Good afternoon and welcome to Monday, April 13th, 2026, 1 p.m.

meeting of the Arts, Culture, and Creative Economy Commission.

The meeting is called to order.

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

Thank you, Chair.

Commissioner Smith is currently absent.

Commissioner Eisenberg.

Here.

Commissioner Wallace.

Here.

Commissioner Carter.

Here.

Commissioner Winlock.

Here.

Commissioner Hershey.

Here.

Commissioner Orozco, currently absent.

Chair Lavulo is absent.

And Vice Chair Oheiu.

Here.

Thank you.

We have quorum.

I would like to remind members of the pub of the public and chamber that if you would like to speak on an agenda item, please turn in a speaker slip before the item begins.

After the items called, we will no longer accept speaker slips.

You will have two minutes to speak once you are called on.

We will now proceed to today's agenda.

Please rise if you are able for the opening acknowledgement in honor of Sacramento's indigenous people and tribal lands.

To the original people of this land, the Nissanan people, the Southern Maidu Valley and Plains Miwok, Putwin Wintune peoples, and the people of the Wilton Rancheria, Sacramento's only federally recognized tribe.

May we acknowledge and honor 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.

Thank you.

Please remain standing for the Pledge of Allegiance.

Under God, individual with liberty and justice proud.

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, Chair.

I have none.

Okay.

Commissioner Wallace.

I move approval of the consent calendar.

Second.

All in favor say aye.

Aye.

Aye.

Any opposed?

Any abstain?

The motion passes.

Now we will proceed to the discussion calendar.

Item number three.

Good afternoon, Commissioners.

My name is Melissa Cerrone.

Um, and I'm the Grants and Programs Manager.

And to today I'm delighted to introduce our guest, Sacramento County's 2026 Poetry Out Loud Champion, Beza Gatahun.

For those who may be new to Poetry Out Loud, it's a nationwide initiative of the National Endowment for the Arts and administered in California by the California Arts Council and in Sacramento County by the Office of Arts and Culture.

The program encourages high school students to explore poetry through memorization, performance, and competition, helping them to build confidence, strengthen public speaking skills, and deepen their understanding of both classic and contemporary literature.

California hosts one of the largest poetry out loud programs in the country.

And this year, Baza earned first place in our county competition before advancing to the state capital to compete among the top student poets from across California.

We're incredibly proud of her accomplishment, especially because her achievements don't stop there.

Baisa is also the first place winner of the California Poetry Ourselves Competition, a statewide contest recognizing original work by Poetry Out Loud County Champions.

Students then submit original poems of up to 50 lines, and they're judged anonymously by a panel of literary professionals.

As this year's winner, Baza performed her piece at the California State Finals, and her poem is now featured on the California Poetry Out Loud website.

The Poetry Ourselves program has been celebrating the creative voices of young writers across California since 2019, and we're thrilled to see Bayes' work shine in this distinguished group.

And I also want to take a moment to express our gratitude to the Sacramento County Office of Education, especially CJ D'Angelis, who's right here, the Arts Integration Coordinator, along with Jackie White, Jane Collier, and Jasmine Gaviola.

While the Office of Arts and Culture is responsible for administering this program locally as part of our role as a state and local partner, it truly thrives because of SCOE's collaboration and the coordination among school districts, teachers, and schools across the county.

They run the entire competition, and I can't say enough about how this team comes together to make it happen.

We're grateful for their partnership and their dedication.

And I also want to thank Bayes' teacher, Mr.

Massenkoop from McClatchy High School.

He couldn't be here today because he's teaching, but for his support.

We know the dedicated teachers are the backbone of this work, and they deserve to share the spotlight with these fantastic students.

Now it's my pleasure to introduce Beza, who will share her award-winning original poem, Alchemy, and hopefully one other poem, with us today.

Beza is a 10th grade student at McClatchy High School and a Sacramento's Poetry Out Loud champion.

She's demonstrated remarkable talent in interpreting, performing, and connecting with poetry.

She's passionate about public speaking and enjoys reading and is very active in her community.

Outside the classroom, Beza draws inspiration from her older sisters, Eden, who is also a poetry out loud winner in the past, and Salome.

And she continues to develop her voice as both a performer and a writer.

And looking ahead, she hopes to attend a four-year university.

So Beza, it's an honor to have you here today to share your poem with this arts commission.

So welcome.

Okay, so this first poem is titled Alchemy, and this is what I won for Poetry Ourselves.

When I was born, it was said my skin hummed, low and gold, like the sound of sunlight learning to breathe.

This one carries her own dawn, my mother told me.

Though that may be true, the first day I walked into a white room, the air rearranged itself.

My color folded inward, and my voice, that bright, untamed thing, shrank until it could fit inside a whisper.

So sudden, so automatic, as if a spell had been cast on me.

No one noticed.

They only said how polite I sounded.

Each morning since my body performs its quiet alchemy, turning melanin into manners, fire into fragrance, and thunder into throat clearing.

My words start in color, copper, amber, obsidian, but by the time they've reached another's ear, they've gone pale, washed clean by the white noise of the room.

Once in science class, the teacher said, sound needs air to travel.

I wanted to ask, what happens when the air refuses to carry you?

