South Central has a rich artistic and cultural heritage that continues to this day.

Historic South Central was once known as the ”West Coast Harlem,” and Central Avenue, in particular, was a hub of Black cultural life, with the Dunbar Hotel hosting luminaries like Billie Holliday, Duke Ellington, and Ella Fitzgerald; a legacy that lives on in today’s annual Central Avenue Jazz Festival. This is just one example of how South Central’s landmarks, institutions, and traditions are a source of both pride and opportunity for its residents. These residents, black, brown and immigrant Angelenos alike, have been and continue to be the cornerstone of District 9’s thriving cultural spaces.

Los Angeles, however, has become an increasingly expensive city for many working people, including artists, to live in. In fact, the Los Angeles Artist Census, a survey of over 2,000 LA artists conducted in February and March of 2020, found that the top two challenges for artists living in LA were general affordability and housing costs. Meanwhile, the Los Angeles area has fallen in the Arts Vibrancy index. Last year, the Los Angeles area ranked twelfth in the index’s list of the top twenty most arts-vibrant large communities, but just five years earlier, in 2019, the LA area was ranked third. The arts in LA also receive much less government support, including state and federal grants and funding, than comparable cities. In fact, of the top 20 large communities, 18 had public support rankings that were 63rd or higher, one, the Seattle area which was ranked 13th overall, was ranked 110th in terms of public support, while the LA area ranked 230th in public support. We must work to counteract this trend and improve LA’s affordability for artists and other residents.

District 9 needs a Councilmember who will fight to ensure its cultural treasures continue to thrive for generations to come and that residents have access to these treasures and thrive with them. 

  • Help creative workers maintain stable and affordable lives. The City needs to build nearly 260,000 units of low and moderate income housing between 2021-2029, but so far the City has permitted just 12,244 units. As a result of the lack of affordable housing in the city, the average rent for a one-bedroom apartment in LA is now $2,177. Most artists cannot afford to make ends meet which is why I will advocate for expediting more affordable housing. 

  • Options like housing cooperatives for artists, community land trusts, and social housing to provide stability. I will secure funding from ULA and investigate opportunities for state funding to do this.

  • Create benefits that artists can take from job to job. One of the biggest challenges creative workers face is having access to benefits, like healthcare stipends and paid leave assistance, when they work infrequently. SAG-AFTRA participants under the age of 65 have to earn at least $25,950, including seasonal and residual earnings, during a 12-month base earnings period to qualify. In 2023, only 14% of its members made enough annually to qualify for SAG-AFTRA healthcare coverage. My office will push for the city to work with nonprofit partners, unions, and private employers to establish a portable benefits pilot program. 

  • Work with the city’s Department of Cultural Affairs, the County’s Arts & Culture department to engage with philanthropic partners to simplify applications, expand eligibility, and reduce the paperwork burden for creative workers and small cultural groups.

  • Partner with creative organizations to create mentorship pipelines. Creative workers, especially entry-level workers, artists of color, and women, often find themselves struggling to break into their field due to inequitable access to networks. I would develop district-based programming that hosts networking sessions with industry professionals and mixers at our cultural spaces to reduce the barrier to entry.

  • Partner with LA Trade Tech and industry associations to create short, skills-based certificates in areas like entertainment production management, digital media, and cultural event coordination. These short competency-based recognitions should be tied to real job opportunities so residents can gain the training they need to enter and grow in the creative workforce.

  • Utilize tax advantages for developers to build permanent artist spaces like galleries, art studios, and other working spaces for artists in the district.  

Artists are the heartbeat of Los Angeles, yet too many struggle to make ends meet in the very city their work helps define. We need a city that values its creative workers not just in words, but in policy, one that ensures they can afford to live, work, and thrive here. As councilmember, I will:

By breaking down barriers to participation and expanding pathways for engagement, we can build stronger communities and a deeper sense of belonging across South Central and all of Los Angeles.

  • Expand funding and partnerships to create and sustain “third spaces:” local community centers, arts collectives, and cultural hubs where residents can gather, organize, and create. 

  • Work with LAUSD to expand arts education in public schools.

  • Work with existing museums in the district to increase access for free and low-cost outdoor programming to the surrounding residents of District 9. 

  • Work with neighborhood councils to fund community beautification projects and utilize the city’s graffiti removal program to remove gang and/ or hate-related graffiti and replace it with art created by local artists from the district.

  • Invest in free city programs for residents that encourage engagements with the arts, such as “painting in the park,” while also building community. 

  • Partner with State leaders to fully establish the Historic South LA Black Cultural District. Supporting Sen. Smallwood-Cuevas’s efforts to create a Black Cultural District is an important way to prioritize the preservation of South Central and invest in its growth. My office would work to ensure that city departments coordinate with the state to expedite permitting for monuments or signage, provide support for small-business, increase arts funding, and host cultural programming so the district becomes a driver of local jobs, tourism, and preservation of Black history.

Film and television are part of Los Angeles’s DNA, yet productions continue to move elsewhere because it’s too costly and complicated to film here. By cutting red tape, strengthening partnerships with unions, and revitalizing underused industrial spaces, we can bring production and good union jobs back to Los Angeles, especially to neighborhoods in South Central that have traditionally been unable to access these opportunities. 

  • Build pipelines for union-entry in South Central by creating training hubs, safety certifications, and hands-on pathways for local residents into IATSE, Teamsters, and other union memberships.

  • Push for pre-approved filming zones that streamline the permitting process, saving productions time and money while creating more work opportunities for Teamsters.

  • Partner with the Mayor to establish a dedicated city film office or improve coordination between city departments and FilmLA, creating a single point of contact for permits, city services, and neighborhood approvals, making it easier for productions to navigate LA's bureaucracy.

  • Supports concrete incentives for productions that hire union crews, including fee waivers and expedited permits.

  • Leverage the Goodyear Tract JEDI Zone development incentives to transform South LA industrial spaces into post-production facilities, and training centers, creating more job opportunities for Teamsters close to home.

  • Champion adaptive reuse projects, in the vein of successful models like Ace Mission Studios and Reframe Studios, that expand LA's production infrastructure while creating good-paying, union jobs in communities that need them most.