue, receiving a 4.6 out of 5. Beyond the numbers, the stories are what

really stand out. A few examples here. I've actually learned how to start marketing myself

in different ways, one participant. I've learned the vastness of what I can do with music,

and I'm going to be processing what I've learned in the weeks, months, and years to come, another.

And final, we realized there were so many things we've been leaving on the table as

an independent artist and it's inspiring to know there is a method to get in your music

and your art out there and also make money.

Another participant highlighted that the community experience and focus was probably the best

part of this workshop series, stating, content was incredible, especially for making passive

income, love that it was local, that we got to eat and chat with each other, and love

having the Philharmonic provide a motivational talk.

From our perspective as an organization, as a young one at that, these comments show that

the summit did what it was intended to do, helping to demystify the business side of

music, which can be quite daunting, and supported the local artists with an

emotional wellness as it relates to reducing anxiety around making

money and building a sustainable career. So for next steps, crucially this

is not a one-night only experience, so each participant now has a one-year

year subscription with Venice Music Pro membership, giving them unlimited music

distribution, royalty splits, analytics, and human support from their releases

straight to having it on platform. This will be led by the owner as well, Troy

Carter and Susie Ryu, both artists as well. Along with a full year access to CCE,

making money with music online learning hub with dozens of modules to reinforce

and deepen what they learned throughout the workshop. Additionally through Venice

Music we will track releases made by artists here in Sacramento and will

remain in touch with all participants to assess their progress in the future as

well as welcoming them into the Department of Sound Teaching Artist

hub. When we do

workshops in schools,

oftentimes it's one of the most challenging things

to do to find a teacher.

And so this pool

of local artists is now going to be a part

of the Department of Sound to also be able

to teach in our after school programs.

In closing,

we want to thank

the City of Sacramento's Office of Arts and Culture

and the Arts Commission,

our partners at CCE,

Shattered Records, Venice Music,

and our artist ambassadors for helping making this first business summit possible.

We're encouraged by the early results, and we're excited to keep working with you to build a music ecosystem

where Sacramento artists not only create great work, but can also sustain themselves economically from the work that they do.

So in doing so, we continue to be full of soul and for our community.

Thank you, and I'm happy to answer any questions.

Thank you.

Sorry about that.

Thanks so much.

Clerk, do we have any speakers on this item in the public?

Thank you, Chair.

We do not have any speakers for this item.

Thank you.

We have Commissioner Wallace.

Thank you.

I had a couple of questions. I might have missed this, but how did we do the outreach to make sure that we were targeting the right musicians?

So we first started with our geo-targeted specific ads online as well.

We've worked with Here, which is a local marketing brand here as well at Sacramento.

So we were very clear in outlining the qualification and requirements through that.

We've also popped up at Torch Club on a Sunday night.

And one of the main things that we tried to do was, again, have our local artist ambassadors

who have a good following.

For example, Camille has hosted a few events on the way on J. I know she had an amazing

mailing list from Philharmonic.

Social media is probably the easiest thing for artists since they're already on there

for inspiration and sharing their art.

So that was one of the key things.

And of course, again, making sure that the details was very clear, who is it that this

is target as a target audience.

And from there, we vet their work that they submitted, including their social media handles

to their following to the music that they've done, just to make sure that we had, as we

said, on the cusp artists in the room to benefit from the material.

So a lot of social media, a lot of local artists being the main plug, I would say, and that

also entice the local artists to feel like this was something that it's worth

sacrificing their three hours with. If that answers.

A follow-up question. The platform, is that something that we can market to the general public?

Like if we want to support local artists, is that a way that we would access that?

Which one? Department of Sound itself or what the artists are receiving?

The subscription platform?

So the CCE, what we prioritize is actually everyone who applied, since it was overwhelming, not only the 108 that were a part of the workshop.

So currently that's where we are.

I guess we would have to make sure that we have a conversation with CCE.

Oh, no, not that one, the other one.

Oh, for Venice music.

Yeah.

I can't say right now.

And just to elaborate a little, I myself am an artist,

singer-songwriter, and, you know,

most artists obviously sometimes struggle with, like,

this vision of thinking that they cannot make it too far

because they don't have the resources, right?

I will say for Venice, I myself am looking forward

to taking advantage of that

because it is kind of a once-in-a-lifetime.

It's also provided free.

So I can't speak on how much we can open it up currently.

This is also a relationship that we're just as eager as an organization to foster.

But what we're hoping is that in the future,

because we've heard this from a few of our artists, participants,

that they would love to see more of this.

So this is also my main address to that,

that we would love to have some business summit, part two, part three,

and many different ways to make sure that different artists

from different backgrounds as well is getting the opportunity to learn,

but also connect, which is one of the main things.

So while I can't speak on access to Venice right now,

because we're also still trying to digest it as a small organization,

being so exciting,

hopefully in the future we'll be able to bring that to more local artists,

even if they're not in our workshops.

Okay.

Last question.

We wanted a list of everyone who participated.

Do you guys have that on your website?

We have a database, yes.

So we have everything in tally and a few or four spreadsheets that we'll be able to share.

One thing I wanted to circle back on again is just to tie the knot.

So we often sell our curriculum as an organization into schools because we're building the ecosystem where kids learn early how to make music, advocate for themselves, express themselves, and use music as a way to regulate their emotions, but also just express and build confidence.

And so this is the pathway that we see.

They will go through our work or programs,

and then they will become local artists that could be a part of these programs.

And so my main thing that I want to leave here is that,

sorry, I'm really thirsty,

is that we are now excited to have this pool of over 265 applicants

who are often sometimes looking for next opportunity.

and so even if that's to have them in a school,

a semester program being a teacher for us,

that's one way to help them to make money.

So beyond the actual licensing and using their music,

most of these artists locally, they're trained,

they're smart, they're super talented

and what better way to tie them back to teaching the youth

but also being able to put their music out there.

So we're trying to create that as we go as well.

Fantastic.

I wanted to know if there will be any kind of a marketing effort to support their building awareness in the community about them.

That's a lot.

I cannot list 265 artists in Sacramento that I'm personally with.

You weren't sure we would find so many either, to be honest with you.

And I just want to say this, if they ever watch this, there's some amazing local talent.

I am grateful.

The team is grateful to have been a part of this.

We've learned so much also from them.

but just receiving the excitement.

It's one thing to bring the kids into our work,

into our studio,

and when we're doing our youth podcasts

and our tours,

and have, you know, 15-year-olds go,

whoa, this is amazing.

I've never seen anything like this,

and it's easier.

But bringing in adults,

we were, of course, as a team,

a little worried.

Would we be able to impress them?

Would we be able to make sure

the information is enough for them?

And we're blown out of the park by that,

to be honest.

And so the information from Randy, from CCE, and from Venice, and just bringing people together was bigger than what I think what we had in mind.

And so one of the main things I'm leaving again is we're hoping that we are able to do more of this.

I know that's one of the resounding response from everyone.

They were like, oh, the city cures this much?

I'm going to keep it real.

They did say that, right?

And so we were proud to say, yes, the city invested in this project, invested in the Department of Sound,

and know we're looking at this as a next step for the organization as well.

Fantastic. Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you, Commissioner Winlock.

This is exciting. It's wonderful, really.

I just want to applaud you in a lot of ways in the sense about building the creative economy

because that's exactly what this is doing.

One suggestion I would ask for is that your impact on those actually to establish a business and to look at it, we need to know what that impact was and did it happen.

