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<br />Araiza, Fatima <br />From:Mr John Spiak <j_spiak@yahoo.com> <br />Sent:Monday, May <br />To:eComment <br />Subject:Santa Ana Leadership - Please Support the Arts <br /> Attention: This email originated from outside of City of Santa Ana. Use caution when opening attachments or links. <br />Dear City of Santa Ana Leadership, <br />I am writing as a City of Santa Ana resident, living here since 2011, but with a family history that dates back to <br />1954, when my grandparents moved to this great City. My dad is a 1956 Santa Ana HS graduate; he and I <br />attended Santa Ana College. My grandparents remained the residents of this City (N. Towner Street in what is <br />now called Washington Sq Neighborhood) until they passed away: my Grandfather in 1998 and my <br />grandmother in 2006. I spent much of my childhood in this City, riding the Tucker Ponies located on 17th <br />Street, getting family photos taken in a Downtown Studio, going to PepBoys on First St. to get car repair parts <br />with my Grandfather, field trips to the Bowers Museum, marching in parades down Flower Street and playing <br />field shows at Santa Ana Stadium, going with friends to The Skate Ranch, and picking up take-out Chinese food <br />with my family from Koos on Main Street. <br />In the late 1990s, I began to come to Downtown Santa Ana to engage with a more contemporary art scene. I <br />would visit Grand Central Art Center, the studios within the Santora Building, and the Orange County Center <br />for Contemporary Art. I was fortunate to play a part in helping to recommend artists for two exhibitions of 100 <br />artists in the Spurgeon Building back in those days. I brought local friends and ones from other communities <br />with me; they were always impressed with the energies and cultures of Santa Ana. <br />I provide these details to express how much this City has impacted my life and how much I LOVE THIS CITY <br />AND ITS ARTS AND CULTURE!!! <br />The City of Santa Ana has always been a model for culture in our region and beyond, and in the late 1990s, it <br />also became recognized as a leader in the contemporary arts. The artists and institutions that began this <br />activation, and still do activate it, making it vibrant, creative, and innovative City. It's had moments of <br />expansion and contraction, but the current energy is alive and thriving! Artists from our community receive <br />national awards and grants, get opportunities within our City and far beyond, and engage in deep and <br />meaningful ways. <br />The arts and culture have a profound positive impact on both the reputation and economic impact of our great <br />City of Santa Ana. I hear statements at gathered events about these impacts - at School Board meetings where <br />the fantastic effects of Santa Ana Unified's SanArts and OCSA programs and students are being praised; at the <br />Grow Conference and Santa Ana Chamber events hearing affordable and other housing developers, as well as <br />corporate leaders, express they are doing business in our City as the Arts attracted them for potential residents <br />and their employees. The City leadership often states that Santa Ana is a City of the Arts - I couldn't agree <br />more. <br />While we love all these positives and the recognition of others for all that artists and institutions in the Arts are <br />doing for our City, I feel there is a gap in some actualities – primarily funding support in the form of the city <br />dedicated budget, grants supporting local artists, and community-led arts organizations. <br />1 <br /> <br />