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A PLAN FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF SANTA MONICA’S ARTS AND CULTURE
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TABLE OF CONTENTS I. Executive Summary ......................................................................................3
II. Summary of Recommendations...................................................................8
III. Strategies..................................................................................................15
A. Celebrating Innovation ...........................................................................16
1. Fostering Cultural Innovation ..............................................................19 2. Adopting the Theme of “Innovation and Creative Individuals” ............20
B. Increasing Cultural Participation.............................................................22
1. Enhancing Marketing and Coordination..............................................24 2. Enhancing and Expanding Festivals...................................................27 3. Integrating Cultural Programming .......................................................29 4. Expanding the Public Art Program......................................................31
C. Enhancing Sustainability ........................................................................32
1. Retaining and Developing Cultural Facilities.......................................35 2. Increasing and Restructuring Cultural Funding...................................53 3. Enhancing Leadership ........................................................................61
IV. Resources ...............................................................................................66
1. Public Sources....................................................................................66 2. Private and Other Sources..................................................................69
V. Implementation ..........................................................................................71
VI. Appendices..............................................................................................81
A. Planning Participants..............................................................................82
B. Planning Methodology............................................................................87
C. Santa Monica Creative Workforce Study ...............................................90
D. Telephone Survey of Santa Monica Residents ....................................101
E. Santa Monica Creative Industries Study ..............................................106
F. Survey of Santa Monica Nonprofit Arts and Cultural Organizations .....109
G. Assessment of Current City Cultural Funding ......................................115
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I. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Culture sustains Santa Monica.
Through a yearlong process of research and dialogue, Santa Monica has crafted
a collective vision for the future of the arts and culture and developed strategies
for fulfilling this vision. More than two hundred community members discussed
issues and opportunities, vision and challenges in Town Hall and neighborhood
meetings, interviews and via an interactive website; they participated in a broad
array of workshops, completed surveys and nominated favorite cultural icons. In
addition, several commissioned studies provided a detailed portrait of Santa
Monica’s creative sector. Based on this new understanding, Creative Capital
offers a plan for the city’s continued cultural development.
Vision Santa Monica’s residents share a vision for their community that interweaves the
arts, cultural activities, entertainment and education throughout their lives, work,
cityscape and neighborhoods. They view culture as an inseparable component
of what makes Santa Monica exceptional, desirable and economically
competitive. And they seek to integrate culture more thoroughly into the fabric of
the community.
Residents value Santa Monica as a small-scale, informal, personal, engaged
community that is fully committed to the values of sustainability. They appreciate
the beauty of its natural setting and believe that Santa Monica’s extraordinary
creativity flows in part from this environment. Many also consider this cultural
ecosystem to be threatened by real estate pressures and a lack of focus, and
seek to retain and nurture its creative people and resources. They desire a local
cultural community that is multi-faceted and easily accessible.
Santa Monica’s cultural community envisions the arts and culture as an integral
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Creative Workforce ComparisonSanta Monica compared to the 20 Most Creative US Cities
Total number of creative workers employed as % of total employment
component of civic life, incorporated into the values, policies and daily activities
of the city. They see culture like sustainability—an organic part of the
community, not separate from it—enriching and supporting Santa Monica’s civic
life.
Demographics of the Creative Sector Santa Monica has a remarkable, yet in some ways hidden, asset—an
extraordinary population of creative professionals. The city has been a
destination and a haven for artists for more than a hundred years. It also boasts
perhaps the largest concentration of creative employment in the US. Even
compared to Los Angeles and other creative centers, Santa Monica has an
extraordinary proportion of artists, performers, designers, writers, directors and
other professionals who work in the creative sector, more than six times the
national average.1
For many, culture literally sustains them: 43% of Santa Monica’s adults make all
or part of their living in arts-related fields. This employment spans the
commercial and nonprofit worlds, as well as individual, small business and 1 The source for the workforce comparison is Comparison of Santa Monica’s Creative Industry to the Top 20 Creative Cities, Steve Nivin, PhD 2006 (see page 23), based on the US Census. The twenty most creative US cities are those identified by economist Richard Florida, the Hirst Professor of Public Policy at George Mason University, Senior Scientist with the Gallup Organization and a Senior Fellow with the Brookings Institution. The source for the national comparison is The Arts and Economic Prosperity, Americans for the Arts 2002, based on US Bureau of Labor Statistics; in Santa Monica, the creative workforce accounts for 8.9% of all employment, compared to the national average of 1.4%.
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corporate endeavors. This proliferation of creative individuals is a vital new
demographic fact that perhaps more than any other characteristic defines Santa
Monica’s cultural identity and informs the vision for the arts and culture. Its
discovery also creates an imperative to re-examine Santa Monica’s cultural
priorities.
Creative Identity Santa Monica’s residents show extraordinarily high levels of personal
participation in cultural activities and an expansive understanding of their role in a
community. For example, residents visited an art museum or gallery at twice the
national average (83% compared 41%) and they believe having public art in a
community to be nearly as important as good public schools. Seventy-two
percent of families with children involve them in arts activities outside of school.
This intense amount of involvement leads residents to value the presence of the
arts in the community, be very enthusiastic about the quality of the cultural scene
in Santa Monica and want even more opportunities to participate.
Comparative Size of Nonprofit
Arts and Cultural Organization Budgets 2
Less than $250,000 Greater than $1 Million
Santa Monica 67% 8%
Pasadena 50% 29%
Los Angeles County 48% 16%
San Diego County 47% 23%
In addition, Santa Monica identifies itself as innovative. The brand promoted by
the Convention & Visitors’ Bureau describes Santa Monica as “cutting edge” and
the creative community has engendered experimentation and innovations in
many fields. The cultural community is also relatively non-institutional. It is
distinguished by a high concentration of individuals, smaller organizations and
2 Comparison of average budget sizes of nonprofit arts and cultural organizations. Data is from consultants’ surveys for Santa Monica, Pasadena and San Diego County; data for Los Angeles County is from Los Angeles County Arts Commission.
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arts-related businesses, such as art galleries, and few large-budget arts and
cultural nonprofit institutions.
The Plan Despite this creative abundance and relatively widespread understanding of its
value, Santa Monica’s artists and cultural entities face increasing challenges.
Rising costs, the loss of affordable real estate, and a lack of infrastructure
threaten the diversity and vibrancy of the creative community. Creative Capital
presents three comprehensive strategies for fulfilling the community’s cultural
vision, ways in which Santa Monica can ameliorate these challenges and foster
even greater cultural opportunity.
Celebrating Innovation
Santa Monica’s extraordinary concentration of creative individuals and the
associated opportunities for innovative cultural partnerships ensure the
city a unique niche within the cultural ecology of the Los Angeles region
and offer remarkable options for marketing and programming. These are
as much overarching concepts as a specific strategy and as such echo
throughout the plan’s many recommendations. Regular convening, across
disciplines, is one of the tools the City can use to foster dialogue and
collaboration throughout the creative sector.
Increasing Cultural Participation
Throughout the planning process, residents emphasized their desire for
greater access to a wide variety of cultural programs for all ages. This can
be accomplished through festivals, by offering cultural programs for all
ages in public places such as community centers, parks or the beach, and
by making it easier to learn about what is available through cooperative
marketing initiatives.
Enhancing Sustainability
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Arts Alleys Potential uses include a mix of public and private venues: performance and gallery spaces, and art and rehearsal studios, cafes and outdoor performances. This rendering shows one example of how Arts Alleys might be configured.
The retention, development and reuse of cultural facilities that fit the
community’s unique identity, accompanied by funding and leadership
development programs that strengthen the city’s nonprofit cultural
institutions, are essential to ensuring a stable future for the arts in Santa
Monica.
The creation of “Arts Alleys” near the Third Street Promenade is one way
this can be accomplished, capitalizing on a special Santa Monica
opportunity—the availability of space fronting the alleys—while
encouraging public interaction with artists and cultural organizations.
Implementation Creative Capital will guide efforts to achieve
the community’s cultural vision over the
next ten years. Making use of existing as
well as new public and private resources,
the City and community partners will be
able to collaborate on flexible initiatives to
implement the recommended strategies
and enhance the cultural sustainability that
is central to Santa Monica’s identity and
aspirations.
The three core strategies and associated
recommendations provide a roadmap for
Santa Monica to retain and build upon its
vibrant cultural sector. A plan to ensure
that culture continues to play its vital role in
sustaining this unique community.
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II. SUMMARY OF RECOMMENDATIONS
A. CELEBRATING INNOVATION Cross-Sector Innovation
1. Recognize and support the importance of individual artists to Santa
Monica’s cultural ecosystem.
2. Adopt the theme of innovation and creative individuals as the basis for
programming and marketing of Santa Monica’s creative identity.
3. Capitalize on the extraordinary concentration of creative people and
resources by fostering communication and leveraging partnerships for
innovative cultural programming.
B. INCREASING CULTURAL PARTICIPATION Marketing and Coordination
4. Develop a comprehensive directory of Santa Monica’s arts and cultural
resources.
5. Develop a communitywide marketing program to build audiences for
Santa Monica’s arts and culture programs, increase cultural participation
and access, and increase community awareness of local arts and culture.
6. Explore the evolving creative potential of electronic communication to
support Santa Monica’s cultural community.
7. Develop cooperative strategies with Santa Monica College, the Santa
Monica-Malibu Unified School District and other providers of lifelong
learning programs to enhance the accessibility of their cultural programs
to the community.
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Festivals
8. Continue and further develop existing arts and cultural festivals, such as
the Santa Monica Festival and Jazz on the Lawn.
9. Develop major new arts and cultural festivals, to celebrate and explore
Santa Monica’s innovative cultural identity and address the community’s
desire for more festivals.
10. Facilitate the provision of small-scale festivals or showcases that highlight
the arts and culture, or contain a cultural component, through a co-
sponsorship arrangement.
Integrating Cultural Programming
11. Seek further opportunities to integrate arts and cultural programming for
all ages into non-traditional venues and programs such as community
centers, parks, and other open and/or public spaces.
12. Expand the cultural programming partnership between the Cultural Affairs
Division and other City divisions and departments, including the Santa
Monica Public Library and the Human Services Division’s after-school and
youth-at-risk programs.
13. Enhance accessibility for senior citizens to arts and cultural programs
through integration of programs into existing venues and services for
seniors, and by promoting partnerships through the network of lifelong
learning service providers.
14. Find opportunities to promote the reintroduction of arts education in all
public schools through implementation of the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified
School District’s Arts for All plan, in cooperation with the district and the
Santa Monica-Malibu Educational Foundation.
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Public Art
15. Implement a public art in private development program that supports a
Cultural Trust Fund flexible enough to help fulfill the community’s arts and
cultural vision, as identified in this planning process.
16. In future years conduct an assessment of both the public and private
public art programs to gauge their effectiveness in meeting the
community’s cultural needs.
C. ENHANCING SUSTAINABILITY Cultural Facilities
17. Establish Santa Monica Arts Alleys as zones for the concentration and
development of small-scale arts uses, such as creative businesses, artists’
studios, small performing and exhibition spaces, and other cultural uses,
and:
Create a downtown cultural district for the development of
Arts Alleys, bounded by 2nd Street on the west, 4th Street
on the east, Broadway on the south and Wilshire on the
north.
Make necessary adjustments in zoning in the downtown
cultural district to permit and encourage arts and cultural
activities in the Arts Alleys.
Negotiate with downtown property owners and
businesspersons to use the vacant and underutilized space
fronting the Arts Alleys and consider offering a financial
incentive, such as a property tax abatement on the portion of
the properties used for arts purposes, to encourage
landlords to maintain affordable rents on the properties.
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Work with the designers of the new parking structures to
ensure that the areas fronting the alleys support the Arts
Alleys concept.
18. Commit to a cultural use of the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium in line with
the community’s vision for this facility and:
Approach development of the Civic Auditorium as a key
component within a larger cultural campus encompassing
the Civic Center, Santa Monica High School, the Pier and
adjacent areas.
Create a plan for the development of the Civic Auditorium
that assesses the options identified in this planning process,
and presents specific recommendations for implementation.
Revisit the recommendations regarding the Civic Auditorium
in the Civic Center Specific Plan to better accommodate the
cultural uses envisioned by the community.
19. Develop, or facilitate the development of, small, flexible and affordable
performance venues (under 500 seats) and visual arts spaces.
20. Develop policies and ordinances that encourage and even mandate the
creation of affordable artist live/work and day studio spaces in new
residential and industrial development including, at a minimum, in the
Light Manufacturing Studio District.
21. Retain and enhance current concentrations of arts uses at the Pier,
Bergamot Station, the Santa Monica Airport and 18th Street Arts Center.
22. Support and enhance cultural development around nodes, such as the
emerging cultural uses along Pico Boulevard.
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Cultural Funding
23. Work to increase the total amount of the City’s Cultural Funding program
budget towards a benchmark of 10% of the total operating budgets of
Santa Monica’s arts organizations.
24. Create new cultural support opportunities as follows:
Expand and restructure the current Cultural/Arts
Organization Support Grant Program to ensure separate
review of arts applicants and cultural heritage applicants,
and implement procedural refinements.
Create an Artists Fellowship Program to support and
recognize Santa Monica’s individual artists.
Create an organizational capacity building and technical
assistance program to encourage appropriate
institutionalization of Santa Monica’s nonprofit arts and
cultural organizations.
Create an Opportunity Grants Program to allow the City to
respond to unusual and short-term arts and cultural project
opportunities.
Create a Capital Grants Program to assist nonprofit arts and
cultural organizations in meeting their facility needs, and to
encourage capacity building.
25. Explore options to best reflect and support Santa Monica’s cultural
diversity through cultural funding.
26. Explore ways to enhance community access to cultural funding programs,
while improving administrative effectiveness, through such tools as e-
granting, on-line data collection, and collective insurance for grantees.
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Leadership
27. Reactivate the Santa Monica Arts Foundation as a fundraising and
leadership development organization by confirming its mission and role,
and developing a plan to partner in the implementation of Creative Capital.
28. Provide in-kind support and seed-funding to the Foundation to enable it to
provide increased community cultural leadership.
29. Focus the Foundation’s efforts as follows:
Expand the pool of resources available for cultural uses by developing
a workplace giving program to encourage cultural giving by private
individuals, and a united arts fund to encourage cultural giving by local
businesses and corporations.
Institute an annual arts leadership awards program, recognizing
leading citizens in the areas of philanthropy, business and
volunteerism.
Create an active program of leadership development, in cooperation
with the Chamber of Commerce, or other civic or business group.
30. Strengthen the capacity of the Arts Commission to fulfill its role in
implementing Creative Capital as follows:
Explore a reduction in the size of the Arts Commission to facilitate
effectiveness and flexibility, while retaining the current use of
subcommittees that include non-commissioners to provide opportunities
for wider community involvement.
Alter the composition requirements of the Arts Commission to balance
the need for qualifications in cultural policy and advocacy with the need
for professional arts qualifications.
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Work to diversify the membership of the Arts Commission to more
accurately reflect the demographic diversity of Santa Monica.
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III. STRATEGIES
The overall goal of Creative Capital is the continued development of Santa
Monica’s cultural resources, fulfilling a shared vision for the arts and culture. The
planning process identified three primary strategies in pursuit of this goal, aligned
with the community’s vision:
A. Celebrating Innovation
B. Increasing Cultural Participation
C. Enhancing Sustainability
Each strategy contains a discussion of its context, including findings from the
research conducted during the planning process and national precedents, as well
as a rationale for the associated recommendations.
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The term “innovation” has a broad meaning in Santa Monica. Innovation has included the artistic avant-garde and the development of new cultural trends and aesthetics. The term also means the creative adaptation of traditional cultural ideas, reinterpretation of classics, and the invention of new methods of supporting and presenting culture.
Santa Monica’s creative sector has more than 1,634 arts-related businesses that employ at least 11,464 people. These businesses range from nonprofit museums, symphony and theaters, to for-profit film, architecture and advertising companies.
Source: Americans for the Arts / Dunn & Bradstreet
A. CELEBRATING INNOVATION
A central issue in the development of
Creative Capital is defining the unique
qualities of Santa Monica’s creative
identity. Understanding Santa Monica’s
creative niche is key to cultural
development that is organic and
appropriate to the community, and to
distinguishing Santa Monica from other communities. Of course, Santa Monica
is located adjacent to, and is indeed a part of, perhaps the nation’s largest and
most influential cultural region—the greater Los Angeles area. Rather than
compete, the wisest strategy is to articulate Santa Monica’s distinct identity and
differentiate it from the surrounding culture.
Santa Monica’s niche is based on this characteristic: the unprecedented
proportion of creative individuals, with their innovation and experimentation as
expressed in their work, careers and businesses. It encompasses a vast array of
arts-related fields and employment within the robust creative sector of the city’s
economy. Santa Monica’s cultural identity
is not based on strength in one or two
areas; rather, it includes the nonprofit as
well as the commercial creative sectors. It
spans visual and performing arts, a
spectrum of literary pursuits, the digital arts,
the film and television industry, the music
industry, the design field and internet businesses. While there are a few large
creative corporations located in Santa Monica, they are fueled by a workforce of
highly creative people who, by definition, must be individualistic. While the
expansion of the commercial creative sector is more recent, there is a long
tradition in Santa Monica of creative individuals and creative invention.
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Creative entrepreneurs are no longer taking the nonprofit model as a given and instead are working through a variety of temporary and hybrid structures that best suit their work. …Many young artists now are rejecting the nonprofit arts sector altogether, and working exclusively through commercial or unincorporated vehicles to develop and present their work to the public.
Critical Issues Facing the Arts in California: A Working Paper (The James Irvine Foundation 2006)
What does this mean for cultural
development and cultural policy? First, it is
a cause for celebration and recognition.
This is not only a marvelous distinguishing
feature; it is a platform for branding and
continued development as a community.
Celebrating creative individuals and
innovation is a theme running throughout
Creative Capital and should be
acknowledged as a principle in fulfilling the community’s cultural vision.
Initiatives founded on creative individuals and innovation imply a focus on small-
scale work and a more intimate experience that emphasizes being face-to-face
with an artist. This is often intrinsic to what Santa Monica’s cultural organizations
and artists seek to accomplish in their work. And it is a part of what residents
seek to have in their community, as expressed by their desire for smaller venues
and art in everyday life.
Because of this unique identity, the mission of the City’s Cultural Affairs Division
clearly extends to creative individuals from across the artistic and cultural
spectrum, including individual artists and those working in commercial fields.
Many city cultural agencies focus primarily on the nonprofit and fine arts; in Santa
Monica “cultural affairs” are by definition a more inclusive and far-reaching field.
The community’s cultural vision has few boundaries among the commercial and
non-commercial, the individual and organizational. Serving the Santa Monica
community means supporting all elements of the creative community in service of
its cultural vision.
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What Do We Mean by the Arts and Culture? There are different meanings for the terms “arts” and “culture” and their meanings often change in different contexts. Creative Capital adopts an expansive, inclusive definition of the arts and culture but not one that is unlimited. It includes a range of cultural sectors: high or fine arts as well as popular, ethnic and commercial arts, and historic preservation. A range of people: visual and performing artists, craftspeople, designers and cultural practitioners. And a range of cultural events: performances, exhibitions, festivals, celebrations. “Arts” has traditionally meant the fine arts: visual arts, music, theater, dance and literature. Choreographer Liz Lerman, winner of a 2002 MacArthur “Genius” Award, describes the shift to a contemporary definition as a vertical hierarchy becoming a level playing field. Using the dance field as an example, ballet used to be on the top of a pyramid, with dance forms such as folk dance and hip hop on the bottom. Now we see all art forms as having similar value but different focuses. Likewise, we now include in our definition of “arts” such art forms as crafts, ethnic, traditional, popular, design and electronic or digital arts. “Culture” is most often defined in anthropological terms. A standard textbook definition is:
The system of shared beliefs, values, customs, behaviours, and artifacts that the members of society use to cope with their world and with one another, and that are transmitted from generation to generation through learning. (Bates and Plog, “Cultural Anthropology,” McGraw Hill, 1990)
This is not only a very broad definition, but also one that extends far beyond the boundaries of even an expansive definition of the arts. The field of arts and culture draws an indistinct circle around its central territory of the arts, and acknowledges other cultural expressions on a case-by-case basis. Community context is one useful key. For example, Charlotte, North Carolina, is the historic and regional home of stock car racing and the NASCAR circuit. Charlotte views this racing as a cultural form and offers tours and events celebrating the races, racing history, and the community’s “racing culture.” Santa Monica has a special relationship to the film, television and music industries, the world of digital graphic invention, and creative innovation in the sustainability field. Santa Monicans also prize the beach and the spectrum of experiences, events and informal “beach culture” that surround it.
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We found the results rather astounding. Artists move among sectors [commercial, nonprofit and community] far more than we had thought, and if money were not an issue, most would cross over more than they presently do. They report that each sector provides distinctive channels and support for artistic development. Crossover: How Artists Build Careers across Commercial, Nonprofit and Community Work Ann Markusen, et al. (2006)
1. Fostering Cultural Innovation
Santa Monica has an important
opportunity to leverage the resources of
its creative community as a catalyst for
cultural innovation. It would be perhaps
the first community to capitalize on the
artistic potential of partnerships among
diverse creative sectors. Artistic cross-
fertilization and experimentation takes place naturally in a community as creative
as Santa Monica. However, there are barriers to such partnerships and
removing them holds the promise of extraordinary and highly visible creative
results.
While Santa Monica is distinguished by its concentration and history of creative
individuals, the various sub-sectors of this creative community are not well-
connected with one another. Planning participants often described the isolation
of the commercial and nonprofit sectors, and many expressed a desire for
greater networking and connection among elements of the larger creative
community
Few, if any, communities in the US are currently convening creative individuals
across sub-sectors of the creative community. In Santa Monica, it is a natural
possibility and the City can demonstrate national leadership simply by bringing
together creative people to network and discuss topics of communitywide
interest. Ideas and projects will emerge from these connections, the great
majority of which will not require City leadership or funding. In this manner,
Creative Capital and the Cultural Affairs Division can enable Santa Monica’s
creativity without always having to produce it.
A first step might be to conduct half-day conferences for related fields, such as
performing artists, the design field, or visual and digital artists. Topics of
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Santa Monica’s commercial creative community has been investigating its local arts neighbors. They’re looking for things to commercialize. They have different aesthetics but are open-minded. There’s a real opportunity for everyone here.
Santa Monica artist
common interest can be identified through
discussions with leaders from these fields.
Allowing these groups to define their own
purpose and agenda will better ensure their
usefulness and longevity. The role of the
Cultural Affairs Division is therefore as
convener and facilitator.
2. Adopting the Theme of “Innovation and Creative Individuals”
One effective way of reinforcing Santa Monica’s creative identity is to make
individuals and innovation a general theme for programming and marketing. This
can distinguish Santa Monica’s identity while providing a fertile ground for
creativity, in line with Fostering Cultural Innovation. It will encourage artists and
arts administrators to draw from Santa Monica’s nonprofit and commercial arts
sectors equally, since creative individuals work and flourish throughout both.
Highlighting the people who create as well as their work is another potential
approach.
In a region as large as greater Los Angeles, Santa Monica has a competitive
advantage in adopting this theme. It is a unique identifier and one with great
artistic possibilities, which can differentiate the community from nearby
communities and the surrounding region. It can also promote greater cultural
self-awareness among Santa Monica residents and a spirit of experimentation
among its creative professionals.
The theme should be broadly drawn, making it clear that “creative individuals”
encompasses all manner of creative professionals, as well as fine artists. This
reflects the actual diversity of Santa Monica’s creative population. The term,
“innovation,” in this context is broadly defined to include invention, the
incremental development of new ideas, creativity over a sustained time period,
and innovation in reference to diverse standards of excellence and achievement.
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Innovation in Santa Monica has included the artistic avant-garde and the
development of new cultural trends and aesthetics. It also means the creative
adaptation of traditional cultural ideas, reinterpretation of classics, and the
invention of new methods of supporting and presenting culture.
This premise underlies many of the recommendations in Creative Capital.
Festivals, public art, artists’ fellowships and communitywide marketing could
each benefit from building upon or incorporating a focus on innovation or creative
individuals.
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Senior citizens are generally less likely to participate in the arts or to attend arts events.
2006 Arts Survey of Santa Monica Residents
B. INCREASING CULTURAL PARTICIPATION
Increasing community participation in arts and cultural programs, and fostering
greater access to those programs, is a primary message from the community. In
a population that is intensely involved with creativity on a personal and
professional basis, participation and access
are deeply held values. The professional
arts community and residents frequently view
the arts and culture as integral to their lives
and the health of their community. They therefore view greater and wider
inclusion of all segments of the population as a means of enhancing the
community on a variety of levels.
Planning participants described a goal of providing greater access to arts and
cultural programs for all of Santa Monica’s residents. Access means providing
ways for people to engage in cultural experiences, regardless of their economic
circumstances, physical challenges, or educational background. Improving
access therefore involves addressing both programmatic as well as physical
barriers. These barriers may include language, cost, time, perceived cultural
relevancy, transportation or information about available programs.
Santa Monica residents believe that participation makes the city an interesting
place to live and raise children, fosters diversity and tolerance, and provides
positive alternatives for youth at risk. They also spoke about integrating art into
everyday life and the built environment: “taking art where the people are.”
Greater youth participation, arts education and lifelong learning are a part of this
goal.
For arts organizations, participation and access include audience development.
Nearly all respondents to the organizational survey identified goals for audience
development and marketing. They also already invest in increasing participation
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Effective Audience Building Strategies
Conducting events in places where people go for other reasons
Drawing people to a venue by offering programs that celebrate heritage of audiences they wish to target
Sponsoring activities for children and families
Creating marketing strategies and messages that highlight and provide incentives for bringing family members and friends to arts and culture events
Designing events to provide opportunities for socializing
Offering programs and events that encompass the range of styles and types that people who participate identify as arts and culture
Creating connections between arts and culture programs and local non-arts causes and organizations
Establishing partnerships between arts and culture organizations and other nonprofit and volunteer organizations—particularly religious organizations—to produce arts and culture programs and events
“Reggae to Rachmaninoff: How and Why People Participate in Arts and Culture,” Urban Institute, 2002,
and access; nearly all provide a
substantial amount of free programs
and arts education services. Santa
Monica’s arts and cultural organizations
currently serve an annual audience of at
least 278,000 and 44% of that
attendance is free. More than eight of
ten organizations provide arts education
in schools or after school.
These attitudes align with community
input for the update of the land use
element of the City’s General Plan
(currently in progress) in which
residents envision a city with a richness
of civic amenities and greater
accessibility to those resources for all
citizens.
These attitudes also reflect national
trends. A longtime advocate of arts
participation, the Wallace Foundation has joined with the Urban Institute in
describing increasing cultural participation as “broadening, intensifying and
diversifying audiences.” This includes conventional goals of expanding
audiences through effective marketing: understanding and meeting the needs of
an organization’s current audience and its closest, potential audience. It also
includes intensifying an organization’s relationship with its existing audience
through experiences that deepen engagement with the art. This definition also
embraces outreach to new, non-traditional audiences.
This last goal—outreach—is perhaps the most challenging. A RAND Corporation
study concludes that “…strategies aimed at increasing arts participation need to
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The California Arts Audience Research Project concludes that the traditional arts audience is shrinking but California’s audience is diversifying. Organizations that research and respond to the interests of their current and potential new audiences were able to retain, grow and diversify their audiences. They adopted a holistic approach to marketing, implementing changes beyond the marketing department and throughout the organization, including changing programming to meet audience interests. These organizations believed that their artistic product was stronger, not compromised, as a result of these shifts.
Walter & Elise Haas Fund, The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, and The James Irvine Foundation (2000)
Eight-two percent would attend more arts events in Santa Monica if there were more of the type of things they liked; 70% would attend more if they were of higher quality.
2006 Arts Survey of Santa Monica Residents
consider carefully the audiences
they are trying to target.” (A New
Framework for Building Participation
in the Arts, Kevin F. McCarthy,
Kimberly Jinnett, 2001.) The study
recommended extended two-way
exchanges between providers and
potential new audiences to develop
a more successful approach to
building participation, based on
mutual needs and interests.
There are four areas of concentration within the strategy of increasing cultural
participation and access: marketing and coordination; enhancing and expanding
festivals; providing more programming in a wide range of public venues; and
expanding opportunities for public art.
1. Enhancing Marketing and Coordination
The need for better marketing of
Santa Monica’s arts and culture was
a clear message from both the
professional arts community and
from residents. Residents wish to attend more events locally and identified
learning what was available as their greatest barrier.
Enhanced marketing is also viewed by Santa Monica’s arts and cultural
organizations as critical to their sustainability and to audience development.
Because of small budgets and limited staff capacity, marketing is a challenge for
nearly all organizations and individual artists. Their energies are understandably
directed primarily to producing their artistic programs. Even if this were not the
case, however, there would be a need for joint marketing. A frequent comment
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The Artsopolis Network (www.Artsopolis.net) promotes arts and culture in local communities through on-line and traditional marketing. Originally a project of Arts Council Silicon Valley, it has proven so successful in Silicon Valley that it has expanded since 2003 to include seven US cities, including Denver, Phoenix and Houston.
among arts administrators was that Santa Monica’s residents are not as aware of
local arts offerings, and tend to scan the entire Los Angeles cultural scene.
Raising awareness of Santa Monica’s own cultural opportunities is beyond the
capacity of individual organizations and artists. Ninety-six percent of
organizations report having marketing challenges and 100% would like to
participate in communitywide marketing to augment their individual efforts. The
Cultural Affairs Division has begun to develop a joint marketing program through
its well-produced weekly email broadcast, The Palette, highlighting local arts and
cultural events and news.
An additional need is for greater coordination and cooperation among arts and
cultural organizations, and among artists. Despite Santa Monica’s small size, the
professional arts community tends to function in some degree of isolation and
nearly all would welcome efforts to convene and coordinate. This is a basic
technique of community building and is especially appropriate in a community
that seeks to increase community access to cultural services.
Communitywide Marketing A communitywide marketing program, administered by
the Cultural Affairs Division with as-needed contract
support from outside professionals, would greatly
enhance the marketing effectiveness of Santa Monica’s
arts and cultural organizations and artists. The purpose
of the marketing program is to build audiences,
enhance cultural participation and access, and increase
community awareness of local arts and culture. The
program can include several inter-related components,
including a master calendar, event marketing, a robust website, printed materials,
a publication, direct mail, advertising, promotion packages, discounted tickets,
cross-promotions, banners, a word-of-mouth campaign, and other non-traditional
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American Film Market Another example of Santa Monica’s crossover among sub-sectors of the arts is this annual weeklong international tradeshow where producers bid on independent films. Filmmakers and producers come from about 70 countries, with more than 900 screenings of about 600 films. Approximately $800 million in transactions are made at AFM. The local economic impact is also substantial. AFM generates $15 million to $17 million in total spending in Santa Monica, and $500,000 in tax revenues to the City. Residents can view screenings for free by registering at the AFM website.
methods. To encourage use of public transportation, a standardized
presentation of transportation alternatives should be included in all event
marketing.
This is a large and ambitious endeavor. First steps in implementation might be to
expand the distribution of The Palette, convene the stakeholders for the
purposes of planning and networking, and develop a resource directory. As the
program evolves, the Cultural Affairs Division might choose to relocate it,
depending on its own priorities. The Division could contract the marketing
program to an outside provider, transfer it to the Santa Monica Arts Foundation,
or perhaps share responsibility for it with local arts and cultural organizations.
Revenues can be generated for the program through fees for service, (including
revenue sharing from ticket sales), advertising and sponsorships.
Coordination and Convening Closely related to the communitywide marketing program is the need to convene
and coordinate efforts within Santa Monica’s arts and cultural community. An
important tool for coordination is a comprehensive resource directory of Santa
Monica’s cultural facilities, programs and other resources and opportunities of
interest primarily to the arts and cultural
community (organizations and individual
artists). Such a directory can greatly
enhance the ability of organizations,
artists, arts-related businesses and other
creative individuals to access capacity
building and other resources.
