Creative Strategist Residency at Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk

About the Program

Category: Arts, Culture and Historic Preservation (Best in Category)

Year: 2021

In 2017, as part of the LA County Cultural Equity and Inclusion Initiative, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved a motion “to fund the placement of artists, arts administrators, or other creative staff in paid positions as creative strategists.” Working in partnership with county staff, Creative Strategists use artistic practice and creative techniques to develop innovative solutions to complex social challenges. The program recognizes that weaving arts, culture, and creativity into county policy, practices, and priorities across sectors paves the way toward achieving cultural and racial equity and inclusion for all residents. The Creative Strategist Program supports implementation strategies for the Countywide Cultural Policy and serves as a model for arts-based, cross-sector and interdepartmental projects.The goals of the program include enriching lives through improved county responsiveness to community needs, broadening the understanding of the role arts can play in government, introducing new arts-based engagement methods and practices for employees and communities, and fostering cross-sector and interdepartmental collaboration.Research has shown that work with artists and creative teams can yield more creative solutions and approaches to problem solving. Rooted in civic and social practice art, the innovative Creative Strategist program evolves each year, incorporating new insights, learnings, and approaches. Each project concludes with an evaluation period and plan to sustain the arts-based methods and practices developed during the residency.