Correspondence - Non Agenda - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

TOMAS J. BENITEZ January 20, 2026 My name is Tomas J. Benitez, and I am an arts and cultural planning consultant from Los Angeles California. I had the pleasure and honor to work on the team with Jerry Allen & Associates to create the Arts Master Plan for the City or Santa Ana in 2016-17. It was an opportunity and a revelation to learn about and appreciate the vast wealth of arts and cultural resources that are in the local Santa Ana community. Our mission was not to impose our expertise on what is a healthy arts plan but to inculcate from the community itself what were their priorities and needs, and to forge a plan that benefits the community. Thus, we needed to create bridges with local leadership in all levels, from government officials to artists and students. I had the opportunity to work with a nexus of arts leaders and organizations and was most fortunate to work with Victor Payan and Pocha Pena from United Artist of Santa Ana. They demonstrated true insight into the value of arts and culture in the daily lives of the people of Santa Ana and proved to be critically helpful in their overall contribution of effort, including helping our team create pathways to different segments of the community from the Bowers Museum to small grass roots organizations and individual artists. They lent their effort and love of arts toward every step of our work. They were vital in insuring that the Latinx community voice was a part of the vision and planning, and they further helped us with meetings with a select group of gay and lesbian interests as well as representatives from the handicapped and disabled arts, Spanish speakers and non/arts community. Leadership in the community is measured not merely by what you say but what you do, who you help and support, and what you stand for to better the quality of life in any community. I found Victor and Pocha to be seminal examples of community arts leadership. I have been heartened to witness that several elements of our 2017 plan for the city have been instigated and come to fruition, although alas a few other aspects remain dormant. But the design of the plan was to roll out in a manner that was practical and beneficial to the city. I applaud the work of Victor and Pocha in creating a Historic Main Street Cultural District plan that aligns with the Master Plan and is visionary and useful in design, but I am sorry to hear it was not presented to the California Arts Council in time for consideration of funding. I am also disappointed to learn that the plan was undermined by a few opponents who acted in their own self-interest rather than the public good, which the cultural district plan had provided. I would advise that the Council in the future consider looking at the work being done and not merely the accusations being made. I was at every public meeting