HERE - Hollywood Arts Council

Making A Difference in Our Community Through the Arts
Promoting, Nurturing and Supporting the Arts of Hollywood
1978-2014
Celebrating 36Years of Service
Mary McColl
Executive Director
Actors’ Equity
March 5, 2015
ADVISORS
Chris Barton
Hudson Pacific
Properties
Dear Ms McColl,
Shauna McClure
Executive Director
OFFICERS
AND TRUSTEES
David Warren
Everyone benefits from the arts. Everyone should be exposed to the arts. The
arts are for everyone.a
These are not just statements. These words are among the guiding principles
of the Hollywood Arts Council, a nonprofit organization whose mission for
over 37 years has been to promote, nurture and support the arts of Hollywood.
Board Chair
Daniel Henning
Vice Chair
Steve Tronson
Treasurer
Patti Negri
Secretary
Nyla Arslanian
President Emeritus
Oscar Arslanian
Pasqual Bettio
Kamilla Blanche
Nancy J Brown
Drew Colquitt
Joni Labaqui
Matthew Leum
Anastasia Mann
Lindsay Merfeld
Andre Miripolsky
Susana Romo Lozano
Rich Sarian
Harvey Schwartz
Marty Shelton
Gil Smith
Elaine Stein
Anji Williams
Julia Li Wu
P. O. Box 931056
Hollywood, CA 90093
Phone: (323)462-2355
FAX:
(323)465-9240
Through our programs offered elementary schools free-of-charge, we connect
teaching artists to a community of underserved children, hungry for the arts.
Our annual Children’s Festival of the Arts exposes families to a range of visual and performing arts in a free venue, open to all. Our membership events
bring the community together while providing a platform for emerging artists
to display their work alongside more established artists.
Since ancient times, theatre has been a unique medium that provides an immediate and direct connection between artists and the community. In a large region like Los Angeles, theatres of all sizes are needed not only because there
are so many actors who wish to refine and display their talents in a variety of
roles; a range of theatres are vital to ensure a plethora of opportunities for dialogue—topical, controversial or provocative but always engaging—are available to all members of society. Small theatres are important too because the
majority of individuals from diverse socio-economic backgrounds who populate our neighborhoods cannot afford to attend with any regularity, the largescale productions with equally substantial ticket prices.
The Hollywood Arts Council views the proposed Equity changes of policy
concerning the small theaters of Hollywood and greater Los Angeles area
with consternation. We are concerned that the result of such changes would
lead to a drastic reduction in the amount and quality of local theater.
The cultural loss to our community would be profound, affecting the hundreds
of productions staged annually in Los Angeles. The economic loss of all the
businesses interdependent on that production output is calculable, but even
without the numbers being run, we fear the overall impact on the city could be
catastrophic.
Small theatres are sometimes referred to as “sandboxes”, venues for professional artists to collaborate with creative directors in original productions
written by innovative playwrights. Many consider small theatres as “stepping
stones” where productions develop and find their voice before potentially
moving to medium-sized and larger locales. The so-called “99-seat” theatres
are nonprofit organizations where actors volunteer their time to build and
showcase a body of work that might lead to other roles.
Randall Baumberger
Paramount Pictures
Carol Connors
Singer/Songwriter
David Green
Nederlander
Organization
Leron Gubler
Hollywood Chamber
of Commerce
Art Laboe
Original Sound Records
Joan McCarthy
Walt Disney Company
Kate Linder
Actress
George Pennacchio
ABC7 TV
Maureen Schultz
Capitol EMI
Connie Stevens
Actress
Glenn Treibitz
Hollywood Piano
and our Elected
Representatives
Mayor
Eric Garcetti
City of Los Angeles
Councilmember
Tom LaBonge
City of Los Angeles
Councilmember
Mitch O’Farrell
City of Los Angeles
U.S. Congressman
Adam Schiff
Supervisor
Zev Yaroslavsky
Los Angeles County
www.hollywoodartscouncil.org
Facebook.com/hollywoodartscouncil
In this capacity, the actors and others who work in small theatres throughout Los Angeles are not unlike
me and my fellow members of the board of trustees of the Hollywood Arts Council: people donating
their time in order to make a difference in our world through art.
After decades of bringing positive change to Hollywood, we are concerned that affordable, innovative
live theatre may disappear from our community. If small nonprofit theatres are no longer able to operate—if actors are not allowed to volunteer their time within their own community—we will all suffer
from this absence of art. We will have fewer ways to connect and communicate, less occasions to exchange ideas, limiting our chances to learn from each other.
The arts would no longer be for everyone.
Sincerely,
David Warren
Chair, Board of Trustees
Hollywood Arts Council
Partnering with other local nonprofit organizations through its “Stayin’ Live” initiative, the Hollywood
Arts Council sponsored a series of town hall meetings that recently resulted in the LA City Council voting to designate the stretch of Santa Monica Blvd between Seward and El Centro, “Hollywood Theatre
Row”