Importing Creative Talent Instead of Growing Our Own

Over twenty years ago or so, I got acquainted with the man who was hiring talent at Warner Brothers. As fellow artists and art teachers, we bemoaned what was happening way back then! California's Proposition 13 (freezing property tax at 1978 prices) had been gutting money available to the schools. As a result, he was not able to hire enough US-born talent for the studio's entry level program.

At that point, we were about 10 years into the loss of public school art programs. He said that he almost never, if ever, hired someone from California. I was shocked. A fabulous Los Angeles institution not able to give good-paying jobs to Los Angeles residents! They could find talent from the east coast, but mostly they had begun importing it from India. Imagine that. And it was so expensive for the studio to do that -- $50,000 at 1988 prices! They paid for the visa, helped to buy a home, brought the wife along, etc. I wanted to scream about it from the roof tops. We were cutting our own children off from an education that would provide them wonderful jobs in the creative industry right here. And then complained loudly about foreign talent "taking" the jobs instead.

Has anything changed in the intervening years??? Even Google couldn't find enough creative US educated workforce, and woefully cast an eye offshore. Dear Californians, are you getting the point? Creativity must be taught the same as spelling, or reading, or math. It's not something you grab out of the air.

To the immense credit of the Warner Brothers talent scout, he scraped together a demanding graphic arts program at his local high school in an underserved area of Los Angeles. He knew what the kids needed in their art program before they could even be considered as an intern. Those students had to work extra hard outside of school to make up for the lack of art education from K-10th grade before he got hold of them. They were off to the zoo on the weekends to draw. They took life drawing at the community college at night. It was draw, baby, draw! But he was getting some success for those high schoolers who were driven to make it. Who could help but cheer for them all!

But it shouldn't be so hard. When we recognize that art education provides the foundation for an unbelievable number of industries and jobs that define Los Angeles, we'll start to put it on par with science and math and fund it. The talent's already here; it needs to be educated. It's cheaper to provide meaningful training to work in the creative industries than to let that young talent be idled, unfulfilled, and frozen out from contributing their brain power to fuel our creative economy.

We can change the mindset here. Creativity is about thinking broadly -- looking at things in a different way. Yes, millions have benefited from the windfall Prop 13 has given them over three decades, pocketed their personal pots-of-gold, and not paid their fair share towards our infrastructure. But now that we're seeing the crumbling results thirty years later, we know something's got to be done. Frankly, we crave it. We want thriving, livable communities. We must pay up in order to provide creative schools that prepare students for the well-paying jobs that are right here -- and should belong to them.

Who Will Fund Future Innovation Training in Schools?

There's an interesting block of voters emerging that link the issue of US innovation, creativity, and arts funding for the schools. They've been nicknamed "Imagine Nation." A survey of 1000 voters was taken in December 2007. It uncovered a preference towards candidates that support funding for the arts in education. The school reform they're pushing for is one that meets the demand for creative thinkers able to compete in the 21st century global economy. It gave me hope to read that "73% of voters believe that education in and through the arts is just as important as the so-called "basics." Only 19% of respondents feel the US is ahead in innovation. Check out the website http://www.imaginenation.com/

If you'd like to know how your states' legislators have voted in the past on bills related to the arts, there's a score card maintained at www.artsactionfund.org/pdf/specialreports/2006/congressional_report_card.pdf. It's behind the times, but you can see the trends.

What stands out starkly nationally is the huge number of Republicans scoring a "D" or "F." I must note an A+ for one Republican in NY, who voted 100% for the arts. He must be a maverick! Nearly every Democrat earned an "A" or "B," with many voting 100%. It's clear that Republicans have gutted attempts to bridge the widening "creativity gap" our economy is experiencing going up against other nations. If this is an issue that would determine your support for a candidate or party, take a look at that website. If you don't like what's become of American education, or the state of our creative economy, there's something to consider in these voting records.

In CA, here's the shakedown of our legislators:
Democrat / Republican
A+ (100%) 9 ----A+ 0
A 15 ------------ A 1
B 9 --------------B 2
C 2 --------------C 3
D 0 --------------D 6
F 0 --------------F 6