But I held my tongue in silence, nodded in approval.

By lunchtime, my reflection flickers.

The mirrors here are bilingual, they translate me into whatever looks comfortable.

My curls are in obedience, my vowels lose their roots, edited down to a version they can digest.

And by 3 p.m., I disappear completely.

Only the echo of my voice remains looping softly through the hallways, a ghost humming its own name.

But when I go home, my mother lights incense that smells like old hymns and honey, and the spell begins to break.

Color floods back into my throat first, then my cheeks in the full fierce symphony of my skin.

I stand before the mirror, watching both voice and pigment return.

So I write this down before it fades again.

In a world that keeps bleaching the sun and silencing the wind, I am both flame and thunder.

My color is my chorus, my voice, its echo in tonight.

I refuse to dim or quiet.

Thank you.

Speaking is dying.

But better speaking and dying than dying without having spoken.

There are moments when silence feels like a stone in the mouth.

Heavy and unmoving, waiting far away, hidden behind carefully built walls.

Silence promises a strange peace.

No explanations, no trembling voice, no risk of being misunderstood, just the stillness of unsaid things.

But words.

Words are messy creatures.

They stumble out half-form, dragging doubt behind them.

They shake, they break, and sometimes they land wrong, and in that way, every honest word is a small death.

To open the mouth is to let something inside you end the quiet version of yourself that could have remained hidden forever.

And yet they do something silence never can.

They move.

So if something must end, the silence, the fear, the version of yourself that never dared.

Then let it end in the act of saying.

Now I ask you all.

Thank you so much for sharing.

That was absolutely beautiful.

Commission um sorry.

Are there any public comments?

Thank you, Chair.

I have no speaker slips for this item.

Thank you.

And are there any commissioners who wish to speak on this item?

Commissioner Winlock.

Thank you.

Loud in our uh region in with Sacramento County.

And all the time, we were always looking for the beautiful sounds of our students.

And you met that today.

Just incredible.

So I want to say just congratulations so much.

And also, you represent our students that are in this region so well.

Thank you so much.

Thank you, that means a lot.

I appreciate it.

Commissioner Wallace.

Thank you.

I just have I wanted to convince you, I agree with uh Dr.

Winlock.

That was fantastic, wonderful, beautiful.

I love that you're following your sister's footsteps.

I love that camaraderie across your um like within your sibling group.

Um I'm curious, where can we see you perform?

Um I've been like attending some open mics, but I'm for now like I'm trying to just like write more.

Um but yeah.

Okay.

Well, we'll keep an eye out.

Thank you.

Thank you again.

That was just absolutely beautiful.

Um, I think you speak for a lot of young girls who have experienced um your what you've shared, and you just put it into words, and just you found the words that a lot of us cannot cannot say.

So thank you so much.

So beautiful.

Oh, are there any other uh comments from commissioners?

Okay, and then I'd like to invite everyone down to take a photo.

That way that is your thing.

Okay, I'll call you the first one.

Oh yeah, yeah, yeah.

I'm gonna start with this one and then I'm gonna go to this one, okay?

All right.

Ready?

One three.

One, two, three.

One more here.

Ready?

One, two, three.

One, two, three.

One, two, three.

Awesome.

Thank you.

I think one more.

Thank you.

Oh, well, yeah.

Congratulations again.

That was amazing.

I see Jordan.

Commissioner.

I I just wanted to acknowledge how the partnership of our city, uh, of Sacramento County Office of Education, how through our partnerships working together, we're able to present and bring it.

And I want to just acknowledge all of those players that make this happen in our region.

And you know that that's what art needs to be.

The culture of art is a partnership of all of us working together to make sure we're providing.

And I'm just even more pleased that this is for our kids.

This is one that we work together to make sure that the arts and culture are happening for our kids in the Sacramento region.

So I just want to applaud all of the partners, all of them that are involved.

Shows what we can do when we all work together.

Thank you.

Now we'll move on to item number four, a recognition of April 2026 as Arts, Culture, and Creative Creativity Month.

Thank you, Vice Chair O'Hagu.

So in 2019, uh Arts and Culture, Arts Culture and Creativity Month was declared by uh the California Senate in a concurrent resolution to be held every April to recognize and celebrate the arts in California.

Uh California for the Arts promotes the annual recognition of ACCM in April as a month full of free events, resources, and advocacy opportunities across the state with a goal of engaging arts advocates and raising awareness of the impact of the arts within uh communities.

So uh this month, presented by California for the arts, the fourth annual California Arts and Culture Summit will take place on Monday, April 20th, uh in Sacramento at both the Memorial Auditorium and the Safe Credit Union Convention Center.

This year's theme will be Boundless Culture and Creativity, the Essence of Freedom, followed by uh on April 21st, Arts Advocacy Day.

Arts Advocacy Day is an annual free event uh where artists, cultural workers, and advocates rally at Capitol Park to support California's arts sector.

Uh last year it was at uh these two events where we shared a resolution uh signed by city council members and previously we had shared, we had received a presentation from California for the arts staff around these two uh opportunities, and then we have also been sharing this information with our commissioners, and I know that some commissioners have been involved in the past and are also serving as participants for both uh the summit and arts advocacy day.