And so I'm talking about maybe down the road a little bit

that you bring in, maybe come back to us

to kind of share what your work has done

to establish those businesses that are involved

that we can kind of hear with that

so that we can look at, keep supporting your work

and building their work.

But I think we're always,

when we invest this kind of dollars into

what truly has been the impact

and do we actually have people because of what we've done out there being involved in the creative economy?

So that would be a suggestion.

Thank you.

Might I just add a little to that?

Again, we're still digesting and finishing up everything.

So with the Venice piece that you asked, Mr. Wallace, I believe,

with that, that's the main, I guess, platform that we're going to use to see if we really impacted folks,

but also by providing them the services through Venice.

For a year, I feel like everyone currently is excited to release some, I think there's

a few folks who said they're working on EP or their album.

I'm pretty sure that that's going to be a main way for us to track to see whether or

not people have been releasing music because again, you have a free services that is doing

basically everything that a major record label would be doing for an artist, including myself.

So thank you for that, but I'm going to make sure, of course, the team has all this, the

metrics to show that we're not only just teaching and bringing folks together, but supporting

their creative careers.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Any other commissioners?

I did have one question for the program.

I came in late.

I'm so sorry.

But I did want to see, it sounded like it turned out well.

What are your plans for implementation?

Because you mentioned the youth, which is awesome, right?

Especially as musicians and the youth,

it's the best way to get your creative juices flowing,

as well as, like you said, to be able to just express

themselves in a healthy manner.

What are your next steps to actually reach the youth?

Are you going to hit any of the school districts

to see if this is something that you guys can collaborate on

because you have proof of concept now

and you have a roster of artists that can help.

What are your next steps?

Thank you for asking that.

I'm gonna try my best to answer.

So as a program officer over the past two years,

the main goal of the organization,

and I tried to express earlier,

is that we teach our own curriculum

in after school and day schools.

To date we've been in Sac City Unified,

We've been in Twin Rivers.

We've sold our curriculum to Esparto,

thanks to Yochitihi Winter Nation,

as well as Washington Unified.

Currently, we are, that's my role,

I'm still outreaching to school districts.

Over-curriculum, the focus is to not have students

and parents pay for our program.

So we try to sell the curriculum to school districts.

This is a good call as well.

We currently don't have any program for the spring.

But the goal is to make sure that, again, we can have teachers who is a part of this cohort as well to be able to teach our youth program.

So that's been going for over seven years.

We've been in school districts.

That's an independent program of the organization.

But we're trying to make sure that with this funded specific project, which is the Sound Business Summit,

we can have some overlap there which mainly as I said is to have teaching

artists to be a part of delivering the curriculum. If the answer is clearly.

Yeah thank you. Any other comments? Thank you. Thank you. Thank you all. Our next item on the

discussion calendar is everyday creative program update.

Everyone, do I have to wait for them to finish filling out the form?

Okay, cool.

Hello, my name is Rashawn Davis.

I am the Executive Director of Culture.

I'm here to just report on the Everyday Creative Program that we've been running with help

from the city and our partners, Creative Startups.

So I'll just jump into it.

For y'all that don't know who we are, Culture is a community development corporation.

We focus on three different things, culture making, culture keeping, and culture building.

What I'm going to talk to you about today is the culture making spot, which is our economic development space where we teach locals how to effectively be well in their business.

We also have our culture keeping, which is our first time home buyer program where we teach folks how to buy homes and then give them down payment assistance on their homes.

And we are also working on a 54-unit project in Del Paso, on Del Paso Boulevard, which we just submitted building permits for, which will be a hub for creative professionals.

So we do a lot of work in between the economic development space and the real estate development space to create places that locals and creative professionals can thrive.

so our everyday creative program as you can see is a very diverse program we have our six-week

pitch program we have our personalized coaching we have partner workshops that we do and then we

also do a 12-week accelerator and right now we're in the process of building out a fund called the

culture fund where we can take funding that we receive and give it back to the creatives on low

interest loans so that they can successfully thrive in their businesses.

Today I'm going to be talking about some of the things that the creative entrepreneurs

have learned.

So just to give you an insight on the process, we select folks that go through our program

and we'll just talk about the six week, the 12 week is kind of the same, but it's a little

bit more intense where we gather up to 25 businesses to teach them the ropes of business

and it goes through everything from learning the pain points of their customers to learning their sweet spot in the market to learning the addressable market.

All the language that you see that entrepreneurs get on a side of like, I'll just say Silicon Valley, the language that they get there,

we're bringing that to the creative economy and teaching them how to use that language inside of their business.

So that's a two-day deep dive that they do.

And then for weeks, they get into their technical learning, which we bring in mentors.

So up on the screen, you'll see we have lawyer mentors.

We have folks who have run funds that teach them and give them the information.

And we also have local businesses that have gone through our programs before come in and pour back into the entrepreneurs every Tuesday and Thursday.

And so over the terms of this is our fourth incubator and program that we have ran, we have been able to distribute $89,500 into the 56 businesses that have been a part of our program.

And that's funding that has come from the city of Sacramento through this program.

So once they go through the program, they either get $1,500 in seed funding for their business,

and then if they go through the 12-week, they get up to $5,000 seed funding invested into their business to help them grow.

I also have some numbers that we just got in.

Let me put these up.

So right now, 45% of the respondents report that they have growing revenues.

27% of the respondents report that they're expanding their businesses into new markets and hiring new team members.

Nearly 70% of participants report revenue growth past the program.

And 27% report that their business revenues have grown 25% to 50%.

And then 20% report their businesses have been able to double their business by going through these programs.

And so I just like to share the stories from folks that come in.

So right here, this is one of our 12-week accelerators.

So you can kind of just see the faces and the names of the people that have come through.

Here's another cohort.

This is our most recent cohort that just went through.

They just finished a couple weeks ago.

But I also like to tell the stories of our cohort people who have gone through.

So Bench is one of the folks that have been through the program.

They just finished raising $250,000 in friends and family round to launch their business.

So we're not talking about small, minimal businesses.

We're talking about businesses that are going to scale beyond just the Sacramento area, which is really cool to see.

Boomerang is an app.

They just obtained their U.S. patent.

And if you guys know anything about U.S. patents, like that is very hard to get.

And so we have a Sacramento business here that just obtained their U.S. patent last week.

So that allows for them to scale their business wherever.

And they're the first to market to do that.

We have folks like Triangle Media who are using their funding to then, like, merge their businesses.

So this is Doug and Gordon.

One was in photography.

One was in media as far as video goes.

They're merging their business together to play a bigger game.

and they learned those things through the cohort as well.

And then we have folks like Arctonic

who are empowering artists and building community

coming through the program

and they're learning how to change their business model

so they can work better together.

But I also like to just show visuals.

So can we play this video, Jason, I think, yes?

Okay.

Yeah, maybe.

If we can't get this going, we can share the link.

Yeah, we can share the link.

Would you happen to know if it was embedded as part of the...

I think it was, but...

Maybe not.

And then, you know, we can slide to the next slide.

I just want to bring up one of the folks who have been through our program, Eric,

if you want to come up and talk about your business and what you've learned.

What's up, you guys? I'm Eric Martinez.

Thank you guys for having me here, and thank you, Culture, for allowing me to speak.

allowing me to speak. So as you guys can see, my name is Eric. I own Gris Bean Super Club,

which is a private dining experience that we have here in Sacramento, and it's all about

minimizing food waste. Basically, my mission is to change the future of dining and minimizing

food waste. The biggest problem I've seen since I moved back to California was that

2 billion tons of edible food is being wasted annually.

