Now, under the rubric of "Priority Based Budgeting", an obscure cabal of vulgarian accountants and hack bureaucrats known as "The Mayor's Budget Team" has crafted a way to dismantle and eliminate the City of Los Angeles Cultural Affairs Department (CAD). Under the guise of "consolidation" its functions will either be eliminated or atomized to corners of non-arts trained agencies.

If Mayor Hahn's gray-suited Philistines have their way here are a few inevitabilities.

* $3,500,000 in grants to 250 arts organizations and individuals will disappear.

* Services for almost 350 community arts festivals will be eliminated.

* 22 Neighborhood Arts and Culture Centers, historic preservation efforts, and 170 public art projects will be taken out of the hands of arts professionals.

* The Arts Development fees developers must dedicate to art are now controlled by the arts professionals at CAD. Under the proposed "consolidation", developers will have free rein to designate any project of their whim or fancy as compliant.

* The proposed dismantling of CAD and the scattering of a few saved services will result in a complete loss of a unified cultural voice in the second largest city in the United States.

* A statement will be made that the arts don't matter in our city.

* The quality of life of our citizenry will suffer immensely.


THIS DECISION WILL BE MADE IN THE COMING WEEKS.

THIS IS NOT A DONE DEAL. BUT IT IS A VERY REAL THREAT. HOWEVER, UNLESS YOUR VOICE IS HEARD, AND HEARD NOW, THE MAYOR'S MYOPIC RUBES WILL PREVAIL.

BE NOISY AND GET READY TO CELEBRATE BEATING CITY HALL.

HERE'S HOW TO SAVE CAD


***Call and/or write every City Council Budget & Finance Committee Member and every Arts, Parks, Health and Aging Committee Member, demanding their support for CAD. Their contact info is at the end of this E-mail, in the City Council list.

***Tell your family and friends to do the same. Only a big loud protest from a spectrum of the citizenry will make the difference.


Budget and Finance Committee
Bernard Parks, Chair
Cindy Miscikowski, Vice Chair
Tony Cardenas
Eric Garcetti
Greig Smith

Arts, Parks, Health & Aging Committee
Tom LaBonge, Chair
Alex Padilla
Martin Ludlow


** Call and/or write every City Council person, demanding their support for retaining an intact Cultural Affairs Department. (If you have limited time, just do your own and let her/him know that you vote.) If you don't know your Councilperson, check out http://www.lacity.org/council.htm (a list is also provided at the end of this E-mail).

** Write to the L.A. Times, L.A. Weekly, and other papers' editorial pages, expressing your outrage. Where to write is included in every paper's masthead or on the editorial page.

** Attend any City Council meeting you can and sign up for three minutes of free speech. Flood the chambers. Tell them what you think. Tell them you vote.

** Attend the community action meeting addressing this urgent issue. If you want to help with the meeting or need more info than provided here, contact Jan Williamson at <jwilliamson@18thstreet.org>.
Tuesday night 6:30-8:30p.m.

L.A. Gay and Lesbian Center
Village at Ed Gould Plaza
1125 North McCadden Place
We will meet in the Davidson/Valentini Theatre
Light snacks will be provided
Parking is available at no charge across from the theater



CITY COUNCIL ADDRESSES AND PHONE NUMBERS


District 1 - Ed Reyes
(213)-473-7001
200 N. Spring Street, Rm 410
Los Angeles, CA 90012

District 2 - Wendy Greuel
(213)-473-7002
200 N. Spring Street, Rm475
Los Angeles, CA 90012

District 3 - Dennis P. Zine
(213)-473-7003
200 N. Spring Street, Rm 450
Los Angeles, CA 90012

District 4 - Tom LaBonge
(213)-473-7004
200 N. Spring Street, Rm 480
Los Angeles, CA 90012

District 5 - Jack Weiss
(213)-473-7005
200 N. Spring Street, Rm 440
Los Angeles, CA 90012

District 6 -Tony Cardenas
(213)-473-7006
200 N. Spring Street, Rm 455
Los Angeles, CA 90012

District 7 - Alex Padilla
(213)-473-7007
200 N. Spring Street, Rm 465
Los Angeles, CA 90012

District 8 -Bernard Parks
(213)-473-7008
200 N. Spring Street, Rm 460
Los Angeles, CA 90012

District 9 - Jan Perry
(213)-473-7009
200 N. Spring Street, Rm 420
Los Angeles, CA 90012

District 10 -Martin Ludlow
(213)-473-7010
200 N. Spring Street, Rm 430
Los Angeles, CA 90012

District 11 - Cindy Miscikowski
(213)-473-7011
200 N. Spring Street, Rm 415
Los Angeles, CA 90012

District 12 - Greig Smith
213)-473-7012
200 N. Spring Street, Rm 405
Los Angeles, CA 90012

District 13 - Eric Garcetti
(213)-473-7013
200 N. Spring Street, Rm 470
Los Angeles, CA 90012

District 14 -Antonio Villaraigosa
(213)-473-7014
200 N. Spring Street, Rm 425
Los Angeles, CA 90012

District 15 - Janice Hahn
213)-473-7015
200 N. Spring Street, Rm 435
Los Angeles, CA 90012

"Artists" of ANY political stripe never deserve tax dollars. The First Amendment doesn't guarantee funding.