Um so this item is uh a revisit of resolution language, draft resolution language that would be uh shared with City Council uh in consideration of a proclamation.

And this language is in your agenda packet um attached to this agenda item.

Um I'm going to not read the entirety of the draft resolution language, um, but I will open it up to the floor for the commissioners to share any feedback uh and response, any potential suggestions or modifications to this language.

Thank you.

Clerk, are there any members of the public who wish to speak on this item?

Thank you, Chair.

I do have two speaker slips on this item.

Our first speaker is Lambert, followed by Justina Martino.

This is this is a wonderful.

I would have spoken on number three had I known it was that type of situation.

See, that's an example of the youth that I fight for on things.

That was wonderful what she said.

And actually, if you listen to what she said, yeah, some people may call it controversial, but not me.

I was, you know, I was really proud of her.

That's a proud thing to see.

And a shout goes out to Melissa Saron because she brought her to the mic.

So to me, that shows me that Melissa and Megan are still thinking outside the box.

The millennials asked me to come today.

I said, hey, I got things to do now.

You know, the cheesecakes have gone viral and global.

So I really don't have time to come down here, but when they ask me to come, I try not to let them down.

Just like I told them, I hope you don't let me down when we take off.

Um I think that that's an example.

This young, I don't know what age he is, but the young person that came up here, that's the type of money should get behind people like that.

Uh these people who are getting a lot of money, uh, some of them with no written agreements, uh, we're against that.

You know, as a native, uh, I want to see this city in the black.

And I think it can get in the black, but you're gonna have to get rid of some people who I think are intentionally taking the city into the red like it's a game, you know, uh monopoly.

Well, I'm from Sacramento, I don't want to see this city in the red.

And if people have to be fired, so be it.

But let's get back to the black and try to learn from that young person.

That was a very bold thing she did.

Thank you for your comments.

Our next speaker is Justina Martino, and we are speaking on um item four recognition of April 2026 as Arts, Culture, and Creativity Month.

Hello, I'm Justina.

In honor of Arts, Culture, and Creativity Month, I would like to read a couple of sections of my new essay, which is in the form of a syllabus.

Course title, The Life Changing Magic of Collage.

Instructor, Justina Martino.

Semester.

There are no semesters in collage.

You could collage any day or every day for the rest of your life.

Meeting time.

I'll send the entire class a group text at a random time once per week.

You're welcome to join my Zoom room to collage with me.

This class is open to anyone in the world, so I will accommodate all time zones.

You may receive my notification in the middle of the night.

Always be prepared to collage.

Learning outcomes, increased self-knowledge, including some but not all, understanding of your feelings, thoughts, loves, values, habits, flaws, insecurities, traumas, and so on.

A realization that anything can be used for collage, a familiarity with the elements of composition to create visually interesting or aesthetically pleasing works of art.

Now just read from unit one, collage as personal archive.

What?

Piece together ephemera from your life.

When?

Any time?

Where?

Anywhere.

Why?

Because even though you're a multiple decades old, you still regularly ask yourself, who am I?

Why am I here?

Collage will help you explore these types of existential questions.

Assignment, get really sick or have surgery.

Get stuck at home with low energy.

Sort through the ephemera of your daily life, journals, junk mail, catalogs, greeting cards, etc.

Make a collage.

Thank you for your comments.

Uh Chair, I have no additional speakers on this item.

Thank you.

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

Oh, take it.

Apparently it's me.

Commissioner Wallace.

I just wanted to thank the city for its continued support of arts, culture, and creativity month.

Um, and its support of the arts in general.

I think that having served on this body off and on over the last decade almost.

Um actually it is a decade.

Off and on.

Um I've really seen uh a level of commitment that has increased every year, and I think I I I feel it reflected in the civic life of the city.

Um we have other programs like our artists in residence programs, and um I just I really appreciate that.

Um the city has continued to invest in the creative experience of Sacramentans, and this uh with that, I would like to move that we approve um a recommend this to the council for approval.

Thank you, Commissioner Wallace.

Commissioner Smith.

Um, to echo Commissioner Wallace's uh sentiments.

I I agree with that.

This is wonderful for the city of Sacramento.

I would love to not only um second that, but also figure out ways that we can engage our council members to also get behind not just with um here on the diaspora, but in newsletters and on social media, that this is something that is citywide, so some form of campaign posts that can go out that all of our city council members can amplify uh for the city of Sacramento.

So that's a recommendation I'm thinking that we can um as a commission can can push forward.

So and it and if it and if also can happen, um we had a young person speak here today, but what would be great is if we can also figure out ways um through our school districts that this that this can also be amplified.

Thank you, Commissioner Smith.

Are there any other comments?

Okay, so we have a motion by Commissioner Wallace and a second by Commissioner Smith.

All in favor, say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed?

Any abstain?

Okay, the motion passes.

And next item is um item number five, arts, culture, and creative economy commission, race and culture equity statement discussion.

Thank you.

I can help introduce this item.

Um, so the purpose of this discussion is to receive background information um actually two of our long-standing commissioners, folks that have a lot of experience having served on the former Sacramento Metropolitan Arts Commission, but also being having been very very integral to the the uh recent cultural equity task force development.

