On May 14, the Governor issued the “May revise” to the CA 25-26 budget. This revision included reverting $11.5 million allocated to the Performing Arts Equitable Payroll Fund (PAEPF) back to the General Fund and cancelling the program.
PAEPF is extremely consequential to the Cabrillo Festival and to the arts ecosystem at large. Read the joint press release below to learn more about how this cut will impact the Santa Cruz arts community.
Help save the program: sign the petition, call your state legislator, give public comment at the Capitol, engage your local press, and activate your network! Learn more and take action HERE!
Press Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 21, 2025
Urgent Call to Action: Help Save the Performing Arts Equitable Payroll Fund
Santa Cruz, CA — Arts Council Santa Cruz County joins a statewide coalition urging Governor Gavin Newsom and the California State Legislature to restore $11.5 million in funding to the Performing Arts Equitable Payroll Fund (PAEPF), which was eliminated in the Governor’s May Revision of the 2025–26 state budget.
This funding cut would immediately cancel all pending PAEPF grant applications—despite the program’s overwhelming demand and years of advocacy that led to its creation.
A Program Built by—and for—California’s Cultural Workers
PAEPF was created through Senate Bill 1116 (Portantino) in direct response to the growing financial strain placed on small, nonprofit performing arts organizations by rising payroll costs and complex employment law compliance. The program opened in March and was fully subscribed within 10 days, demonstrating urgent statewide need.
“This funding is a lifeline for local performing arts organizations that have already suffered the loss of funding as a result of changes at the federal level. These organizations employ artists, enrich local economies, and bring communities together through culture,” says Jim Brown, Executive Director of Arts Council Santa Cruz County. “To reverse course now would undermine years of progress and community input.”
“Without this important funding, The 418 Project will not only lose its ability to pay our staff, but our support of the entire local arts ecosystem is at risk. Through our fiscal sponsorship program, we support thousands of regional residents who count on us for access to donations, grants, and other financial support. Losing this grant will destabilize us, putting our facility and programming at risk. We’re asking our allies to raise their voices by phoning and letter writing, to support retaining this essential—and already budgeted—fund,” states Laura Bishop, 418 Project Executive Director.
“The mission of TWDCC to support artists through every stage of their career, be it local youth in training, internationally acclaimed professionals from the African Diaspora, young adults at the beginning stages of their professional careers, or experienced teaching artists, is at risk. Without this important funding, we may not have the ability to continue to offer 20% of our youth dancers scholarships, to offer affordable space for artists to hold community classes, or to provide equitable pay to our teachers and staff. Please use your voice to advocate for funding the Performing Arts Equitable Payroll Fund,” says Micha Scott, TWDCC Executive and Artistic Director
“The PAEPF promised to be a crucial reprieve after the loss of National Endowment for the Arts funding and the significant atrophy of foundation and institutional support for the arts in recent years. So, this is extraordinarily timely and important, and if the PAEPF funding never comes to fruition, it would be an unconscionable waste for arts organizations that have spent thousands of cumulative hours on the application, and a waste of state funds given that overhead has already been spent on setting up the administration of the grant,” shares D. Riley Nicholson, Executive Director, Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music.
The Impact: Local Jobs and Cultural Vitality at Risk
The proposed rollback is part of a broader trend of disinvestment in the arts, including over $70 million in state arts funding cuts since 2023 and major reductions to the National Endowment for the Arts and Humanities. For many small performing arts organizations, the Performing Arts Equitable Payroll Fund represents the last thread of stability.
How to Take Action
Community members, artists, and arts organizations are urged to act now to help restore funding. Here’s how to get involved:
- SIGN THE PETITION – We need 1,000 signatures to show the Legislature how many voices are behind this fund.
👉 Sign the Petition - CALL YOUR LAWMAKERS – Let your State Assemblymember and Senator know how this funding impacts your community.
👉 Find Your Legislator
📞 Call the Governor: (916) 445-2841
- SIGN UP TO SPEAK – Advocate in person at upcoming budget hearings in Sacramento.
👉 Sign Up to Give Public Comment - SHARE THE ACTIONS – Spread the word to your networks, boards, audiences, and collaborators.
What’s Next
The California Legislature is holding hearings now and will finalize the state budget by June 15. Last year, advocacy efforts successfully restored the PAEPF during final negotiations—we can do it again.
Arts Council Santa Cruz County and statewide partners, including California Arts Advocates, Actors’ Equity, Theatre Producers of Southern California, and Arts for LA, are coordinating efforts to educate legislators and mobilize public support.
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About Arts Council Santa Cruz County
The Arts Council’s mission is to nurture and invest in artists, culture, and the arts. Together, we’re building a stronger Santa Cruz County, where all artists have access to the resources they need to thrive; where a full range of creative expression is accessible to everyone; and the arts are recognized for their essential contributions to a healthy, vibrant, and representative community.
Through grants to artists and arts organizations, arts education programs that serve more than 18,000 youth across Santa Cruz County, and community initiatives such as Open Studios, the Tannery Arts Center, and the Watsonville Center for the Arts, we help Santa Cruz County thrive. Learn more at artscouncilsc.org