SACRAMENTO, CA – Today the California Arts Council, a state agency, released the first strategic plan for California’s creative economy. “California’s Future Is Creative: Strategies for Cultural Resilience, Economic Growth, and Global Leadership” presents a vision to bolster and grow the state’s $288 billion creative sectors and support its over 820,000 creative workers. (National Endowment for the Arts, State Fact Sheet, 2024)

Developed by Institute for the Future, the plan was informed over an 18-month planning process by the appointed members of the Creative Economy Workgroup of California, a 30-plus member subject matter advisory body that collectively reflects the diversity of California’s creative economy including arts leaders, culture bearers, elected officials, as well as state agency representatives for labor, business, education, and workforce development.

California leads the nation in creative output, from film and design to digital media, entertainment, and cultural production. Yet despite the sector’s outsized contribution to both the economy and social well-being, recent years have exposed vulnerabilities. In 2024, California’s creative workforce remained 7 percent below pre-pandemic levels, even as overall state employment grew. Between 2022 and 2023, the state lost 2.6 percent of its creative-sector jobs, while the nation gained 0.3 percent. (Otis College Update on the Creative Economy, 2025)

While California is an international creative hub, its creative economy is not immune to disruption. This plan focuses on protecting and expanding a critical workforce, supporting a key sector of the economy, building local creative infrastructure, and ensuring the creative sector is central to how we think about jobs, education, equity, and innovation statewide.

“‘California’s Future Is Creative’ presents California’s first sector-specific strategy for sustaining and expanding the state’s creative economy. This is a vital, urgent blueprint to protect California’s global leadership in arts, culture, media, and innovation,” said Danielle Brazell, Executive Director of the California Arts Council. “The creative economy is a dynamic, interconnected ecosystem of people, businesses, and places. It spans independent artists, nonprofit organizations, commercial studios, cultural venues, and digital platforms. It fuels innovation, reflects California’s diversity, and shapes the stories we tell and export to the world. It is a cornerstone of our state’s economy, identity, and global influence.”

Key Goals of the Strategic Plan

• Workforce Development: Prepare and support the workforce for creative sectors.
• Business Stability: Stabilize and grow creative economy businesses.
• Economic Recovery & Cultural Tourism: Retain and promote California’s cultural identity to revitalize downtowns and support small businesses.
• State & Local Integration: Align creative workforce opportunities across sectors such as climate, health, and disaster response — where arts and culture remain underutilized.
• Data & Impact Measurement: Establish consistent metrics to track the creative economy’s return on investment and inform future funding.
• Capacity Building: Develop regional infrastructure and inter-agency coordination to support long-term implementation of the plan.

Creative Economies in Action: Statewide Engagement Tour

The California Arts Council (CAC) proudly announces the next phase for the Creative Economies in Action: 2025 Statewide Engagement Tour. This comprehensive tour is designed to drive the implementation of California’s first Creative Economy Strategic Plan. Through deep community engagement, compelling storytelling, and a series of public events, this initiative will directly inform the development of a comprehensive plan addendum, which will be submitted to the Governor’s Office and State Legislature in early 2026. 

To support this initiative, regional partners were carefully chosen through a public request for proposal (RFP) process for their equity-driven approaches, regional knowledge, and technical and strategic capacity. They include Arts for Los Angeles (Arts for LA), California for the Arts (CFTA), Hannah Blumenfeld, Shasta Arts Council, and Youth Speaks. To support our statewide communications efforts around this project, we have partnered with Serotonin Creative.  

This tour will focus on three integrated components: 

• Regional Engagement: This includes a series of public town halls to take place throughout the state from October to November, comprehensive surveys, and the establishment of strong local partnerships across eight distinct regions of California. 

• Strategic Communications: This component will involve statewide storytelling initiatives, cohesive branding, and the development of a public platform, a dedicated website, and accessible resources to amplify the tour’s findings. 

• Addendum Report Development: This crucial phase will involve the careful synthesis of all regional feedback and compelling stories into a final, actionable policy report. 

Members of the public are strongly encouraged to participate in upcoming town halls, webinars, and surveys, as their input will directly shape the future of California’s vibrant creative economy. A comprehensive calendar of events, direct registration links, and additional opportunities to provide input will be made readily available at creativeeconomy.arts.ca.gov and widely shared via the CAC’s newsletters and social media channels. 

About the Creative Economy Workgroup (CEW) & Strategic Planning Process

The Creative Economy Workgroup (CEW) was established by California Assembly Bill 127 (AB127) and tasked with developing a strategic plan for the state’s creative economy. The California Arts Council (CAC) led the strategic planning process, and its nonprofit partner, Institute for the Future (IFTF), facilitated meetings of the CEW and led an extensive research process. and tasked with developing a strategic plan for the state’s creative economy. The California Arts Council (CAC) led the strategic planning process, and its nonprofit partner, Institute for the Future (IFTF), facilitated meetings of the CEW and led an extensive research process.

To stay connected and receive the latest updates—including public input opportunities, event announcements, and breaking creative economy news—sign up for the ArtBeat e-newsletter at creativeeconomy.arts.ca.gov/email-signup. 

Media inquiries only:
Carissa Gutierrez
Director of Public Affairs
carissa.gutierrez@arts.ca.gov

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The California Arts Council is a state agency with a mission of strengthening arts, culture, and creative expression as the tools to cultivate a better California for all. It supports local arts infrastructure and programming statewide through grants, initiatives, and services. The California Arts Council envisions a California where all people flourish with universal access to and participation in the arts. 

Members of the California Arts Council include: Roxanne Messina Captor, Chair; Leah Goodwin, Vice Chair; Gerald Clarke; Caleb Duarte; Vicki Estrada; Roy Hirabayashi; Alex Israel; Dorka Keehn; Phil Mercado; Nicola Miner; Rick Stein. Learn more at www.arts.ca.gov. 

The California Arts Council is committed to increasing the accessibility of its online content. For language and accessibility assistance, visit https://arts.ca.gov/about/about-us/language-communications-assistance. To read this announcement in Spanish, please use the website’s Google Translate tool by clicking the “Translate” link in the upper righthand corner of this page. 

El Consejo de las Artes de California se compromete a aumentar la accesibilidad de sus contenidos en línea. Para obtener ayuda con el idioma y la accesibilidad, visite https://arts.ca.gov/about/about-us/language-communications-assistance. Para leer este anuncio en español, utilice la herramienta Google Translate del sitio web haciendo clic en el enlace “Traducir” situado en la esquina superior derecha de esta página.