Speak Up for SJAA Priorities! Attend the Study Session or Send an Email

As avid readers of our newsletter know, the San José City Council is holding a study session on Arts, Destination Marketing, and Destination Events tomorrow, February 16, beginning at 9:00am.

In advance of this special meeting more than a year in the making, SJAA’s Core Team has been educating the Mayor, Councilmembers, and their staffs about our policy priorities, including two that will be considered among a dozen potential funding models during the study session: a Private Percent for Art and a reallocation of the Transient Occupancy Tax (aka “TOT” or “Hotel Tax”).

Now, we need your help to elevate our advocacy!

Unfortunately, the Council recently decided to suspend online comments during public meetings. So if you want to speak up, you’ll have to show up at City Hall tomorrow morning.

We understand many advocates can’t get away from work or childcare — or both. That’s why we drafted this email you can personalize and send to the Mayor and City Council to let them know you support SJAA’s priorities to improve City funding for arts and cultural programs. (See below for a cut-and-paste version.)

Please don’t flag this for later. City leaders need to hear from you right now. And don’t forget to fill in the personal bits. It only takes a minute, and it makes all the difference!

If you can attend the study session in person, feel free to use our email as the basis for your talking points, and let them know you’re an arts advocate!

You can also watch the meeting live on Zoom or YouTube. But if the boss is lurking nearby, just follow live updates on our social media @sanjosearts.

Thank you in advance for your advocacy!