Um so this language is a guide for this body.

Um and we're at a moment where where this commission has an opportunity to learn more about the uh the background and the genesis of this document, and I'm gonna hand it over to Dr.

Winlock and uh Commissioner Wallace to share more information about this statement and its evolution, um, and then they will hand it off to the rest of the commission to consider uh ways to ways to move forward.

Thank you, Jason.

This is um, you know, our um cultural equity statement um that was done.

Uh I'm reading and using all of our uh from our creative edge plan, just so you know that we're pulling directly from that.

But um, if I can say this was a uh um uh um actually a a work of love and involvement when we uh were assigned by that at that time, our our chair of the commission, and I'm talking uh Maya and myself um in saying, can you take this for because we need to create an equity statement that we see that will actually guide the work that we need to have in the arts and culture in this area?

So the whole purpose was to improve the equity using the arts uh culture and the creative economy to help in that area.

You know, when we started to look at development, it's hard to believe that it was January 2017, almost 10 years ago, that we took on this project as we were looking at assigned our project, right, Maya.

We were they mentioned in here that it was six months.

Maya and I believe that it was at least a year in the in the work and building up to it, getting it ready, looking at all the things that were a part of it.

The committee was set up with 16 members, if not more.

I think that's another area because we really tried to make sure that we had members from the public that represented a variety of different aspects of the uh Sacramento.

You know, our members were chosen based on their communities, maybe that they represented, such as members of certain ethnic groups in our region, of disability groups that we looked at.

Um, for instance, we had representatives from the Blind Institute that were here being a part of helping us in developing this.

We had um members that were for certain from certain geographical uh locations in Sacramento, uh for instance, Oak Park representatives of Oak Park.

We had um gender identity as an aspect and members from that uh from our community and our uh gender awareness uh areas.

But in each case, what we looked at the the Metro believes that all of the people in Sacramento have the right to celebrate and engage meaningful and relevant art and cultural experience.

Each member of the community should experience art and reflective and nourish their own identity and self-esteem.

And the arts commission is committed to ensuring racial and cultural equity in the outreach and the funding and the also the leadership and also the resource allocation.

I think that is a lot of why we really went after the issue about uh having a cultural statement so it would guide the work that we need to happen in the arts, but also through the diversity, the involvement within our community, making sure that we're addressing everyone.

You know, our key terms that we were looking at, the cultural equity, which is the inclusion and fair representation of diverse population and our outreach and in our allocation of funding.

There was the diversity, which is defined for all the ways in which people differ and included and including but not limited to race, ethnicity, gender, socioeconomic standard, age, gender, all of those things were one of the things that's why we use diversity, and this is how we define it in our area.

Then the other one was access, you know, making sure that access is in there, and it's giving all individuals and organizations in Sacramento County fair and just involvement to appreciate what was exposed and in the arts, access.

Everyone should have access.

You know, I was just thinking about that.

One of the ways that we've kind of made sure that that's happened, that's kind of driven the work, are the examples of what we do in uh with our um arts and cultural department.

You know, whenever we put a grant out there, we make sure that uh there's workshops that are done in a way to kind of help them, all of our community understand that grant.

And so that the statement uh um actually drove that particular that uh practice that's there.

And then finally, uh one of the ones that we have that's so important in there is communities, and we defined it communities as um municipalities, uh neighborhoods, uh, social and cultural and cons, diverse groups, because we have a lot of communities within communities here within Sacramento, and we wanted to make sure that all of them were represented or being a part of that.

So when we start to look at what our statement was, it's those areas.

Turn over to my partner there in crime, right?

Right.

All right.

Um thank you, Dr.

Winlock.

Uh just wanted to give a little um walk back a little bit because um I want to say that we were really intentional about putting together the race and cultural equity task force, the members.

Uh, one of our members is here today.

I would like to acknowledge uh Richard Falco was on the task force with us.

Um, and then um Melissa Saron was one of our uh very critical facilitators, and um uh this started with Anya Ollenbacher, so I'll give her a shout out to you, even though she's not here.

But really appreciated the intentional and close attention to the documentation and the willingness to share with the group with the task force all of the ways in which the Office of Arts and Culture, which at the time was the arts commission, the Metropolitan Arts Commission staff, how they go about their work.

And they were also really willing and open to our feedback.

But we didn't just leave the uh statement as a statement.

We thought we should also give some we should give some direction as to how we'd like to see the work proceed.

And so we also created a section of the statement that articulates how we would try to implement the statement within the policies and practices of the Office of Arts and Culture.

So in terms of outreach and engagement, just for context, um this was almost a decade ago, so social media was not what it was.

We started to direct the staff to try to work with uh individuals in the community who had connections to folks that we couldn't get our arms around because that was a lot of the kind of context of the conversation at the time was we don't know who out there is um doing art, and especially from communities that are underrepresented and don't have access and who we haven't really been communicating with.

And it was a time, at least from my perspective, that a lot of our diverse communities weren't present in the room.

Um even on the dais.

And um, or even at the council.

And so a lot of a lot I think has really changed in Sacramento in the time that this started, but this was really at the very beginning of that conversation for us as a city and as a region.

