Jessica Diaz writes, “Due to the pandemic, our portrait business that our family ran for more than a decade came to a swift end. Requiring a creative transformation, I choose a new career path, completing a secondary education credential in the arts at CSUN this past fall. In my year only five students remained in the program, completing a credential in the arts! In November, California passed Prop 28, dramatically increasing funding for the arts for the 22-23 school year, and I predict a huge shortage of quality credentialed instruction for our youth next fall. I have already had the pleasure of encouraging high school students to apply to professional summer programs such as CSSSA. And as CalArts alumni, it was a huge source of pride and gratitude to discover that our CalArts president was a major donor and contributor to the development of the bill. Thank you so very much for inspiring and exposing potentially millions of children to the arts!”