This directory, which might be called
Creative Santa Monica, can be expanded
to include creative individuals and arts-
related businesses. By also including a
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list of education and lifelong learning programs, it can also serve a secondary
purpose of marketing those programs to the community. The directory must be
actively managed and updated, to maintain its effectiveness. The directory can
be developed and staffed by the Cultural Affairs Division, building on its
extensive network of community relationships and knowledge. The updated
inventory of Santa Monica’s cultural facilities is an excellent first step in
developing this directory.
Similarly, convening is a simple and effective way of encouraging cooperation
within the arts and cultural community. For example, to support efforts to
promote and maintain a master calendar, Cultural Affairs Division staff might
conduct monthly meetings of key stakeholders, which can also function as a local
coordinating and networking group. These meetings could include local arts and
cultural organizations, artists, the Santa Monica Library, arts education and
lifelong learning providers, and other interested cultural stakeholders.
2. Enhancing and Expanding Festivals
Santa Monica’s residents are avid festival attendees; 69% have attended a
community festival in the past year and the city’s Santa Monica Festival attracts
approximately 10,000 annually. Residents also would like to be able to attend
more arts and cultural festivals in the city; 81% find the idea of more public
festivals for arts and culture in Santa Monica appealing or very appealing. Santa
Monica arts organizations also find festivals appealing; nearly all respondents to
the Creative Capital organizational survey expressed a desire to participate in a
communitywide festival.
As is widely known, festivals are an effective and appropriate delivery vehicle for
cultural services and are used by communities throughout the world to establish
or reinforce a cultural identity. They can serve large numbers of people, often
those that are less likely to attend more formal arts events. Festivals can
increase accessibility by being affordable, and with appropriate programming, by
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“Glow” Festival Santa Monica What began in Paris five years ago as an experiment and adventure in densely filling the hours between dusk and dawn with all manner of cultural events, is now sprouting up in other cities in Europe and North America. This foray into the quiet hours of night attracted over one million people last year in Paris. The City of Santa Monica is now planning for its own event, entitled Glow, part homage to the French initiative but more specifically in tribute to the famous grunion fish who live in local waters and come ashore several times a year to spawn their eggs in the sand creating a momentary sensation of iridescence and glow. Glow will shift our expectations in regards to how we program our time. In lieu of sleep Glow suggests community gatherings and dramatic cultural adventures. In keeping with the public nature of the festival, events will occur in public spaces, in intersections normally filled with cars, on the pier, along the Third Street Promenade and Palisades Park. Glow’s ambition is to fill the streets and public spaces of downtown Santa Monica for one twelve hour period with delighted and engaged people, who are savoring and participating in unique contemporary art experiences, all of which will be free. Glow is tentatively scheduled for early summer 2008 and will be planned to coincide as much as possible with the run of the grunion, which is often easily observed on Santa Monica beaches.
serving seniors, youth, families and children.
Festivals also activate parks, neighborhoods
and other public spaces. As with the Santa
Monica Festival, they are excellent
opportunities for collaborations.
Current Major Festivals The Cultural Affairs Division already
produces the annual Santa Monica Festival in
Clover Park, a successful collaboration with
the Environmental Services Division. It is
also seeking funding to continue to produce
last year’s highly successful pilot program,
the Jazz on the Lawn concert series. It is
currently exploring the development of a new
arts and cultural festival for 2008, “Glow,”
inspired by the annual “Nuit Blanche” Festival
in Paris, which will take place during an entire
night on and near the Pier, the beach and
Ocean Avenue. These activities strongly
support the goal of increasing public
participation and access, as well as
reinforcing Santa Monica’s unique creative
identity. They should be continued and
developed or expanded.
Co-producing Smaller Festivals Santa Monica is home to a number of smaller-scale festivals focusing on the arts
culture, including the Juneteenth Celebration, Cinco de Mayo and Dia de los
Muertos festivals, produced by community groups. Additional small-scale
festivals that highlight an aspect of the arts in Santa Monica, or that contain a
Page 29
cultural component, are desirable and can most effectively be provided through
partnerships with community organizations. These community-based festivals
are often produced by smaller organizations and grassroots groups that would
benefit from technical assistance. To address this need, it would be valuable to
create a program through which the community partner would approach the
Cultural Affairs Division with a proposal for a festival and take primary
responsibility for producing. City co-sponsorship provides the community festival
producer with less restrictive permitting and a marketing partner. Also, Cultural
Affairs Division staff can provide invaluable access to information and cultural
resources in the community to enhance such festivals. An example of such an
opportunity is the new Pico art walk which was produced this year by the Pico
Improvement Organization.
3. Integrating Cultural Programming
Non-traditional venues and public spaces Santa Monica already employs a highly effective method of increasing cultural
participation and access: integrating cultural programming into non-traditional
venues and programs. For example, the new Teen Center at the Virginia
Avenue Park, a collaboration of the City’s Human Services and Cultural Affairs
Divisions, has developed an arts program that is a component of its overall
program for youth. In this manner, the Park is not only serving the Pico
neighborhood and its youth population, it is providing access to arts programs
“where the people are.” In addition, there have been discussions of including a
cultural component to the Annenberg Community Beach Club project, the
redevelopment of the former Marion Davies estate into a public beach club. The
cultural component might include exhibits and an artist-in-residence program.
This inclusion of arts does more than increase access; it provides an interpretive
richness to the facility and its users. It also further integrates art into
neighborhood settings, as the community has expressly requested.
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Arts for All—Reintroducing Arts Education to All Schools
Arts education in California schools is currently an unfunded state mandate. To remedy this, Arts for All has embarked on a long-term effort to reintroduce arts education to all schools throughout Los Angeles County. The strategy is to create systemic change and institutionalize sequential, K-12 arts education, based on the Visual and Performing Arts Standards for California Public Schools. After three years, 17 of the 80 school districts have created strategic plans approved by their boards of education. Arts for All is a partnership of more than 50 organizations, including the Los Angeles County Arts Commission and the Los Angeles County Office of Education.
www.lacountyarts.org/artseducation.html
Looking for similar opportunities to integrate cultural programming into other
venues is a cost-effective way of fulfilling the overall strategy of increasing public
participation and access. By using such partnerships among City departments
and divisions, the cost is kept to a minimum, and community partners can be
invited to provide some or all of the programs.
Senior Programs One of the findings of the resident survey conducted for Creative Capital was that
senior citizens generally participate less in the arts and attend fewer arts events
than other population groups. Making cultural programs available in venues and
through programs that already serve seniors, such as the Senior Center in
Palisades Park, is one way of increasing accessibility. Another potential is
through using the network of lifelong learning providers to highlight this need and
identify partnerships that can expand services and/or accessibility for senior
citizens.
Arts in the Schools Opportunities for young people, in
particular arts education, is an important
issue in Santa Monica. The residents’
survey documented the attitudes strongly
favoring arts education and the extent of
parents’ efforts to provide their children
with arts education outside of school. In
2005, the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified
School District (SMMUSD) adopted a
nine-year plan to reintroduce arts
education to all of its schools. This plan
is part of a countywide effort, Arts for All,
to restore arts education to all school
districts in Los Angeles County, which is widely regarded as a national model.
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Ninety percent of Santa Monica residents find it important to have art in public places in the city.
2006 Arts Survey of Santa Monica Residents
Adoption by SMMUSD of its arts education plan indicates that the District is
assuming responsibility for assuring that children have better access to
meaningful arts education. The strategy of the plan is to implement the State of
California’s Visual and Performing Arts (VAPA) Curriculum Standards, which
involves providing comprehensive, sequential, standards-based instruction in
music, drama, visual arts and dance to all students. To pursue implementation of
the Arts for All plan, SMMUSD’s Visual and Performing Arts program is
partnering with the Santa Monica-Malibu Education Foundation; the Cultural
Affairs Division should cooperate where possible with this effort.
4. Expanding the Public Art Program
Santa Monica has had a long-standing and highly successful public art program.
In its current form, the percent for art requirement applies only to selected
projects in the City’s Capital Improvement
Program. The City recently extended the
public art requirement to private industrial,
residential, and commercial development,
including tenant improvements. The ordinance
includes an in-lieu fee option for developers who prefer to not include public art in
their project. These developer contributions will be paid into a Cultural Trust
Fund that is managed by the Cultural Affairs Division and can be used to
promote programs and projects that are adapted to meet the community’s
cultural priorities and needs as identified through this planning process.
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C. ENHANCING SUSTAINABILITY
Santa Monica is a community for which sustainability is a guiding philosophy.
The City adopted its Santa Monica Sustainable City Program in 1994 and its
Sustainable City Plan in 2003. There are two advisory bodies for aspects of
sustainability, the Task Force on the Environment and the Sustainable City Task
Force. The city is recognized as a worldwide leader in sustainability.
The philosophy of sustainability is holistic, going beyond environmentalism and
encompassing the arts and culture. Santa Monica’s plan embodies this broad
vision of sustainability in its principles, which for example, connect environmental
quality with economic health, human dignity and social equity. Also, community
awareness, responsibility, participation and education are regarded as key
elements of a sustainable community. These principles are widely shared by the
field of the arts and culture. In fact, sustainability is already linked to arts and
culture in Santa Monica through its public art program and the annual Santa
Monica Festival. For example, the Festival includes the theme of sustainability
and is a collaborative effort between the Cultural Affairs Division and the
Environmental Programs Division. This collaboration has evolved over time and
in 2007 the Festival is planned as a zero-waste event. There is a desire for
greater collaboration and integration of the arts and culture into sustainability
efforts.
The community’s cultural vision also views culture as parallel to sustainability—a
guiding philosophy. The arts and culture are seen as an organic part of the
community, not separate from it, enriching and supporting Santa Monica’s civic
life in myriad ways, by enhancing education, diversity, human dignity and the
built environment. This expansive perspective on the role and value of culture is
that it sustains the community.
CULTURE AND SUSTAINABILITY
The eight goal areas of the 2003 Santa Monica Sustainable City Plan have a
variety of implications for cultural development in Santa Monica. The fields of
sustainability and culture have much to offer each other in accomplishing mutual
goals.
Economic Development
Maintaining economic diversity: the creative sector makes up 8.89% of the Santa Monica workforce and its creative industry is a major component of its overall economy.
Quality of job creation: jobs in the commercial creative sector are generally high-paying and environmentally friendly. Arts-related businesses are frequently small, low-impact and high-return.
Human Dignity
Education and youth: studies have shown that young people exposed to the arts have higher test scores, lower drop-out rates, higher levels of tolerance and empathy, and other highly desirable outcomes. In addition, the arts frequently tackle timely social and political issues, and are an excellent community forum for education and productive dialogue on such issues.
Open Space and Land Use
Open space development: cultural programs and public art can increase the citizens’ enjoyment of their parks and open spaces.
Housing
Availability of affordable housing: while Santa Monica is recognized historically as a haven for artists, many traditional artists are among
the lowest paid workers in our society. Providing affordable housing and work space for artists helps retain their presence in the community, in the face of overwhelming real estate pressures to move to lower-cost areas.
Transportation
Reducing automobile dependency: providing arts and cultural programs in Santa Monica and emphasizing public transportation options in marketing materials shortens automobile trips and facilitates use of alternative transportation.
Community Education and Civic Participation
Community education: the Santa Monica Arts Festival already contains a major environmental component; sustainability can be part of public art and other arts projects, providing community education.
Civic involvement: cultural programs and community festivals provide important opportunities for citizens to come together to celebrate civic life.
Volunteering: the cultural arena offers a multitude of opportunities to engage in civic involvement through volunteering.
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Serious music is a city thing. It takes a large pool of people -- musicians, audience, even philanthropists -- to make it happen. I go to the opera and the L.A. Phil at the Music Center and the Disney Hall as much as possible, but let's face it -- traffic is a bear. …Fortunately, Santa Monica is becoming a much more convenient place than it was to hear concerts.
Frank Gruber, Blog: The Lookout
Enhancing cultural sustainability requires a
healthy ecosystem of support. Culture
thrives first and foremost when there is, as in
Santa Monica, a numerous and diverse
collection of creative people. More is
required, however. Cultural vitality
throughout the system requires visibility,
awareness, resources, leadership and
effective policy. It also requires
collaborations among sectors of the community, such as education,
government and business.
For the arts and cultural community, sustainability also means a stronger
infrastructure of support, to better enable effective creativity and community
service. To meet the needs of residents it is necessary to address the needs of
artists, arts organizations and cultural groups. Many perceive their community as
in precarious condition, with predominately small-budget organizations and often
insecure facility or space arrangements. There are relatively few organizations
with paid staff or endowment funds. Individual artists, who face challenges in
virtually all communities, have in Santa Monica experienced the loss or
threatened loss of living and studio spaces. The cultural ecosystem is in danger
of losing a critical portion of what defines Santa Monica.
Nonetheless, organizations, artists and other individuals in Santa Monica’s arts
and cultural community are passionately committed to their city. They view
Santa Monica as an exceptional creative environment and they greatly value its
way of life. They also identified a range of needs that would increase their
sustainability within the overall community. The two primary issues are cultural
facilities and cultural funding. In addition, there is a widespread opinion that
better coordination and marketing of existing resources would yield both stronger
organizations and greater public participation and access.
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The most critical issue facing the arts community in Santa Monica is retaining and fostering is art culture in light of increasing real estate pressures. The need for affordable housing, art studios, as well as performing venues, is critical to the survival of the arts in the city.
City of Santa Monica Opportunities and Challenges Report (2005)
The following sections present the three areas of concentration within the
strategy of increasing sustainability of the arts and culture: retaining and
developing cultural facilities; increasing and restructuring cultural funding and
expanding leadership in the arts.
1. Retaining and Developing Cultural Facilities
Santa Monica’s arts and cultural
community faces daunting facilities
issues. A rapidly rising real estate
market and the restriction of rent control
has in recent years contributed to artists’
moving out of the city and to arts
organizations losing spaces or devoting an increasing amount of resources to
maintaining current spaces. Because of the pace and unpredictability of change,
there is a general environment of uncertainty surrounding facilities and it is
difficult for artists and arts organizations to plan how to meet their needs. In a
survey of Santa Monica arts and cultural organizations (see page 109), all
respondents reported having facilities needs, including:
Larger facility/more space
Improvements/upgrades to current facility
Lower costs in current facility
Better signage
In workshops exploring these issues, organizations detailed their needs for small-
scale, affordable space for performing, exhibitions, rehearsals, storage, and
administration. Many organizations are willing to share spaces such as
performance, rehearsal, exhibition and studio. Individual artists need affordable
studio space and places to show their work. All would prefer greater stability in
Page 36
access to facilities so that they can focus more of their organizational energies on
their programs.
The residents’ survey (page 101) suggested additional cultural facilities needs for
the community, and it reinforced some of the organizations’ and artists’ needs.
Residents, who can be viewed as the audience or market of arts consumers,
have a strong preference for a large theater for major plays or concerts, for
smaller places to hear music, and for smaller theaters. In addition, Santa
Monica’s citizens are avid consumers of virtually all current facilities, including
Bergamot Station, the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, the Santa Monica
Museum of Art, and local galleries and small theaters. In addition, Santa
Monica’s demographics are strongly correlated with arts attendance, which is
closely associated with higher educational and income levels. Santa Monica
residents have substantially higher educational attainment compared to the US
average.3 Taken together, there are strong indications of market demand for
additional cultural facilities of varying types.
Santa Monica is home to an increasing number of cultural facilities. The
renovation of the 1,250-seat Barnum Hall and the anticipated opening of the 541-
seat Madison Theater are examples of welcome new facilities that will help fill
some community needs. Nonetheless, a recent update of the inventory of Santa
Monica’s cultural facilities showed a net increase in their number but a decrease
in their availability for use by the community. Facilities tend to be available fewer
days per year and at less-desirable dates and times; this is especially true for the
smaller organizations and spaces. This presumably reflects the pressure of the
real estate market for organizations to make greater use of their own facilities.
The organizational survey showed that organizations were resourceful in the face
of this scarcity, using a great variety of local and nearby venues, including
churches and other non-arts venues, and sometimes changing venues often. 3 Among Santa Monica residents, approximately 32% have a Bachelor’s degree and 23% a graduate or professional degree. The US averages are 15.5% (Bachelor’s degree) and 8.9% (graduate or professional degree).