And that's just here in California.

And since I got the, you know, since I moved here,

this was something that I couldn't even deal with myself.

And being a chef, I was not able to really comprehend why are we doing that.

And a little fun fact is that during the holidays,

there's an increase of 25% more food waste.

So this, you know, as an average person,

without having any of the Michelin training that I had,

how do we do this? How do we be able to live and throw away food while millions are going hungry?

And so I decided to start this supper club, which is a food waste supper club, where we talk

and educate people in the Sacramento region about our methodologies that help fight against this

food waste crisis. And here's a little bit about our commitment. You know, we're doing a lot of

consulting with restaurants. We're doing a lot of our private dining and supper parties that talk to

people about hey these are the methodologies that we're doing this is our you know our technique

that we fight against with food waste scraps for example we just led this year saving about 100

pounds of onion scraps from going into the trash we had converted that into our zero waste rub

where we had you know caramelized the onions and burned them really really really good and we mix

them with other spices and that's how we season our like vegetarian items our steaks and etc for

clients and also we have done a lot of food conventions as well as our food

talks and this year coming arts coming coming this year we're gonna be having

more supper talks which is where we get a group of people usually we're trying

to get people in the Gen Z area we're trying to get them together and just

really show them how we can minimize food waste as a community since we are

the farm to fork capital how do we really attract that you know how do we

make it approachable and I have been especially since I've been with the

culture program they have given me a lot of the skills to really know who I'm

going to be attracting to how do I make those connections and this past year I

did two dinners with UC Davis where we talked about you know this is what we're

doing for food waste what do you guys have at your guys's gardens how do we

get more people you know more involved of like involved about talking about food

waste and so with these programs with UC Davis I come in as the chef and then we

talk and we eat and we enjoy and so since the program I really want to thank

them so much and thank you guys too for you know funding us as well but since

the program I have made so many new connections in Sacramento to spread the

worst to spread my mission to minimize food waste I was able to be on Good Day

Sacramento. I just was released an edible magazine about what we're doing to minimize food waste.

And the biggest note to take out of it is that this is building, you know, this culture program

really is the center of what community stands for. Since I've been in here, I've met so many

different artists that really come up to me and be like, hey, this is my innovative way of how I can

minimize food waste with you. So once, for example, we just, for example, we just did a supper party

dinner party during terra madre which is one of the biggest food events in the world but i had a

lead designer who was that i met through the culture program where we had combined our innovative

creativeness and created this dinner party about sustainability teaching people what we can do

what we can do to really help sustain it as you can see in the middle there's like one of our

our displays, which is like a butternut squash displays.

What we do is we teach people, hey, this is what we can create.

And then guess what?

This is what we can create after it's done.

So it's creating a more sustainable approach to getting like decor that's really nice for people

and to really create more people or to get people to get more sensibility about how can we be creative

and still maintain to be the farm-to-fork capital.

Because my main mission is to really just get people to start talking about how do we minimize food waste?

How do you, you know, like if we have friends who are vegetarian, you know, how do we get them to still minimize food waste?

And how do we get people in our community to be more than just throwing it into the organic bin?

You know, we want to be, we want to go beyond that.

And so this is our little, if you want to scan this QR code, we have our newsletter.

We have over 360 people signed up for it.

And these people are the ones that are getting first exclusive invites to our supper parties,

our supper clubs that are very exclusive.

We host almost about two a month, and there are about 10 courses each with, you know,

different types of cocktails or non-alcoholic mocktails.

And this is just to bring people together.

And I know that since I've been at this program,

so many people have been very attracted towards this

and they're wanting to come and experience

what we have to offer.

Awesome, you guys, thank you.

And that's it.

Nick's not here.

So, yeah.

Yeah, that's my time.

I will be around for questions, but I know there's other folks that have things to say as well.

Thank you, Clerk.

Do we have any public comments?

Thank you, Chair.

Yes, we have three speakers for this item.

Our first speaker will be Charity.

Hello, good morning.

I wasn't expecting to come in so quickly, but my name is Charity Mugasha,

and I'm really happy to be here to speak on the impact that culture has had in my life.

I re-migrated to the United States four years ago,

and I got married and I had two wonderful children in the span of these four years

and I went back to work.

I'm an architect by training.

I went to Otis in LA.

I have a master's degree from an interior design school in Spain

but my skills and my talent were being frequently overlooked

because of my recent immigration status.

My work experience was primarily outside of the United States, and getting people to appreciate the work and what I have to offer here was a big problem.

And after working for a year and speaking to so many people, I realized there's so many people who are facing the same problem that I am, which is really about finding place.

What does space and place mean to you?

as it could be a new mom, it could be a new empty nester,

it could be a new immigrant,

it could just be somebody who is transitioning

into a different season of life

and just not knowing how to create a space

that reflects that for you.

In redesigning my space over and over

and creating a space of safety

in a place where I'm trying to find my identity,

create a nice space for my sons, my two American sons,

in a country that I didn't really grow up in

but I'm now calling home. It was such a maze. But in answering a lot of the questions that came

with those complexities, in having close to 15 design appointments a week and talking to so many

people, I realized, whoa, there's a lot of people who are facing the same problem that I am.

Culture came in and said, we can help you help other people. And I'm like, what? They helped

restore confidence in my ability not only to problem solve for myself, but for the people

in a community that has welcomed me that I now call home. And I now have, you know, I'm starting

my business. It is in the process of getting registered. I've been pointed towards the right

resources that I need to get that done. I have access to potential customers. I have access to

some of the most amazing creative people that I've met just within those six weeks of the program.

that have made me feel like, whoa, what a time to be alive

and what a community to be a part of.

So I'm really excited to see what could come out of this

and the people like me that could be impacted

and given the ability to give back to a community

that in so many ways is giving back to them as well.

Thank you.

Thank you for your comment.

Our next speaker will be Jesse.

Hi, my name is Jesse Haynes and I'm here to just speak on the greatness that is culture.

I'll tell you a little bit about myself.

I'm a former arts commissioner myself for the city of Lodi and I've been running a business

here for about seven years in Sacramento.

I've lived in Sacramento since 2014 and during COVID I moved back to Lodi and was on the art

commission and serve there and so I know that things can move rather slowly

you'll get introduced a topic and it might not get brought up or addressed

for three months because you have so many meetings you can go to and I'll say

people like culture are pretty much the hands and feet for people like the city

of Sacramento art commission if they are allowed to be and and I think you guys

are probably like okay guy get on with it but so with me I'm just here to say

like before culture I didn't know how to express the value in my business and

what it was like that I do now I have a mission statement now I could come into

a room and tell you that you know there's value in my business and then

I've raised a value in my business just through mentorship I've had I didn't

know what an angel investor was like before the 12-week program and by the

end of the 12-week program even though I've been in business I now know how to

to walk into a room for funding and ask for funding that was beyond me before.

I mean, I've studied business in classes and courses, all the things.

This 12-week program literally changed my life.

Like, the ability to have a vocabulary, to go into a room with people that are interested

in helping people just like me is a game changer.

And so I can just say that people like Rashawn and the culture program,

they're going to do something huge in Sacramento

and I'm so excited that they're coming to the Del Paso Boulevard

so I just wanted to come and give them praises

and just let you know they're really doing the work

so that's it

Thank you for your comment

our last speaker on this item is Tony

I'm waiting for the timer.

Hello, everyone.

I'm Tony Christ.

