Santa Ana named semi-finalist as a California Cultural District

Santa Ana is competing to be named one of California's first official Cultural Districts, a new state program built to "assist Californians in leveraging the state’s considerable assets in the areas of culture, creativity, and diversity." 

Santa Ana's letter of interest was selected as a semi-finalist along with 21 other cultural places across the state: from San Francisco's Chinatown  to Little Tokyo in Los Angeles and Balboa Park and Barrio Logan in San Diego.

If selected, the "Santa Ana Cultural District" will receive technical assistance, marketing support, and $5,000 to help further develop district leadership and coordination -- and our experience here in Santa Ana will help shape how the state Cultural District program works in the future. 

Map of 22 semi-finalist cultural districts of the initial 40 applications

What is a California Cultural District?

California Cultural Districts were initiated by AB 189 to "put in place an important new tool for the development, support, and preservation of California’s extensive and diverse cultural assets," according to the California Arts Commission (CAC) who is charged with overseeing the Cultural District program.

"Because of the tremendous interest in cultural districts, and the complexity of tailoring a program to adequately support the full range of types of cultural centers throughout the state," explains the state commission," the program will be initiated via a two-year long pilot, where a select cohort of designated districts actively engage in refining the final design of the program."

There has been concern at the state level about the implications cultural districts could have on vulnerable communities and its impact on authentic community voices, so an extensive Statement of Values and Resources were developed to help enhance the benefits and minimize local challenges as part of the program's platform.

How Santa Ana Got Involved

On February 7th, Rick Stein, the Executive Director of Arts OC, our county's arts council contacted Ryan Smolar of Downtown Inc. and John Spiak of the CSUF Grand Central Art Center (GCAC) urging Santa Ana to write a letter of interest for the state's new Cultural District program.

Smolar and Spiak relayed the invitation to Jorge Garcia, who represents the City of Santa Ana's Arts & Culture commission as the Senior Management Assistant at the City of Santa Ana. The City had already been tracking the cultural district program and was reviewing the materials sent out by the state.

Garcia brought the idea of pursuing the cultural district to city staff leadership and to the Santa Ana Arts & Cultural Commission for a Work Study Session at their February public meeting.

On March 1st, Garcia announced to Smolar and Spiak that the City and Arts Commission would like to move forward with a letter of interest to the state from Downtown Inc. as the lead organization and key partners including CSUF Grand Central Art Center and the City of Santa Ana with the intent to add more partners to the process as it unfolded.

We were able to meet on March 7th to further discuss the letter of interest that needed to be created quickly. We invited additional arts, education and cultural institutional partners to join the conversation and discussed the possibility of a town hall, which we instead submitted as part of our plan if the state decided to move forward with the designation.

By March 27th, Smolar finished compiling the letter of interest for a Santa Ana Cultural District based on the framework of the Santa Ana Arts & Culture Masterplan, City of Santa Ana 5-Year Strategic Plan and the feedback received from hundreds of artists, arts organizations and arts educators at the Arts Roundtable events hosted across the City.

Spiak and Garcia suggested minor changes to the document and we submitted it along with letters of support from Santa Ana Unified School District, Bowers Museum, an art gallery owner and a Santa Ana-based artist who also runs a local non-profit.

A Santa Ana Cultural District as part of the Bigger Picture

The Letter of Interest for Santa Ana's Cultural District is based on the goals and objectives of key community plans that guide the economic, education, quality of life and arts and cultural development of our city:

City of Santa Ana 5 Year Strategic Plan

Goal 2: Youth, Education and Recreation

Objective 1: Ensure coordination among organizations serving Santa Ana’s youth to optimize programs

• Strategy c: Explore new joint-use opportunities with Santa Ana’s four School Districts and partnership opportunities with local museums, art and cultural institutions. 

Goal 3: Economic Development

Objective 4: Continue to pursue objectives that shape downtown Santa Ana into a thriving, culturally diverse, shopping, dining, and entertainment destination.

• Strategy d: Support the already-established and growing community of artists living and working downtown through support and promotion of artist events and activities.  ​​

City of Santa Ana Strategic Plan is the community's 5-year plan for Santa Ana.