Page 37
Arts Alleys Creating Arts Alleys flanking the Third Street Promenade capitalizes on a special Santa Monica opportunity—the availability of space fronting the alleys—while encouraging public interaction with artists. Arts uses include a mix of public and private venues: performance and gallery spaces, and art and rehearsal studios. The pedestrian environment is enlivened and social interaction enhanced with cafes and outdoor performances. This rendering shows one example of how Arts Alleys might be configured. Note the arts uses within a reconfigured city parking structure. Zoned paving and landscaping can reinforce a balance of pedestrian and vehicular use in the alleyway.
There are also several existing and
important cultural facilities that are
facing change in the coming years and
that could potentially cause a major
loss to the community as well as the
cultural organizations. The Bergamot
Station complex of art galleries,
including the Santa Monica Museum
of Art, is slated to become a
transportation site in approximately
2012, with the development of a new
light rail line. Also, the arts facilities
near the Santa Monica Airport face
uncertainty as the City assesses and
explores the future of the site beyond
2015. And the 18th Street Arts Center
is currently assessing several options
that would allow it to retain and
expand its current facilities in the face
of financial pressures.
Arts Alleys Clearly, a primary challenge in Santa
Monica is to identify reasonably
affordable spaces that can be
occupied by artists and arts
organizations. Fortunately, such affordable space may exist. The Bayside
District Development Corporation (the redevelopment district for downtown Santa
Monica) noted that there was a peculiarity in the layout of the plots in the center
city, with an average 50 foot frontage and 150 foot depth in the lots. These long,
narrow properties, with limited frontage, mean that one-third to one-half of the
Page 38
properties are often vacant in the spaces that face the alleys. This suggests that
these spaces could be developed into arts spaces – live/work, studio, gallery,
music or jazz clubs, etc. There is already one cultural organization, the City
Garage Theatre, which occupies one of these spaces.
This configuration exists in the alleyways between 2nd and 3rd Streets and 3rd and
4th Streets. In addition, the City has six parking garages that front on these
alleys, three of which will be renovated and three of which will be completely
rebuilt in the coming years. This represents an opportunity to develop the ground
floor areas fronting the alleys into additional arts spaces. Naturally, there will be
obstacles to overcome, for example the alleys are used for deliveries and trash
pickup. However, through a combination of creative design and scheduling it is
possible to overcome these challenges. There is already a high level of
pedestrian activity in the alleys now. People enter them from the garages and
use them as walkways from one block to the next. Additionally, they are
surprisingly clean.
The creation of a downtown cultural district would help establish a mechanism to
market and manage the program. There will need to be some entity that will
implement this recommendation and provide programming for the arts alleys.
Logically, that would be the Bayside District Development Corporation. There
would also need to be some revenue source to support the programming of the
alleys. One possible source would be a modest surcharge on the parking; 25 or
50 cents per car might provide sufficient funding to support these activities.
It has been noted that there may be additional opportunities to create Arts Alleys
in other locations. One suggestion is the alleyway between Ocean Avenue and
2nd Street, north of Broadway. Possible drawbacks are that it is farther from the
Promenade and the properties do not seem quite as amenable to conversion to
arts uses. The west side of this alley includes a number of residential buildings
that cannot be incorporated into the arts use, and there is less existing use by
pedestrians. The other possibility is the new mixed use development adjacent to
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the Rand Corporation in the Civic Center redevelopment. The developer is
currently considering the possibility of including arts spaces, and perhaps an arts
alley, as part of the overall scheme.
Artists’ Live/Work and Day Studio Space As noted above, there has been an ongoing erosion of the availability of artist
live/work space and day studios in Santa Monica. According to the 2000 study,
Artist Live/Work and Studio Space in Santa Monica, the survival of individual
artists in Santa Monica requires additional affordable studios in which to work.
However, that study documented that between 1998 and 2000 the number of
day-studios for fine artists had shrunk by 25% (a reduction from 156 units to 117
units).
The loss of these units, coupled with rising rents, threaten to force increasing
numbers of Santa Monica artists and arts organizations out of the city. If Santa
Monica is to retain its artists and arts organizations and even grow their number
in the future, the City must be actively involved in developing policies and
ordinances that facilitate the creation of affordable artists’ spaces. There are at
least four important opportunities:
Light Manufacturing Studio District zone (LMSD): artists’ live/work
spaces can potentially be incorporated into this district as part of
the City’s affordable housing requirement.
Bergamot Station, Santa Monica Airport and the 18th Street Arts
Center, which are discussed below in Threatened Cultural
Facilities.
Santa Monica Civic Auditorium Creative Capital was charged with investigating potential cultural uses of the
Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, in relation to the community’s vision and needs
for the arts and culture. The Civic Auditorium is facing substantial change in its
Page 40
operations and surroundings as the Civic Center Specific Plan is implemented.
Also, the Civic Center Specific Plan defines the general future of the Civic
Auditorium, stating that “priority shall be given to cultural, education and
community-oriented activities while preserving opportunities for events that can
contribute to the ongoing operation and upkeep of the facility.” These and other
influences have highlighted the need to define a vision for the building that can
guide its future development, within the larger context of Civic Center
redevelopment, community cultural needs and market forces.
There are a number of options for cultural uses of the Civic Auditorium that
should be assessed and developed through additional planning. There are
several facts that influence and complicate decisions regarding cultural use of the
building. In sum, there is more than one use and configuration of the Civic
Auditorium that would suit community needs, and there is an overarching
financial question of whether operation of the facility will be subsidized or could
be structured as a revenue generator. Among the findings of Creative Capital
are that:
The community is very interested in both large and small theaters:
82% of residents find the idea of a large theater for major plays or
concerts appealing or very appealing; in addition, 80% of residents
find the idea of having lots of smaller places to hear music
appealing or very appealing, and 70% lots of smaller theaters.
The community is very interested in an art museum and more art
galleries: 73% of residents find the idea of having a major arts
museum in Santa Monica to be appealing or very appealing, and
71% the idea of having more art galleries.
The needs of Santa Monica’s nonprofit arts and cultural
organizations and individual artists generally suggest smaller
facilities: All organizations report having facility needs, including
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flexible, affordable small-scale spaces and they are willing to share;
individual artists seek exhibition space.
The community has a longstanding relationship with the Civic
Auditorium: In addition to the remarkable programming history of
the facility, 43% of residents have attended an event there in the
past two years. Residents would most like to see more music at
the Civic Auditorium (25% of respondents).
Concert promoters believe that the Civic Auditorium has potential
as a commercial concert venue: Mainstream and independent
promoters are interested in leasing and/or using the facility, if it is
properly configured and upgraded.
At a community workshop on the future of the Civic Auditorium, participants
acknowledged the facility’s vibrant history, its place in the cultural identity of the
community, and its current role as home for local cultural organizations and
events. They also articulated a broad, shared vision for the future of the Civic
Auditorium. This vision views the facility as:
Being a cultural focal point of the community, one that respects the
building’s history and anticipates the future
Having greater functionality as a cultural facility, with state-of-the-
art technical capacity and audience amenities
Having an enlivened public space in and around the building, with
activity and use at all different times of the day and year
Having enhanced outdoor spaces surrounding the building
Containing a performance auditorium for large events, as it is now,
as well as smaller spaces for more intimate performances
Including visual arts use and/or a museum
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Dean Lesher Regional Center for the Arts, Walnut Creek, California The Lesher Center is a vibrant example of a city-owned and -operated performing and visual arts center. Serving audiences primarily in Contra Costa County, it is home to resident performing companies, community rentals, regional and touring companies, and a diverse exhibition schedule. There are three theaters, ranging in size from 133 to 785 seats, and a 3,500 square foot gallery. In addition to the Lesher Center, the City of Walnut operates several studio facilities providing a large range of visual and performing arts classes and workshops for all ages. These cultural facilities are operated by the City as an enterprise fund, with a total annual budget of $6.5 million, including a general fund subsidy of $1.9 million.
Including educational uses
In addition, workshop participants acknowledged that current consumer
exhibition uses were valuable revenue generating events that help support other
uses of the building.
This vision is consistent with the Civic Center Specific Plan but implies the need
for fundamental choices among elements of the vision. At the heart of the
problem is whether to retain the auditorium in something close to its current
configuration, or to adaptively reuse it for other purposes, such as smaller
performance spaces, a museum or educational programs. Also, the vision
suggests different approaches to operations and management of the facility.
In recognition of the complexity of community needs and vision, there are two
fundamental options, each with variations, which provide a useful framework for
analyzing the future possibilities of the Civic Auditorium. Each option will require
additional planning and market research to develop a fully defined and feasible
use.
Performing and Visual Arts Center
Option: This scenario treats the
facility as a multidisciplinary cultural
and education facility that balances
the needs of the audience with the
needs of the arts and cultural
community. It serves the needs of
Santa Monica artists and arts
organizations by providing spaces
appropriate to their needs. It also
addresses residents’ interest in
smaller scale, affordable events and
activities. In striking this balance, it
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is helpful to remember that Santa Monica’s arts community
encompasses a continuum of nonprofit to commercial activity;
therefore, uses could reflect this range and accommodate at least
some revenue-generating activities and a non-traditional management
structure.
In line with the community’s vision, the space in the building would be
reconfigured to include various combinations of smaller performance
venues, exhibition spaces, a museum, educational spaces (classrooms
and studios), screening rooms, a recording studio, and/or other uses.
The auditorium could be retained in its current configuration or
reconfigured as a combination of smaller spaces. Because of the
hydraulic floor, it is also possible to make reversible changes to the
auditorium space, such as removable walls, temporary structures or
mobile structures; this approach would maintain the use of the
auditorium space while providing for other uses.4 Reconfiguring the
facility to include more diverse spaces would accommodate a great
range of programming, including performing arts (music, theater,
dance, spoken word, cross-disciplinary), visual arts (exhibitions of
varying media and focus), media arts (screenings, recording) and
education. It could be programmed to reinforce Santa Monica’s
identity as a home for creative individuals and innovation, emphasizing
more intimate artistic experiences. The facility could be shared with
tenants and/or resident arts organizations.
Interviews with managers of facilities that share some similarities with
this option all emphasize that, in any version of this use, it would
require an operating subsidy, even including some revenue-generating
uses. The amount of subsidy depends on the choice of spaces and
the possibility of finding a nonprofit organization as manager;
4 Any changes to the auditorium space must meet the Secretary of the Interior’s standards for the preservation of historic structures.
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generally, smaller spaces require greater subsidy. While exact
comparisons are difficult at this point, other cultural facilities with some
similarity to this option require subsidies (or contributed revenues) in
the range of $1 million to $6 million annually. While there are many
other theaters in the area, from downtown Los Angeles to Santa
Monica, there are few with the same configuration and size as the
Santa Monica Civic Auditorium (most notably the Dorothy Chandler
Pavilion at the Los Angeles Music Center and the Kodak Theatre in
Hollywood). Facility managers often comment that, at approximately
3,000 seats, these halls occupy a particular niche in the performing
arts landscape. They are considered too small for many commercial
uses and too large and expensive for many performing arts uses,
where audiences often prefer a more intimate audience experience.
This indicates that in its current configuration, programming the Civic
Auditorium as a performing arts venue presents challenges and
greater costs. Still, the desirable location and sheer number of arts
consumers within a reasonable drive-time of the facility suggest that
this option should be investigated further.
In this option, the facility would either be managed by the City, a
nonprofit organization, or a partnership that might include a
commercial entity.
Concert Venue Option: In this scenario, the facility would be leased to
a concert promoter to operate the venue and is upgraded according to
the needs of the lessee. The promoter would be responsible for
providing programs and accommodating a negotiated amount of the
time for community use of the auditorium. The financial advantage is
that the facility will generate revenue in the form of lease payments to
the City, and some amount of contribution towards facility
improvements and maintenance. The amount of capital costs
transferred to the lessee would depend on the type of promoter
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selected and the specific lease negotiation; mainstream promoters
generally bring more resources to the table and independent
promoters less. This use would address the community’s desire for
the type of performances and events suited to a large theater/concert
venue. Selecting an independent promoter as lessee could potentially
provide a greater range of programming, including music, theater and
new genre, which is arguably more suited to the sophistication and
breadth of Santa Monica residents’ artistic preferences. A mainstream
promoter would likely serve a narrower portion of audience tastes but
generate greater revenue. The market reality of concert promotion
requires that the entire facility be leased to the promoter and that the
auditorium remain configured in a form relatively similar to its current
flexible arrangement. Also, concert venues, like movie theaters,
depend on ancillary sales for profitability; this mitigates the risk
inherent in concert promotion. The East Wing and other spaces in the
building would need to be equipped to accommodate vendors, which
might include a restaurant and alcoholic beverages, as well as private
receptions.
In addition to the calculus of these options, there are other influences on choices
for the Civic Auditorium. First is the relationship to the surrounding area and the
Civic Center Specific Plan. The entire area is changing, with the addition of new
housing and parks, stronger connections to the Pier and downtown, a possible
outdoor performance space, and changes in available parking. These uses will
help in achieving the desired activation and 24-hour use of the Civic Auditorium
as a public space. Also, it will place more users within walking distance of the
building.
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A Cultural Campus—Land Use Near the Civic Auditorium
These schematic diagrams illustrate the range of creative solutions available if the City revises the Civic Center Specific Plan to include a cultural campus surrounding the Civic Auditorium. They show ways to accommodate uses currently called for in the Civic Center Specific Plan.
The Civic Auditorium can also be
viewed as the centerpiece of a cultural
campus that includes but extends
beyond the Civic Center to
encompass Santa Monica High
School and its cultural facilities. The
cultural campus would clearly support
the vision for the Civic Auditorium, in
either of the two options. Treating the
area as a cultural campus would, for
example, reinforce the arts uses of the
building, the cultural focal point, the
enlivening of the area, and the
educational uses. SAMOHI contains
the recently-renovated Barnum Hall
(1,250 seats) and the outdoor Greek
Theatre (2,000 - 3,500 capacity), both
of which will be frequently used by
community groups under a plan
recently adopted by the school district.
Both of these venues are potential
supplements to the Civic Auditorium;
however, one of the barriers to their
use is the lack of urban design
providing a connection. The Santa
Monica Unified School District is in the
process of developing a facilities
master plan. The district’s planning
consultants have already identified a
need for arts facilities and expressed
interest in exploring collaborations
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with the Civic Auditorium. Clearly, this possibility should be included in further
planning for the building.
The Civic Center Specific Plan includes plans for ball fields immediately east of
the Civic Auditorium, where the current parking lot is located. The community
expressed a strong interest in attending more arts and cultural festivals in Santa
Monica. It would be natural to co-locate a festival venue where ball fields are
planned. With coordination of schedules and uses, shared use is potentially
feasible. A festival site, shared with the sports use, would help provide a
connection between the Civic Auditorium and the SAMOHI campus, reinforcing
an overall cultural campus in the Civic Center. To be viable, the festival site
would need to include permanent facilities, such as staging, towers for technical
equipment and bathrooms. The Civic Center Specific Plan also includes
restrictions on the expansion of the Civic Auditorium’s East Wing5 that should
also be reevaluated in further discussions concerning the facility. Allowing
expansion beyond 20,000 square feet and its current footprint could permit
greater freedom in fulfilling a cultural use of the building, without impacting the
significance or visual character of the historic structure. For example, expanding
the East Wing underground could add 20,000 or more square feet of capacity.
The recent expansion of the Griffith Park Observatory is an example of this
approach.
Any version of cultural uses for the Civic Auditorium will require a substantial
capital outlay and, potentially, an operating subsidy. The facility has deferred
maintenance needs and code compliance issues. These capital costs were
estimated to total between $11.6 and $40 million, in various use scenarios,
according to a 2001 assessment. Also, the landmark status for the building,
granted in 2002 by the City Council upon recommendation of Landmarks
Commission, identifies a number of unique and architecturally significant features
5 East Wing expansion is now limited to 20,000 square feet and a height of 25 feet.
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that cannot be altered without required actions by the Landmark Commission.6
While this protects the building from demolition and ensures preservation of its
unique characteristics, there is latitude for significant reuse and alteration of the
non-protected elements of the facility. Great creativity is possible in planning the
architectural future of the Civic Auditorium.