For the last almost 20 years now, I've been producing events and things all over Sacramento.

We've done huge block parties with 10,000 people on the block and work with artists like 50 Cent and Travis Scott and people like this.

We're also a big supporter on the Department of Sound.

So we're like a platform that just kind of puts artistry and culture to the front of

Sacramento.

Working with culture, I was trying to transition from just really being a local brand into

a global brand.

And so I've been working on building out a platform that allows us to do one membership

for a healthy social life.

I have a really love-hate relationship with Sacramento.

I feel like there's something about this place that just always brings me back.

And like being a part of culture, I really do feel like there was time that I felt like I would have saved 20 years of my life

if I would have had this program when I first started with my last business.

And it really saved me the time moving forward with what I'm doing next.

And so, you know, to be able to have a culture and be able to bring the things and my talents together

to showcase in front of people, be able to go out and get investors.

It's completely changed the trajectory of what I'm doing next,

and it's sped up this process for years for me.

So even for people that have done something and accomplished something on their own,

this is a program that I really do believe that every creative should go through in the city.

So thank you so much.

Thank you for your comments.

Chair, there are no other speakers on this item.

Thank you.

It looks like we have a comment from Commissioner Orozco.

Yes, thank you.

I just wanted to first start off by saying thank you for the presentation.

I love the work that you guys are getting done for local businesses.

But I did have a question.

How are these businesses selected for this program?

It's very clear that there's a large and very successful impact.

But I believe one of the speakers mentioned that culture approached them.

I just wanted to know a little bit more about the process for that.

Yeah, so we do a mass marketing like when we're sending it out.

So the way that the cohorts work, there are six weeks in the 12 weeks.

And so when we're starting the marketing, it does, we do flyers, we do a lot of digital outreach.

So Facebook, Instagram, all of those things.

People then see the ad.

They go to a website.

They apply through a form, and then there's a selection committee.

We select the folks that way.

Thank you.

Thank you. Commissioner Wallace?

Thank you, Chair.

I want to pick up on something that Tony just said, which was, like, things are changing.

changing. So Sacramento has been trying to figure out a flywheel that works for a long time. We even

had a project called Flywheel for a while. And I just really, I want to note like Roshan's been

in the trenches and doing really great work for a long time. And I know a lot of you guys

and have been trying to help from this position at the Arts Commission for a long time. And I

think that we have really hit upon a methodology that will work for the future.

And I think it's really important right now, given everything that's happening in the economy,

that we are nimble and we're on the ground, to your point, and seeing what's happening and adapting on the daily.

A lot of really great people that I've worked with over the years have either gone through this program

or who have been mentors for the program.

And so I want to commend Megan Van Voorhees

for building the relationship with creative startups

because this is just extremely excellent, so great.

And I do have one question.

You talked about the culture fund.

So are we doing sort of like investor matching

or how are we working to connect our cohorts

with other investors in the region?

Yeah, 100%.

That's a great question because that's kind of the next phase of this program.

It is where we're actively building out the structure that's going to hold the fund.

But then it is investor matching.

It's us going to fundraise.

It's us talking to banks.

It's us talking to other corporate entities or philanthropic entities as well to raise that fund.

I really want to see that fund be millions and millions of dollars because it's good to have the city entity behind us and helping out.

But in order for this to be sustainable for the long term, it has to be a multi-pronged approach.

It can't be left on any one entity to develop the creative economy here or not even develop.

I always say it's already here.

We just have to connect the dots to the ecosystem.

You heard from the gentleman before me, this is here.

We're living this every day.

It's just about connecting the dots.

I've been an entrepreneur in Sacramento for the last 17 years.

I started as a musician, actually.

So all of this came from me being a creative professional back in the day.

And so what I've just always seen is the gaps in the ecosystem.

right and so that fund to me is like that dot that we can all kind of pour

into to make sure that this stays sustainable for the long road.

Thank you Commissioner Carter. Yes so it's really good to hear about the

program this is my first time hearing about it so I am super just ecstatic

about it here in the updates.

But I have a couple of questions.

Going forward, what are some of the goals

that you guys have for the program?

I know you guys said you have the six-week,

12-week program.

So what are some of the goals that you guys have

for the following year, and then what can the city do?

Yeah, so through the contract that we've had with the city,

we have one more 12-week accelerator,

and then the rest of the time will be spent

building out the actual fund, right?

So we are coming to the end of the two years.

It's been a two year process that we've been doing this.

So this will be the second year that we're doing that.

So I definitely think from the city standpoint

is just like, you know, continuing to figure out

these funding sources that can help out

or just leveraging the relationships

and sending them our way.

That'll definitely be helpful.

Okay, and my second question is,

is there any updates you can share with us

about the 54-unit apartment complex?

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

So that's called Culture House,

and it'll be on the bottom.

It's live workspace.

So about nine entrepreneurs will be able

to open their business at the bottom

in the live workspace model,

and then the rest, second floor and third floor,

will be one bedrooms and studio apartments, right?

So the best way that I can, like, explain it,

if you guys are familiar with the warehouse artist lofts,

like, it's kind of that model,

is just putting creative professionals in one space

and then using the space around it

to then have economic drivers.

So first Friday, second Saturdays, farmers markets,

all on the same land,

which then creates that system of economic development.

And so that's like the first piece that we're working on

on the Del Paso Boulevard corridor.

Thank you. Commissioner Smith?

Well, I want to say Commissioner Carter took my question, so it was already answered.

But to add to that, I want to say I'm thankful for culture and what it is bringing to Sacramento.

It's bringing a global ideology, which I think that's something that being a Sacramento native, I appreciate.

And I think the city of Sacramento appreciates as well.

So I want to say thank you for that.

And he also asked my second question.

but how is culture going to 10X?

How is it going to grow?

And thank you for sharing that light on us.

Yeah, no, I appreciate it.

And as far as that, like how's it 10X?

Like I look at the crowd right here

and it's like we are 10Xing.

The last time we gave this report,

there was only two of us,

well, three of us technically, right?

Or four.

So it's just like to see the folks that are here,

This is just a small portion of the 75 folks that have been through the program.

Some of them couldn't make it today, but, you know, it's beautiful to just see it grow over time.

And that came from the seed funding from the city.

So this literally wouldn't have been as fast as it happened without y'all.

So I just want you guys to sit in that and just say, like, we appreciate it.

Like while we are the conduit of it,

it was the decisions that y'all made

to actually make it happen.

Like I couldn't imagine doing this by myself

or with a small team without having the funding

and the technical assistance around us

and all of the support to then pour into the entrepreneurs.

Like it would have taken years.

So I think collectively working together

is what actually makes this thing happen.

So it's not just me, it's y'all up there,

it's the folks in this building,

It's folks out here, it's folks in the streets

that are actually just working together

to play a bigger game.

Thank you.

Vice Chair Ohebu.

Thank you, Chair.

It's wonderful to hear the impact that you guys are having

and the feedback from your participants.

And also, Commissioner Carter did ask my question.

I mean, sorry, Commissioner Carter asked my question

regarding Del Paso.

But I also wanted to know,

what is your timeline for Del Paso?

So building permits just got submitted today.

It takes about 90 days, I hear.

This is our first time going through, like, the development process, so bear with us.

But I think it takes at least up to 90 days for us to get our permits back,

and then we can start breaking ground on construction.

So we're looking at breaking ground the first or second quarter of the end of the first quarter to second quarter of this year,

if everything goes right.

Crazy, I know.

Yeah.

Thank you.

Pray for us.

Thank you.

I was asking Jason over here.

I was like, is this the event that we had attended?

Because I had attended one of them.

And it was awesome.

It was so cool for somebody who's not really in the art space to come to a space.

Because I usually just go wherever my kids go.

So I go and I'm like, oh, this is real official over here.

They got the full-on presentation.

Each person or each group came to give their presentation with the screen on the back.

It was very nice.

And they had the music.

They had the food.

They had their displays.

It was something that you go to and you think, like, okay, so this program is really going somewhere.

So I really appreciated it.

Just the display and the presentation itself was very, very nice.

I wanted to ask, so when you guys do these mentorships, because it's awesome, do you only open it just to individuals or for-profit, or are you guys opening it also to nonprofits?

Can anybody apply for this?

Yeah, so right now the majority is for profit because of the economic development piece.

We do want to open it more to nonprofits because, you know, the gap in the ecosystem here is the nonprofits and understanding the business model.

You know, so we have a lot of people who experience a pain and then they start a business around that pain that they're experiencing.

And then they just get to going and what they consider the business and someone steers them to open a nonprofit.

but they don't really understand that it is actually a business structure.

So I definitely think that there is a gap in the ecosystem there that we're slowly trying to address,

but we have to do it through this cohort model.

So hopefully, eventually, there can be just a track for the nonprofits

because they can use this information as well to look at their business differently.

And we've tested it a couple times throughout the process,

and it's definitely worked for some of those folks as well.

but predominantly we focus on for-profit businesses that are going to scale.

Yeah.

Thank you.

Looks like we have Commissioner Carter next.

All right.

So last question, I promise.

So I know with the 54 unit,

what are some of the guidelines as far as like applying for the units?

Will it be tailored?

I know more towards artists, correct?

Yep.

Okay.

So will it be like artists or can anybody who is within a community apply?

Yeah.

So we're building that out right now as far as that goes, you know, step by step.

But the goal is to have it be creative professionals and artists.

You know, like we look at the whole scale of the creative economy.

So that goes very far when you're looking at it from, you know, the, how do you say it?

NACE codes?

NAICS codes.

That's how you say it, yeah.

So we're looking at it from that perspective as well.

And that's vast.

there's like 144 classifications of creative individuals.

So that is going to be definitely be what we gear it to for sure.

And it's just the first one.

So once we get that one up and running, we plan to do multiples like that.

Thank you.

I did have one final comment for our commissioners.

Commissioner Carter had said this was the first time that you heard about culture, right?

But that's the same for me.

I didn't hear about it until I was here on the commission board.

So I don't know if I can legally ask this of our commissioners,

but anytime we do hear stuff like this to make sure that we're putting it on our own personal platforms

so that way your people and your reach that you have who would not have heard it

because they're already doing marketing on their own and it sounds like artists know about it,

but even the artists who aren't tapped into the artist market to make sure that they know about it too.

it's important right it was if you got a chance to see this presentation that they did it was so

awesome where you're like i want to do it too yeah so if you is that something that we can

ask can i say that to ask our commissioners to make sure that we're we are doing our part

as the commission to get the word out about things that are presented here

yeah of course

I always have to make sure I'm asking

so please make sure

that everybody that you know

that you're talking to on your guys'

platforms that there's no reason

why anybody that we touch daily

especially daily

that they should not know that there's platforms

or there's programs

like culture that are out there

100% yeah and I just think about it

from like the organizational standpoint

it's like yes the city of Sacramento

so is a major proponent of this program as well.

But also on the individual level,

we also have an individual hat and can be sharing it out

as well, so for sure.

And I just want to mention that pitch night that you saw.

It's so interesting to me the process in which folks go

through, because a lot of the folks that go through the

program do not have pitches.

They do not have decks even created.

So what you've seen is like the end result.

But when they started that process,

I'd say probably 80% of those folks that you saw

had never put together a deck before ever,

had never pitched in front of anybody before ever.

So it's just interesting to see like the process

in which when you have the technical assistance around you

and you have the support around you

and you have the community around you,

what you can like accomplish in a short 12 week period.

Because they sound really polished

and they know what they're talking about.

They hit the marks, and it's like, yeah,

that's what we can do together.

You guys gave them great access.

That was one of the words that I was writing down, access, right?

And it all matters the kind of information that we have access to.

You guys did a great job.

Thank you.

Any other commissioners have anything that you guys want to add?

Awesome.

Our next item, thank you.

Our next item on the agenda.

is to discuss and provide direction

on the Sound Business Summit update.

We are moving on to the discussion.

Direction on the Arts Culture.

So, oh, item number five,

discuss and provide direction on Arts, Culture,

and Creative Economy Commission on the annual report

and 2026 work plan element.

Thank you, Chair Lovulo.

Before I get started, I just wanted to give a shout-out

and share my appreciation for all of the guests

who came down here today

and presented at both of the earlier items,

Nijiri Bennett with the Department of Sound,

Rashaan, and your whole crew

and all of our public speakers.

Just wanted to acknowledge that

The work that you both do are very critical, and both organizations are extremely valuable partners.

We absolutely would not be able to get the work done without you, so I just wanted to share that.

So going into this next agenda item, just as a refresher,

This item is for the Commission to consider how the 2026 work plan element of the 2025 annual report should appear.

This is a discussion item for you all to discuss and explore ways that you might wish to either keep it as is, to streamline, to explore a different approach.

this document that you have in front of you the 2026 work plan element is taken directly from

last year's annual report that was approved by personnel and public employees

as well as city council and this is the work plan that that was crafted in part by former

commissioners approved by many of the commissioners who are not on the body at the moment so this is

an opportunity for you to talk through.

Do these goals still feel like they're appropriate?

It does outline objectives and outcomes

specific to each goal.

You might wish to consider,

are there specific projects or tasks?

And once we get that onto a page,

what is the process for actually prioritizing

and how will that work move forward?

So that may have been an element to improve on from the past work plan.

And I think I'm going to leave it at that.

I'll share that.

Chair Levullo and Vice Chair Hebu and I had a preliminary discussion to kind of go through some of these ideas.

But I'm going to pass it off to Chair Levullo to guide you through the rest of your consideration on this item.

Thank you.

So if you guys haven't had a chance to look at the draft for the work plan for the upcoming year,

it was on the agenda for you.

I don't know if we have access to bring it up.

Do you have access to bring it up on the file?

I don't know how many of you guys actually have the draft in front of you.

Yes.

It's a hard copy.

There should also be a presentation file, noting this is all public, this is all already approved,

and this was a part of the approved 2025 annual report.

Right.

So, yeah.

So if you don't have a copy of it in front of you,

it's right here on the screen.

And basically what we're doing is we're trying to figure out

if the work that's already been done,

which it's a great work on here,

what of it do you think can be done better?

And what the work plan do you think,

is it a lot of information?

Is it easy for you to understand?

And is it easy for you as a commissioner to understand what your role is and how you can get this information out to your districts that you guys represent?

When we were talking with Jason and Commissioner Ohebu, for me, I always feel like we get stuck in just the cycle of just talking and talking and planning and planning.

But at what point are we actually implementing these plans?

And so if you as commissioners have ideas on how we can take what's here in this draft and

Make it to be a workable action item that we can implement maybe quarterly if not monthly

This is your time to make sure that you're writing your ideas down

Suggesting anything that you have if you've already read it make sure that you speak up

Commissioner O'Hable, do you have anything that you want to add?

