Arts and Culture as a Human Right in Los Angeles County

“In a County as ethnically and culturally diverse as well as geographically sprawling as Los Angeles, it is our responsibility to ensure that all the benefits of, and opportunities provided by, the arts are available and accessible to all residents, no matter who they are or where they live." - Motion by Supervisor Hilda L. Solis and Sheila Kuehl

In January, we launched Campaign 2020: Arts and Cultural Education as a Fundamental, Civil, and Human Right.

Since then, the world has been grappling with an international pandemic, the economic recession brought on by that pandemic, and systems of systemic oppression and White Supremacy. 

In the face of these challenges (which is a word that really doesn’t do everything that’s going on any justice), many have turned to art to get through the day. Whether it’s to escape and embrace in self-care or to engage and critically reflect, art has been an invaluable lifeline this year… for those who have access to it. 

Try as advocates - school officials, parents, youth, students, and legislators - might, access to the arts is not guaranteed. Despite international doctrines declaring arts education as a fundamental human right and despite educational guidelines and standards placing arts and culture as pivotal to a well-rounded education, access to the arts is not guaranteed.

As arts, culture, and creativity have been proven to boost individual and community well-being, lack of access to them inherently hinders the development of a more just and equitable society. After all, how can we express ourselves if we have not been taught how to write creatively? How can we embrace differences if the only stories we’re told are our own? 

To ensure that its residents did not experience this gap in access, Los Angeles (LA) County in California decided to take action by developing a countywide cultural plan that safeguards access to the arts. 

As one of the largest and most diverse counties in the United States, considered strategies and deliberate community engagement techniques were instrumental in assuring that the Cultural Plan represented the needs and capabilities of all residents in LA County. 

Given Campaign 2020’s focus on arts and cultural education as a fundamental, civil, and human right, we wanted to take a minute to spotlight LA County’s first-of-its-kind policy.

A Quick Timeline of the Process

In November 2015, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors developed a resolution to create a more equitable and diverse cultural sector for all county citizens. The Los Angeles Department of Arts and Culture (then County Arts Commission) was tasked with investigating organizations’:  

  • leadership, 

  • staffing, 

  • programming,

  • audience composition, and 

  • artists/creators. 

In April 2017, the LA Department of Arts and Culture released the Cultural Equity & Inclusion Initiative (CEII) report. It was the result of an 18-month public process that produced 13 recommendations to ensure that everyone in LA County has equitable access to arts and culture and to improve inclusion in the wider arts ecology for all residents in every community. 

Soon after, a second motion was passed which enacted four of those 13 recommendations. A fifth one was tacked on in June. The complete list was: 

  1. Develop a County Cultural Policy.

  2. Require cultural organizations that contract with the County to include statements or plans for Cultural Equity.

  3. Create access to work-based learning opportunities for teens.

  4. Expand the Arts Internship Program for Community College students.

  5. Create a Private Developer Civic Art Requirement for the County (Past legislation from 2004 only had a percent for art requirement for public building projects.)

In June 2020, another motion was passed by the Board of Supervisors to officially adopt the County Cultural Policy plan. 

Why the Campaign 2020 Spotlight? 

LA’s Cultural Policy was designed to serve as “a road map for how all county departments can contribute to cultural life, with a focus on cultural equity, diversity, inclusion, and access.” It also established that the County will:

  1. Invest in cultural infrastructure and access to arts and culture.

  2. Advance arts and culture in every sector of civic life.

  3. Promote cultural equity, diversity, inclusion, and belonging.

To put it plainly, this is a big deal! 

Cities, counties, and states in the US might have cultural plans that outline benchmarks and goals, but rarely do they have a policy for all components of the governing body to follow. Both are valuable tools, but policies have the potential to operate with a more urgent and far-reaching mandate. 

With the policy approved, the next step requires that the Arts and Culture Department submit a  budget to the Board of Supervisors. Once they complete that process, officials hope that they can take the policy to the state capital in Sacramento to see it become a statewide policy. 

As arts and culture are one LA County’s top exports domestically and internationally through Hollywood and the music industry, it’s exciting to see legislators endeavoring to catalyze and disseminate this energy in a more equitable and accessible way.

We’ll be following their progress, especially to track how this cultivates the creative capabilities of youth in LA County.

Additional Resources

If you’d like to learn more about LA County’s Cultural Policy, check out the following resources and posts: