Conversation Series
Vicky Phan: Thanks for your time today, Roy. Can you give us a quick intro of yourself and how you’re involved in the community arts scene?
Roy Hirabayashi: My name is Roy Hirabayashi. I grew up in Oakland, but attended San José State University in 1969 and have been a resident of San José since then. All my life I’ve practiced music and the arts, but I got involved in the local scene here when I helped start San Jose Taiko in 1973.
Vicky: So you’ve been an artist, a community leader, and an advocate for the arts for many decades. Why did you decide that now was a good time to accept a seat on the California Arts Council (CAC)?
Roy: When we first started San Jose Taiko in the 70s, there weren’t many organizations of color in the arts world–not just within San José, but also across the state and the nation. Over the years, I saw how different multicultural arts groups really struggled in different ways. Existing was a challenge. So I worked on developing San Jose Taiko, and also developed a leadership group called the Multicultural Arts Leadership Initiative, or MALI program, to train and help arts leaders, especially leaders of color, to be more effective within the arts community.
After I left my leadership position with San Jose Taiko in 2011, I continued my work with MALI and also worked with the School of Arts and Culture at the Mexican Heritage Plaza. I started to realize that it was important not only to be involved in the arts as an artist, but also to be looking at how we could grow the larger community. I had applied to the CAC many times as a funder or grantee in the past, but had never thought about actually joining it myself. But when the opportunity came to apply for a councilmember position, I realized that this was a great opportunity to have a direct impact on how funding goes to the arts–especially since there hasn’t been CAC representation from the South Bay Area in several years. So I put my name in, and I wasn’t sure if it was going to happen or not, but I was just amazed that I was appointed this past March.
Vicky: Yes, congratulations, Roy! I know that was a big moment for you and for the community. For the folks who are not as familiar with the CAC, can you share a little bit about what exactly it is, including how it is appointed and what the purpose of the organization is?
Roy: The CAC was started in 1976 under Governor Jerry Brown, and it is a state agency with the mission of strengthening arts, culture, and creative expression to cultivate a better California for all. The Council is both a department of state government, with staff in Sacramento, and also a governing body with members like me, who are appointed to serve terms. The CAC department is a state arts funding mechanism that provides grants, programs, and services to different organizations, individuals, and agencies. And the CAC governing body is the group that helps develop or guide that funding mechanism. That group consists of eleven members who sit on committees, where we do work such as recommending arts policies and priorities for the state, developing new programs, determining what grant programs might receive funding, and reviewing and approving grant review panelists and grantees each year.
Nine of the eleven members of the CAC governing body are appointed by the Governor, and those appointments can range from two to four years–most are four-year appointments. The remaining two spots are appointed by the legislature, including one by the Speaker of the Assembly. I was appointed by Speaker Rivas from San Benito County, whose assembly district includes parts of Santa Clara County.
Vicky: Can you also describe a few of the types of programs that the CAC offers, and if there are any recent successful ones that come to mind for you?
Roy: The CAC has created and funded a lot of different categories over the years; the website has a full list of the programs. There are targeted programs for unique populations, like the Arts in the Corrections program, and the high school Poetry Out Loud program. During the pandemic, significant additional funding became available, which also led to the creation of new programs like the California Creative Corps and the Individual Artist Fellowships. And one of the newest ones is a Folk and Traditional Arts program, which feels very personal to me as a taiko artist. Unfortunately, the Council has been grappling with the recent state budget cut, which has meant reductions across all the grant programs. Some of the pandemic programs are not being funded next year as a result, but hopefully, we’ll see them again when the state’s budget improves in future years.
Vicky: I know that’s a challenge a lot of folks are thinking about, though it is great to hear about the breadth of programs the CAC has historically helped develop. In terms of artist support, what is the relationship between the CAC and local county arts agencies like SVCREATES?
Roy: In the late 1980s, the CAC established the State and Local Partner program. They built a network with every county, with the aim of ensuring that state resources supported the arts in every corner of the state. So throughout California, there are county arts agencies like SVCREATES, which are designated as local partners for their county, and which work together with the CAC–almost every one of the 58 counties in the state has one. I think SVCREATES has really done an amazing job with outreach and connecting with local, regional, and state networks in this area, just to keep a pulse check on what others are doing, who’s doing what, and how they’re managing what they’re doing. This helps create a larger network that pushes the CAC to do different things in different ways, and lets them know what’s going on out there and what programs there should be. So I feel like SVCREATES has done a great job of being that advocate for artists and arts groups in different regions.
Vicky: It’s amazing to hear that! Roy, some of us remember that the CAC nearly went away a few years ago, with a reduced budget of less than $1M annually. How would you describe how it has grown again over the past decade?