Um the other thing that happened was a lot of the work that we had articulated got incorporated into the creative edge cultural plan development process.

So we learned a lot more about what we weren't, what we didn't know as a part of articulating that outreach and engagement element.

Uh the other, the next element, sorry, my phone just went dead, was um equity and access.

And sort of they're sort of connected, connected, um, but there's also barriers, right?

So, what are the barriers to engagement participation in the arts?

And back then, one of the things we did for the arts commission itself was host meetings in the communities that we were trying to serve or that we felt we weren't serving well.

Um now we all have to meet here because we don't have live streaming everywhere.

Uh back then we didn't have to do live streaming, uh, because it was obviously pre-pandemic and the rules were different and the technologies were um not where they are today.

Uh but you know I think this also sort of gave rise to the linguistic inclusion efforts that the city has also embarked upon in the intervening years.

And then finally, accountability.

Um I was I'm an odds and auditor for a long time, so I really like audits because they uh document where you are and they give you a map to get where you want to go.

And uh I thought it would be interesting and fun to see if we could apply that to the arts.

Uh, and I would say um, having had conversations with Jason over the years and with Megan Van Voris, the degree of um intentionality with which we're trying to approach data collection so that we can actually measure and report about on our progress, has um really led to a lot of the impact that I think that we see in the arts in Sacramento today.

So, and also we also have a good uh context for where we have gaps and where we need to do more.

Yeah, you know, this is kind of what we wanted to do was to have a discussion with the commission about what you think about it or thoughts or you know, anything that would you know that we should go further with and all those kinds of things, but we wanted to just kind of open it up now for a kind of discussion around that.

So, commissioners take our mic.

Thank you.

Any um public comment, clerk?

Thank you, Chair.

I do have one speaker slip from Lambert.

Took some notes down.

You know, I uh Maya Wallace.

I mean, you really are inspirational to me because you touched on some areas that are really uh true.

Uh as a native from Sacramento, I know when I hear equity and diversity and inclusion, but I've lived long enough and traveled and lived in other states where when I hear a lot of emphasis on equity inclusion, for you to say things like you just said uh was was wonderful to me.

It made it worth my time coming here.

Um you need access, okay.

Um every other community has access, Del Paso Heights, which I'm from.

As I've left and come back, I've studied where I came from, and what you touched on was it touched me because I'm the litmus test.

I said it to City Hall, and I'll say it to you.

I'm the litmus test to this city.

I'm not afraid to say what I say, and I mean what I say too.

Um there's a lot of that going on now.

You have a president that is eliminating DEI.

So when I hear a lot of emphasis at City Hall about diversity, equity, inclusion, the first thing I say is how are you gonna fund it with the president that's doing what he does?

When you own your own business like I do, uh when you said accountability, that's true.

It's easy as an accountant to figure out what's causing a structural deficit.

It takes somebody bold to say what's going on down here.

That's it's it's a lot of mismanagement down here, and a lot of it is by staff members that I have identified and some other people, and when the right, and you mentioned uh an audit, there was a great audit done on this city that exposed uh the double standards of how people of different situations are treated.

So it's my job to keep the the light on it.

Thank you for your comments, Chair.

I have no additional speakers.

Thank you.

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

Commissioner Eisenberg.

Hi, um, yeah.

So I was looking over uh first off, great job on on the statement.

It's it's um it's both thorough and and very clear.

Um, and I think that especially since it's uh got a open to the public.

I think that's especially uh important, and I appreciate all the work that went into that.

Um I was wondering if um we already have a work plan from 2026, and this is uh this is in uh objectives one or goal one, objective one point three, and then we're currently doing the action step, which is 2.2 on that.

Um, I'm wondering if we I know it's I think we've already submitted the work plan, but if is there a way to do an addendum where we could have a follow-up goal where we could have other action items um that sort of address this a little more directly, or or in some way evaluate some of the programs to just see where we can be more actionable.

Um so that's just one thought.

The other one was I was going through the 2025 budget, and um I know we've we have a lot of accomplishments in this within that's sort of throughout the budget reporting um or that the the 2025 report.

Um but I'm wondering if there's a way to summarize it somewhere within it so that it's very clear, um, addressing it directly.

Anyone who can go through it if they particularly want to know, okay, what there's a summary, so they don't have to kind of piece it together by going throughout the report.

Um so those are just some observations I had wanted to share.

I think I'll speak to uh some of those questions.

Um the current uh work plan actually will be seen by the personnel and public employees committee on the 28th of this month.

So um it's still not been approved, but it is also intended to be a living working uh living document, as we had discussed for this body.

Um so I think there are a few ways that you this body might be able to um certainly make modifications, and the annual report is going to be upon you all again in a few months, so that could be another opportunity in a preliminary preliminary discussion um with commissioners uh Winlock and Wallace.

We had talked about potential integration of a section within your annual report.

This is also your document and your opportunity.

Um and so that might be one way to kind of tie in these ideas of accountability, updating where are things at, where would the commission like to continue to move forward and and press on in this area.

So that those are a couple of ways that you can I think move forward.

But um this discussion is to also consider um other strategies that you might want to employ specifically around these three areas outreach and engagement, equity and access, accountability.

