Description

Join other TBA Members at a lunchtime roundtable to strategize our local response to the current arts funding crisis!

In recent months, we've seen extreme attacks on the arts at the federal, state, and local levels. As a community of theatremakers and theatre companies, we have the ability to show up as a powerful collective at the city and county level to demonstrate our impact on our local communities. At this roundtable, TBA will give a brief overview of the statewide and national responses being led by organizations like CFTA, TCG, and Americans for the Arts.  We will then focus our conversation on opportunities here at the local level. 

At this meeting we will look at ways to get involved in all Bay Area counties, not just San Francisco! 

Opportunities to Consider

• Public comment at City Council and Board of Supervisors meetings
• Meetings with Mayors' Offices
• Public actions/Rallys 

Ways to get involved before Tuesday!

Contact your state elected officials

• In support of the Performing Arts Equitable Payroll Fund: the May budget revise proposes a reversion of the $11.5 million promised to support small performing arts organizations with payroll costs. Jobs will be lost because of this.  In the context of the overall state budget deficit this $11 million is not going to fix the problem, however the impact of the individual grants on the individual applicant organizations cannot be understated. Find Your Lawmaker or call the Governor's Office: (916) 445-2841
• In support of the California Arts Council: In 2024, the California Arts Council budget took a significant hit and was cut by $5 million for two years, reducing its funding to just $21 million to serve the entire state. Use this form to send a custom message to your representatives about the importance of public funding for the arts and to urge them to support restoring the $5 million to the CAC.

Contact your federal elected officials 

• In support of the NEA: As the nation’s largest single funder of the nonprofit arts sector, the NEA expands opportunities for Americans to engage with the arts in every state and congressional district, supporting an average of 2,300 projects annually. Use these templates from Americans for the Arts to email or call your representatives to tell them to preserve grant funding and to support the cultural agencies in Fiscal Year 2026.