Roy: California is, unfortunately, not known to be one of the best-funded state agencies in the country. But over the past eight to nine years, the budget has grown, thanks to lots of advocacy and leadership from the arts sector. During the COVID-19 years, when things were really dire for a lot of arts organizations, there was even more arts money coming in for pandemic relief and community strengthening at both the state and national levels. So the budget ballooned from about 2021 to 2023.
Today, it’s scaling back quite a bit, and there is also a deficit budget. Whenever I hear of a deficit, I know immediately that arts funding is the first to go. And unfortunately, that is what’s happening at the state level. We were told earlier this year that the CAC budget was potentially going to be cut by almost $10M, so many different organizations and individuals throughout the state were doing advocacy work to try to prevent that from happening. Ultimately, there was a cut, but it was not as large as was initially projected, so things are not as drastic as they could have been. But I think there’s still a lot of work we can all do to call our state legislators and encourage them to support the arts, because that’s where it really starts. Naturally, at higher levels like the Governor’s office, they’ll set the budget, but they won’t react unless the public really pushes.
Vicky: As you mentioned, California is not well-funded in this area–we rank relatively low in state per capita spending on the arts. With the current state of our budget, are there any other immediate challenges that you see ahead for the CAC? And what are some longer-term opportunities that you see ahead?
Roy: As part of the council, we can’t personally lobby, but we definitely look at the budget and try to inform the Governor and our state legislation about our communities’ needs. We gather information about what’s going on, who’s doing what, what kinds of programs and gaps there are, and how we compare to other states, other national agencies, and even other countries. And that’s why I feel that letting your legislators know what you do as an artist or organization in your area is really important. They might not understand that for a small arts organization, even $5,000 would make a huge difference. If they don’t know that, it’s easy for them to say, “Oh, it’s only $5,000, let’s cut that,” because they’re operating at the multi-million dollar level. So that’s the message that needs to be relayed: that to arts organizations and artists, the dollars are important, no matter how big or small.
Vicky: What exactly should local arts communities do to help raise visibility? Is there anything specific that you’d like to bring arts leaders’ and organizations’ attention to?
Roy: Being your own self-advocate is really important, and so is starting locally. I really recommend that you invite your city council members or state legislators to your arts events. Even if they aren’t able to attend, just letting them know about the event helps them understand what’s happening in their community and that it’s important. And you should also follow up with them afterward, to let them know how the event went and how many people came through so they can understand the impact for the community.
Vicky: That makes a lot of sense–I’ve been happy to see a lot of council members or folks from their offices at recent arts events in our area. My final question is: What is the one key thing you want people to take away from this discussion?
Roy: Often, people feel like they are just a small individual. They feel like they don’t have much experience or knowledge, or don’t know the right people, so they’re afraid to go out and speak or attend things. But it’s so important that you do engage and be involved. Just showing up is really important, especially at public CAC meetings, just so other folks know that there are numbers of people who are curious or concerned about what’s happening in the arts community. I get that sometimes it can be really hard to step away from our own arts practice to attend something like a Council meeting, which might feel like it’s on a different level, but it’s important. It’s the numbers that speak. I think it would be great if arts leaders not only showed up at these meetings, but brought their entire organizations with them.
Vicky: Thank you for sharing that Roy; I appreciate you taking the time to chat with me about this. This has been really enlightening for me, and I’m sure for a lot of folks who maybe don’t understand the different levels at which arts funding is organized. We in the community really appreciate your leadership in this area.
Roy: Thank you, it’s great to be talking to you.
Roy Hirabayashi co-founded San Jose Taiko in 1973 and led the organization for over 30 years. Roy is an activist, composer, performer, teacher, and lecturer, and he has toured internationally, performing the taiko and shinobue (Japanese drum and bamboo flute). Roy has received the NEA National Heritage Fellowship, the California Arts Council Legacy Artist Fellowship, San José’s Cornerstone of the Arts Award, ACTA Taproot Fellowship, and is a Senior Fellow of American Leadership Forum Silicon Valley. He is a co-founder of Multicultural Arts Leadership Institute at the School of Arts & Culture at the Mexican Heritage Plaza, an appointed member of the California Arts Council, and is the facilitator of SVCREATES’ Folk & Traditional Arts Roundtable.
Vicky Phan is a Product Marketer with a background in enterprise sales, and a passion for multicultural arts. She performs, tours, and teaches as a member of San Jose Taiko, a nationally recognized, professional Japanese drumming ensemble. She also serves as Board Chair for SVCREATES, a leading Bay Area nonprofit organization focused on preserving, elevating, and expanding the creative culture of Silicon Valley.
