Art, by definiton, (as told to me by an old Italian man) is the Greek word for joint. When we refer to works of art, the joint we are implying is the one betwixt man and God. Defining art without being an art critic is tricky. But one thing is sure in San Franciso: we are a world class city of art. But you would never know by looking at the statistics of how the fiscal art world works in comparision to other cities:

 Trends in philanthropy:
 $295.02 Billion contributed in FY 06 ($248.5 in 04) in USA, from:
 75.6% individuals
 12.4% foundations
 7.8% bequests
 4.3% corporations

Where did it go? (USA year 2006)
 32.8% Religion
 13.9% Education
 10.0% Human Services
 6.9% Health
 4.2% Arts, Culture and Humanities
 3.8% International Affairs
 2.2% Environment

17% of U.S. artists live in California.
Oakland is the #1 city for artists in the USA.
Artists are 2.13% of the labor force in California
220 arts groups receive city funding in San Francisco
San Francisco city budget: $350 million
Amount spent on arts: $10 million
4,353 arts-related SF businesses with 26,977 employees
10,000 arts non-profits in California (50,000 nation-wide)
(statistics from John R Killacky, San Francisco Foundation)

Take my word, the SF stats are super low. Lower then the national average for philanthropy, not enough for keeping up with the impossible costs of living in our super-expensive city and for arts funding relative to our total budget.

But all though that’s interesting, what SF needs isn’t more money. Sure, money would be great. But it’s not a problem that you solve by throwing money at it. It’s quite clear to me:

SAN FRANCISCO NEEDS AN ART SPARK

San Franciso needs to acknowledge that our identity is in the arts. The term: City of Art, City of Innovation… needs to come out of the Mayors mouth. Whoever the mayor is. It doesn’t cost any budget to start paying more attention to the arts. And that is what needs to happen. To get our art programs together in our schools is imperative. You'll see the crime rate drop. Ask Bud Clarke (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bud_Clark). Bud Clarke gambled the entire Portland deal-e-o on an art spark. And got the award for best Mayor. Bailed the city out of debt, engaged the youth, got local business’ talking, got neighbors laughing together, raised the level of the conversation and made his city swell with civic pride. We need solutions for our civic woes. To find the idealism to think that an art spark can cure these woes shouldn’t be hard in a city of free-thinking contrairians. I see the connection quite clearly. You likely do as well.

Our city needs an attitude adjustment. Wanna know where that 12% hotel tax goes? Wanna know what the Art Commission does with their $10 million dollar budget? Wanna know who the poet laureate of San Francisco is?

Stay tuned… I’m gonna find out all the nitty gritty….