Commissioner O' Yes, I just want to agree with what you're saying that we discussed

that we definitely want to move forward with more action and support any of the commissioners

who want to be more in the community versus just more, just instead of just kind of discussing

everything in the commission meeting.

Thank you.

Sorry about that.

So we just wanted to make sure that we are just kind of going over.

It's important to know what our goals are and if you want to follow along.

goal is to achieve greater clarity around ACCEC's purpose and role within the city of

Sacramento government. There are some objectives here and we did try to put some action words

under those objectives but even then it's still kind of a little bit convoluted or maybe a little

bit busy. So if you guys can just read it a little bit and just kind of think of some way that we can

almost simplify it so that way it still conveys the same information but is easy

to be understood by a normal person like me who's just here because I'm a mom who

has kids and if I didn't go to college and I didn't do all the extra stuff tell

me what what can I do as anybody who would read this would just be able to

oh that's my job as the commissioner that's what I'm supposed to do I see we

We have some comments.

Commissioner Wallace.

Oh, sorry.

Thank you.

So I have a couple of thoughts, but I also have like a challenge I want to articulate.

I do think this is really busy and it's hard to figure out what's going on here.

And so just as a general statement, I would say this is a lot for a body that meets maybe

10 times a year to achieve without regular dialogue. And so it might make sense for us

to address a goal at every meeting. That would get us all the way through. And then the second

thing is that the Brown Act makes it challenging for us to promote and share amongst each other

outside of this body what we're doing, what we're hearing, and what we think we should

be working on. So like a few months ago we had a question about whether or not staff could share

on our behalf like things that are happening in the community and I said I have an Instagram

account that I've created just for this district and I share lots of stuff and people share things

with me and then I put them out. I have my own email address. It's just for this process.

And I learned all that because I was on the planning commission, so it's not something

that I expect everyone to know what to do. But also, if there's things that we want to

bring to the body as a whole, we don't really have, I mean, maybe we just, is there a way

we can just communicate with the chair and then like things can be more developed in

the meeting as opposed to having to bring it to everybody as like so that it will have

to take one or two or it will take two or three meetings to come to a conclusion because

it really slows down the pace of the work.

We used to be able to have ad hoc committees, we had a marketing ad hoc committee that used

chair and and so we could talk about like how are we gonna get the word out

because it's really it's not just getting the word out about what's

happening in the community it's also making sure that all the artists and

creatives know what resources are available to them or learning what they

need and bringing it back to staff so throwing that out there is starting

point I like it a lot because like you said what you started it's something

that probably all the commissioners would want to know and whether they

implement it and take it on themselves to create an extra account I'm not sure

if that's something we can do can we as commissioners create commissioner

accounts for specifically only commissioner business to their

districts is that something that we can

or you can't do DMs through it either

because we would have to have city emails

and things like that.

Good question.

Yeah.

Good question.

Jason?

Did you want to jump in?

The city's position is that members

should not have city-looking official accounts

for commission members.

So the recommendation is that a member wouldn't have

District 5 Arts Commission members, City of Sacramento,

and with the city logo and putting out information

because it would imply that your statements are statements

made on behalf of the city, which you could not do.

You could use individual socials,

but the city doesn't really have a policy on getting into the details of all that.

So you can't represent specifically, officially,

as this is Sacramento City's stance on whatever you have on your social media.

You can, however, say that I'm a commissioner and I'm giving you information,

but this is all just as a disclaimer, this is just me giving you the information.

Yeah, that would be fine.

So we had like disclaimers within the social media posts that, you know, just...

Yeah.

Oh, okay.

A disclaimer and not using the city official logo would suffice.

Yeah.

And don't use the city logo.

And don't use the city logo.

Okay.

I would say that this is also, you know, would be optional.

Yeah.

It's not, this is not, you guys have to do this.

This is if you would like.

And if you feel like you come to these meetings and you just come just to come.

And you feel like you want to do more.

This is a way that you can do more.

You just don't represent the city in everything that you say, and you have to put that as a disclaimer.

There's nothing to prevent anyone from sharing all of the news, for example, any of the updates,

resharing Office of Arts and Culture or City of Sacramento posts, for example.

You can do that now as well.

And I think it's good for you guys each to know, if you guys don't know,

that if you guys go to the website, the Garnicus website,

you guys can pull up the recordings from each meeting

and even take your little snippets of your video

and post it on your guys' social media

so that they do know you are really a commissioner

that sits on the dais.

Because some people don't know, right?

And some people are just like, okay, you're giving me information.

It sounds silly, but it's not silly

until you know that it's definitely something you can do.

Anyone else?

Yes.

You know, I want to really compliment the division in putting this out.

And, you know, I've been on the commission for a number of years, and it's so spelled out in a way about what it is expected of a commissioner, as I'm looking at, which is very, very good within that.

But, you know, I think, could you cut down some of the wording?

Yeah.

But I don't think we, the wording actually, as I'm reading it, helps me explain what's being asked of us to do within that.

So that's one of the, that's the yin and the yang about how you make sure that it's an effective document.

One of the things that I'm always involved in,

and when we put out what our work is

and the kinds of things that we do,

we need to give examples of what we're doing

to make sure that that goal is coming along.

Today, when I was listening to culture

and listening to our sound business,

how exciting to hear that the work

that the commission is doing was here being displayed.

And I think that's one of the things

that when I look at, for instance, goal two,

it talks about this issue

about building a community engagement,

listening to hear what's happening within our area.

We had examples of that today of that goal right here

because we were building our knowledge around that.

So one of the things I would suggest

is just what a colleague had just mentioned about the issue about looking at each goal,

maybe each meeting, but bring examples of how the work is happening in that goal.

Not so much to have us restate the goal of what we're trying to do,

because we kind of will agree on that.

That's our work in the commission.

But then I think in order to make us more effective in involvement

is that we show the examples of how that goal is being involved with more presentations from those when we've invested in,

say, for instance, you know, when you talk about the number of grants and areas that we give into the community to help our area,

to see examples of what those grants have done in making the economy or changing or supporting our artists

is really what I would like to see this commission be able to show examples of based on the goal that we've kind of set up with.

But I just think it really helps in kind of explaining what's expected of us as a commissioner,

in a sense, about being involved in what our work is.

but then also when we have our regular meetings to be able to show examples of how that is happening within the work that we're doing could be very effective in making sure that people understand the commission has a role and an involvement.

Thank you.

Anyone else?

You look like you want to say something.

I seem like this.

I just aren't ad hoc groups.

Aren't we allowed to do those again?

Didn't the city reinstate those or.

We have ad hocs.

They have to be for very limited specific purposes.

We can't, we cannot have our,

my office's guidance right now is we can't just have a broad 2025 or 2026

annual report work plan committee.

Cause that would not be a limited specific purpose because.

effectively you would just have an ad hoc every year for each year's annual report and work plan,

and that's not limited purpose.

It's a general committee, not an ad hoc.

But if there's a very specific goal or mission, you can form an ad hoc body, yes.

So, for example, if we wanted to work on one of these goals in the work plan,

and essentially that would be specific enough as it's sort of laid out,

or would it have to be one of the sort of bullet points within one of those goals,

you know, those subheading objectives?

Like an ad hoc for each goal?

Yeah, yeah, yeah, of a goal, yeah, yeah.

Yeah, I suppose that's specific enough.

Okay.

If I could add, though, Jeff, maybe Commissioner Eisenberg,

specific

projects that the commission

has maybe

tinkered with, thought of

inside conversations on the past.

