PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by Lisa Gold, Executive Director of Asian American Arts Alliance
1:59:12
ยท
135 sec
Lisa Gold, Executive Director of the Asian American Arts Alliance, testifies about the importance of funding and support for arts workforce development, particularly for immigrant and AAPI communities. She emphasizes the need for dedicated funding streams to support small organizations that provide professional development and create opportunities in the arts sector.
- Highlights the challenge of recognizing arts careers as viable, especially in immigrant communities
- Calls for separate funding initiatives to support workforce development programs run by small organizations
- Emphasizes the need for portable healthcare benefits, housing, and equitable opportunities for arts workers
Lisa Gold
1:59:12
Good afternoon, council member Rivera.
1:59:14
Thank you for the opportunity to testify.
1:59:16
I'm Lisa Gold.
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I'm the executive director of the Asian American Arts Alliance.
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We are a 41 year old nonprofit service organization that works to ensure greater representation, equity, and opportunities, to AAPI artists and arts organizations.
1:59:30
And I also am a member of the Mayor's Theater and Live Performance Industry Council, and I participate on the Workforce Accessibility Committee.
1:59:37
So this is an issue that is very dear to my heart.
1:59:39
I wanna thank you for raising the issue of, asking how cultural organizations can learn about opportunities for workforce development.
1:59:48
I don't think I got a really good answer on that.
1:59:51
It is hard, as you noted.
1:59:52
Like, my community, like, 70% are either 1st or second generation, and I am the only one in my family that works in the
Erin Prada
2:00:02
arts.
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I have doctors and lawyers and finance people.
Lisa Gold
2:00:03
I am the only one.
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So people don't recognize, especially in the A a p AAPI community and the immigrant community, of the viability of these actual careers, of good paying jobs.
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So it's really important to fund the organizations like ours, small organizations.
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We need a separate funding initiative to support these.
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We do professional development programs.
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We do private public partnerships.
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We hook up, aspiring artists with Disney to do live audition workshops.
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We have fellowship programs where I got one of my fellows, a job at MoMA working for his mentor.
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Like, we do that.
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We we see the pipeline, but we need the funds.
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It can't come out of CDF funds.
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That is not baselined.
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It's reduced every year.
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We have to claw that money back, and we need a separate separate source or stream of income to ensure that we can support the workforce here.
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They need portable health care benefits.
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They need housing.
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They need equitable opportunities.
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And with DEI under fire, so many of my resources now are being pulled away from the work that I can do to actually protect my community.
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I'm going to meetings on how to ensure the stability and the health of my organization.
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I'm afraid that we are under target.
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So we need financial support, we need that baseline, and we need dedicated funding streams for organizations like ours that make a huge difference in our communities, especially immigrant and underserved communities.
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So thank you.