A diverse, vibrant arts and culture scene has always been core to the Bay Area’s identity.

Given The Battery’s proximity to North Beach, perhaps the first thing that comes to mind is Beat Generation writers gathered over espresso and cigarettes at Caffe Trieste (and the busloads of tourists who came to City Lights Bookstore in search of the famous beatniks!). Or the Black Arts Movement, born in Oakland in the late 1960’s, which engendered a creative flourishing of Black-run cultural centers and galleries that reverberates today in the East Bay. Or the Mission District’s community mural movement, emerging in the early 1970s as a medium for preserving and celebrating Latin American culture, continued by successive generations of local artists reflecting their own stories. The Cockettes' queer theater revolution, the hardcore punk of Dead Kennedys ... the list is endless.

Alice Street Mural in Oakland. Artists: Desi Mundo and Pancho Peskador, Community Rejuvenation Project 

That legacy of creative expression, pride, and cultural self-determination lives on in the Bay Area of 2021. Today’s artists, culture keepers, and arts and cultural organizations exhilarate and challenge us, teach us about ourselves and each other, connect us in shared experience. Their breadth of artistic and cultural practice is dazzling.

Arts and culture are also central to the Bay Area’s economy. In San Francisco alone, prior to COVID, arts organizations generated $1.7 billion in economic activity annually and supported the equivalent of close to 37,000 jobs. In Silicon Valley, where the number of arts and cultural groups rose by over 60% between 2008-2019, the creative workforce employs tens of thousands of people.

Yet even before COVID, many individual artists and arts and culture organizations, especially those led by Black, Indigneous, and People of Color (BIPOC), were in a state of constant economic precarity. Artists, as well as the creative workforce that supports arts and culture organizations, were dealing with the same challenges as other working class Bay Area residents: unaffordable housing and healthcare; wages (often from multiple gigs and side jobs) that weren’t keeping up with costs; no safety net; lack of time and physical space to pursue their creative work. Many organizations faced big increases in rent while available space was shrinking. BIPOC artists and BIPOC-led organizations representing the cultural heritage of historically marginalized communities were systematically under-resourced.

Then the pandemic hit, and artists and the creative workforce were thrown into further vulnerability. Across the state, performing arts organizations and galleries closed their doors; revenue plummeted and thousands in the creative workforce, from performers and writers to technicians and administrators, faced layoffs, furloughs, and a devastating loss of income. Many moved out of the Bay Area, perhaps permanently. 

Source: Californians for the Arts                     

The loss was especially acute among BIPOC workers and organizations. In a November 2020 statewide survey of artists and cultural workers by Californians for the Arts: 100% of those who identified as Black indicated a loss of income while an average of 12% of all other ethnic groups indicated a similar loss. BIPOC organizations and workers also reported disproportionate access to CARES Act funding: 18% were denied CARES Act funding vs.5% non BIPOC.

We still don’t know the full impact of the past 16 months on the Bay Area’s arts and culture ecosystem. We do know that many organizations have survived through a combination of Payroll Protection Program (PPP) and other federal funds, emergency municipal funding, philanthropic support, and their own ingenuity in pivoting to online performances, classes, and other creative modes.

There are dozens of examples of resilience like that of AXIS Dance Company, an acclaimed ensemble of disabled and non-disabled dancers. A past Battery Powered finalist, AXIS saw participation in their dance classes increase when they offered those classes online, escially among dancers who are disabled. Or playright Peter Nachtrieb, who, when he could not mount a production of his show House Tour, worked with web designers to make it an interactive game you could play on your kitchen table. 

Kimberly Daniels (left) and Dawn L. Troupe (right) in Oakland Theater Project's production of Begin the Beguine: A Quartet of One-Acts by Kathleen Collins. Photo credit: Carson French.

But there is still a lot of uncertainty about what the future holds. In the words of Creatives in Place, what do creative and cultural communities need in order to continue to be rooted in the Bay Area? And how can our philanthropy help?

There is a broad set of action items for funders of arts and culture to help the sector emerge stronger from the pandemic crisis. Here are some areas where Battery Powered funds can make a difference:

• Even as doors cautiously open, arts and culture in the Bay Area is still in recovery mode. Unrestricted support to keep organizations afloat as they recoup and rebuild is key, especially for small to mid-sized organizations that are BIPOC-led and culturally rooted. Imagine if those institutions could divert some energy from fundraising to long-term planning and creative practice!

• Artists need literal and figurative space, tools, and time to create. Residency programs are one model for creative professionals to access all three. Likewise, there are vehicles outside of traditional residencies for artists to collaborate and advance their creative practice and enterprise: for example, the African-American Arts and Cultural Complex in San Francisco, which among other offerings provides incubation support to artists/creative entrepreneurs. 

• The Bay Area is home to an extraordinary range of artists and cultural practitioners who work deeply in and with their communities. Collaborative, place-based public art projects transform shared spaces, reflect community identities, elevate community concerns, and support collective meaning-making and healing.

• There are also opportunities for Battery Powered to invest in systemic solutions that, as described by Center for Cultural Innovation CEO Angie Kim, give artists and cultural communities ownership, power, and economic self-determination. For example, models like East Bay Permanent Real Estate Cooperative, which is working to develop cooperative, affordable real estate alternatives to help individuals and arts and culture entities stay anchored in Oakland’s African-American cultural community. Or Sustainable Economies Law Center, which provides resources for artists who are experimenting with alternative economy efforts and financially supportive models beyond the 501c3 nonprofit standard.

Battery Powered recognizes that there are many important areas of arts and culture that need more philanthropic funding but are not a focus of this theme’s grantmaking. These include arts education and direct grants to individual artists, although Battery Powered could contribute to a managed fund that makes direct grants to individuals.

We as individuals have a role to play, too. Buy tickets to virtual and (if you’re comfortable) in-person performances. Pay a fair price to the musicians you hire for your next event. Seek out and support the full breadth of arts and culture in the Bay Area!