Arts Advocacy

Our Mission

California Lawyers for the Arts empowers the creative community by providing education, representation and dispute resolution.

Our Vision

Artists and arts organizations serve as agents of democratic involvement, innovation, and positive social change, and the growth of an empowered arts sector is essential to healthy communities. CLA’s leadership and services strengthen the arts for the benefit of communities throughout California.

California arts Funding is No Longer Last in the U.S.

Until the Governor of Kansas eliminated funding for the Kansas Arts Council, California was dead last among all fifty states in its allocation of state funding for the arts. Our state's general fund contribution of approximately $1 million is less than three cents per person.

"It’s a crucial time for the arts in California. Our economy relies on creative minds, artistic organizations and innovative workers, yet our per capita state investment in the arts is the lowest in the nation."

- Malissa Feruzzi Shriver, Chair, California Arts Council

ART Makes Us HUMAN

Ellen Taylor (center), Director, Sacramento Programs is recognized at the 2011 California Arts Council Grant Presentation in Sacramento, presented by Senator Pro Tem Darryl Steinberg (right) and Gabriel Medina, representing Assemblyman Roger Dickinson (left).

NEW Advocacy Effort seeks to restore California Arts in Corrections and Communities Programs

California Lawyers for the Arts, is working with the William James Association and California Arts Advocates to restore funding for needed arts programs in our correctional facilities and our communities. Evidence-based research has documented that inmates who have engaged in arts programs are less likely to be involved in disciplinary incidents and have better parole outcomes.

Click here to read our complete statement.

Help the California Arts Council reach one million arts license plates.

One million cars with California Arts Plates would mean $40 million for the arts. That would put California near the top in arts funding rather than dead last. Californians have the power to take our state from last to first in arts funding by choosing the Arts Plate for their cars and supporting arts for children and a strong creative economy and arts infrastructure.

All fees for the Arts Plate are considered a charitable contribution to the California Arts Council (more). Businesses and residents looking to support arts statewide now have an extra incentive to support California arts – and have a cool looking license plate as well.

Since the Arts Plate first went on sale in 1994 it has raised over $20 million for California arts through sales and renewals. Currently over 60 % of the California Arts Council’s budget comes from the Arts Plate.

You Get What You Pay For is an opinion piece by C.L.A. executive director Alma Robinson, published in Benefit magazine Jan/Feb 2007.

In their lead editorial of 12/16/06, Worthy Investment, the editorial board of the Fresno Bee wrote: The health of our arts community directly affects our ability to recruit talent to our businesses. The benefits of the arts go beyond the intellectual to public safety. Arts programs have been shown to prevent recidivism in our jails. It is imperative that the California legislature keep in mind that the arts, like everything else, require infusions of financial support to thrive.
- Read the complete article!

This 30-second PSA was produced by C.L.A. and EZTV in 2007 to call attention to the need to increase arts funding in California. The PSA was conceived and directed by Michael J. Masucci, EZTV and produced by Alma Robinson, C.L.A. and Kate Johnson of EZTV, with voiceover by Quentin Hancock. The piece most notably won a Cine Golden Eagle award, a highly prestigious award which has been won over the years by many leading filmmakers, including Steven Spielberg.

Please share this PSA with your friends and colleagues!

Arts and Environmental Initiative

Aligning arts and environmental interests, CLA has set out to find ways to build a platform for a larger role for the arts in raising public awareness of the pressing environmental concerns that threaten our global well being.

To date, we have presented two Dialogues on arts and environmental issues. The first was in San Francisco in 2008, followed by the second meeting in Los Angeles in 2011. In Los Angeles, Keynote speaker Jan Perry, President Pro Tempore of the LA City Council, urged arts leaders to get involved in efforts to fight climate change.

The 2011 full report provides highlights of the day's speakers and recommendations for future action. The 2008 report of the San Francisco meeting is also available.

This project has been funded by the Gerbode Foundation, Quentin Hancock Fund, the Andy Warhol Foundation, the Statewide Network Program of the California Arts Council, and the members of California Lawyers for the Arts.

You can communicate directly with your elected representatives by using Americans for the Arts "Capwiz" tools.

The Arts Policy Committee of the C.L.A. Board of Directors asked Congress to stop further action on the proposed Orphan Works Amendment to the US Copyright Act, pending further review and input from all stakeholders.

At the recent Visioning Conference held by California Arts Advocates in Sacramento on January 12, 2010, arts activist Arlene Goldbard presented a poignant and provocative introductory speech.

We have sponsored a series of Symposia on California Arts and Healthy Communities, which have been broadcast on Cable Access Stations throughout California, to build public awareness of the value of the arts. Our latest Symposium was held in San Jose.

Please read Renaissance in Arts Funding Needed, a San Francisco Chronicle op-ed by our Executive Director, Alma Robinson. She makes a compelling case for the critical need to restore the state's arts infrastructure.

You can download the text of executive director Alma Robinson's keynote speech a the first conference of the UC Institute on Research in the Arts, UCIRA.

California Lawyers for the Arts is a tax exempt 501(c)(3) organization & your donation is tax deductible as a charitable contribution to the fullest extent of the law.