California arts leaders are sounding alarms over proposed cuts in Governor Gavin Newsom’s latest revised budget. On the chopping block is $11.5 million meant for the Performing Arts Equitable Payroll Fund, a pool of money established to help small performing arts groups stay afloat.
Newsom’s Proposed Budget Ends Vital Funding to Small Performing Arts Groups
Performers dance at a house party scene in San Francisco Bay Area Theater Company's 2024 production 'Sign My Name to Freedom' at Z Space. SFBATCO is among the small performing arts nonprofits that was hoping to receive payroll reimbursements from the state. (Alexa 'LexMex' Treviño)
The fund, which only launched this year, was meant to offset the cost of complying with laws that require theaters to treat performing artists as employees rather than independent contractors.
“This is not for big galas or events or executives,” said San Francisco State Assemblymember Matt Haney, who supports keeping the fund in the budget. “This is money that goes directly to employ artists. And we know that we need artists in the world. We certainly need artists in California right now.”
Newsom’s proposed budget comes on the heels of major federal funding cuts to the arts and humanities, and the Trump administration’s announced desire to eliminate the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Institute of Museum and Library Services.
Opponents say cutting the state fund could have major repercussions for the arts, without significantly affecting the bottom line. “This is not going to ultimately fill out a $12 billion deficit for the state of California,” said Julie Baker, CEO of California Arts Advocates and California for the Arts, “but it is going to potentially decimate small nonprofit performing arts organizations in the state.”
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AB5, the 2019 law that requires performers be treated as employees, was originally meant to protect workers in the gig economy, like Lyft and Uber drivers. Those big companies carved out exemptions while small performing arts groups saw their payroll expenses balloon.
The Equitable Payroll Fund is only available to nonprofits with an adjusted gross revenue under $2 million; organizations submit for reimbursements on their payroll expenses.
Among the groups affected by the proposed state cut is the San Francisco Bay Area Theater Company. The group applied for and projected it could receive $200,000 to help pay artists, says Laura Domingo, director of development and marketing.
“It’s really lessening our ability to tell these important local stories … that wouldn’t really necessarily find a home anywhere else,” she said. On their upcoming schedule are shows like The Day the Sky Turned Orange, a musical set during that surreal convergence of pandemic and smoky skies. In development is a musical set in the 1950s Fillmore District, when the neighborhood was known as the “Harlem of the West.”
Arts advocates hope the funding can get reinstated by June 15, when the California Legislature must pass the state budget for the upcoming fiscal year.
