Candidates for SF Board of Supervisors Vie for Arts’ Attention by / Caroline Anderson

On August 20, about 450 people gathered at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts to hear candidates for the San Francisco Board of Supervisors offer their plans for the arts if elected on November 6. After performances by the SF Jazz High School All-Stars and spoken-word artist Marc Bamuthi Joseph, the 14 candidates who attended the San Francisco Arts Town Hall were grouped into discussion panels by the district for which they were running. Journalist Belva Davis, noted for being the first black female news anchor on the West Coast, moderated the discussion.

Some of the candidates had arts backgrounds themselves, as noted by the "San Francisco Classical Voice," one of the sponsors of the event. London Breed, running for District 5, is the executive director of the African American Art & Culture Complex. F.X. Crowley, who is running for District 7, is a former business manager/secretary of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, Local 16.

Both candidates Thea Selby (District 5) and, as later reported by “Mission Loc@l,” David Campos (District 9), criticized the city for giving tech giants such as Twitter tax breaks to move into the city while the arts starve for funding.

Another issue brought up was the Grants for the Arts/ San Francisco Hotel Tax Fund, which all the candidates supported increasing from its current level of 6%.

Theatre Bay Area was a sponsor of the event.

For videos of the candidates and their answers to the SF Arts Town Hall’s questionnaire, visit sfartstownhall.org.


District 5 candidates Christina Olague (incumbent), Thea Selby & London Breed. Photo: David Elliott Lewis

Addendum

The number of sponsors for the event totaled 74, ranging from small grassroots organizations to the San Francisco Opera and Symphony. This number was up from last year’s SF Arts Town Hall, which had 54 sponsors. Last year’s event focused on the San Francisco mayoral election. According to the organizers, the SF Arts Town Hall is the largest event of its kind in the country.

Every candidate at the event made a commitment to increase the percentage of the Grants for the Arts/San Francisco Hotel Tax Fund that goes to the arts. Currently, $0.14 out of every $1 spent on a San Francisco hotel room is taxed by the city; $0.08 goes to the city’s General Fund, and $0.06 goes to the arts. However, according to the law, that amount should actually be reversed. The reversal would result in a substantial increase for the Grants for the Arts. The organizers of the SF Arts Town Hall plan to meet with the elected candidates in the following year to press them on the issue.

Brad Erickson, executive director of Theatre Bay Area, was on the event’s steering committee.