Good Riddance!

I fully agree with "Walker, Texas Plumber." Who the heck needs art anyway?

Imagine... L.A.'s Cultural Affairs Department giving "grant" money to junk like philharmonic orchestras, community festivals, museums, and other totally useless things. What bunk!

Imagine... those pinkos at the Cultural Affairs Department using our tax dollars to fund "artists"... oh, wait... the money comes by taxing Billionaire developers 1% for every new building constructed? But dab nabbit... why should those good 'Merican Billionaires be taxed anyway. That money could go to something REALLY useful... like more Sports Stadiums! Now THAT'S money well spent!

Like I said... who the hell needs art anyway?!

How apt. The modern "artist" cries out against "corporate greed" but depends on grants from the evil capitalist system he hates so much.

Real art gets done with or without someone else's money.

For some reason, evil billionaires like Getty donated millions to the fools anyway...

The "Texas Plumber" writes:

>> Real art gets done with or without someone else's money.<<

True enough... but artists live hand to mouth, many starve and give up... and I mean THE GOOD ONES! Look around... in this society fine art and artists are BURIED under pop culture commercialism. Take Opera as an example... millions support the pop tart Brittney Spears, she has no problem making billions. But who supports the local L.A. Opera, or Ballet Dance Troupes, or community art festivals, or the local painter. Certainly not people like the "Texas Plumber"... who couldn't care less if all artists died.

www.art-for-a-change.com has set up a page to monitor the progress of the fight to block City Government's plan to dismantle the Cultural Affairs Department (CAD). It is significant that Art Scene Magazine has made the following announcement calling for action to block the proposed cuts... it is time for everyone in L.A. to stand up in defense of culture! For the arts, fully funded!

****
FROM ART SCENE:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: 3-9-04

Subject: L.A. Mayor proposes elimination of Los Angeles Cultural Affairs Department

It is rare indeed that ArtScene sends you material that does not directly relate to a gallery or museum show, or a visual art event. We believe that this is only the second such occasion, but we find the reported proposal by the current Mayor of Los Angeles to eliminate the city's Cultural Affairs Department so radical and shocking that news of it must be broadcast far and wide, and it must be widely disseminated so that we may respond, democratically, as a community.

When queried about this, Julia Kirwan, the Executive Director of the Office of Management and Budget states that a final decision as to just what the Mayor will request of City Council is yet to be determined, and that Mayor Hahn wants to continue to support cultural affairs programs. The upcoming year's budget shortfall, according to Kirwan, will run $250 to $300 million, and it is a fact that most if not all city agencies will be sharing in the budget cutting, a far more reasonable prospect than euthanizing an entire department. The notice given to the Cultural Affairs Department was characterized as a preliminary stage of the budget process by Shannon Murphy from the Mayor's office, and Assistant General Manager Leslie Thomas at Cultural Affairs confirmed this. Murphy described the approach being taken as a priority based budget process, meaning that equal across-the-board cuts will not be made, but rather that cuts will be based on ranking the importance of and community support for each department.

Since for a very long time art and culture have been implicitly seen by many as "non-essential" (ArtScene readers would probably disagree), the possibility that Cultural Affairs could be zeroed out of the budget is therefore a very real concern. At this point, however, we are told that everything is on the table. The fact remains that, preliminary or otherwise, the step was indeed taken.

Mark the date of April 20th on your calendars, that is when the Mayor is scheduled to submit his official proposed budget to City Council. The Mayor and City Council members are currently attending a conference in Washington, D.C., and have thus been unavailable to weigh in with their own comments.

While many of our recipients are not residents of Los Angeles (perhaps the majority are), and may thus feel this does not affect you directly, be yet alerted with this foreknowledge.

As an L.A.-based cultural business we may not depend in any direct way on the Cultural Affairs Department, however we are extremely sensitized and subtly benefit from that agency's generally positive track record. The arts professionals staffing the Department are charged with providing support for community cultural programming, the monitoring and preservation of public art, and much more that would suddenly go begging or, at best, be placed in the charge of another department whose staff would be in no position to serve the civic interest in these areas as effectively.