They may serve one or more

of these goals and that also

could be an example of a specific

project that could

be the

basis for the formation of an ad hoc

committee.

I did

want to respond to

something Commissioner Winlock was saying.

I think that we've been,

staff, we've been including in the staff reports

a preview of how each item does reflect back

on both the creative edge plan

as well as one of this past year's work plan goals.

So there is a record for that,

for every agenda item,

at least the discussion items but I will say I think that what might be missing is

the identification of your own priorities and then to Commissioner Wallace's suggestion if it is

whatever it may be if it is addressing a goal or a project or having updates that that would

be something that I think we can work on with the chair and vice chair but I think the specificity

needs to happen what is it that you actually do want to accomplish that

reflects any of these goals or objectives and how will you as a body

decide what you want to prioritize and how you're maybe it's then after

identifying what you would like to do with that smorgasbord is going to look

like then having a conversation around prioritizing and calendaring and who's

doing what if an ad hoc committee needs to be established.

So that, I suggest, might be one way to go.

I mean, to get the work done, our goal for this annual report is to have a draft for

January that can be approved and moved forward to the Personal and Public Employees Committee

for subsequent approval by City Council come February.

I think that's pretty much in alignment with what we established last year, what some other commissions are doing.

So I think that might be the next step is, okay, so now between now and January, how do you all want to move forward?

We can, and commissioners can, meet outside of this forum without notification as long as we are not meeting our quorum.

so any number less than six and I can be of support.

I do meet regularly as you know.

I have post meetings after these sessions

and then pre meetings with our commission leadership.

So I can be of, if I can be of assistance,

I'd be glad to,

but I think it's up to you all to continue discussing

what direction you want to head in.

Commissioner Wallace.

I have a question.

I think it's for Jason.

So this, I came in in March, and so I don't know what was discussed in 2024.

But this work plan is for the commission, not the office.

Correct.

Got it.

Correct.

And then I think that we don't necessarily have, you have been keeping that documentation of like what we've been,

what things get presented here that reflect the priorities as articulated in this work

plan but I don't they're not mapped right so like I can't look and see right now what

we talked about that meets these I can only like try to pull it out of my brain right

now.

There isn't a cross reverence to every single discussion item since the since this

has been approved as to how yeah there's not like a.

It's in the staff, it's in each staff report, right?

Right.

There's not like a.

That would help.

We can, you know, look on that.

Yeah.

I'm a data person.

Yeah.

Yeah, we can produce something like that.

And then do you feel like we decided, because I was, that was my very first meeting.

We were supposed to be talking about the priorities for this year.

Do you feel like we prioritized this?

No.

Yeah, I don't think so either.

Well, yeah.

Let me say no.

There was a discussion.

It's like a laundry list that we had never really winnowed down.

Is that okay?

Yeah.

Well, that goes back to my point.

It's like I always feel like we talk about planning it and we do a lot of, okay, we'll keep planning and planning.

But at what point does it become our commissioner's duty to do something on here?

Yeah.

And I'll just say, and this is for everyone's benefit.

I have deep concerns about the long-term funding picture for this body, not this body, but

like this effort in the city because of budgets and everything as they are.

And so I think that increasing the awareness of the impact of the work that the commission,

the staff do and that the community does with our electeds is really high priority for us for 2026.

So we wanted to throw that in there as a priority. I would say that would be a high priority.

Yeah. And I would love to see with 2026, I would love to have us leave every meeting with us having

an action item. Whether you want to do it or not is going to be up to you but this something

that we can come back and say hey this is what we did so we agreed that this is something

that needs to be looked at like take one of these goals on here and then say like hey

of this we chose this goal what happened come back and bring back because that gives you

something to go back and talk to your district about or talk to people to make the awareness

more that's what I would love to see on this action item draft I'm gonna put

that in here if you guys have suggestions that you guys would like to

see on here to make sure that you guys are also being very vocal about what you

would like to see on this too because it's a draft and last year I didn't

understand it it was a draft and I have I can change it and say no this year I

understand okay well I want to see this so if you didn't understand it that if

If you please understand, it's a draft that can be changed.

It's a living document.

That means that it goes wherever throughout the time while this commission is working.

So if you'd like to see something on here, even if it's simplify this.

I like the work that's done, but it's very wordy.

And for me, it's too wordy for me.

So I like to, I'll read it and I'll be like, I don't understand.

But I'll understand what the action item is.

And I know that everybody takes an information different.

So if this is great for you, this is great.

But then for me, I just have to see, like, how did this work?

What's the action item?

So do you think that we should have, we should trim it down from one or five to maybe three that are, like, important?

I don't necessarily think that we should trim the goals down.

I just think that we should I don't even think we should take away any of the words here necessarily

I just think that the outcome now it should be like how are we going to take this out like what's the action item and then come back and report

Because I feel like that's the missing thing. Here's the report

You usually are given a task you go out and then come back and report

One suggestion would be to, under each of the goals, to give an action item as an example.

Because I think if you limit it to just putting on what you put on as the action, we shouldn't stop there.

So in an example, what an action item looks like in each of the goals,

it should be, to me, would be a great way.

So then as a commissioner, if I don't follow that particular action item, I would follow the one that maybe I create, but it's going to have some of the same components of the action items that were listed by the commission as an example, if that makes sense.

Yes.

You know, so that we can start to kind of form what would be those action, because you could have a, you know, a huge list of action items.

But at the same time, I don't think you want to put that on here, but you want to give an example of what that action would look like in that particular goal.

Absolutely. Thank you.

And what I love about this commission here is that we have two very vetted people that are, you guys already know what your action items are, yourself and Commissioner Wallace.

You guys already know, right?

But for me, I'm like, okay, I don't know.

I'm kind of like going back and forth.

I like to watch because I learned by watching your example.

And then when you guys say, this is what we do,

and I'm like, okay, so that's what I'm supposed to do.

So I appreciate your guys' experience

and also your guys' forthcoming with your guys' input.

It helps us a lot.

Anyone else?

I just wanted to say thank you for the nice way

that you called Steve and I old guard.

Please.

No, not enough.

Not at all, but I take from there, you can see the confidence in what you guys are doing, right?

When you guys say like, yeah, but what we really should, I want to do that too.

I want to say, I want to know what we're really supposed to be doing.

So when you guys are talking, I do take it in like a sponge as well as I'm sure the other commissioners too.

But to bring it back to this draft, does anybody want to specifically take on the item of redrafting this?

We can try to put in your suggestions.

You can email it.

Can they email it to you?

Absolutely.

I think some next step homework items were established

and determining what that deadline might be would be helpful

and who's going to help kind of repackage and put this all together,

determining who's going to reconvene and help bring something forward to January

I think might be a good next step.

Okay, so this is where I was talking about like the Brown Act.

I'm not clear on like can we collaborate on a document with everybody in it.

You can't have more than five people collaborate.

Right.

But can they just look at it on their own time and if they have a suggestion for a specific item,

email it to Jason and then have it be presented so that it looks, he can send out like what a draft looks like.

And Jason has to do all of that.

Jason couldn't send it.

members can individually email ideas to jason who could compile but he couldn't share then

the resulting product in advance of the meeting until the agenda is posted because then it's

otherwise he'd be facilitating a serial meeting among all of you you're sure we can't have an

ad hoc committee to do this you can have five people chat so we can yeah we can you can

determine uh if there are three additional up to three additional folks correct me if i'm wrong

but I believe the Commission can determine right now if there are up to three additional folks who would like to join

Chair Lovelow and Vice Chair Hohebu and I in our in-between meetings leading up.

