The California Arts Council is preaching to the choir in these vehicular quarters with its recently launched “Create a State/Million Plates Drive” to raise money for arts education and programs by selling California arts license plates – with the goal of raising $40 million.
We’ve been proudly driving the California arts plate with its iconic Golden State sunset and palm tree design created by California artist Wayne Thiebaud for about a decade now, knowing the renewal fees go to those worthy programs.
The drive kicked off with a special event at Sony Pictures studios in Culver City, one of its corporate supporters, with a performance by Ozomatli. Celebrity “Arts Drivers” including Maria Shriver, Russell Simmons, Frank Gehry, Wolfgang Puck, Annette Bening, Debbie Allen, Quincy Jones, Macy Gray, David Geffen, Steve Martin, Robert Redford, Tim Robbins, Ed Ruscha and Alice Waters are among those who have signed on, as well as the cast of “Glee.”
You may have already seen the billboards with some of those people and their license plates, courtesy of a sizable donation of space by Clear Channel Outdoor. Each will use a personal catchphrase to emphasize the “create a state” theme. For Jones, it will be “create a state of harmony.” Jack Black’s slogan says “create a state of awesomeness” and Redford’s will be “create a state of independents,” a reference to the independent film world promoted by his Sundance Institute.
We all know California is home to cars and stars, but the sad fact is that the Golden State is near the bottom of the list when it comes to per capita spending for state-funded arts programs.
So the state’s Arts Council, which gets 60% of its budget from the plates, decided to mobilize some celebrity glamour and corporate donors to up the ante in an effort to boost license plate sales from their current level of about 70,000 a year to 1 million a year. That would mean about 3% of the state’ s vehicles would sport the cool plates–and would boost arts spending to one dollar per capita from the current, and woefully inadequate 13 cents.
That’s still below the spending of other states, including Minnesota, Wyoming,Vermont, Hawaii and New York.
The council is also working to get car rental companies and other businesses with fleets to equip their vehicles with the arts plates, which will enable them not only to make a statement in support of the arts, but to receive a tax deduction.
The money raised will support programs that bring artists into the schools as well as restoring community arts programs at boys’ and girls’ clubs, senior centers and prisons.
Personalized plates with a maximum of 6 letters or numbers cost $98 for the initial fee and $78 for annual renewals, while regular plates go for $50 initially and $40 for renewals. You can find more information at www.artsplate.org and create your own state of artfully driving.
