San Mateo County Arts Commission
December 10, 2021
    • Cultural Equity Statement
    Arts Commission logo

    The San Mateo County Arts Commission, which views the arts as an essential part of a healthy and vibrant community, champions policies and practices that promote social and cultural equity. We strive to promote inclusive and diverse programming and to ensure equitable access to arts and culture for all, with consideration for race, ability, sexual orientation, age, gender, economic status, and cultural background. We also commit to partnering with artists and arts organizations that represent and celebrate the diversity of our county, through the fair and equitable distribution of programmatic and financial support. Through these actions, arts are a vehicle for social change.

    Affirmations:

    • All are welcome and valued equally

    • We value arts and culture as an essential part of a healthy and vibrant community

    • We respect different opinions and perspectives

    • All are supported so that barriers to participation are removed

    • We celebrate diversity in all of its dimensions

    • We recognize that in our community there are systems of power that grant privilege and access unequally such that inequity and injustice result, and that these systems must be continuously addressed and changed

    • We integrate with, instead of separate from, constituents

    • We celebrate and champion cultural tradition and heritage as essential to honest civic discourse and the well-being of our community

    • We strive to actively include those most marginalized and make arts and culture accessible to them

    • Cultural equity is critical to the long-term viability of the arts sector

     

    Guiding Principles:

    This statement is a living document. We:

    • are inclusive and remove barriers to entry (accessibility)

    • provide fair and equitable distribution of programmatic and financial support

    • promote inclusive and diverse programming

    • purposely go outside of our circles

    • outreach to groups outside of our realm of expertise

    • create partnerships between smaller and larger organizations

    • encourage learning by the Commission and the community to build cultural awareness

    • work directly with diverse arts organizations who are focusing on equity and inclusion

    • seek and promote artistic expression that can empower and educate the community