Two neighborhood organizations will host candidate forums for the three City Council races, beginning Wednesday with the Ward 4 forum at Orange Terrace Community Center.
The Cheech Marin Center for Chicano Art will host a Creative Economy Town Hall on Jan. 15, where local artists and cultural organizations can provide input on California's first strategic plan for the creative economy. (Ken Crawford)
The California Arts Council will host a Creative Economy Town Hall at The Cheech Marin Center for Chicano Art on Jan. 15 from 1 to 3 p.m., seeking input from local artists, creative workers and cultural organizations to shape the state's first strategic plan for the creative economy.
The free event is part of a statewide tour designed to implement "California's Future Is Creative," a plan released in October addressing challenges facing California's $288 billion creative sector. Despite leading the nation in creative economic output, the state's creative workforce in 2024 remained 7 percent below pre-pandemic levels even as overall employment grew, according to the California Arts Council.
Between 2022 and 2023, California lost 2.6 percent of its creative-sector jobs while the nation gained 0.3 percent.
Organizers will collect stories from attendees about local creative practices, innovations and community impact. The input will inform an addendum to the strategic plan that will be submitted to the Governor's Office and Legislature in early 2026.
The strategic plan aims to address issues including creative businesses being priced out of the state, threats to local cultural identity from gentrification, and limited career pathways in creative fields.
The Cheech is located at 3581 Mission Inn Ave. Registration is required at secure.everyaction.com. A virtual session for the Inland Empire and South Coast region will be held Jan. 21 from noon to 2 p.m.
The tour includes more than 20 stops across California through February.