You know, if I could add on to that, one of the things that we had um discussed was the issue about showing what we've done in the issue about outreach and engagement and equity and access in our work and um you know an accountability, because the the statement was one that was to guide the work that was to happen for our uh arts and cultural um commission and and um uh department.

And so we thought m it might be good to see what what are those things that have happened because of that.

That was another idea and a suggestion to uh begin to start to kind of outline just like I outlined the issue about how the practices with the workshops, you know, and and helping making sure that we're really um reaching out to those that need to have access to the work and they understand how it's done and the parts that are part of it.

So that's just one example, but we thought it might be good for us to spend some time and really looking at what's been going on.

I mean, it's been 10 years, you know, in some ways, almost 10 years, nine years, I guess, if to be exact, but ten years actually, because we said it took another year than what they're saying in the in the thing.

But anyway, um, I I think that it's really that issue of us kind of looking.

Did the the uh cultural equity statement drive the practices of what we're doing and making sure that arts and culture is happening in the community?

Thank you, Commissioner Smith.

That was what I was going to ask.

Was you know, can we see you know what what has happened since?

I think that's a great data data point.

Um, and then from that, like from that data point, what is the jumping off point from there?

And and how do we make it a systematic component of equitable resources shifting to where it's needed?

Uh that would be um what that looks like in when now they say we have live stream, we have these components.

How do we how do we add to this statement to that the next nine years that it's grown three or you know, three to four times specifically dealing with resources?

How do we make sure the resources are shared?

I know in in the crowd we have uh poets, filmmakers, um, artists uh from of all types here.

Like, how do they have access not just to the statement but then also be able to live in the statement to push equitable resources being shared.

Thank you.

Are there any other comments from commissioners?

And um thank you, thank you, uh Dr.

Winlock, Commissioner Wallace, thank you so much for your work on this.

Um I I just my only question is has this been updated or not updated, but like incorporated throughout the years, or I mean not just incorporate it, but like modified throughout the years to reflect what has happened since 2016 since you guys first worked on it.

You know, I think that's another aspect that could be part of our work as a commission is updating it in some ways because you're right.

Ten years ago, I I just keep quoting that because it seems like my god, where did 10 years go?

But um there are changes that have happened and all those kinds of things, and we probably need to keep the uh the cultural statement alive by making sure that it's present and it's uh you know, up to where we are today and including and if we have to include some of those in the outreach about the social media, I mean all that kind of stuff.

I think that's um that's a wonderful um area for us to focus on too, also is updating it.

Uh I I agree.

I think the other thing that folks could look at is the um the actions that were uh laid out in the creative edge plan.

know up to where we are today and including them if we have to include some of those in the outreach about the social media I mean all that kind of stuff I think that's um that's a wonderful um area for us to focus on too also is updating uh I I agree I think the other thing that folks could look at is the um the actions that were are laid out in the creative edge plan there's like 15 or so I want to say um and some of them you know we create metrics to see how we're doing on those but some of those things we haven't necessarily done like we said we were gonna make a citywide culture pass and that has not come to fruition yet and then I don't know if we need to but uh you know there are there's opportunities for partnership that we haven't necessarily articulated because the world has changed uh since we started this process um we had grant programs like the cultural equity grant program that uh I don't think we have anymore maybe we don't need it anymore maybe we are so good at being integrated that we are being equitable across all of our grants um they were created though um to sort of address gaps in access for communities that of the BIPOC communities by and large that didn't have the same level of capacity to be successful in grant writing um but we have done a lot to build out the the build the capacity of those organizations but now we're in a do we're in a new world uh nonprofits are dealing with different stressors right and so I I had looked at the follow-up log and I had asked about um how are nonprofits doing and can we know more about what their needs are now um but we're also doing art and delivering art in the community in different ways that we weren't necessarily thinking of and we had really sort of constraints on this process at the beginning that I don't that I that have fallen away over the years so I want to commend the staff for that but yeah let's and and then other couple of lenses that I would argue maybe we need to apply to this is um public art what are we doing to make sure that we're empowering local artists to be successful in public art competitions and also um the creative economy how are I mean we're doing amazing work with everyday creative um but obviously there's more work to be done there and then also to look at the impact of that over time commissioner eisenberg yeah I just want to um basically second what uh commissioner wallace mentioned about the public art program is this amazing opportunity to address um issues of inclusion and equity um sitting on a panel right now that's uh looking at a public art project so I'm part of that panel and it is becoming very clear like where we've been successful and what opportunities there are to continue to grow just what Commissioner Wallace was pointing out.

