1% for the Arts

At last year’s State of the City, I made a commitment to support and propose a new 1% for the Arts program for Long Beach.

This program would be a new ongoing revenue source for the arts, funded through an additional 1 percent added to new public capital construction projects built in the city. The new revenue would go toward funding new public art, grants for local artists and support for our established art institutions and groups like the Long Beach Symphony, Musical Theatre West, the Museum of Latin American Art, the International City Theater and the Long Beach Opera.

Thanks to the vision of our development community and city staff, Long Beach is experiencing skyline-changing transformation which has brought new jobs, entrepreneurs and businesses to our city. These contributions are matched by our visionary artists and entertainers who are central to Long Beach’s identity. Economic development relies on both communities and they help to retain and attract talent, creating new opportunities for Long Beachers.

On Dec. 20 at our meeting of the city council, we unveiled plans for the Public Art Program. This new program will help to continue our work to nurture economic development through impressive capital construction projects and world class entertainment. This will create a dedicated funding stream for programs and marketing through an assessment on public capital construction projects and collection of ticket fees through the Long Beach Convention Center.

I want to thank staff and all stakeholders for the thoughtful consideration given to creating and implementing this new 1% for the Arts program. And I also want to thank Councilwoman Suzie Price, who has been a tireless advocate for the arts and a partner on the city council for this program.

I look forward to my colleagues’ full support of our arts community.