from\u00a0http:\/\/arlenegoldbard.com\/2014\/06\/23\/here-we-go-again-cultural-equity-in-san-francisco\/<\/p>\n
An enduring pattern has been inscribed on the struggle for cultural equity in this country.<\/b>\u00a0Those who get the biggest share of funding\u2014them that\u2019s got, as Billie Holiday put it\u2014pay lip-service to fairness for those who get crumbs\u2014them that\u2019s not. But lip-service is generally the only currency they are willing to shell out. The haves counsel patience:\u00a0Show up as members of the team,<\/em>\u00a0they say.\u00a0Be part of the united front at budget hearings, go along with our program, and you\u2019ll get your reward by and by.<\/em><\/p>\n In San Francisco, people are tired of waiting.<\/b>\u00a0In March, the Budget Analyst\u2019s Office released a\u00a0study on allocations by Grants for the Arts<\/a>\u00a0(funded from San Francisco\u2019s hotel tax revenues) to diverse arts organizations\u2014those serving primarily people of color, ethnic minorities, women, and LGBTQ people. The findings show that the proportion of funding to these groups has remained steady for 25 years. For example, an average of 23 percent of the pie has gone to people of color (who now make up 58 percent of the city\u2019s population, a figure that has been rising steadily since Grants for the Arts was first created), and 77 percent to largely white organizations.<\/p>\n The city has been promising to address this situation for a long time, but the numbers make it clear that they were more interested in paying lip-service than dollars.<\/b>\u00a0Now, advocates for cultural equity have urged the city\u2019s Board of Supervisors to add a million dollars to the Arts Commission\u2019s Cultural Equity Grants funding pool, created to channel support to the same communities repeatedly short-shrifted by Grants for the Arts. If overall funding won\u2019t increase by that much, some say, shift it from Grants to the Arts, which has consistently failed to rise to equity.<\/p>\n In the larger economic scheme of things, those who benefit from the current division of resources typically denounce any critique or counter-proposal as \u201cclass warfare,\u201d as hi-tech mogul Tom Perkins has been doing in his recent outcries of \u201cwar on the one percent,\u201d sometimes equating it to the Nazis\u2019 persecution of Jews. (Listen to a slightly toned-down\u00a0Commonwealth Club version<\/a>.)<\/p>\n Here, too, breaking ranks with the privileged was perceived as a huge violation of The Tacit Agreement<\/b>\u00a0(just play nice, go along with the way things are and\u2014honestly, we promise\u2014things will get better down the road), triggering an outraged response from the beneficiaries of the status quo via an advocacy group called Arts Town Hall. \u201cPitting arts organizations and City agencies against each other won\u2019t help solve our bigger problems,\u201d they wrote. \u201cWe need to work together to find more resources for cultural equity grants\u2014not cut funding for the arts to fund them.\u201d They were so outraged, apparently, that they never considered how offensive it would be to refer to these advocates of color, ethnic minorities, and LGBTQ artists as members of a \u201cfringe\u201d:<\/p>\n We write to strongly urge you to increase funding for the arts, specifically cultural equity programs. We do not support a divisive and damaging proposal being advanced by fringe members of the arts community that would cut funds from the arts in order to fund the arts.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n At the end of 2011, I wrote about an attempt to cut Cultural Equity Grants (\u201cUtterly Clueless: Cultural Policy San Francisco-Style\u201d<\/a>), contextualizing it with many of these same cultural policy issues, which despite San Francisco\u2019s self-proclamation of diversity and progressive values, seem never to be seriously addressed.<\/b>\u00a0I\u2019d like to say that things have greatly improved so that what I said two and a half years ago had become obsolete, but sadly, I cannot.<\/p>\n What I can offer is a practical suggestion.<\/b>\u00a0If it sounds far-out, I suggest you stop a moment to consider how much you may have internalized the view of the doable promoted by status-quo beneficiaries, a view that exists precisely to reinforce their right to say what can and should be done. (It might help to read Maria X Martinez\u2019s elegant post called \u201cGrants for the Restaurants\u201d at the\u00a0Cultural Equity Matters blog site<\/a>, which site also features much of the relevant material.)<\/p>\n A Practical Suggestion: Pay Your Debts.<\/b>\u00a0Arts advocates who receive the most municipal funding and lead mainstream advocacy efforts have been talking about cultural equity forever, all the while urging the communities that benefit least from the status quo to keep showing up without much to show for it. Now\u2019s the time to pay off. If the pie isn\u2019t going to get bigger right now, voluntarily surrender part of your slice for Cultural Equity Grants. Go personally to your contacts on red-carpet organizations\u2019 boards and get them to meet with Supervisors and stake their political capital on a significant increase earmarked to support cultural equity. Team up with other beneficiaries for the status quo and send a major delegation to both the Supervisors and Grants for the Arts, demanding equity even at a cost to your own funding.<\/p>\n If you don\u2019t like pitting arts organizations against each other, stop doing it: line up on the side of right.<\/b><\/p>\n You will find links to and summaries of much of the pertinent material at Barry Hessenius\u2019s\u00a0recent blog covering this story<\/a>. He predicts this scenario:<\/p>\n Demand for equity by the multicultural communities will inevitably grow and put pressure on all funders\u2014and a more equitable distribution of funds will likely mean less funding for the current recipients (it will have to come from somewhere). I think the days when multicultural arts support is its own \u201cspecial\u201d category are numbered, and the former majority cultural community\u2014at least in certain urban areas, if not everywhere\u2014will find its preferred status over. And as costs of doing business for arts organizations escalate, income decreases and shifts (funding, foundations, other philanthropic support and audiences), we are likely to see more closures and failures by organizations who will become economically nonviable. And all the improvement in our business skills won\u2019t likely be enough to \u201cmarket\u201d our way out of this reality without substantial government support\u2014and that seem problematic at best. This is the tip of the iceberg.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n What other music could I offer for this issue? Billie Holiday singing\u00a0\u201cGod Bless The Child.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n Them that\u2019s got shall have
\nThem that\u2019s not shall lose
\nSo the Bible says and it still is news<\/p>\n