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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1/23/2025 Item Funding Priorities, Christy Dave SLO < To:E-mail Council Website Subject:Letter to Mayor and Councilmembers in support of Cultural Arts District inclusion in Major City Goals Attachments:DAVE CHRISTY.docx This message is from an External Source. Use caution when deciding to open attachments, click links, or respond. Please forward this document to the Mayor and ench Councilmember. Dave Christy, SLO City resident 1 DAVE CHRISTY 2582 FLORA STREET SAN LUIS OBISPO. CA 93401 Wednesday, 22 January 2025 Dear Mayor Stewart and Councilmembers Boswell, Francis, Marx and Shoresman: (transmitted via email to: emailcouncil@slocity.org) As you contemplate the difficult tasks of narrowing the many objectives worthy of being included in your Major City Goals, I write to encourage you to retain a focus on downtown’s vitality in general, and to support the nascent Cultural Arts District in particular. Fundamentally, I believe the arts are an undervalued economic driver in any community. I also believe they play an important role as a connective tissue in building the kind of community we want San Luis Obispo to be. My advocacy for the arts is informed by my long-standing belief in what constitutes high-value economic impact. During my 36- year academic career at several university business schools, including my nine years as Dean of Cal Poly’s Orfalea College of Business, I invested my efforts in community organizations and initiatives with the common theme of economic development. Any company’s success depends on attracting and retaining the best talent. The best and the brightest recruits want to live in a community with great amenities and a great quality of life. That includes effective government, good schools, excellent health care, abundant recreational opportunities and a thriving cultural scene. In turn, these talented employees are the citizens most likely to be engaged in our community, provide financial and volunteer support for local non-profits, and attract more people with similar values. This is the picture of a healthy community. Let’s ‘flash forward’ a few years: SLO REP’s new venue, thanks in large part to your financial commitment, is up and running and drawing 50,000 patrons a year downtown. The SLO Museum of Art has expanded and has admirably increased its ability to attract people that will experience a rich diversity of work by artists from across the country and around the world. Residents and visitors are enjoying the City-funded planned improvements to Mission Plaza. The Children’s Museum, History Center, Public Library, the SLO Film Center at the Palm Theatre and the Mission itself each attract a cultural constituency and contribute to the identity of San Luis Obispo. With foresight, and encouragement from the Council, the several arts organizations within the Cultural Arts District will be working together in new, creative ways to improve overall programming that is even more attractive to residents and tourists alike. Let’s dream bigger: The public school system begins sending more and more students on field trips to experience a play, explore a new artist’s work, spend time in the History Center – and now parents and young people are seeing downtown SLO through a new lens, and we are creating new connections within the community. Retaining a focus on the arts as part of your Major City Goals does not require any particular financial investment in the next two years, but keeping the arts ‘front and center’ now and years into the future gives you and future councils justification and authority to act when an opportunity arises. Please keep the Cultural Arts District in the Major City Goals. Sincerely, Dave Christy Retired Community Resident Professor and Dean (emeritus), Cal Poly Orfalea College of Business (conveyed via dchristy100@gmail.com)