California Assemblymember Isaac Bryan ran in a special election earlier this year and won the California State Assembly seat representing the 54th District. The district includes a wide swath of West LA and South LA, including Westwood, Mar Vista, Culver City, Ladera Heights, View Park and Leimert Park.

Prior to holding elected office, Bryan was a longtime organizer and educator, and the director of public policy at the UCLA Ralph J. Bunche Center for African-American Studies. He was also founding director of the Black Policy Project at UCLA.

Bryan will be a featured panelist in the “10 Questions” public discussion series, presented by the UCLA School of the Arts and Architecture, responding to the question “Who are we?” on Sept. 27. For this interview for “Works In Progress,” Bryan discussed his election, his policy priorities, and the centrality of the arts in his community.