Every major industry understands that its future depends on investing in talent long before it needs to hire it. Nvidia Corp. invests millions in AI programs at Cal Poly and universities across the country. Walt Disney helped create CalArts to ensure a pipeline of creative talent. Visionary companies know they cannot build tomorrow’s workforce by waiting for graduates to appear. The creative economy should think the same way.
California funded the jobs. It didn’t build the pipeline.
California’s largest creative workforce initiative isn’t happening at a studio, game developer, design firm or technology incubator. It is publicly funded, focused on developing creative talent, and hiding in plain sight. Proposition 28 (the Arts and Music in Schools Act) provides roughly $1 billion annually for arts education in California public schools. Delivering on that promise requires more than 5,400 additional arts educators, a 50% expansion of the workforce that existed before voters approved the measure. Most people see this as an education challenge. Business leaders should recognize it as one of California’s largest workforce development opportunities.
As production leaves, talent follows.
The timing couldn’t be more important. On-location production in Los Angeles continues to decline as projects move to states and countries with stronger incentives. Every production that leaves takes payroll, vendor contracts, hotels, restaurants, equipment rentals, transportation, tax revenue and the countless small businesses that support Southern California’s creative economy. As work becomes less predictable, experienced creatives leave the industry, forcing companies to compete for a shrinking talent pool while the ecosystem that made Los Angeles the world’s creative capital slowly erodes.
Yet California has simultaneously created thousands of publicly funded creative careers that remain unfilled in our schools. For artists navigating an increasingly volatile entertainment industry, arts education offers something rare – stable, meaningful work with competitive salaries, benefits and the flexibility to continue creating while developing the next generation of creative talent.
I am proof in practice.
I know because I was once one of them. When I moved to Los Angeles, I wasn’t looking for a career in education. After earning degrees in acting and directing and working professionally in New York and London, I came west to pursue screenwriting. Instead, I discovered an innovative Los Angeles Unified School District program that helped artists and others become teachers. A four-week summer training program led to a classroom in August 2003.
I expected teaching to be temporary. Instead, it became my life’s work. More than two decades later, after serving as a teacher, principal of two arts schools and now chief executive of P.S. ARTS, I’ve realized my own journey illustrates what California could replicate thousands of times over.
The shortage isn’t artists. It’s career pathways.
The obstacle is not a shortage of talented artists. It is a pipeline that was never designed for today’s demand. California has historically credentialed only about 1,100 new arts teachers annually, far below what Proposition 28 requires. Unpaid student teaching, limited credential programs and outdated pathways continue to keep talented artists from entering the profession.
Long-term solutions are essential. Paid apprenticeships, expanded credential pathways and innovative community college programs would strengthen the workforce for years to come. But those reforms will take time. Students need arts teachers today.
An investment, not a donation.
Business leaders should think about this the same way manufacturers invest in engineering scholarships or hospitals invest in nursing residencies. The return is protecting and strengthening the workforce upon which an entire industry depends. Today’s elementary school student experimenting with animation, digital media, theater, music, dance or visual arts may become tomorrow’s game developer, filmmaker, architect, designer, entrepreneur or creative executive. As artificial intelligence automates routine tasks, the creativity, collaboration, communication and problem-solving fostered through arts education become even more valuable.
Studios, agencies, game developers, design firms and technology companies can fund arts education nonprofits for immediate services, and also support credential scholarships, teaching residencies, partnerships with school districts that accelerate workforce development and innovations such as credentialing done by community colleges, not just four-year institutions. All industries (not just specifically creative ones) stand to benefit from being a part of this investment. After all, what company doesn’t want more creative thinkers driving its vision?
The hardest part is already done (the money exists).
Twenty-three years ago, a four-week training program transformed my life. Imagine creating that opportunity for thousands more artists. The start-up funding already exists. The need is urgent. The economic case is compelling. If Los Angeles intends to remain the creative capital of the world, we must stop thinking of arts education as merely an educational priority. It is the foundation of California’s future creative workforce, and one of the smartest long-term economic investments our business community can make.
California voters have already made a historic investment in arts education and the creative economy by passing Proposition 28. Now business leaders need to step up and do what they do best: accelerate.
John Lawler is the chief executive of P.S. ARTS, a Los Angeles-based nonprofit that provides arts education programs in under-resourced public schools.
