2009 was a cultural roller coaster, so I thought I’d take a look at some of what I covered this past year and, in doing so, get a sense of where we’ve been and where we can expect to go.

Schooled In Song, a concert series created by Rand Foster (Fingerprints) and Justin Hectus (then ACLB Board President) to raise funds for school arts programs, took over the amazingly innovative, yet strangely controversial, Goods Gallery for their 3rd concert.

Due to budget cuts, we saw the Arts Council’s annual Smithsonian Week series pared back significantly, and retooled into what turned out to be an amazing series of spoken word events called Visions ~ Voices.

Robert Swayze, manager of Economic Development and Cultural Affairs, worked closely with the Arts Council on Create Long Beach, a catchy title for the process of updating the Cultural Master Plan. In an interview, he spoke about the challenges and opportunities that face the City in relation to arts and culture, but remained optomistic about the Master Plan, and the future.

My experience at the Create Long Beach event felt a bit disappointing and, when I said so publicly, a storm of controvery followed. The controvery inspired me to make A Modest Proposal: Pull the plug on the Arts Council and come up with a new 21st Century model. A few factual errors were pointed out to me, and I posted a correction, followed by two more proposals. One focused on live music, and the other on economic development. I’m happy to say that, in 2010, we may see some real progress on these two issues.

In May, I interviewed City Manager Pat West, and asked some tough questions about funding for the arts. He voiced his commitment to the Arts Council, his confidence in Robert Swayze, and in the newly appointed part time Executive Director, Craig Watson. Still, just a few months later, the Council’s funding was cut by half, far more than than most other municipal funding recipients.

It wasn’t all doom and gloom, however. Summer and Music brought an abundance of local, regional, and international talent to Downtown. Led by Foster and Hectus, they held a Battle of the (Tribute) Bands, and BuskerFest, which was won by The Pawn Shop Kings. The series culminated in Funk Fest, which packed Pine Avenue for hours.

Another significant, positive event was the launch by the Arts Council of their on-line Arts & Culture Registry. This led directly to the dissolusion of my own LongBeachCulture.org website, which had served as the City’s only Arts portal for nearly 10 years. They also launched an Arts Education registry as well.

I must confess that, while I still had my doubts about the Arts Council’s ability to be effective or efficient, I was really impressed with Craig Watson. He came on board as Executive Director at a time when the organization was severely stressed. His professionalism, positivity, and enthusiasm were contagious and, when he agreed to an interview, I decided to put my concerns aside for a while and do what I could to support his new vision.

One of his first significant efforts was GLOBAL, what I call a ‘meta-event.’ It was conceived as a way to re-brand the National Arts and Humanities Month celebration in October, but also to bring individual artists and arts organizations small and large into dialog and collaboration, an idea that came from the Create Long Beach process. Planning for GLOBAL began rather late and, just a few weeks before the kick-off, the City announced that the Council’s budget would be cut by half.

The cornerstone of GLOBAL was Long Beach Exposed. Originally conceived as an exhibition of work by local artists, the curitorial process became too daunting in the time they had. Instead, The Expo Furniture building in Bixby Knolls became a showcase for internationally reknowned installation artists, including award winning Ball-Nogues Studio.

Perhaps the most exciting thing for me this year was the University Art Museum’s exhibition of new work by the legendary musician, producer, and artist Brian Eno. In an interview, Christopher Scoates, Director of UAM, talked about the exhibition and the many events surrounding it, including a sold-out talk by Eno at The Carpenter Center. Eno himself spoke at the museum, talking about his work and the upcoming lecture.

Around the same time, noted artist and educator Glenn Bach organized the Slow Sound Festival, a series of performances that took place at CSULB, Viento y Agua, and {open}. The series was a perfect complement to the Eno exhibition, and lead-in to SoundWalk, which is, without a doubt, my favorite annual event in Long Beach.

This year has also seen the explosion of a new batch of grass roots organizations, including We Love Long Beach, LBCreative!, 562CityLife, RULongBeach, and many others. Despite tough economic times, our larger arts institutions continue to produce great work, and our smaller creative entities are flourishing. While it may be easy to fear the worst, people are still investing in themselves, and their communities, by supporting artists and the arts.

With deeper cuts to education, and continued reductions in municipal commitments to the arts, it ultimately falls upon each of us to help our elected leaders prioritize those things we most value. While some see the arts as mere entertainment, it is far more. People create because it is a fundamental need, a part of what it means to be human. So, even though the future seems uncertain, I know that the City of Long Beach will continue to be a hot-bed of creative energy.