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Arts Advocacy News

Stay up to date on local, state, and federal opportunities to increase funding and access to the arts. Arts Advocacy alerts give you all the information you need to understand important legislation and quick ways to get involved!

Catch Up, California: Bay Area for SB 1116

June 9, 2023
Person speaking passionately at a podium

Emergency Rally on June 9 at 12 PM We held an emergency rally for funding SB 1116, the Equitable Payroll Fund, to create jobs and revitalize local economies. Watch the livestream here: California arts organizations have suffered for years from under-investment. The state ranks just 24th in state arts funding on a per capita basis — and…

Catch up California: Ask your reps to fund the live arts!

March 17, 2023

If you’re connected to Theatre Bay Area, you probably know that small performing arts organizations are both key to a vibrant local scene AND are closing at an alarming rate. You probably also know that arts funding is harder than ever to come by, and arts workers struggle to make ends meet while living the Bay Area. …

New Legislation Aims To Aid Small Arts Organizations Struggling with AB 5

September 6, 2021
a close-up of Martha Demson smiling showing her teeth. She is a white woman with blue eyes and short blonde hair. She is wearing a blue sweater.

by Rotimi Agbabiaka On August 26, SB 805, or the “Save The Performing Arts Act of 2021,” a California Senate bill that aims to help nonprofit performing arts companies, with annual revenues of $1.4 million or less, pay their workers minimum wage, passed unanimously through the Assembly Appropriations Committee. The bill is now on track…

Theatre Advocates Mobilize in Response to California’s Gig Worker Law

February 26, 2020
a light skinned woman with blue eyes and shoulder length red curly hair. She is wearing a teal shirt and a sliver necklace.

by Rotimi Agbabiaka Last month, California’s AB5 went into effect, requiring companies across the state to reclassify their independent contractors as employees in order to comply with classification guidelines set down by the California Supreme Court’s 2018 decision in the “Dynamex” case. The law, which was aimed at the profit-maximizing practices of tech giants like…

Theatre Bay Area and AB5

January 10, 2020
Theatre Bay Area Logo. Pink circle with a gradient of pink triangles inside pointing from the upper left corner to the lower right. Meant to simulate a stage light. On the right is the word Theatre in big rounded text with Bay Area written in a smaller blocky text below it.

A message from the board of Theatre Bay Area: Many in our community are asking questions about AB5, the new California employment law that went into effect January 1 and outlines new rules around classifying workers as employees or independent contractors. Aimed at the growing “gig economy,” the law extends far beyond, reaching almost every…

Proposed Increases to NEA and NEH: A Letter from Brad Erickson

May 1, 2017
Theatre Bay Area Logo. Pink circle with a gradient of pink triangles inside pointing from the upper left corner to the lower right. Meant to simulate a stage light. On the right is the word Theatre in big rounded text with Bay Area written in a smaller blocky text below it.

Dear Colleagues, Advocacy works! Monday morning we received word from Americans for the Arts and other leading advocacy organizations that Congress has reached a bipartisan agreement that not only sustains crucial support for federal cultural agencies but actually increases funding for the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities by $2 million…

Arts and Community Members Assemble at City Hall for San Francisco Arts Advocacy Day

March 21, 2017

Theatre Bay Area staff joined nearly 400 artists, arts administrators, cultural producers, and cultural ambassadors in a spirited rally to advocate for (1) policy priorities (2) a message of “No Cuts,” and (3) stories about the transformative nature of cultural and creative expression. Theatre Bay Area staff gathers with colleagues from Z Space and Yerba…

Arts Advocates Take Capitol Hill for Arts Advocacy Day 2017!

March 20, 2017
Rachel Fink and Brad Erickson standing in front of the Capitol Building. Rachel is a light skinned woman with short dark curly hair and glasses. She is wearing a grey cardigan, black dress, neclaces and a name tag on a red chord around her neck. Brad is a white man with short grey hair and a close shaved beard. He is wearing a black suit, blue button up, and a black plaid tie.

Theatre Bay Area Executive Director Brad Erickson (Americans for the Arts’ Co Captain for California) and Managing Director Rachel Fink gathered with hundreds of arts advocates in Washington, D.C. for Americans for the Arts’ 30th annual Arts Advocacy Day to tell our Senators and Congressional representatives that we expect strong federal support for arts and culture, affordable health care, and robust…