In October the California Arts Council, a state agency, released the inaugural strategic plan for California’s creative economy. “California’s Future Is Creative: Strategies for Cultural Resilience, Economic Growth, and Global Leadership” presents a vision to bolster and grow the state’s $288 billion creative sectors and support its over 820,000 creative workers. Click here to read the Creative Economy Strategic Plan.
The plan was informed over an 18-month planning process by the appointed members of the Creative Economy Workgroup of California, a 30-plus member subject matter advisory body that collectively reflects the diversity of California’s creative economy including arts leaders, culture bearers, elected officials, as well as state agency representatives for labor, business, education, and workforce development. David Michael González, AICP VP of Labor Relations and External Affairs, served on the workgroup as a representative of the state’s commercial production industry.
Despite the creative sector’s outsized contribution to both the state’s economy and social well-being, recent years have exposed vulnerabilities. In 2024, California’s creative workforce remained 7 percent below pre-pandemic levels, even as overall state employment grew. Between 2022 and 2023, the state lost 2.6 percent of its creative-sector jobs, while the nation gained 0.3 percent.
While California is an international creative hub, its creative economy is not immune to disruption. This plan focuses on protecting and expanding a critical workforce, supporting a key sector of the economy, building local creative infrastructure, and ensuring the creative sector is central to how we think about jobs, education, equity, and innovation statewide.
Among the Plan’s six key goals is stabilizing and growing the creative economy, including ensuring that the state’s tax credits for production are globally competitive by, among other things, expanding the types of qualified productions that can be incentivized. Unlike nearly 30 other states, California does not currently have a production incentive program for commercial productions. In 2026, the AICP continues to advocate in Sacramento for the creation of such a program.
“‘California’s Future Is Creative’ presents California’s first sector-specific strategy for sustaining and expanding the state’s creative economy. This is a vital, urgent blueprint to protect California’s global leadership in arts, culture, media, and innovation,” said Danielle Brazell, Executive Director of the California Arts Council. “The creative economy is a dynamic, interconnected ecosystem of people, businesses, and places. It spans independent artists, nonprofit organizations, commercial studios, cultural venues, and digital platforms. It fuels innovation, reflects California’s diversity, and shapes the stories we tell and export to the world. It is a cornerstone of our state’s economy, identity, and global influence.”
The Creative Economy Workgroup (CEW) was established by California Assembly Bill 127 (AB127) and tasked with developing a strategic plan for the state’s creative economy. The California Arts Council (CAC) led the strategic planning process, and its nonprofit partner, Institute for the Future (IFTF), facilitated meetings of the CEW and led an extensive research process. and tasked with developing a strategic plan for the state’s creative economy.