State budget crisis or no, it is one thing to ask government agencies to share some pain, it is another to even threaten the existence of the department's programs and organizational continuity, not to mention the quality work that many dedicated staff people there have brought to this community. It is one thing if the Mayor requests reasoned budget cuts to deal with a fiscal shortfall that everyone knew was coming; it's another thing if he seeks to dismantle the agency, to de-fund specific important programs such as grants, and/or to distribute its programs to other departments with no prior experience with community art needs or oversight.

Whatever else this Mayor's contributions to the city may be, and however likely it may be that a City Council with a long track record of support for Cultural Affairs will oppose drastic cutbacks, our view is that even the possibility of crippling or eliminating Cultural Affairs must be decisively blocked right now, and that nothing must be taken for granted. This is neither a political nor a fairness issue; to even contemplate dispensing with an agency that has accomplished enormous civic good strikes us as beyond counterproductive to this city. It is irresponsible.

If you agree with us that the integrity of the Cultural Affairs Department must be vigorously defended, a roster of standard tried and true ways for you to make your voice heard and your opinion felt follows below. Take whatever action you deem appropriate and indicative of your personal views. We submit that if you do have any feeling about this, to stand idly by is the one option that is unacceptable.

Bill Lasarow, ArtScene
mail to: artscene@artscenecal.com
http://www.artscenecal.com

How they ever managed to get the Cultural Affairs Department set up in the first place is beyond me. It's like taking taxpayer funds and flushing the money down the toilet. That boondoggle can't be dismantled and shut down soon enough.

"Taxpayer" wrote about L.A.'s Cultural Affairs Department:

>> It's like taking taxpayer funds and flushing the money down the toilet <<

L.A.'s Cultural Affairs Department (CAD) supports projects in design, dance, new media, music, literary arts, photography, services to artists, theatre, traditional/folk art, and the visual arts. CAD is helping to preserve many of L.A.'s historic buildings and districts, they sponsor youth arts & education... providing grant support for in-school and after-school activities and making resources available to teachers, artists, and parents. CAD has been sponsoring many of L.A.'s great street festivals and cultural celebrations in every community. CAD has provided grant money for public art that has resulted in many of the famed murals, sculptures, and public art installations in the city. This list of cultural and artistic projects supported by CAD is too long to mention here. Their good works have enriched the City of Los Angeles and made it a more tolerable place in which to live.

Can you imagine the great cities New York, Chicago, Berlin, or Paris without Cultural Affairs Departments? Only a BARBARIAN could advocate the dismantling of such institutions! And don't fool yourselves, we've heard these voices before. In 1933 Hermann Goering, founder of the Gestapo, said "Whenever I hear the word culture, I reach for my pistol!" Goering also objected to public monies going to art... the money was much better spent building warships, planes, and cannons. My... we've made such progress. Billions of dollars are going into the occupation of Iraq but there's no money for art.

Art has always been opposed by brutes, militarists, and fascists. It is so even today! The simple minded have always thought of art as a "non-essential", superfluous, and irrelevant thing. But without art this would be one cold gray world devoid of beauty. The people of L.A. don't need cuts in the Cultural Affairs Department... they need increases in it's budget! SAVE THE CULTURAL AFFAIRS DEPARTMENT OF L.A.!

The emergency meeting was extremely well organized, in fact, it was a miracle of organization. There were three panelists who presented information about the proposed cuts and what could be done to stop them, a moderator who wrote down contact names and pertinent information on large sheets of paper for all to see, and plenty of involvement from those in attendance. A period of intense commentary and debate was followed by the assembly breaking into work groups. The loosely knit groups formulated action plans and then reported back to the assembly when in reconvened 30 minutes later. The working groups were: Demonstrations, Public Relations, Communications, Delegates to lobby the City Council, Arts Advocacy Training, and Organizing Public Artists.

Carol Wells, director and founder of the Center for the Study of Political Graphics ( www.politicalgraphics.org/ ), proposed that the arts advocates link up with the March 20th ANSWER demonstration against the war in Iraq to be held at Hollywood & Vine. She suggested that thousands of flyers could be distributed to drive home the point of billions of dollars going for war while important social services are being cut at home.

The meeting disbanded after hours of discussion and planning for action. The work groups will be investigating further paths of action, making contacts, and setting up a listserve for arts advocates. At some point in the near future another meeting will be called to discuss how to proceed. For more information, contact Jan Williamson at the 18th Street Arts complex jwilliamson@18thstreet.org , or monitor http://www.art-for-a-change.com/cad.htm

I'm an artist who received a grant from CAD to teach art to teens who have never been exposed to any serious art methods... You see, they haven't attended a private school. I guess that poor Walker, Texas Plumber has never had the opportunity to study Art. He probably grew up in Los Angeles and attended the public system. Hey, Texas man, they say it is never too late to go back to school... Well, unless they eliminate CAD. Then there's nothing more we could do about your education...