So I just want to make that point as a place to look at in terms of support and further development thank you this item is received in comments so no vote is required and we'll move on to the next item which is uh director's report thank you chair um all right I have a few items to share um but I actually just uh wanted to comment on uh just make a uh comment on the last discussion and I think a a a follow-up piece we can absolutely explore um ways that uh myself staff can work with the commission body in uh ways to further develop this statement if it's needed and also to integrate it into your annual work plan so that's something that I can you know commit to supporting absolutely um this is extremely important work this should be the center of what we do in our approach um and uh this is going to be ongoing so uh not the end of the discussion there um I wanted to share that the art in public places program and uh program is continuing a series of meetings public conversations presentations and workshops involving the birds and benches project and the Nate Thomas area these conversations will help inform our 10 bench design artists and inspire their art benches that will be fabricated and installed next year there are two events upcoming here in April they're both virtual on the 23rd at noon there is a virtual artist talk with birds and benches artist ambassador Matthew Flores where he will explore his past works and describe his journey inspiration and current projects attendees can hear how Matthew became interested in ceramics and where he finds inspiration and then on the 30th same format at 12 p.m a virtual artist talk with artist ambassador and asteris constable she'll be presenting her work and you can learn about her highly site responsive design process and how she creates multi-sensory art experiences that both engage and inform the public and you can learn more about both of these events and register through Eventbrite you can follow our account City of Sacramento Office of Arts and Culture and these two events will be there.

She'll be presenting her work, and you can learn about her highly site responsive design process and how she creates multi-sensory art experiences that both engage and inform the public.

You can follow our account, City of Sacramento, Office of Arts and Culture, and these two events will be there.

I wanted to share an update on the Small Arts Organization Fund.

City Express recently released an article that shared just some of the highlights.

But I'm just very proud of this program and grateful to uh staff that worked on this under the direction of Melissa Cerone.

Um grants and programs manager and April Bryce.

Twenty-five local arts and cultural organizations were awarded uh total of $98,000 through the small organization sustainability fund.

Um this was a new program providing general operating support funds to eligible nonprofit organizations, um, and this was seen as a way to address um accessibility to those organizations who have budgets less than $25,000 who are not eligible for the Cultural Arts Awards opportunity.

And these awards represented a range of artistic disciplines and cultural traditions, including music, theater, literary arts, visual arts, and multicultural programming.

These micro small, very small organizations are important to us to support, and uh we look to continuing in developing this program in the future.

Uh, you can also find more about this program on our website at arts.city of sacramento.org.

Uh I wanted to share that there are now two uh seat openings on this body.

Um, but first really wanted to acknowledge uh uh Carisa Gutierrez, who was our representative for district six.

Uh she is no longer able to serve on this body, uh, but I wanted to acknowledge her time and her uh passion and energy, and um to thank her for her service on this body that does remain that does leave District 6 and District 7.

Councilmember Jennings, uh, district seven, uh, council member Guerra, District 6.

These two positions are open for City of Sacramento residents.

You do not need to live in the district to be selected or appointed to represent um that that region.

Um that is all the updates that I have.

Thank you, Chair.

Thank you.

Are there uh Clerk?

Are there any members of the public who wish to speak on this item?

Uh thank you, Chair.

There's no public comments on the director's report.

Are we moving to public comments uh for matters not on the agenda?

Okay.

Yes.

Sorry.

Excellent.

We do we do have um a few speaker slips for matters not on the agenda.

Um, our first speaker is uh Mr.

Falcon.

Good evening, Gaku, good afternoon, Commission members.

I don't know where the time is going.

Richard Falcon here, Teatro Nahual, here to share with you some things about the individual artist fellowship that Teatro Nagual is administering with the help of the California Arts Council and such.

But before I go there, I want to say something because I should have looked at the agenda item.

If not for the mentorship that I received by all the folks who wrote this wonderful cultural equity task force statement these 10 years ago, I don't know if I would be experiencing the 20th anniversary of Teatro Nahual and all that we are doing within this wonderful city of Sacramento.

And I really want to put a shout out to uh Commissioner Wallace, Dr.

Winlock here for that mentorship that I received during that time.

Two artist fellowship.

If you haven't heard, this is a every two-year opportunity that the California Arts Council puts out there where we look for individual artists who can be funded in the area of legacy, established and emerging artists in amounts of 50,000, 10,000, and 5,000 dollars.

It is over five counties, so it is super competitive.

Solano, Yolo, Sacramento, El Dorado, Alpine counties.

But for me, as someone who used to complain about the state of grants and grant writing, may I just say that it is so critically important that we are reaching every single artist possible and letting them know they need to apply so that we can demonstrate the need because it's gonna be super competitive.

I can see we're gonna have a few thousand people that are gonna want to apply for this, but considering the money that's uh going to be available, 240,000, there's not a lot that's gonna be able to be brought out, but we can demonstrate the need.

And to help people in that grant process, we have partnered with Art Tonic, and you're gonna hear a little bit from them on the technical advisory uh areas that we're gonna be able to do.

Thank you for your comments, your time.

Thank you for your comments, Mr.

Falcone.

Our next speaker is Julie Crum, followed by Lambert.

Hello, commissioners.

My name is Julie Bernadettecrum.

I am a local artist and curator and arts educator.

I am also a recipient of the 2024 California Arts Council Individual Arts Fellowship.

But I'm here today on behalf of Art Tonic.

Uh, we are an arts organization specializing in community engaged art and professional development.

Uh we are so honored to announce that we're partnering with Teatro Nagual.

Um throughout April and May, we will be offering uh workshops to provide artist support for the California region individual artists fellowship.

Um workshops ranging from grant writing.

Uh, we'll be we'll be hosting an info session for the IAF guidelines, how to articulate their social impact using the aesthetic perspectives document, uh, the America for the Arts Aesthetic Perspectives document.

