Chair Williams and Commissioner Vij discuss embedding culture in neighborhood planning

Okay.

What formal process ensures cultural infrastructure is considered in housing, economic development, and neighborhood planning decisions?

Where has that process changed outcomes?

I think this just goes back to some of the interagency coordination plan.

I can think about my neighborhood plan.

We had to force arts and culture into the conversation, and I think this is an opportunity for sister agencies to better collaborate with one another.

Yeah, I think you're absolutely right.

And it's been a big focus of all of my meetings with other agencies and are really kind of putting a lot of work internally into how we do that.

So it's not advocates needing to spend all of their time advocating on a neighborhood by neighborhood level.

And when rezonings come out, I think what we see in.

Gowanus is so amazing.

I just went to their open studios this week to see affordable artist studios built in to all new developments as a requirement and the community benefits agreements they were able to negotiate is a very good model for us moving forward and create in place does a lot of this

work so now we're working in the south south of prospect rezoning very early on to get cultural organizations in the door from the beginning in order to do a lot of that that work of man you know cultural inclusion

Okay.

What cross-agency commitments has DCLA been able to advance?

What specific governance changes would resolve, I think, the many barriers when I speak to different cultural institutions?

And not even just cultural institutions, even bids.

You know, bids produce art.

And a lot of times they share frustrations around how DOT manages their, what is it?

Their plazas that they often have to maintain.

But it's in partnership with DOT as almost like a contractor.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I mean, I think the amazing thing about this city is that there is art all over city government.

And I also think that is the opportunity for us to come together to streamline how we work and make it.

Consistent for organizations and individuals trying to access from site to site.

And it is something that we have been talking about.

internally to what are the best ways to kind of start to think about these processes.

But our public art team meets with the DOT arts and parks arts teams quite regularly and are in touch and are kind of navigate that on a case-by-case basis.

But similarly, I think there's an opportunity to go one notch further and streamline as policy.