And it would be short order because the report would need to be prepared in advance of the January meeting.

So we want to, you know, come together if that's what you all decide to do.

Yeah, correct. And it doesn't need to be, it's not like a formal appointment here at the meeting. It wouldn't be an established body. It would just be less than a quorum of members chatting.

Could I then suggest if there are initial examples or other modifications, we take five minutes and field those now and then identify up to those three individuals who would be in those conversations with the commission leadership and myself.

So this is a public forum to kind of express it.

If you have strong thoughts on what had been mentioned before, examples, maybe there's a prioritization, maybe there are thoughts around how do we get to identify and start moving on identified action items or project goals per meeting.

If there's any indication or thoughts that you all have, I would say share them now.

and if you don't feel comfortable sharing them now,

then maybe you'd be comfortable joining a small group in the interim.

Okay.

Hi.

Yeah, I just, I guess one of my questions is,

even as we go into revising this draft,

if that's my understanding is correct, that's our first goal.

But beyond that, it's just like,

And Stephen brought up, you know, having examples or like a template, which I think is great.

But part of it too is just knowing how to go out.

If we're supposed to go out into the community, it's like, well, what does that mean?

If you're kind of new to the commission, you don't have the contacts, you're not even sure.

Like half the time, I'm not even sure who I'm supposed to talk to other than my council person.

So I don't know if that's an appropriate place for this draft.

but just getting a sense of what are the actual concrete steps.

Or if we're going to, say, make storytelling as part of goal, too, and figuring that out,

what do we mean when we say storytelling?

Like, how?

How are we getting it out there?

Is that a thing that we are going to develop, and how do we do that?

So those are my questions.

That's a good question.

Those were my questions, too, when I came on as well.

and it took me time it took me time to even gain the confidence to even think about anything

so you're asking the right questions um but we have definitely people who have been here who

know how to put it out so I think we would just let them answer what do you think is the best way

I know that when I first came on Stephen was the chair at the time and he was like hey make sure

you're talking to your to your council member and see make sure you're giving

them any of the information is there anything that your council member wants

you to bring back to to ask about and then make sure that you have something

to bring back to ask because we can't answer it but they can right we just

have to make sure that we have something to to talk about anybody else want to

answer have anything to add Commissioner Wallace yeah I would just say you've been hopefully added

to this Commission because of your position in the community so I would not sweat it it's not

that hard so you should you probably know more than your councilmember about all the things that

are happening around the arts in district 2 so going to events and just being like hey I'm on

the Arts Commission now this is my email if you have any issues any questions

that's literally all that is that's all that is communicating out and then like

you know going to stuff so you're a regular presence and they expect that

and then people will start coming to you and be like I want to talk to the

council member about blah blah blah and then you start to synthesize that because

like they're all talking to you and then as far as meeting with your council

member I would hope they would take a meeting with you I mean that's all

That's all happening.

It's just a question of like beyond that.

Yeah, I would say that would be a lot more work than I think anybody has the capacity for.

Like putting together something like a pitch deck or anything like that.

No, not right now.

Right.

I mean, yeah, that's helpful.

Yeah, and then just being available.

Like, you know, I don't know how we feel about the email,

but I have my own email and I encourage people to email me at that email address.

Oh, no, I've gotten plenty of emails.

Yeah, but I mean, I created a separate email so that I wouldn't, like, if something happened,

it wouldn't be commingled with my personal email.

Yeah, unfortunately, I didn't do that in time.

That's okay.

You still can.

Thanks.

But that was one of the reasons why I was like, maybe we need an action item for this.

So for the sake of time, let's...

I was actually gonna offer to do like a little workshop

if folks are interested.

Yeah, that's a great idea.

Did you guys all hear that?

She's gonna offer a workshop.

We make handouts.

Perfect, because I feel like sometimes

we come in not knowing and we're just like

a deer in headlights and we're like just, okay.

So the workshop is perfect.

As far as the draft goes, let's say that our tentative deadline for the first draft to

have something written down, we'll shoot for January.

Anybody want to volunteer to join us?

Let's get three volunteers.

I need to join us in the drafting of this to be presented again.

Draft slash prioritization.

Okay.

One, two.

I'll step back.

You guys go.

guys go. Who do we have? Okay, Eisenberg, Smith, and Carter. This is not an ad hoc group. This is just us meeting to talk. Okay, awesome. Thank you. We will move on to the next item, which is the report. Oh, sorry. Are there any, are there any public comments on

this item.

Thank you, Chair. There are no speakers

for this item. Thank you.

And we can move on to

the Director's Report.

Thank you, Chair Levullo.

I'll try to be brief as our time is

winding down. Just wanted

to share first off that the

California Arts Council's next

regular meeting will take place

December 12th

this Friday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

at the Sophia, home of B Street Theater.

It is open to the public.

I encourage any folks in the community

interested in this meeting

to visit their website, arts.ca.gov.

And this is an opportunity

that doesn't come around all the time.

The California Arts Council

recently pivoted from a scheduled meeting

down in Southern California,

shifting it up into our area.

So this is your opportunity

to meet California Arts Council members and staff

and be in community with other like-minded folks.

So that's this Friday, 10 to 4, at the SOFIA.

Currently on exhibition at the Robert T. Matsui Gallery,

just right out these doors, is the We Are California exhibition.

This is part of the Emerging Curators Fellowship program,

and the closing date on this exhibition is December 17th.

If you haven't had a chance already, I encourage you to check this out.

I do want to note commission-related matters.

I wanted to acknowledge Commissioner Tocolino

and to thank him for his service.

He has submitted a resignation to this body, and we just really appreciate all of his contributions and time.

That does leave an opening for the District 7C.

This is Council Member Rick Jennings.

And as a reminder, you do not need to reside in the district that you may be applying to.

You can find out information on our website, arts.cityofsacramento.gov.

Again, there is one vacancy remaining on this body.

And lastly, the next meeting will be held January 12th at 1 p.m.

That's all I have.

Thank you.

Let's see here.

The next item is Commissioner Comments, Ideas, and Questions.

Are there any public comments out there that need to?

Commissioner comments.

Any commissioner comments out there?

Anybody want to speak on the director's report?

No?

Yes.

Yes?

Okay.

Okay.

So I was approached by somebody with the Midnight Basketball Program,

and they was telling me how they started the program,

I guess it tried to make its way to Sacramento, couldn't,

but now they're in the Bay Area,

so it would be an opportunity for something like this

to be not only in District 5 but maybe in another area.

Basically what the program is is to help the youth reduce the violence

within the communities by bringing the youth together

basketball late nights, particularly after 7

or whenever crimes are committed, particularly

in the middle of the night, but from 6 to 7 p.m.

all the way until midnight or something,

giving the youth an opportunity to play basketball.

So that was brought up to me, and I was going

to bring it up to you guys and see how do you guys

feel about it, think about it.

It's called, like I said, it's called Midnight Basketball.

The CEO's name is Larry Gary, I believe.

Larry Gray, he's the CEO, owner of it.

There is like a $1,500 startup cost,

and you would just need a gym or facility to house it, things like that.

So if anybody is looking for a program to help jumpstart within the Sacramento area.

Thank you.

Any other commissioner comments?

Thank you.

next the last item is public comments

any matters not on the agenda clerk

thank you chair

there are no speakers for this item

thank you so much this concludes

today's agenda thank you everyone for your

participation and this meeting is

adjourned

Thank you.