LOS ANGELES: Performing arts workers across California are expressing dismay at Gov. Gavin Newsom’s May Revision proposal, which includes the reversal of funds previously committed to California’s recently instituted Performing Arts Equitable Payroll Fund in the form of a proposed $11.5 million cut.
This comes on top of a troubling trend of deep cuts to arts and culture funding in California, which represents only a small fraction of California’s budget; this past year the arts received around $26 million out of a budget of more than $320 billion.
“We understand that the state faces a challenging budget deficit and are prepared to support you in making difficult decisions,” Theater Producers of Southern California board vice president Beatrice Casagran said in a statement addressed to the governor. “However, the proposed clawback of 100 percent of the state’s entire investment in the Payroll Fund will eradicate six years of bipartisan legislative efforts to address cascading negative impacts that have led to dire economic instability for workers in the live arts.”
In particular, the Equitable Payroll Fund is designed to support arts programs in dozens of small nonprofit organizations, from live theatre to orchestras, operas, chorus, and dance, particularly as they’ve faced financial challenges presented by Assembly Bill 5, which in 2020 mandated that all workers in most businesses be reclassified as employees rather than independent contractors. The EPF was created specifically not only to offset any new costs of compliance with AB5, but most importantly to put money directly in the pockets of arts workers. Eliminating this program will mean fewer jobs and fewer arts programs in small and mid-sized communities in California. The program only recently opened for grants, and employers who have applied are counting on the state to follow through.
In a statement for Actors Equity, president Brooke Shields said, “At a time when the arts are under attack in Washington, D.C., it’s deeply disappointing to also be fighting funding cuts again in Sacramento. California…cannot be a leader in the arts if it continues to cut arts funding year after year…We strongly oppose the elimination of this program, and we’ll mobilize our members and activate the entire arts community in California to make sure the legislature knows what is at stake.”
California’s performing arts sector generates significant economic activity, providing more than 250,000 jobs statewide and driving a powerful multiplier effect: For every 100 performing arts jobs, an additional 156 jobs are supported in other sectors through downstream impacts. On average, each performing arts job results in $13,287 in additional state and local tax revenue. The state and local tax revenue generated by the nonprofit performing arts sector is expected to exceed $433 million per year.
“How many jobs, and how much of that $433 million in annual tax revenue, are we willing to jeopardize for a one-time savings of $11.5 million?” Casagran asked. “We urge the legislature to reject the governor’s proposed cuts to this necessary funding. The program is built, and demand is evident, with applications to the fund coming from 38 senate districts and 66 assembly districts. The return on investment—for California’s communities, workforce, and cultural legacy—is clear.”
For orchestras, theatres, and dance companies, these cuts present an existential threat. “As a company that primarily employs actors and technicians of color, as well as other minorities, losing this funding would mean these vulnerable members of our community would lose a pillar of support in a system that is already jeopardized by the current federal administration,” Towne Street Theatre chief operating officer Sarah Allyn Bauer said in a statement.
Should these funds be reversed, these organizations say, the losers will not just be workers in the performing arts sector, but the hundreds of communities they serve and support throughout the state.
“We are shocked that the governor, who we know recognizes the transformative power of the arts, would propose eliminating this legislative mandated funding weeks away from grants going out the door,” Julie Baker, CEO of California Arts Advocates, said in a statement. “This will hurt our local communities, our kids, and our economy at a time when they need support the most.”