Objective 5: Leverage private investment that results in tax base expansion and job creation citywide. ​​

• ​Strategy b: Develop a tax base expansion strategy targeting a concentration of interconnected businesses (also known as business clusters) that will result in an increase in the number of high-quality, high-paying jobs. ​

Goal 5: Community Health, Livability, Engagement & Sustainability

Objective 5: Promote a strong arts and culture infrastructure

• Strategy b: Generate public and private support and resources to strengthen, expand and stabilize funding for the arts. 
• Strategy c: Promote arts and culture by partnering with artist groups and merchants to hold events celebrating art in public plazas, parks and other City-controlled open space

Santa Ana Arts & Culture Masterplan: "Santa Ana Arts Future"

Goal 3: Create the conditions where artists and creatives thrive professionally and arts and
cultural organizations have the resources required for sustained success.

• 3.1: Support and strengthen the burgeoning creative economy in Santa Ana.
• 3.2: Develop a capacity building initiative for arts and creative enterprises.
• 3.3: Develop a capacity building program for the nonprofit arts and cultural sector.
• 3.4: Raise awareness of the positive impact of arts, culture, and creativity on Santa Ana’s overall economic development.

​
​Goal 5: Support existing and create new opportunities for youth to engage in artistic and
creative activities and career pathways.

"Santa Ana Arts Futures" is the community's Santa Ana Arts & Culture Masterplan

• 5.2: Support arts education in the schools by identifying and implementing partnerships and collaborations between the community (arts organizations, creative businesses etc.) and the District that strengthen its progress towards goal achievement.
• 5.3: Develop collaborative programs between major institutions, arts organizations, SAUSD, Santa Ana College and creative businesses, to develop career pathways.

Santa Ana's Letter of Interest

The Letter of Interest for a Santa Ana's Cultural District explains that a cultural district will help connect our arts assets to provide more opportunities for arts participation.

The main hope is that the Cultural District designation will give our diverse arts community a strong frame for:

(1) closer coordination and connectivity of arts and artists in the cultural district
(2) increasing access and participation in the arts, especially by youth, Santa Ana residents and artists
(3) growing jobs and creating a pipeline from education to employment and entrepreneurship
(4) supporting and honoring Santa Ana art, history, culture and artists for our contributions to the state of California.
(5) identifying resources, needs, policies and best practices for arts and culture to thrive in Santa Ana

Read the full letter of interest.

Letter of Interest submitted by Downtown Inc., CSUF Grand Central Art Center and the City of Santa Ana

Developing a Cultural Inventory

After acceptance by the State of California to the semi-finalist round, we were required to submit a cultural inventory of the cultural district.

How did we create this inventory?

In August 2016, over 300 artists converged at the Segerstrom Center for the Arts to share their collective intelligence of where artists learn, work, meet and practice in Santa Ana.

At the end of the day, we had compiled over 13 gigabytes of local knowledge for artists from artists.

This information is codified and available online at SantaAnaArts.org, a website meant to chronicle the arts and culture of Santa Ana and provide greater access to those who want to
participate, support or enjoy the arts.

The SantaAnaArts.org cultural inventory is the most robust in the City and is the data-source behind the cultural district boundaries and inventory.

​Read the full Cultural District Inventory.

Cultural District Inventory compiled from the Arts Roundtable data and on-going maintenance of the SantaAnaArts.org cultural inventory for Santa Ana

Note: Please excuse any omissions and help keep this list updated and current by contacting SantaAnaArts.org with changes. The Santa Ana arts and culture landscape changes on a daily basis and we all need to make sure people are plugged in and represented.

Visit by the State of California

On June 2nd, representatives from the California Arts Commission met with over 35 diverse local artists and arts and culture leaders to discuss the possibility of Santa Ana's Cultural District. A few attendees expressed concern about a cultural district initiative, requesting that local artists and residents be prioritized in any funding or planning around the district. Organizations servicing thousands of Santa Ana residents with access to arts and culture spoke in favor of the designation including:

• ​Cheryl Eberly, Santa Ana Public Library 
• Saidy Valdez, Santa Ana Public Library
• Belen Carillo, Santa Ana Public Library
• Marlen Buitron, City of Santa Ana Youth Commissioner
• Robyn MacNair, SanArts Conservatory & SAUSD Visual and Performing Arts Coordinator
• Suse Lopez-Guerrera, Communtity Liasion for Santa Ana Unified School District
• Jorge Garcia, City of Santa Ana City Manager's Office
• Isaiah Benitez, SAHS Art Student
• Manuel Escamilla, City of Santa Ana History Expert
• Ana Jimenez-Hami, OC Children's Therapeutic Arts Center
• Carlos Beltran, OC Children's Therapeutic Arts Center
• Emily Mahon, Bowers Museum
• Eve Kikawa, Santa Ana College School of the Arts
• Norma Aguilar, Mexican Consulate of Orange County
• Marco Fraire, Mexican Consulate of Orange County​

• Dino Perez, local artist
• Victor de los Santos, Santa Ana High School Music Director
• Mayor Pro Tem, Michele Martinez, City of Santa Ana
• Rick Stein, Arts OC
• Marina Aguilera, local artist
• Sara Guerrero, Breath of Fire Latina Theater Ensemble
• Tim Rush, Santa Ana historian
• Carolyn Yarnell, OCCCA
• Kathie Warren, AvantGarden Gallery
• Laura Robinson, OC Fine Arts
• Leah Shapi, AvantGarden gallery artist
• Ryan Smolar, Downtown Inc.
• Yenny Bernal, Artwalk Coordinator for Downtwon Inc.
• Robert Guitierrez, Social Media Coordinator for Downtonw Inc., Santa Ana College and Santa Ana High School
• John Spiak, CSUF Grand Central Art Center
• Trinh Mai, visiting resident artist
• Logan Crow, The Frida Cinema
• Rebecca Chernow, visiting resident artist
• Chef Richard Espinachio, arts and culture patron
• Maryla McGuire, downtown small business

*Note, if you want your name removed from the list above for any reason or feel you were left of this list, please contact us so we can correct any error.

Update (6/9/17): After the June 2nd tour and receiving feedback from the State of California, the City of Santa Ana has decided to become the "lead applicant" for the Cultural District with the City's Arts & Culture Masterplan Steering Committee involved in the development and implementation of the District and the City of Santa Ana Arts & Culture Commission installed as an Advisory Board to the program. The City will hold monthly public meetings to maintain community voice throughout the process. All partners agreed that these adjustments best reflect our shared goals of inclusion, equity, partnership and working with the entire community.

What happens next?

The State of California will announce the final list of California Cultural Districts in mid-July. If accepted, the process to move forward described in the letter of interest is as follows:

TOWN HALLS
We have already identified $5,000 funding to host a Town Hall to cultivate energy and plans for the Cultural District from our Arts Roundtable sponsorship. CSUF GCAC can provide their venue which
results in a cost savings and the City of Santa Ana can help with distributing invitations to a broad audience and hearing new ideas.

ARTS GUIDE
We will seek funding from the Arts Commission and other sources to write a guide to the Cultural District, estimated at costing $25,000 including printing and distribution costs.

PHYSICAL CONNECTIVITY
We will perform connectivity audits of our district to see how active transportation and public realm improvements (including public art) could enhance our district. With grants, this could equate to millions of dollars in spending to increase connectivity across our district including physical and programmatic enhancements.

FREE EVENTS
We will work to unify all free events provided by cultural district members to be "co-sponsored" by the Cultural District. This will help us share audiences who need the services we are providing free across the district including free festivals, shows and community gatherings. We estimate there is over $500,000-$1M in free events being produced in the district.

INFO/OUTREACH
We will also seek a way to sustain a Cultural District awareness campaign via social media, a booth at free events and to present information in both English and Spanish. We wiill seek sponsors from the business sector to help fund this program at $12,000 per year.

In Conclusion

This discussion has tested ideas and forced some clarity on how our arts community can continue to swirl together regardless of the outcome of this particular process.

One thing is clear: through the efforts of many, the arts and culture of Santa Ana is "the corazón of arts and culture in Orange County," as Sara Guerrero put it. Or simply, "the deepest concentration of arts and culture in Orange County," as Rick Stein expounded. Or that "arts are the healing salve for so many in our community who have nothing else" as Cheryl Eberly explained. Or that "this designation would change what youth think is possible for them" as City of Santa Ana Youth Commissioner Belen Carillo shared and Victor de los Santos echoed.

Before departing, the state arts comission seemed to agree, leaving us with these parting thoughts, "Passion...you definitely have passion. I wish some arts communities had the love and passion you all share. It's quite evident."

Story by Ryan Smolar