It's a nice romantic myth, but society has always supported artists, from tribal mask-makers to the pyramid builders to muralists. CAD continued in this long and reasonable tradition.

Los Angeles probably has the highest concentration of "media" business in the world. That's the shape of art, privatized. It's art at the service of commerce. It's fine, but, it's nice to have alternatives.

There is a lot of garbage passed off as art.

I've been to the Picasso Museum in Paris and nothing there should bring more than $5 at a garage sale. The same is true for most all, ahem, 'modern art.'. It's garbage.

The idea that government bureaucrats can and should sponsor artists is entirely fallacious. The idea that liberal long haired university art departments have a clue is also fallacious. To see real art you have to go to the Louvre and view the works of Jacques David or similar.

Dump the cultural department. Do it now. Give the taxpayer their money back. It's being wasted now.

First of all its not "modern" art, it is post-modern art. Second, if you don't know what the fundament behind post-modern art is, then you better read your son's elementary school art books.

"just relax, have another drink, a few more pretzels, a little more MSG...

turn on those dallas cowboys on your tv"

finally a use for W, or art as functional garden furniture

Have you ever really looked at them. Dali was good. Picasso was great. Even wannabes couldn't touch him.

Most modern art is crap, but only because it's made for decoration. Businesses love modern art, because it says nothing, or almost nothing, or nothing that people understand without a lot of education. Go to a bank, and the art on the walls will be either photos of harbors, landscape paintings, or modern abstract art.

If it's not that, it's a kitty cat hanging on a pole with the caption, "Hang in There!" A little propaganda to make our servitude to corporate globalization a little more bearable.

Modern art and kitty cat photos are great things, until they're produced for the market. Then, you'll start to see a lot of perversions of the original beauty inherent in both.

BA, I'm sure the only thing you want to hang in your garage is a license plate -- a government serial number stamped by the prison industrial complex.

or "the broads of avignon", for those ignorant of true modern art. lo-ok&you will see.

I've visited the Picasso Museums in Paris and Barcelona. Have also seen his junk at the Met in NYC, the National Gallery in Washington DC, and the Houston Museum of Fine Arts. It's all junk no matter where you see it. i wouldn't take any of it home and hang it in my garage if it was given to me gratis.

I've also seen Dali's crap at the Met, Houston Museum of not so fine arts, And I wasted half a day visiting the Dali Museum in Girona Spain. What a pile of crap they have there. I wouldn't give 50 cents for the lot.

That garbage is the visual equivalent of rap music.

You see, it has no boobs, ass or word ballons to explain it.
BA sees art in the Sports Illustrated swim suit issue.
He may not know art but he knows what he can't have.

people who think that artists should be accessible to the general populace miss the point of modern art, and contrary; modern art is accessible.

Dali and Picasso are both constipated artists.

What's amazing to me is that either one of them managed to garner a following. The big mystery is: Why would anyone buy this crap? It's just junk.

your knowledge of modern art doesn't match up to your political acumen, and real world examinations of international events,like you've displayed . There's an easy answer for that, but no one of culture can explain it.

I'm an artist who received a grant from CAD to teach art to teens who have never been exposed to any serious art methods... You see, they haven't attended a private school. I guess that poor Walker, Texas Plumber has never had the opportunity to study Art.

>>> There's quite a difference between art requiring SKILL and today's "art" e.g. shitting in a mayonnaise jar or cutting an ugly piece of scrap metal into something even more twisted to plant outside a gummint building,

He probably grew up in Los Angeles and attended the public system.

>>> Ha ha ha. Guess again. I thank God I wasn't (as much) a victim of government schools (liberal indoctrination centers) that lefties love so much.

Hey, Texas man, they say it is never too late to go back to school... Well, unless they eliminate CAD. Then there's nothing more we could do about your education...

>>> I suspect you didn't learn your "art" from a gummint program, either. So why the sudden dependency?

Oh... why did I even start typing that. I don't understand why his bitter old self keeps coming back here.

I think art should be accessible. Picasso is accessible. A lot of conceptual art is, in my opinion, accessible. Accessible art is any art that uses the symbols, images, and ideas that are understood by the observer.

Inaccessible art, to me, would be any art that depended on my knowing about the particulars of traffic in Berlin, the processing of caviar, the dillemas of the wealthy, the Pope, and farming beans. They might be accessible to others.

To be accessible, art just needs to tap into the primitive and universal, meaningful aspects of existence. It's good if it's sincere, and communicates.

Dear Manzana de Camino -

People don't like static pitchers anymore. They don't move. Also, if people don't want to buy your art, could it be bad? Maybe if you wrote video games, you could make a living.

TT

Post-modern would be in the future, not old tired stuff. You could look it up.

TT