Cultural Arts

I believe the arts are an essential component of any first-class city, providing both cultural and economic benefits. As a council member, I will advocate for greater City investment in the arts.

We have a sizable community of artists living in Santa Clarita. It’s time we put their talents to use in developing the cultural life and economic resources of our City.

Santa Clarita is a maturing community. It’s time to develop a really focused Cultural Arts Master Plan, establish a Cultural Arts Commission, and create a state-of-the-art Cultural Arts Center with recital halls, an art gallery, and much more. As I stated in The Signal over a year ago, I think an ideal location for such a center would be on part of the City’s acreage just west of the Whitacre-Bermite property. A convention center adjacent to the Arts Center would be a wonderful amenity for the entire community.

For the past 4 years, I have served as Planning Commission liaison to the City’s Arts Advisory Committee. Comprised of representatives from the arts, business, education, and greater community (including a member from each commission), the mission of the committee is to “promote, support, and develop arts and culture for the benefit of citizens, arts organizations, and artists of the Santa Clarita Valley.”

The Arts Advisory Committee has set goals each year, sending recommendations on to the department director and in some instances taking them directly to the Council, as we did when we asked the City Council to consider a Percent for the Arts program to help raise funds for arts facilities. That possibility was recently re-introduced by Council Member TimBen Boydston. More recently, the Arts Advisory Committee has begun to advocate for a new Cultural Arts Master Plan.

Under the banner of Arts and Culture, the City has chosen to focus primarily on events and projects (e.g. Cowboy Festival, Street Art Festival, and the California Bear project), along with small community grant awards for music and other performing arts groups. In terms of facilities, the City contributed about $2 million toward the College of the Canyons Performing Arts Center, and provided some financial support to the Canyon Theater Guild for renovations, but no further facilities have been created or planned.

As I’ve stated throughout my campaign, the City Council needs to develop a comprehensive vision in a number of areas, including the cultural arts. And with that vision, the City must set aside sufficient funds and actively promote goals established in full consultation with the community.

At the same time, I would encourage all artists in the community to get involved with the Arts Alliance and to attend Arts Advisory Committee Meetings. Even if you’ve met with resistance in the past, I suggest you come back to these meetings and work with the entire arts community to create and promote a well-rounded Master Plan.

The Arts Alliance meets monthly. The contact number is (661) 286-4011. The Arts Advisory Committee is assisted by Phil Lantis in the City’s Arts & Events Office. We meet on the fourth Monday of every month at 6:30 p.m. at City Hall.

On a personal note, we’re a family of artists. My husband and I met at CalArts as Theater majors. He is a professional actor, puppeteer, and director, whose father was a professional musician. He is also a teacher in the Theater Department at College of the Canyons. Our older son studied piano for many years locally, and is now pursuing a minor in music. iTunes now carries the latest CD from his band Fentruck. Our younger son has studied violin and visual arts, and is now working on degrees in creative writing and philosophy. Both boys played multiple instruments in the Saugus High School Band. We’ve found that musical performances, regardless of scope, don’t seem to capture the same amount of attention from the press as do local sports activities. I think that will become more balanced when the arts are given their due in Santa Clarita.

In short:

•I will work to create a Cultural Arts Master Plan. If we can have a master plan for parks, we can have one for the arts.

•I want to review options for creating a “Percent for Arts” program.

•We should discuss the formation an Arts and Culture Commission to oversee funds collected through programs like Percent for Arts.

•I will continue to work with developers, the College of the Canyons, the Chamber of Commerce, and other agencies to expand art in the community.

I hope this answers your question. If you would like to discuss this further, please call me at (661) 310-3654.

Diane Trautman