How Do Community Based Arts Orgs Secure Sustainable Funding?

12/20/23 • 73 min

“Bringing the scale of human life to the community again so that we can kind of start seeing our humanity and our everyday Experiences” - Melissa Abercrombie

This episode is from our November 4th 2023 live event co-production with the Petaluma Arts Center, our broadcast partners KPCA 103.3fm and Petaluma Community Access TV and BAVC Media. This special event was focused on exploring the question, “How Do Community Based Arts Organizations Secure Sustainable Funding?” Our wonderful panel and audience members covered sub topics such as Exploring Different Business Models, Hybrid Productions - Live and Streaming, bringing arts organizations and government committees to support artists along with ideas around creating a fund endowment.

The event included our panel conversation along with questions and lively conversation with our audience, all with the focus of bringing our community together in support of the arts. The panel features the voices of:

Llisa Demtrios, the President of the Board Petaluma Arts Center;

Melissa Abercrombie, the Chair of the Petaluma Pubic Art Committee;

Diane Dragoine, the Executive Director of Cinnabar Theatre;

Juliet Pokorny, the co-founder of West Side Stories Petaluma

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“Bringing the scale of human life to the community again so that we can kind of start seeing our humanity and our everyday Experiences” - Melissa Abercrombie

Llisa Demtrios, the President of the Board Petaluma Arts Center;

Melissa Abercrombie, the Chair of the Petaluma Pubic Art Committee;

Diane Dragoine, the Executive Director of Cinnabar Theatre;

Juliet Pokorny, the co-founder of West Side Stories Petaluma

Previous Episode

Meredith Winner - Paint the Void & Lyzette Wanzer - Author of Trauma, Tresses & Truth

“I think really being open minded and also really trusting artists is a really big, important factor because. Artists know what they're doing, at least when it comes to making the artwork, that's why people hire them and allow them to have the most creative freedom as possible, really. Usually allows the project to be as best as it can be or as good as it can be” - Meredith Winner

This episode is the long form of our one-on-one interview with Meredith Winner the COO and Co-Founder of Building 180 and Managing Director and Co-Founder of Paint the Void. Meredith shares how her team at Building 180 provides support agency services to artists to provide projects and good-paying work as well as through Paint the Void works with artists and local government to utilize art as economic and community development change agents.

As part of our great roving reporter team of Isa Nakazawa and Eric Estrada at the Arts For A Better Bay Area State of The Arts Summit; this episode includes an interview with Lyzette Wanzer the author of Trauma, Tresses & Truth "Untangling our Hair Through Personal Narrative". Lyzette also was part of the planning and production team of the ABBA State of the Arts Summit. Lyzette shares with us about the planning of the Summit along with her insights into how both artists and arts organizations need the support of our government, funders, and each other.

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Proposition E, 2018 & Arts Impact Endowment Update & Discussion & Grants For The Arts

"I think the action and the continuity of the coalition from Prop S to Prop E went from 40 organizations to 140 organizations. That was something that was huge” - Vin Seaman

In this seventh episode of our series focusing on the arts and culture sector's recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic, we bring you highlights from the Co-Production of Arts For A Better Bay Area (ABBA) State of The Arts Summit, held at the Strand Theatre in San Francisco on June 28th, 2023. The summit centered around rebuilding communities through the arts.
This episode features a community conversation from the ABBA Summit, discussing the status of Proposition E from 2018, the Arts Impact Endowment, and Grants for the Arts. Our panel includes voices from:
- Joe Landini, Founder and Director of Giving at Safe House Arts
- Vinay Patel, Executive Director of the Asian Pacific Islander Cultural Center
- Denise Pate, Director of Community Investments for the San Francisco Arts Commission

The second part of our discussion features an interview with ABBA Summit attendee, Shrey Purohit an artist and cultural worker at Arts Span; Along with a One on One Interview with Vallie Brown, the Director of the City of San Francisco’s Grants For The Arts, along with our wonderful co-host Isa Nakazawa, the Director of Community Engagement of BAVC Media.

We welcome your participation in our next virtual and live in-person community dialogue event. You can also watch this episode on our YouTube Channel and please Sign Up for our Newsletter to stay up to date on future episodes and to participate in our next live show. We would love to hear from you with feedback and show ideas, so send us an email to [email protected].