We'll also host in-person writing labs and virtual office hours.

You can find all of these free resources on Art Tonic Dot Arttonic.corsio dot com.

So if you're an artist uh interested in applying to this, please take advantage of this resource, and I encourage you all to share this with your artist network.

Thank you.

Thank you for your comments.

Our next speaker is Lambert, followed by John Downs.

Try to get all of this in in two minutes.

Uh I'm going on the chairman's report.

Based upon what I heard there, and also uh Commissioner Wallace, I think that there should be a concerted effort to reach out to whoever Brianna is.

I was touched by her story where she was trying to raise money and go into debt to paint a restroom that they're gonna demolish.

As a businessman, I don't understand that.

And I think it was $5,000.

I done heard 50, 10,000, 20,000, 100,000.

Why not give it to her?

Uh she must be somebody, or you wouldn't be talking about her.

Also, when I hear 10 years, there's a term in the deep south where my uh relatives come from, it's called in due time.

And that's what 10 years means to me.

If they wanted it to be successful, it would have been.

So what's the delay for?

Uh, where I come from, I was taught if you study too long, you're studying wrong.

You can't study too long.

No, nobody goes to college for 50 years and doesn't graduate.

What are you there for?

You're there to study and then move on.

Also, we're gonna end with uh what's positive to me.

Uh, the sweet 16 was in Sacramento.

Those of you who don't know what that is, I'm not gonna waste my time.

Six the sweet 16, and there was a lot of college colleges here, and the millennials somehow connected to cheesecake and carrot cake to UCLA.

And if those of you who aren't aware, UCLA won the whole championship.

Not saying that we would reason, I'm just saying the teenagers were motivated, and tonight they grret they go in front of the world tonight at four o'clock, they're gonna be drafted into the pros.

These women that love cheesecake.

Thank you.

Thank you for your comments.

Our next speaker is John Downs, followed by Justina Martino.

Uh good afternoon, council.

Uh, my name is John Downs.

Um, I applied for the district seven seat.

I've lived in Sacramento since 2000 in a district seven since uh 2004.

Um artist and well, I professionally I'm a senior environmental scientist with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, and I'm in their grant program, and and uh so I have quite a bit of experience working in grant programs and helping people uh apply for grants, coaching them.

And I'm also uh an artist on if you can call me that.

I've uh musician.

I've contributed to uh both Art Street and Art Hotel when those came around.

Uh I was a member of the horse cow art collective uh when it was in uh North, well, on uh North Sea Street, and then um and then after that uh a different arts collective uh in downtown.

And uh in addition to all those things, I'm on the board of uh the Sacramento French Cultural Society, which has produced the Sacramento French Film Festival since 2002, and uh I'm also on the board of our local Midtown radio station, K U T Z 95.7, and I would be honored to serve the city on this council.

And I just wanted to come and introduce myself today, and uh thank you for your time.

Thank you for your comments today.

Our final speaker is Justina Martino.

Hello again, commissioners.

I just wanted to give a reminder that May 7th is a big day of giving.

This is a day led by the Sacramento Region Community Foundation.

It's a chance for our community to come together to support our local nonprofits, and as someone who works with nonprofits on fundraising, it's been really tough this past forever, but especially this past year.

Um so this is a way for organizations to get individual donations and new supporters.

Early giving opens April 23rd.

The big day of giving, the 24 hours of giving is May 7th, and you can find out more at Big Day of Giving.org.

I personally, with my business Art Tonic, I'm working with one of our clients, the Sojourner Truth African Heritage Museum, to launch their big day of giving campaign.

And I my focus is on helping them, their team and their supporters create peer fundraising campaigns because I've in my experience, organizations are more successful at fundraisers when they have multiple people fundraising with them.

So since I will be helping Sojo and trying to get people to help them fundraise, I have created some fundraising tools.

So if there's an organization that you were interested in helping fundraise or an organization that you want to support in your district, feel free to reach out to me.

I'm happy to share my tools and support you with fundraising, I guess, tasks or creating your own peer fundraiser.

Thank you.

Thank you for your comments, Chair.

I have no additional speakers.

Thank you.

Um next item is member comments, ideas, questions, and meeting, conference report.

Are there any commissioners who wish to speak?

Uh Commissioner Hershey.

Hi, I just wanted to remind um everyone.

I was looking at a previous item where we discussed the Arts Culture Creative Economy Month resolution that's going up for a vote, I think, in the city council sometime this month, obviously, for the month of April.

And wanted to remind everyone that I know that the legislature in 2019 created this as a statewide resolution, but um these types of things get continually reintroduced every year to reaffirm uh that April is arts, culture, and creative economy month.

Um, and with the language already in you know, pretty good format.

This could pretty easily be given to a staff at the legislature and reintroduced in the same month easily.

So something to think about.

If uh you know reaching out to a member's office, it'd be cool to get something in tandem maybe in the state level.

But being a being a staffer there myself, it's two weeks be plenty of time to I think get that done, but something to think about.

Thank you.

Any other commissioner comments could this concludes today's agenda.

Thank you, everyone, for your participation.

This meeting is adjourned.