We’d like to extend a digital high five to the more than three dozen arts advocates who sent emails to the Mayor and City Council or showed up to speak out at the February 10 council meeting about the need for greater reciprocity between the Transient Occupancy Tax (TOT) and the creative sector. While the...

Since our inception, one of SJAA’s key priorities has been a reallocation of funding from the San José’s Transient Occupancy Tax, a voter-approved 10% surcharge placed on hotel stays citywide.  This funding currently falls into several buckets: For the 2025-2026 fiscal year, the total TOT is projected to be $45M, which means $6.75M for the...

In case you missed it — and judging by the paltry 20% voter turnout, you may have — the Special Election to fill a vacancy on the San José City Council for District 3 is headed for a runoff election on Tuesday, June 24. Ballots are due to land in voter mailboxes in just a...

A Special Election has been called to fill a vacancy on the San José City Council for District 3, which includes Downtown, Japantown, SoFA, and other neighborhoods that play critical roles in our creative community. This is an opportunity for advocates to have an impact on who makes the decisions on arts and culture policy...

Join us for a virtual meetup to reflect on the state of arts and culture in San José, learn about SJAA’s advocacy priorities for 2025, and provide your feedback. Register to receive a Zoom link prior to the meeting. Can’t watch live? No worries! We’ll post a recording on our YouTube channel. Want to read...

Earlier this month, due to circumstances beyond our control and the compacted campaign calendar, SJAA was forced to postpone and then cancel our planned Virtual Candidate Forum for San José City Council District 6. In lieu of a live forum, we presented our prepared questions to the candidates and asked that they submit written responses...

On Thursday, October 10th, SJAA hosted a virtual forum with candidates for San José City Council District 10 in the November 5th runoff election.

As part of our mission to educate and engage the creative community around San José politics and public policy, we’re excited to be hosting an online forum with candidates in the November 5 runoff election for City Council District 10. All are welcome to attend this free virtual event and make your voices heard! WHAT: SJAA City Council...

As part of our mission to educate and engage the creative community around San José politics and public policy, we’re excited to be hosting an online forum with candidates in the November 5 runoff election for City Council District 6. All are welcome to attend this free virtual event and make your voices heard! Please note this...

In 2024, San José’s Mayor and five City Council seats (in even-numbered districts) are up for election, and there are competitive races for two Santa Clara County supervisor seats. This is our chance to have an impact on who makes the decisions on arts and culture policy at the city and county level. With that...