If you are like me, you first start by scanning the document for key words such as “arts”, “culture”, “creativity” and more specifically “museum” “Film/TV” and so on. The results I am sorry to report are not great. “Arts” are only referenced in relation to the California Arts Council’s budget whose funding remains level from 24-25 where the final budget reduced the cut to the California Arts Council, originally proposed to be $10 million, to just $5 million for two years, restoring the agency’s budget for local assistance grants back to $26 million in 2026-27. (see background here). “Culture” is referenced once in relation to funding for the California Indian Heritage Center, and “Creativity” is only mentioned once in the Governor’s opening letter citing the budget goals to” expand the state’s ecosystem of innovation and creativity.” “Film/TV” is included with a proposal to increase the total annual California Film and Television Tax Credit award cap from $330 million to $750 million for the fiscal years 2025-26 through 2029-30. “Museums” are referenced once with funding to the Museum of Tolerance for a $10 million one-time General Fund for capital improvements to continue the modernization and expansion of the building. 

Opportunities for artists, culture bearers and the creative sector are not specific to one agency only and there are some interesting proposals that our sector could influence such as a “$5 million one-time General Fund for the Office of Community Partnerships and Strategic Communications to launch a Belonging Campaign by January 2026. The Belonging Campaign will help communities better identify pathways to social connectedness and engagement.” 

The budget also proposes additional funding to the Clean CA program that has employed many artists across California “adding $25 million one‑time General Fund in 2025‑26 to the Clean California Program for a Community Cleanup and Employment Pathways Grant Program. This funding will provide matching grants to communities with a Clean California Community designation focused on both litter remediation and jobs creation. This helps build on the state’s continued investments in litter removal and related maintenance activities “

There are other proposals for regional initiatives that, if the creative industries are prioritized in that region, could support investment such as” The Budget proposes $17 million one-time General Fund for the Regional Initiative for Social Enterprises Program (CalRISE). Initially established in 2022, CalRISE provides financial and technical assistance to employment social enterprises to help them build capacity to create and retain jobs in communities. Employment social enterprises are businesses that provide jobs, on-the-job training, and specialized support to people who face high barriers to work, including homelessness, previous incarceration, substance use or mental health issues. This investment aims to connect employment social enterprises with the thirteen California Jobs First Regional Collaboratives, aligning their job creation and training programs with the industry sectors prioritized by each of the Collaboratives.

Voters also approved several bond measures in November. Climate Bond (Proposition 4) and School Facilities bond (Prop 2.) Funding is proposed for both in the Governor’s budget but nothing specific for cultural institutions or arts facilities in schools.

Next Steps:

As many of you have heard before, advocacy is a marathon, not a sprint. This is just the beginning of the budget process. By May, when the Governor announces his budget revision, we could see a number of changes including items advocates like us have pushed for and ones the Legislature wants to advance. We must continue to make the case for arts and culture as critical investments for local economic development, downtown recovery, community wellness, pride and belonging. 

Here are three things you can do to engage:

1. Send a welcome letter to your state legislators
2. Sign up for arts advocacy day in Sacramento on April 23, 2025
3. Share this email with five friends and impress upon them the importance of engaging in arts advocacy.