Finally, use of the facility as a conference center was also partially considered in
this planning process through discussion during the community workshop and
with the Convention and Visitors Bureau. Although this would be a non-cultural
use, it has the potential to be revenue-generating and therefore a revenue source
for other arts and cultural programs. The CVB and other studies identify the
need for a conference center facility in Santa Monica, while also acknowledging a
number of barriers to using the Civic Auditorium for this purpose. Barriers
include the lack of a hotel sufficiently large to book conferences on a scale
necessary for conference bookings, necessitating cooperation among several
smaller hotels. Also, with high occupancy rates, hotels have less incentive to
pursue such collaboration for conference business. Past studies reach
somewhat conflicting conclusions regarding this option. This use is not
consistent with the community’s cultural vision for the Civic Auditorium and was
not therefore pursued in the context of this plan.
Small Performing and Visual Arts Venues Meeting the needs of many of Santa Monica’s arts and cultural organizations will
require additional small-scale and affordable performing and visual arts venues.
The success of the renovated Miles Playhouse, a small theater with a flexible
seating arrangement of as many as 141 seats owned by the City and operated
by the Cultural Affairs Division, provides one model of the usefulness of such
facilities. The Miles is booked at or near capacity by local and area groups,
6 Landmarked features include: exterior of the building; Pygmy palm trees; configuration of the lobby spaces; wood paneling in first floor lobby; lobby staircases; volume of the auditorium interior; adjustable auditorium main floor (hydraulic floor); acoustic panels and sconces in main hall; and soundproof sliding doors to the conference room.
Page 49
providing a range of inexpensive performances and events to the community at
below market rates.
There is a need for one or more venues with a capacity of fewer than
approximately 500 seats, and for additional exhibition space for visual arts. With
the opening of the Madison Theater scheduled for fall 2007, there will be a mix of
theaters in Santa Monica with capacities ranging from large—the Civic
Auditorium at approximately 3,000 seats—down to the 541-seat Madison
Theater. This leaves a gap in the smaller size range. To be useful to local
organizations and artists, these venues must have booking policies and user fees
appropriate to small budgets. There must also be sufficient technical capacity to
meet the needs of diverse productions and events.
There are several ways in which these facility needs can be met:
The City can identify spaces that become available and either
develop and operate them directly, like the Miles Playhouse, or
seek a lessee that can manage the facility. The old Ash Grove
space on the Santa Monica Pier is an example of this approach; an
RFP to lease and program this space as a performance venue has
been issued by the City.
The City can seek to negotiate the provision of small arts spaces
within developer agreements. The potential redevelopment of
Santa Monica Place, for example, might present such an
opportunity.
Redevelopment of the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium presents an
opportunity to incorporate one or more small performance venues
as well as exhibition spaces.
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Redevelopment of the former City Jail into the City Hall annex
presents an opportunity to incorporate a city exhibition space of up
to 2,500 square feet.
The needs of organizations that currently own or hold long-term
leases on their facilities is addressed through the recommended
capital grants program (page 53). This grants program is intended
to assist organizations in filling their own facility needs through
matching grants, and to build their capacity through fulfilling the
demands of a capital campaign.
Threatened Cultural Facilities in Santa Monica The City should seek ways to retain current cultural facilities whose existence in
Santa Monica is threatened by impending change. These facilities include
Bergamot Station (also the location of the Santa Monica Museum) and various
the City-owned art studios at the Santa Monica Airport. It is premature to
recommend specific solutions to these challenges because reuse, or potential
reuse, of the sites is years in the future. However, given the creative identity of
the community and the extraordinary amount of use of these facilities by
residents and artists, it would be unwise to allow them to disappear from Santa
Monica’s cultural ecology.
One interesting potential for Bergamot Station did emerge from the planning
process: relocating the arts uses and ensuring the long-term viability of their
relocation through dedication of lease revenues from the Bergamot site. This
approach was used by the San Francisco Redevelopment Agency to fund the
Yerba Buena Center; lease revenues from the adjacent Hyatt Hotel are
permanently dedicated to support operations of this multi-venue performing and
visual arts center, generating approximately $3.5 million annually.
The 18th Street Arts Center is another threatened facility. To help assure a stable
future, it seeks to complete the purchase of its facility from its founder. The
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organization is currently investigating ways to develop the property in a manner
that would provide necessary income, while expanding its vibrant mix of artists’
live/work, studio, performance, exhibition and office spaces. 18th Street Arts
Center also plays a significant role in the local arts community as a landlord and
as a service organization. It is home to a substantial number of Santa Monica’s
arts organizations and artists; losing this facility would result in the probable loss
to Santa Monica of most of these organizations and artists. Also, expanding its
facility is one desirable way to address the community’s cultural facility needs.
The City has provided two planning grants to 18th Street and directed staff to
form an internal committee to work with the organization and explore potential
solutions. The City can continue to play a vital role in assisting this organization
to succeed in its facility initiative.
In addition to the uncertainty surrounding Bergamot Station, the Santa Monica
Museum of Art (SMMOA) faces other significant facility issues. To better
accommodate current and future needs, SMMOA is exploring ways to expand
and/or relocate from its current, rented facility. SMMOA is one of two relatively
large arts institutions located in Santa Monica, along with 18th Street Arts Center.
It is important to the arts ecology to find ways to meet SMMOA’s needs and keep
the Museum in the city.
Also, some of the artists who lease studio space at the Santa Monica Airport are
raising concerns about their ability to remain in Santa Monica: they are currently
facing relocation when their leases expire. During the course of planning, it
became apparent that there were policy issues concerning the use of these
spaces. The City provides leases on day studio spaces at the Santa Monica
Airport in several converted hangars and other buildings. Each building has
separate leases, including a master lease for the Santa Monica Art Studios and a
variety of group and individual agreements in other buildings. The City is
planning to make these spaces available to a new group of artists when some of
the current leases expire. Some of the artists currently using these studios prefer
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to stay and argue that they have made leasehold improvements and should be
allowed to renew their leases. They believe that terminating the leases will force
them to leave Santa Monica because of the lack of alternative spaces, which is
an undesirable result, given the theme of this plan to recognize and support
individual artists. This issue can best be addressed in a policy discussion before
the leases expire, including a legal review, to address the terms of lease
renewals and the selection process for new artists. Possible solutions can be
explored, such as expanding available studio spaces, locating new spaces,
and/or turning over some but not all of the current spaces.
Development Around Nodes The Land Use Element of the City’s General Plan is currently being updated and,
in its draft form, calls for development in relation to nodes throughout the
community. Assuming that this concept of nodes is retained in the finalized plan,
the location and planning of cultural facilities and uses (such as festivals and
other public events) should be determined in part with reference to the updated
land use plan. The impact of new facilities and uses can be leveraged by
building on current cultural uses in these areas. For example, facilities and
programs can support and enhance the emerging concentration of cultural uses
along the Pico Boulevard.
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Denver’s Dedicated Arts Funding Denver’s seven-county Scientific and Cultural Facilities District shows the breadth of the returns on public investment in the arts. Created in 1988 as the result of a cultural plan, the district dedicates 1/10th of one percent of its sales tax (“a penny for every ten dollars”) to its arts and culture organizations, including the science and natural history museums. This tax generates approximately $35 million annually, or $13.62 per capita, for unrestricted operating support. This revenue source has helped stabilize the cultural community, providing a reliable level of support, thereby increasing the capacity of these organizations to serve the public. Over the years, attendance has increased dramatically; more than 11 million people, twice the population of Colorado, visited scientific and cultural organizations in 2004. Furthermore, almost 860,000 out-of-state visitors annually defray the cost by spending millions of dollars on tourism. More subtly, these revenues have facilitated the development of diverse cultural organizations in suburban areas, as Denver has become an exurban region.
2. Increasing and Restructuring Cultural Funding
Funding provided to Santa Monica’s arts and cultural organizations is a key
program of the Cultural Affairs Division. Why is local government funding so
important? It is a smart investment. Local governments are increasingly
recognizing the value of making substantial public investment in their arts and
culture resources. A large, annual revenue stream for the arts and culture also
serves to stabilize or sustain the arts ecology, increasing organizational capacity
and fostering greater private support.
Since the late 1980’s, communities such
as Denver, Salt Lake, Pittsburgh and St.
Louis have demonstrated the
effectiveness of this approach, and
recent research and case-making
around economic development,
educational impact, neighborhood
revitalization, cultural participation and
cross-cultural dialogue have repeatedly
documented the returns.
For example, economic impact studies
illustrate that local government
revenues generated by investments in
arts and culture organizations typically
exceed the amount of tax revenues
invested. At the same time, more than
90% of the revenues of arts and culture
organizations are derived from non-
governmental sources; increased government support has a multiplier effect,
generating substantially greater private income.
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Current City Grants Programs Because funding is both a critical need and an important program, Creative
Capital included an assessment of the Cultural Affairs Division’s cultural funding
(see Assessment, page 115).
Total Funding In the most recent year, the City’s total cultural funding to nonprofit arts
organizations was approximately $260,000. Local government funding programs
whose goal is to promote sustainability generally aim to provide between 10%
and 20% of an organization’s operating budget. This provides sufficient
resources to provide a minimum level of stabilization. For example, Salt Lake
County’s ZAP Program (Zoo, Arts and Parks), widely regarded as a model
cultural funding program, seeks to provide 20% of the annual budgets of eligible
arts organizations, when sufficient funding exists, and actually provides
approximately 17%.
The total of operating budgets for Santa Monica’s nonprofit arts organizations is
approximately $6.5 million7; 10% to 20% of that amount would be $650,000 to
$1.3 million annually. The represents a reasonable target for the City’s total
annual cultural funding programs.
Cultural/Arts Organization Support Grant Program The Cultural/Arts Organization Support Grant Program (OSP) offers three-year
grants for organizational operations. The purpose of OSP is to provide long-term
organizational stability for Santa Monica’s key cultural and artistic institutions. By
and large, the program is structured to achieve that, although the funding
amounts, averaging 3%, are far less than the 10% to 20% benchmark. Also, the
program would be more effective if it focused on larger-budget organizations,
7 The figure of $6.5 million is calculated as the total of operating budgets of the 25 respondents to the cultural organization survey (page 23), excluding the highest budget figure. It does not include a projection of non-respondents.
Page 55
included stronger capacity building incentives, utilized a peer-review system, and
provided greater accountability.
Two organizations receive “pass through” support in the form of line item
allocations in the Cultural Affairs budget. The Santa Monica Historical Society
receives $50,000 and the Santa Monica Symphony receives $25,000. These two
grants should be folded into the overall Operating Support Grant Program to
reinforce the transparency and integrity of the funding process, with separate
peer review for arts and heritage applicants.
Co-Arts Grants Program The Co-Arts Program offers annual project grants to provide community access
to a diverse range of community-based arts and cultural activities. The program
would be more effective if matching requirements (cash or in-kind) were adopted
and, for administrative efficiency, if the funding cycle were aligned with the City’s
fiscal year (and the Division’s other funding programs), rather than the calendar
year.
Latino Co-Arts Grants Program Parallel to the regular Co-Arts Program is a special project grant category
providing support for community-based activities directed to the Latino
community. This program arose in part from a desire to support and promote
Latino cultural achievements and public understanding of Latino culture in Santa
Monica after the loss of Santa Monica’s only Spanish language theater. Since its
creation, other approaches to fulfilling this purpose have been adopted, including
the creation of the Virginia Avenue Park Teen Center’s youth program and
increased funding available to Santa Monica’s arts organizations through other
grants programs. The regular Co-Arts Program also emphasizes service to a
diverse population and the inclusion of multicultural artists in projects. Given the
expanded range of opportunities for Latino cultural expression, the Latino Co-
Arts Program should be re-evaluated to determine the most effective way to
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Every day millions of dollars are invested in venture capital in this country. We believe that supporting art at the moment of creation is a similar investment, spurring vital innovations in culture.
Katharine DeShaw, Executive Director, United States Artists
encourage and support offerings that reflect and promote cultural diversity. This
should include consideration of various strategies and approaches as well as the
option of sustaining the current dollar amount allocated to Latino Co-Arts grants.
Additional Support Programs To better fulfill the cultural needs identified in Creative Capital, the City should
create new programs to support individual artists and to further strengthen the
capacity of nonprofit arts organizations.
Artist Fellowship Program There is currently no City funding program that supports the work of Santa
Monica’s individual artists and highlights their accomplishments. Yet the need for
funding was among the highest identified by artists during the planning process.
Therefore, it is recommended that the Cultural Affairs Division create a funding
program for individual artists. Artists fellowship programs—funding artists
directly rather than through the intermediary of an arts organization—has
become recognized cultural policy in the US in recent years. Private foundations
and government agencies have increasingly developed these programs as a
means of supporting the creative act itself and the creative person. This
approach acknowledges that creative
individuals are the heart of the cultural
ecosystem. For example, the Ford
Foundation recently inaugurated a $20
million national program, United States
Artists, which provides $50,000 awards to 50
artists annually.
Ironically, however, artists who receive such support often identify recognition
and acknowledgment as the most valuable aspects of an award, even more than
the financial support. Therefore, programs supporting individual artists should
not only include funding but also a means of showcasing artists’ work and
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accomplishments. A valuable program for Santa Monica is one that would
provide two or three individual artist fellowships annually to recognized Santa
Monica artists who have distinguished themselves in their disciplines. The
program could have the following characteristics:
There should be three or four categories of artists: Visual Artists,
Performing Artists, Literary Artists and, perhaps, New Genre Artists.
Each year, artists in one of these categories would be honored,
with the program rotating to a new discipline annually.
The artist selection criteria should emphasize innovation and
experimental art, either innovation over time or currently. Note that
the term, “innovation,” is defined in Celebrating Innovation (page
16).
The City should honor the selected artists at a major public event,
an exhibition, a performing arts event, a gala celebration, etc.
Partnerships to exhibit or present artists’ work, where appropriate,
could be sought with local nonprofit organizations such as the 18th
Street Arts Center or the Santa Monica Museum of Art.
Artists should be selected through an application process or a
nomination process and reviewed by a professional peer panel.
Capacity-building and Technical Assistance Program Santa Monica’s arts and cultural organizations are in need of a program to assist
in their organizational development. Most Santa Monica organizations have few
professional staff and many are totally volunteer-driven. Larger organizations
also identify substantial needs for organizational improvement. Creating a
capacity building program would provide opportunities for local arts groups to
strengthen, stabilize and grow. The program could contain the following
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elements:
Capacity building should include an organizational assessment
phase followed by the opportunity to submit an application for
funding for implementation of a capacity building project.
Organizations should have budgets of at least $100,000 and a paid
staff person to be eligible for the capacity building program.
Organizations should be able to participate in the capacity building
program without becoming ineligible for the OSP program; that is,
they should be permitted to do both at the same time. However,
organizations should not be permitted to reapply to the capacity
building program more than once in a three-year period.
Capacity building is defined as any organizational initiative that
strengthens its ability to fulfill its mission. While this is a broad
definition, it should be distinguished from support for ongoing
programs or operations. Also, capacity building needs vary widely;
therefore, organizations should be encouraged to identify and
document their highest priority needs through the assessment
process, and not resort to formulaic approaches to organizational
development.
The City could also contract with an outside consultant who is an
expert on organizational development to coordinate the capacity
building program and provide ongoing support to individual
organizations on an on-going basis.
In addition to the capacity building program, the City should also
make available technical assistance, especially for smaller
organizations. There is a wide variety of technical assistance
workshops and opportunities available in the Los Angeles area.
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The City should be able to provide technical assistance primarily by
maintaining and publicizing a list of local and national offerings. In
addition, the City can arrange special workshops or other
assistance in Santa Monica by area providers, where there are
shared needs among local arts organizations.
Small grants could be offered to all arts organization staff or
volunteers to attend local or national meetings where organization
development training is available.
The City could also work with local technical assistance providers
to arrange services, such as the Los Angeles County Arts
Commission, National Arts Marketing Project (located at the Los
Angeles Theatre Alliance), Center for Cultural Innovation, and the
Center for Nonprofit Management.
The City might also consider convening a monthly or quarterly
roundtable of arts managers and/or artistic directors to foster
networking and collaboration within the local community (see
Coordination and Convening, page 26).
Opportunity Grants In any given year, there are unexpected opportunities for local nonprofits for
which a modest amount of support from the City could make a program or project
happen that would not otherwise be available. The City should set aside a small
pool of funding to enable itself to respond quickly to these unexpected
opportunities.
Capital Grants Local cultural organizations expressed an almost universal need for a grant
program that would assist with their capital needs. Fulfilling a capital project
typically requires a substantial level of organizational capacity; therefore,
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providing capital funding can be viewed as an incentive for capacity building
efforts, an opportunity for continued organizational development, and a measure
of success for organizations that complete capital projects. Eligible capital
projects might include project planning; facility design, purchase, construction,
expansion, renovation and/or tenant improvements; major equipment purchase;
cash reserve; or endowment. To better assure accountability and to promote
organizational capacity building, applicants should be subject to a rigorous
selection process. They should at a minimum demonstrate the need for the
project, its feasibility, and the sustainability of the organization during and after
the project. To leverage City investment, awards should carry a matching
requirement of between approximately one-to-one and four-to-one, with larger
projects demanding a higher match.
Contractual Insurance Requirement Some smaller local organizations receiving City funding have difficulty in fulfilling
the City’s insurance requirements. They sometimes stated that it was hard to
justify the cost of compliance in light of the small amounts of grant support being
received. Because insurance protection is important for both the City and the
organization, the City should consider the following optional approach to
insurance coverage:
The City should explore an internal insurance pool. The City of
Oakland has created such a pool, where each contractor or grantee
pays a small percentage of its contract or grant amount into the
pool and receives coverage on an event basis.
Tailor the amount of the insurance coverage to the size and risks
posed by the specific project or event.
Facilitate the provision of event insurance, purchased by the
organization from an insurance agent.
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3. Enhancing Leadership
A recurrent theme that arose throughout the planning process was the issue of
leadership development. For the most part, Santa Monica cultural organizations
are small and heavily dependent on volunteers for all or part of their
administration. Moreover, the limited number of professional staff in local cultural
groups has meant that these groups have had limited success in garnering
funding support from the private sector. Finally, there is an apparent need for
greater cooperation, collaboration and connection among Santa Monica’s cultural
providers.
Santa Monica Arts Foundation The Santa Monica Arts Foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, was
created in 1986. The mission of this foundation was to promote the arts by
raising funds to finance arts programs sponsored by the Arts Commission. By
Council approval, the Arts Commissioners became the board of directors of this
organization in 1990. The Foundation has been largely dormant in recent years.
Yet there are important functions that this organization can play in stabilizing and
sustaining Santa Monica cultural organizations, as well as the cultural community
as a whole.
The organization survey conducted as part of this planning process revealed that
leadership development and fund-raising are the two of the most critical issues
facing local nonprofit arts organizations. Eighty-eight percent of respondents
identified fund-raising as the most critical issue facing their organization. Forty-
two percent said that board development was a critical issue. Sixty-three percent
of the organizations had fewer than 250 individual donors and members, and
only two organizations had more than 500 donors and members. Five hundred
can be considered a minimum threshold to enhance the sustainability of a
cultural nonprofit.
The foremost function the Foundation can play is to bolster the cultural
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community’s ability to raise funds in the private sector, both from individuals and
corporations. It is recommended that the Foundation be reactivated to put into
place a workplace giving program, aimed at individual giving, and a united arts
fund, aimed at corporate giving. The workplace giving effort should probably be
the first effort, as it will probably be the easiest to implement. Workplace giving
programs are similar to United Way fund-raising programs. That is, they ask
employees to make small weekly or monthly contributions through payroll
deductions. Often, donors are offered certain benefits—periodic newsletters,
reduced price admissions, invitations to receptions, etc. The Foundation might
consider partnering with the environmental cause in a combined campaign.
United arts funds are often companion programs to workplace giving programs.
The process is relatively straight forward. During a four to six week period each
year, businesses and corporations are approached to make a single contribution
to the arts in the community. The advantage to the businesses is that they only
receive one request for funding for the arts each year, rather than dozens of
requests from many organizations. Again, certain benefits might be offered—
reduced price admissions for employees, acknowledgement in printed materials,
performances at business functions, etc. One way to jump start this effort might
be to ask corporations to match the giving of their employees’ contributions in the
workplace giving effort.
Once these efforts have been established, the Foundation can move into other
areas of fund-raising—direct solicitation of private individuals, direct mail
fundraising, etc. An example of a creative approach is a program developed by
the Alameda County Arts Commission. The Commission places flyers in the
property tax bills mailed out by the County soliciting voluntary contributions to the
arts. This effort raises more than $40,000 each year with minimal effort.
It is essential that the Foundation avoid competition for funding with local arts
organizations. Its primary purpose should be to increase the total amount of
cultural funding available, not consume it. It will have opportunities to access
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outside grants from local, regional, and national government agencies and
foundations, and it should do so in circumstances where it is reasonably certain
that its efforts will garner support not otherwise available for similar purposes.
In order for this effort to be successful, the Foundation will need to transform
itself into an organization that is clearly separate from the City. Experience has it
that private individuals and corporations are reluctant to contribute to an
organization that is closely identified with a public entity. The view is that they
have already “given at the office,” through their taxes. This implies that the Arts
Commission must relinquish their seats on the board, in favor of business, civic
and philanthropic leaders. The Arts Commission, could, of course, maintain a
liaison relationship with the Foundation to ensure timely information exchange
and coordination of efforts. It is recommended that the Foundation’s bylaws be
amended to reflect these changes.
The City should provide initial funding to help build the capacity of the revived
Foundation. As a first step this funding could be used to hire a consultant to plan
and initiate the organization and the workplace giving campaign. As the
Foundation and its fundraising gain capacity, this funding could be phased out
and the organization support its own operating expenses. The Foundation
should be strongly encouraged to become a member of Americans for the Arts,
the national service organization for the nation’s 4,500 local arts agencies. They
have a program that provides support and technical assistance to united arts
funds. Staff and key volunteers should take advantage of the training and
networking opportunities that this program offers.
Eventually, the Foundation can be expected not only to be self-supporting, but
able to raise sufficient funds to provide substantial private sector support for local
arts and cultural organizations. Consideration should be given to creating a
partnership with the City in the distribution of these funds. There is no need for
the City and the Foundation to operate parallel and redundant grants-making
processes. The Foundation might distribute its funds in direct proportion to the
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City funds granted in any given year.
A second effort by the Foundation should be in the area of local leadership
development. In many cities, there are leadership development programs
offered through the Chamber of Commerce or other entities. It is recommended
that the Foundation partner with the business community or other civic entity to
implement such a program for the arts and culture. Typically these programs
invite prospective arts leadership volunteers to participate in a six to twelve
month program. Each monthly, day-long meeting is devoted to some aspect of
nonprofit arts management—board governance, fund-raising, audience
development, etc. At the same time, participants receive presentations from
various local cultural groups with the idea that program graduates would
eventually join the board of one of the cultural organizations.
A third effort that should be undertaken by the reconstituted Foundation is
leadership recognition. In many communities, this takes the form of an annual
gala or luncheon where cultural leadership is recognized and celebrated.
Awards might be given in the areas of philanthropy, business support of the arts,
and volunteer leadership, among others. These highly public efforts can pay
substantial dividends in encouraging others to assume leadership positions
within the cultural community.
Arts Commission The Arts Commission will play a critical role in the implementation of Creative
Capital. That means that they will need to be effective advocates, both with
elected and appointed officials and with the community at large. That suggests
that they will more successful to the extent that they are recognized and
respected as civic leaders. At the November 2005 Arts Commission retreat,
several goals were discussed: 1) that the Commission recruit members with
skills and interests that reflect the goals of the cultural plan; 2) that the
Commission recruit members who are effective advocates for the goals
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articulated in the cultural plan; 3) that the Commission diversify its membership;
and 4) that the size of the Commission be reduced. These goals are all
appropriate to the responsibility of implementing Creative Capital and should be
pursued.
The membership of the Arts Commission currently numbers 13 and qualifications
focus primarily on representation of diverse artistic disciplines and media.
Nationally, the median size of similar commissions is seven and Santa Monica’s
other commissions are of similar size. In strengthening the Commission’s
advocacy capacity, it would promote effectiveness to downsize the membership
to the median size. Similarly, it would help to revise the qualifications for
membership to reflect a broader set of criteria, including advocacy skills,
community relationships and other aspects of community leadership.
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IV. RESOURCES
Full implementation of a ten-year plan for the development of Santa Monica’s
arts and culture will require substantial and varied resources. Implementation of
Creative Capital envisions drawing on resources from a spectrum of sources:
financial and human, public and private, volunteer and in-kind. Reliance on a few
revenues or resources is an unwise strategy. Diversity of resources not only
better ensures that sufficient resources will be available; it also generates greater
participation and community ownership of the plan. Accordingly, this section
identifies optional, potential revenues and other resources that can be utilized
towards implementation.
1. Public Sources
The City of Santa Monica has historically been generous in its support of the arts
and culture. The total current budget of the Cultural Affairs Division is
approximately $1.3 million annually, including grants, public art, the Miles
Playhouse, the Santa Monica Festival and staff. The majority of this budget is
allocated from general revenues of the City. But there remain significant unmet
needs that will require additional funding support from the City if the City’s
cultural and artistic future is to be secured. There is public support for additional
tax-based spending on the arts and culture; 62% of Santa Monica residents
indicated in the telephone survey that they would support an additional $10 and
$25 in taxes if revenues were dedicated to supporting Santa Monica’s arts and
culture.
The following represent a number of possible sources of local public funding:
General Fund The City’s General Fund is an obvious possible source. It is the fund that
supports the general operations of a municipality – parks, public safety, human
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services, the arts. By all accounts, Santa Monica enjoys relatively healthy
finances, with a diverse revenue base and sufficient reserves. At the same time,
the cost of providing municipal services is increasing at a faster pace than
ongoing revenues. For these reasons, the general fund might not be the
preferred alternative.
Increase in the Transient Occupancy Tax (TOT) Many California cities devote a portion of the Transit Occupancy Tax—the tax on
hotel stays—to provide funding to support the arts and culture. San Jose, for
example, dedicates 25% of its TOT revenues to such funding. San Francisco
devotes a similar percentage. There are strong arguments for this approach. A
direct linkage can be made between the role the arts play in making a city
attractive to outside visitors and the actual tourism a city is able to generate.
Santa Monica has been particularly successful in this regard. Last year, the City
collected approximately $30 million in TOT revenues which flow into the City’s
general fund. One drawback might be that in order to reserve a portion of TOT
specifically for the arts and culture would require approval by a two-thirds
majority vote of the citizens of Santa Monica.
There are three possibilities regarding TOT funds that should be considered for
implementation of part of the costs of Creative Capital: 1) Allocate a portion of
the existing TOT revenues (which in essence is the same as increasing the
General Fund allocation); 2) Increase the TOT by one percent (yielding
approximately $2 million annually) and dedicate it to arts funding, requiring a two-
thirds majority vote; or 3) Increase the TOT by one percent and allocate, but not
legally dedicate, the funds to the arts. In this third possibility. the City Council can
make this allocation without a vote of the citizens; however, the TOT increase,
like any increase in taxes, would still require a vote by the electorate.
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Parking Surcharge Since the 3rd Street Promenade area will likely be the beneficiary of the new Arts
Alleys proposed under this plan and because the six City parking structures in
the immediate area will be rebuilt or refurbished, it might make sense to generate
new arts funding through a surcharge on downtown parking. Currently, the first
two hours of parking in these garages are free. Parking fees will be reevaluated
as part of the rebuilding and an arts surcharge could be added whether or not the
free parking is eliminated. Assuming fees will be charged for all parking, a
surcharge of 25¢ or 50¢ would generate approximately $900,000 or $1.8 million
annually, since total usage is approximately 3.6 million cars per year. A
drawback to this approach might be the fact that the first two hours on parking in
these garages is currently free, so the surcharge might prove unpopular.
Public Art in Private Development The recently adopted private development cultural art requirement will generate a
new revenue source for the arts and culture, which can be used to assist with
implementation of Creative Capital. In-lieu contributions from this requirement
will flow into a Cultural Trust Fund, which should be structured with sufficient
flexibility to fund some of the costs associated with this plan.
New Commuter Tax One tax source that has been successfully used, primarily in east coast cities, is
a commuter tax. This tax is collected by employers through payroll deductions.
The rationale for this type of tax is that people who commute to jobs from outside
the city use the City’s services and infrastructure without making any contribution
toward the provision of those services and infrastructure.
City’s Capital Improvement Program Budget Santa Monica is evaluating, and will continue to evaluate, its infrastructure
needs, which will be funded primarily through the City’s Capital Improvement
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Program budget. This is an excellent opportunity to consider the community’s
cultural facility needs within these priorities. For example, funding will be needed
for the upgrade and/or renovation of the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium and
other capital improvements, such as the Arts Alleys or additional small
performing and visual arts venues, which may be developed as a result of this
planning process. A possible revenue source for eligible capital improvements
may be the redevelopment agency’s tax increment.
2. Private and Other Sources
Workplace Giving Program and United Arts Fund Santa Monica’s arts and cultural organizations have had very limited success in
developing contributions from private individuals. A workplace giving program,
administered by a reconstituted Santa Monica Arts Foundation, would help reach
new donors and raise new funds in support of Creative Capital. A United Arts
Fund, aimed primarily at local businesses and building on relationships
established through employees, would be a logical complement to the Workplace
Giving Program.
Sponsorships Another strategy for developing private business and corporate support is to
solicit sponsorships for festivals and other programs that have high visibility and
public participation. This form of support is a natural possibility in a community
with a strong commercial creative sector, such as Santa Monica, and is an
excellent means of strengthening relationships between this sector and the City’s
efforts to meet the cultural needs of the community. To avoid any appearance of
undue influence, a clear sponsorship policy should be developed.
Grants from Government Agencies and Foundations Another source of funding in fulfilling Santa Monica’s cultural vision is support
from local, state and national government agencies and private foundations.
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Such support is most often available and appropriate in the form of funding
partnerships for specific projects that serve a compelling community purpose,
such as the Annenberg Community Beach Club project or for local projects that
have regional or national significance.
In-kind Contributions Many cultural organizations depend heavily on in-kind contributions from
individuals and businesses. This may come in the form of volunteer time, or in
the form of contributions of various goods and services that allows the cultural
organization to avoid making cash outlays to obtain these goods and services.
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V. IMPLEMENTATION
Implementation of Creative Capital is intended to take place over the next ten
years, as resources become available. The strategies and many of the
recommendations will either require ongoing action or take several years to
accomplish. Nonetheless, many of the recommendations are intended to begin
in some form within the first three years of implementation (presumably 2007/08
through 2009/10). That is, action can be taken to start implementation on these
recommendations within three years.
Implementation is a joint responsibility of the City and a number of partner
entities. While the City will play a major role, this plan is a “community cultural
plan,” meaning that is derived from the entire community and will be implemented
in partnership with agencies and people in the community.
It is important to note that the pace and sequence of implementation envisioned
in this chapter are contingent upon the availability of sufficient staff, funding and
other resources.
The following pages contain two implementation tables:
1. Implementation by year
2. Implementation of all recommendations with detail on
preliminary steps, start year, lead and partner agencies and
resources needed.
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IMPLEMENTATION BY YEAR
Start year for implementation, including recommendation number Ongoing 1. Individual artists recognition 2. Theme of innovation 11. Integration of cultural programs in non-traditional venues14. Arts education cooperation 19. Small-scale venues 21. Retention & enhancement of current arts uses 30. Arts Commission diversification Year One (2007/08) 3. Partnerships for innovative cultural programming 7. Partnership for lifelong learning 8. Ongoing festivals 15. Private developer fee program 18. Civic auditorium plan 17. Arts Alleys—zoning 20. Artists Live/Work 22. Cultural development around nodes—Pico Boulevard 25. Cultural diversity options 30. Arts Commission restructuring Year Two (2008/09) 4. Creative Santa Monica Directory 9. New festival (“Glow”) 12. City cultural programming partnerships 13. Seniors’ programming 17. Arts Alleys—create district 24. Restructured/new cultural funding programs 25. New funding programs 26. Grants program enhancements 27. Santa Monica Arts Foundation plan Year Three (2009/10) 5. Communitywide marketing program 6. Explore electronic communication 10. Small-scale festivals 28. Santa Monica Arts Foundation implementation of plan Year Four (2010/11) 16. Public art program assessment 24. Capital grants 29. Santa Monica Arts Foundation—fundraising Year Five (2011/12) 23. Cultural funding benchmark 17. Arts Alleys—downtown parking structures
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IMPLEMENTATION TABLE: CREATIVE CAPITAL
STRATEGY I: CELEBRATING INNOVATION
Preliminary Steps* Start Year**
Lead & Partner Agencies***
Estimated Costs****
1. Recognize and support the importance of individual artists to Santa Monica’s cultural ecosystem.
This is an over-arching policy intended to guide programming and resource decisions throughout implementation of Creative Capital
2. Adopt the theme of innovation and creative individuals as the basis for programming and marketing of Santa Monica’s creative identity.
This is an over-arching policy intended to guide programming and resource decisions throughout implementation of Creative Capital
3. Capitalize on the extraordinary concentration of creative people and resources by fostering communication and leveraging partnerships for innovative cultural programming.
Conduct 1 – 2 convenings
One CAD $10,000 and allocation of existing staff time
*Preliminary steps precede the start of implementation.
**Start year is the year in which implementation begins; year one is 2007/08.
***Lead agency abbreviations: 18th Street 18th Street Arts Center Bayside Bayside District Development Corporation CAD City of Santa Monica Cultural Affairs Division Civic Aud. Santa Monica Civic Auditorium Division CCSD Community and Cultural Services Department HHD Housing & Development Department HSD Human Services Division PCD Planning and Community Development Department RM Resource Management Division SMAC Santa Monica Arts Commission SMAF Santa Monica Arts Foundation SMEF Santa Monica Education Foundation SMMUSD Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District SMPL Santa Monica Public Library RM Resource Management Department
****Estimated costs could come from a range of revenue sources. Costs include staff time, annual and one-time costs, as noted.
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STRATEGY II: INCREASING CULTURAL PARTICIPATION
Preliminary Steps Start Year
Lead & Partner Agencies Estimated Costs
Marketing and Coordination
4. Develop a comprehensive directory of Santa Monica’s arts and cultural resources.
Begin research and development of Creative Santa Monica directory in year one
Year two—finalize and publish directory
CAD Allocation of existing staff time plus $25,000 - $50,000 for contract staff and outreach
5. Develop a communitywide marketing program to build audiences for Santa Monica’s arts and culture programs, increase cultural participation and access, increase community awareness of local arts and culture, and explore the evolving creative potential of electronic communication.
Research and plan marketing program in year two
Year three CAD $250,000 for contract staff, professional services and other program costs
6. Explore the evolving creative potential of electronic communication to support Santa Monica’s cultural community
Incorporate into research and planning for marketing program in year two
Year three CAD See #5 above
7. Develop cooperative strategies with Santa Monica College, the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District and other providers of lifelong learning programs to enhance the accessibility of their cultural programs to the community.
Convene partners Year one CAD SMC SMMUSD Other providers
Allocation of existing staff time
Festivals
8. Continue and further develop existing arts and cultural festivals, such as the Santa Monica Festival and Jazz on the Lawn.
Year one CAD $35,000 - $40,000 to continue Jazz on the Lawn
9. Develop major new arts and cultural festivals, to celebrate and explore Santa Monica’s innovative cultural identity and address the community’s desire for more festivals.
Planning for new “Glow” festival in year one
Year two—produce first “Glow” festival
CAD SMAF
$800,000 for first year’s festival expenses
10. Facilitate the provision of small-scale festivals (showcases) that highlight the arts and culture, or contain a cultural component, through a co-sponsorship arrangement.
Conduct workshops for festival producers beginning year one
Year three—issue RFP for festival co-production
CAD Allocation of existing staff time; $50,000 beginning year three for co-productions
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STRATEGY II: INCREASING CULTURAL PARTICIPATION—CONTINUED Preliminary Steps Start Year
Lead & Partner Agencies
Estimated Costs
Integrating Cultural Programming
11. Seek further opportunities to integrate arts and cultural programming for all ages into non-traditional venues and programs such as the Annenberg Community Beach Club project, community centers, parks, and other open and/or public spaces.
Ongoing CAD TBD
12. Expand the cultural programming partnership between the Cultural Affairs Division and other City divisions and departments, including the Santa Monica Public Library and the Human Services Division’s after-school and youth-at-risk programs.
Assess program possibilities in year one, based on pilot programs during Creative Capital
Year two—conduct 1 – 2 programs with SMPL
CAD SMPL Friends of SMPL SMAC
Allocation of existing staff time plus program costs TBD
13. Enhance accessibility for senior citizens to arts and cultural programs through integration of programs into existing venues and services for seniors, and by promoting partnerships through the network of lifelong learning service providers.
Assess program possibilities in year one in conjunction with Community Voices and other current senior outreach initiatives
Year two—integrate arts into seniors programming
CAD HSD
Allocation of existing staff time plus program costs TBD
14. Find opportunities to promote the reintroduction of arts education in all public schools through implementation of the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District’s Arts for All plan, in cooperation with the district and the Santa Monica-Malibu Educational Foundation.
Ongoing CAD SMMUSD SMEF
Allocation of existing staff time
Public Art
15. Implement a public art in private development program that supports a Cultural Trust Fund flexible enough to help fulfill the community’s arts and cultural vision, as identified in this planning process.
Year one—implement new Private Developer Cultural Arts Requirement ordinance
CAD PCD
$65,000 - $85,000 for new contract staff position
16. In future years, as the Cultural Trust Fund grows, conduct an assessment of both the public and private public art programs to gauge their effectiveness in meeting the community’s cultural needs.
Year four—issue RFP and conduct assessment and planning process
CAD PCD
$100,000 for professional services
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STRATEGY III: ENHANCING SUSTAINABILITY
Preliminary Steps Start Year
Lead & Partner Agencies
Estimated Costs
Cultural Facilities
17. Establish Santa Monica Arts Alleys as zones for the concentration and development of small-scale arts uses, such as creative businesses, artists’ studios, small performing and exhibition spaces, and other cultural uses, and:
Create a downtown cultural district for the development of Arts Alleys, bounded by 2nd Street on the west, 4th Street on the east, Broadway on the south and Wilshire on the north.
Planning in year one Year two—create district
PCD CAD Bayside HHD
Allocation of existing staff time and other costs TBD
Make necessary adjustments in the zoning of the downtown cultural district to permit and encourage arts and cultural activities in the Arts Alleys.
Participate in current update of zoning requirements
Year one—develop and adopt zoning changes
PCD
CAD
Bayside
HHD
Allocation of existing staff time
Negotiate with downtown property owners and businesspersons to use the vacant and underutilized space fronting the Arts Alleys and consider offering a financial incentive, such as a property tax abatement on the portion of the properties used for arts purposes, to encourage landlords to maintain affordable rents on the properties.
Planning in year one Year two—begin implementation of district plan
PCD CAD Bayside HHD
Allocation of existing staff time and other costs TBD
Work with the designers of the rebuilt and rehabbed parking garages to ensure that the areas fronting the alleys support the Arts Alleys concept.
Timeline for changes to parking structures is not finalized; monitor plans and develop planning timeline for District-related development of parking structures
TBD PCD CAD Bayside HHD
TBD
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STRATEGY III: ENHANCING SUSTAINABILITY—CONTINUED
Preliminary Steps Start Year
Lead & Partner Agencies
Estimated Costs
18. Commit to a cultural use of the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium in line with the community’s vision for this facility and:
Approach development of the Civic Auditorium as a key component within a larger cultural campus encompassing the Civic Center, Santa Monica High School, the Pier and adjacent areas.
Ongoing Civic Aud. CAD
Create a plan for the development of the Civic Auditorium that assesses the options identified in this planning process, and presents specific recommendations for implementation.
Issue RFP for facility plan in year one or earlier
Year one—develop facility plan
Civic Aud. CAD
[Costs outside of Creative Capital]
Revisit the recommendations regarding the Civic Auditorium in the Civic Center Specific Plan to better accommodate the cultural uses envisioned by the community.
Year one Civic Aud. CAD
[Costs outside of Creative Capital]
19. Develop, or facilitate the development of, small, flexible and affordable performance venues (under 500 seats) and visual arts spaces.
Monitor opportunities beginning in year one
Ongoing CAD PCD HSD
TBD
20. Develop policies and ordinances that encourage and even mandate the creation of affordable artist live/work and day studio spaces in new residential and industrial development at a minimum in the Light Manufacturing Studio District (LMSD).
Year one PCD
CAD
Allocation of existing staff time
21. Retain and enhance current arts uses at the Pier, Bergamot Station, the Santa Monica Airport and 18th Street Arts Center.
Ongoing CAD PCD
TBD
22. Support and enhance cultural development around nodes, such as the emerging cultural uses along Pico Boulevard.
Year one—support development of Pico Boulevard Cultural Festival
CAD PCD
Allocation of existing staff time
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STRATEGY III: ENHANCING SUSTAINABILITY—CONTINUED
Preliminary Steps Start Year
Lead & Partner Agencies
Estimated Costs
Cultural Funding
23. Work to increase the total amount of the City’s Cultural Funding program budget towards a benchmark of between 10% and 20% of the total operating budgets of Santa Monica’s arts organizations.
Increase total funding as resources become available
Year five—target year for reaching benchmark
CAD $650,000 to $1.3 million by year five
24. Create new cultural support opportunities as follows:
Expand and restructure the current Cultural/Arts Organization Support Grant Program to ensure separate review of arts applicants and cultural heritage applicants, and implement procedural refinements.
Program planning and design in year on, with use of consultants and stakeholder input as needed
Year two CAD Allocation of existing staff time and $100,000
Create an Artists Fellowship Program to support and recognize Santa Monica’s individual artists.
(same as above)
Year two—initial round of fellowships
CAD $50,000 for fellowship awards and other program costs
Create an organizational capacity building and technical assistance program to encourage appropriate institutionalization of Santa Monica’s nonprofit arts and cultural organizations.
(same as above)
Year two—first round of capacity building awards and initial technical assistance services
CAD $50,000 for capacity building awards and $10,000 for technical assistance
Create an Opportunity Grants Program to allow the City to respond to unusual and short-term arts and cultural project opportunities.
(same as above)
Year two—first round of grants
CAD $20,000 for awards
Create a Capital Grants Program to assist nonprofit arts and cultural organizations in meeting their facility needs, and to encourage capacity building.
Monitor potential capital projects among local arts organizations in years one through three
Year four—first awards
CAD $250,000 initial allocation for awards; additional allocations as needed
25. Explore options to best reflect and support Santa Monica’s cultural diversity through cultural funding.
Program planning and design in year on, with use of consultants and stakeholder input as needed
Year one CAD Allocation of staff time and $15,000 for consulting services
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STRATEGY III: ENHANCING SUSTAINABILITY—CONTINUED
Preliminary Steps Start Year
Lead & Partner Agencies
Estimated Costs
26. Explore ways to enhance community access to cultural funding programs, while improving administrative effectiveness, through such tools as e-granting, on-line data collection, and collective insurance for grantees.
Program planning and design in year one
Year two—implement enhancements
CAD $10,000 for contract services and other program costs
Leadership
27. Reactivate the Santa Monica Arts Foundation as a fundraising and leadership development organization by confirming its mission and role, and developing a plan to partner in the implementation of Creative Capital.
Reconfirm mission in year one
Year two—develop organizational plan for SMAF
CAD Allocation of existing staff time plus $60,000 for consulting services
28. Provide in-kind support and seed-funding to the Foundation to enable it to provide increased community cultural leadership.
Year three—begin implementation of organizational plan for SMAF; lay groundwork for fundraising
SMAF CAD
$250,000 for contract staff and other program costs
29. Focus the Foundation’s efforts as follows:
Expand the pool of resources available for cultural uses by developing a workplace giving program to encourage cultural giving by private individuals, and a united arts fund to encourage cultural giving by local businesses and corporations.
Year four—begin workplace giving and united arts fund, as indicated by organizational plan
SMAF CAD
See above
Institute an annual arts leadership awards program, recognizing leading citizens in the areas of philanthropy, business and volunteerism.
Year five—as indicated by organizational plan
SMAF CAD
See above
Create an active program of leadership development, in cooperation with the Chamber of Commerce, or other civic or business group.
Year four—as indicated by organizational plan
SMAF CAD
See above
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STRATEGY III: ENHANCING SUSTAINABILITY—CONTINUED Preliminary Steps
Start Year
Lead & Partner Agencies
Estimated Costs
30. Strengthen the capacity of the Arts Commission to fulfill its role in implementing Creative Capital as follows:
Explore a reduction in the size of the Arts Commission to facilitate effectiveness and flexibility, while retaining the current use of subcommittees that include non-commissioners to provide opportunities for wider community involvement.
Year one
CAD
SMAC Allocation of existing staff time
Alter the composition requirements of the Arts Commission to balance the need for qualifications in cultural policy and advocacy with the need for professional arts qualifications.
Year one
CAD
SMAC
Allocation of existing staff time
Work to diversify the membership of the Arts Commission to more accurately reflect the demographic diversity of Santa Monica.
Ongoing CAD SMAC
Allocation of existing staff time
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VI. APPENDICES
The appendices include two methodological sections:
List of Planning Participants
Planning Methodology
There are also the following studies conducted for Creative Capital:
Creative Workforce Study (summary report)*
Telephone Survey of Residents (summary report)*
Americans for the Arts Creative Industries Study
Survey of Nonprofit Arts and Cultural Organizations
Assessment of Current Cultural Funding Programs
*Copies of full reports are available upon request from the Cultural Affairs Division.
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A. PLANNING PARTICIPANTS
The City of Santa Monica and the consultant team wish to thank the many residents, business owners and community leaders who gave so generously of their time and ideas to help with the development of this plan. And we wish to apologize in advance if anybody was mistakenly omitted from this list which was compiled from sign-in sheets from the meetings. Input for this plan was also gathered through a random household phone survey, a survey of Santa Monica cultural organizations and via an interactive website www.creativesantamonica.smgov.net. PLANNING PARTICIPANTS WORKSHOPS, FOCUS GROUPS AND INTERVIEWS Judy Abdo Paula Achler Lyn Arkin David Bean Kathleen Benjamin John Berley Michelle Berne Wayne Blank Jaime Bravo Doug Bressler Michael Brodsky Andrea Brokaw Dolo Brooking Jody Brooks Clayton Campbell Neil Carrey Tom Carrol R.B. Cardozo Anne Carmack Art Casillas Chris Cassidy Leilani Chan Phyllis Chavez Brian Colmery Mark Courtney John Crabtree-Ireland Leigh Curran Judith Davies Gigi Davis
Victoria Davis Chris De Carlo Fred Deni Jennifer Diener Charles Duncombe Nora Encinas Dorothy Engleman Andrea Engstrom Sam Erenberg Rochelle Fabb Michael Farzam Denise Feathers Irene Fertik Malissa Feruzzi Bruria Finkel Martin Fleischmann Ursula K. Fox Dextra Frankel Dale Franzen Ben Franz-Knight Meryl Friedman Nan Friedman John Gabree Louise Gabriel Leo Garcia Shelley Gazin Marni Gittelman Sandy Grant Nancy Greenstein
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Tom Grode Linda Gross Lindsey Haley Hannah Heineman Paulina Herrera Asuka Hisa Dorothy S Hull Cami Huong Dick Hutman Louise Jaffe Zena Josephs Iao Katagiri Alison Kendall Misti Kerns Angie Kim Marcus Kuiland-Nazario Sherrill Kushner Dan Kwong Randal Lawson Gil Lieb Andrea Lipton Elsa Longhauser Sylvia Luis Michael Massuci Sarah Maine Peter Mays Catherine McCabe Susan McCarthy Kevin McCarthy Lindsay McGrail Frederique Michel Lisa Melandri Elizabeth Morin Gail Myers Mikey Myers Ruth Needle Laurie Newman Judy Neveau Ho Nguyen Terry O’Day Paul Olague Maynoard Ostrow Ellen Phillips
Adam Philipson Alexandra Pollyea Astrid Preston Gwynne Pugh Kathleen Rawson Tom Reddler Annie Reiniger Diane Rhodes Nancy Richler Catherine Ronan La Verne Ross Jerry Rubin Evelyn Rudie Drew Sachs Paulina Sahagun Monica Sahagun Michael Sakamoto Christina Saucedo Jennifer Schab Elena Mary Siff Annette Simons Bruce Smith Clyde Smith Tobi Smith Smitha Srinivasa Andrea Stang Louis Stout Linda Sullivan Susan Suntree Theresa Sweeney Suzanne Tan Nat Trives Carrie Weil Susan Weinberg Katie Weinerslage Tom Whaley John Whitbread Roger White Julie Whittaker Bill Willday Lisa Wolpe
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SANTA MONICA ARTS COMMISSION Suchi Branfman, Chair Elena Allen Hara Beck Julia Braun Kessler Fred Dewey Maya Emsden Phyllis Green
Rachel Lachowicz Larry Shapiro Gregory Spotts Donna Sternberg Jan Williamson
CITY STAFF P. Lamont Ewell, City Manager Andy Agle Gordon Anderson Susan Annett Andrew Basmajian Carole Curtin Karen Ginsberg Trinie Garcia-Valdez Peter James Sarah Le Jeune Jeff Mathieu Mona Miyasato
Malina Moore Greg Mullen Shannon Parry Craig Perkins Elaine Polachek Amanda Schacter Hamp Simmons Steve Stark Barbara Stinchfield Candace Tysdal Justin Yoffe
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PUBLIC MEETINGS 2006 February 27, Arts Commission Meeting Ken Edwards Center March 27, Performing Arts Committee Meeting Santa Monica Main Library April 18 + 19, Cultural Organization Focus Groups Euclid Park Community Meeting Room May 13, ‘Framing the Creative Future of Santa Monica’ Workshop with artist Marni Gittleman, Santa Monica Festival, Clover Park May 24, Sustainability Focus Group Euclid Park Community Meeting Room May 24, Individual Artist Focus Group Santa Monica Main Library May 25, Santa Monica Community College Focus Group Academy of Entertainment and Technology June 24, Community Workshop Ken Edwards Center June 29, In a Sense: Santa Monica Live, spoken word series Main Library, Martin Luther King Auditorium September 9, Community Workshop Virginia Avenue Park, Thelma Terry Center September 9, Youth Workshop Virginia Avenue Park September 13, Santa Monica Civic Center Cultural Planning Focus Group Santa Monica Main Public Library October 17, Boards and Commissions Meeting Ken Edwards Center November 1, Pier Restoration Corporation Board Meeting Ken Edwards Center
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November 8, Community Workshop Santa Monica Main Public Library November 9, Friends of Sunset Park Association Meeting Mount Olive Church November 20, Arts Commission Meeting Ken Edwards Center November 20, Wilshire-Montana Association Meeting Ken Edwards Center December 10, Ocean Park Association Meeting Joslyn Park December 14, Pico Neighborhood Association Meeting Virginia Avenue Park December 18, Arts Commission Meeting Ken Edwards Center 2007 January 8, Arts Commission Meeting Civic Auditorium East Wing February 5, Arts Commission Meeting Ken Edwards Center February 14, Convention and Visitors Bureau Board Meeting VCB Office February 27, City Council Presentation and Adoption City Hall
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B. PLANNING METHODOLOGY
The planning process for Creative Capital took place in three phases over twelve months, beginning in February 2006. Phase I: Project Preparation
Project preparation focused on the development of a detailed project schedule and identification of diverse community leadership, and an appropriate leadership structure, to oversee development of the plan.
Project Initiation: including the development of a detailed project schedule, and identification and negotiation of potential barriers to a successful plan.
Document Review: including prior cultural plans, economic impact study, cultural facilities inventory, preliminary General Plan updates (land use and transportation elements), City sustainability plan, and artists live/work study.
Introductory work session with Arts Commission: on February 27, 2006 to present the planning process and solicit input on key issues.
Development of a Communications Plan: for the media, planning stakeholders and the general community; and the creation of a cultural plan website. The communications plan addressed building public awareness of and involvement in the process, promoting community input, and identifying cultural leadership.
Phase II: Community Research
The purpose of the community research was to identify the community’s vision and priorities, assess needs and resources, identify leadership, engage a broad cross-section of the community in the planning process, and build a public constituency for implementation of the plan. Many of the interviews, focus groups and other project meetings were conducted during site visits made on February 27 & 28, March 29 & 30, April 18 & 19, May 24 & 25, June 24, July 27 and September 13, 2006.
Key Person Interviews: conducted by the consultants with cultural stakeholders, public officials, funders, media representatives, etc., to explore and develop key issues.
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Identification of Leadership: Throughout the planning process, specific efforts were made to identify and engage leaders for implementation, through inquiry, interviews and cultivation.
Focus Group Meetings: conducted to allow for in-depth exploration of selected issues.
Organization Survey: both on-line and written, of nonprofit arts and cultural organizations in Santa Monica. This survey enabled the consultants to assess the needs of and gather data on such issues as community impact, facilities, programs, and opinions.
Telephone Survey: conducted by Goodwin Simon Victoria Research, of Santa Monica residents to gather input on key issues from a random sample of households.
Economic Research: conducted by economist Steve Nivin, PhD, to document the extent and characteristics of creative employment in Santa Monica.
Town Hall Meeting: conducted on June 24, 2006 to allow open community input on issues of vision, goals and priorities.
Assessment of Current Programs, Funding and Facilities: in Santa Monica, using a combination of the document review, surveys, interviews and focus groups, to establish a context for strategy development.
Assessment of Community Arts and Cultural Needs: including current and projected future needs.
Phase III: Plan Development
Once the community research was completed, critical issues were analyzed (with reference to other communities) and recommended strategies developed, in close communication with project leaders. These findings and recommendations were developed into this draft plan, which has been presented for comment and revision into a final plan. The consultants will assist with the adoption of the plan and the transition to implementation.
Analysis of Critical Issues: identified in the RFP and other issues that emerged from community input, such as leadership development, arts education, advocacy, civic
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aesthetics, etc. Included comparison of key aspects of Santa Monica with other relevant communities, and investigation of model strategies and programs in other communities.
Draft Plan: This document is the completed draft report. The first draft was completed in September 2006 and revised versions were prepared during the fall and in January 2007.
Draft Plan Review and Comment: follow-up interviews and meetings were conducted with staff, the Arts Commission, other City commissions, neighborhood groups and other planning participants to solicit feedback and suggested changes to the draft plan.
Town Hall Meeting: conducted on November 8th, 2006, to report the findings and recommendations of the plan and to gather public input.
Presentation to City Council: The draft plan will be presented to City Council for approval; currently this presentation is expected to take place in February or March 2007.
Final Report: Once approved by Council, a final plan will be prepared, incorporating any changes indicated by Council.
Plan Summary: Once finalized, a graphically designed summary of the plan will be prepared and printed to provide a brief overview of the plan and serve as a marketing piece.
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C. SANTA MONICA CREATIVE WORKFORCE STUDY
COMPARISON OF SANTA MONICA’S CREATIVE INDUSTRY TO THE TOP 20 CREATIVE CITIES
Steve Nivin, Ph.D.
210-913-0100 [email protected].
December 18, 2006
Introduction
The fuel derived from the creative economy comes from the passion of
those who work in the creative economy. This creative passion is what leads to
the innovations (the “magnificence”) that drives local economies, and it is this
environment of passion that attracts more passionate people, which provides
more “fuel of magnificence.” The ultimate question for this analysis is: Does
Santa Monica have the “fuel of magnificence”?
As part of the cultural planning process for the City of Santa Monica, this
study was commissioned to determine how Santa Monica’s creative industry
compared to the top twenty creative cities as determined by Richard Florida
based on his creativity index. In addition, it was determined that Berkeley,
California should also be added to the comparison list, as it is a city of similar
size and composition that it would make a good comparison.
The comparisons are made in two ways. The main method of comparison
is to look at the number of people working in different creative occupations in the
respective cities as a percentage of the total employment in the city. The second
method is to look at the location quotients of some of the sectors within the
creative industry across these cities. However one looks at it, Santa Monica is
one of the leaders in the creative economy.
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Data
The data used for the main part of the analysis – the comparison of
employment by occupation – come from the Equal Employment Opportunity
(EEO) file created by the U.S. Census Bureau. This database is built from the
SF3 long-form file from the 2000 census and is categorized by occupation using
the Census Occupation Codes. This data source was used for a couple of
reasons. First, it was the only data source that we could find that would provide
data for cities with populations less than 100,000 people, and second, it contains
individual artists within the data.
Whenever possible, it is preferable to conduct the study using the
metropolitan area as the geographic unit of analysis because the metropolitan
area is defined by the economic linkages of the area. However, Santa Monica is
included in the Los Angeles metropolitan area, so conducting the analysis by
metropolitan area would not have revealed anything about Santa Monica. Thus,
the city is the geographic unit of analysis used in this study.
Regarding the data on individual artists, the EEO file does not separate
the data on the individual artists from the data on those artists who are employed
by companies, so we were not able to show just the impact of the individual artist
with this data. Other data sources, like IPUMS, include data on individual artists,
but the data is not available for cities with populations less than 100,000. Since
the original intent was to try to look at the impact of individual artists, it was
determined that while the EEO file did not provide data on individual artists only,
it did include them in the database, so we could at least capture them in the
analysis.
In the second part of this study, a location quotient analysis was
conducted using data from the Economic Census conducted in 2002. This data
is organized by industry using the North American Industry Classification System
(NAICS). Since this data do not include employment of “firms with no paid
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employees,”8 it does not include individual artists. Nonemployer statistics are
available in the Economic Census but not by city. Furthermore, since “no data
are published that would disclose the operations of an individual establishment or
business,”9 there is a limited amount of data available for cities in the Economic
Census database, which restricts the number of industries and cities used in the
analysis.
One of the industries used in the analysis – independent artists, writers,
and performers – merits a bit more explanation. By the title of this industry, it
may appear that this industry includes individual artists, and according to a
conversation with the Census Bureau, it is possible that some individual artists
will be included in the data for this industry if the artist has a payroll. However,
there is no way of knowing how many of these artists are captured in the data, if
any.
Methodology Comparison of Employment by Occupation
Santa Monica is compared against the top twenty creative large (i.e.,
populations over 1 million) cities as determined by Richard Florida10 with the
addition of Berkeley, California because of its similarities to Santa Monica. The
cities to which Santa Monica is compared are in Table 1.
8 See the following web site: http://www.census.gov/econ/census02/text/sector00/INTRO00.HTM 9 See the following web site: http://www.census.gov/econ/census02/text/sector00/INTRO00.HTM#disclosure 10 Florida, Richard. The Rise of the Creative Class. p. 246.
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Table 1: Comparison Cities to Santa Monica
Atlanta, GA
Austin, TX
Berkeley, CA
Boston, MA
Chicago, IL
Dallas, TX
Denver, CO
Hartford, CT
Houston, TX
Indianapolis, IN
Los Angeles, CA
Minneapolis, MN
New York, NY
Philadelphia, PA
Phoenix, AZ
Portland, OR
Raleigh, NC
San Diego, CA
San Francisco, CA
Seattle, WA
Washington, DC
To make the workforce comparisons, the employment in fourteen
predetermined artistic or cultural occupations and the total employment in each
city were pulled from the EEO file. The list of occupations used in the study is
shown in Table 2. The definitions of the occupations are found in Appendix A.
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Table 2: Occupations
Census Occupation Code Occupation
240 Archivists, curators, and museum technicians
260 Artists and related workers
263 Designers
270 Actors
271 Producers and directors
274 Dancers and choreographers
275 Musicians, singers, and related workers
276 Entertainers and performers, sports and related workers
283 Editors
284 Technical writers
285 Writers and authors
291 Photographers
292 Television, video, and motion picture camera operators and editors
130 Architects
In order to control for city size, the proportion employed in each
occupation to total employment was calculated and used as the basis for the
comparisons. The proportion employed in each occupation to total population
was also calculated, and while there were minor changes in the numbers, the
overall results were not much different.
Location Quotient (LQ) Analysis
Given the aforementioned constraints in the Economic Census data, the
location quotient analysis was conducted for only three industries – musical
groups and artists; independent artists, writers, and performers; and museums,
historical sites, and similar institutions – and a smaller number of comparison
cities due to a lack of availability of data. The definitions of the industries are in
Appendix B. The cities used to calculate the location quotients in each industry
vary depending on the availability of data.
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The location quotient is a measure of the concentration of an industry
within a local economy relative to the concentration in the United States
economy. It is calculated as follows:
LQ = [(City Employment in Industry i)/(City Total Employment)] ÷ [(U.S. Employment in
Industry i)/(U.S. Total Employment)]
A location quotient equal to one indicates that the city has the same
concentration of people employed in that industry as are employed in the United
States. A location quotient greater than one indicates that the city has a greater
concentration of people employed in that industry relative to the employment
across the United States, and a location quotient lower than one indicates the
city has a lower concentration of people employed in that industry relative to the
share across the United States in that industry.
Results
To provide some context, in 2000, the total number of people employed in
Santa Monica in the creative occupations was 7,765, based on Census data from
the EEO file. According to a report provided by the Americans for the Arts, “The
Creative Industries in Santa Monica, CA,” there were 11,464 people employed in
1,634 arts-related businesses11 in Santa Monica as of January 2006.12 Since
these two measures of total employment in the creative industry are different, it is
necessary to mention that the number from the EEO file was used for the
following analysis, and the discrepancies in these employment numbers can be
explained by a few differences in the sources of the data.
First, the data used for the bulk of the analysis in this report is based on
occupations as previously described, while the Americans for the Arts study is
based on employment in arts-related businesses. This data includes workers in 11 In this report, arts-related businesses are defined as: museums and collections; performing arts; visual arts/photography; film, radio and TV; design and publishing; and arts schools and services. 12 The number from the EEO file was used in the following analysis.
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those businesses who may not be engaged in creative occupations, but the
occupation data obviously includes only those engaged in creative occupations.
Second, the data used in this report come from the U.S. Census Bureau as
stated previously, and the data used for the Americans for the Arts report comes
from a Dun & Bradstreet (D&B) database. The D&B data includes information
only from those companies who have registered with D&B, and nonprofit arts
organizations and individual artists are under-represented in this database.13
Third, the occupation data is for the year 2000 and the D&B data is reported as
of January 2006.
The Americans for the Arts report also presents numbers of businesses
and employees in the sectors that they used to define the creative industry. The
percent changes in these numbers from 2004 to 2006 are reported in Table 3,
and the reader is referred to that report for the detailed numbers.
Table 3: Santa Monica's Ranking by Occupation
Ranking Occupation
12 Archivists, curators, and museum technicians
1 Artists and related workers
1 Designers
2 Actors
1 Producers and directors
7 Dancers and choreographers
2 Musicians, singers, and related workers
1 Entertainers and performers, sports and related workers
2 Editors
15 Technical writers
1 Writers and authors
3 Photographers
1 Television, video, and motion picture camera operators and editors
1 Architects
13 Americans for the Arts. “The Creative Industries in Santa Monica, CA.” p. 2.
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While most of these sectors showed declining numbers of businesses and
employees over this short time period, it is difficult to say too much about these
results. Obviously, any community would prefer to see growth in these numbers,
but even if that was the case here, there is not too much that can be discerned
from the numbers without being able to compare them to similar numbers in
other cities and/or the nation as a whole. For example, a 22.22% decline in the
number of businesses in the museums and collections sector is certainly not
what one interested in seeing this industry grow would like to see, but is that
number better or worse than the percent change in this sector for the entire
nation or for other cities of interest?
Another issue with these numbers that needs to be considered is the
relatively small number of businesses and employees in these sectors, which if
not accounted for can result in some large percent changes that may not be too
meaningful. For example, there were nine businesses in the museums and
collections sector in 2004 in Santa Monica according to the Americans for the
Arts report. The number of businesses in this sector decreased to seven in
2006, and thus, this drop of only two businesses resulted in a large percent
decrease, given the small base from which the number was calculated.
Based on the proportion of people working in arts and culture occupations
in Santa Monica, the city's economy is driven by its creative industry to a much
larger extent than the economies of the comparison cities. In seven out of
fourteen of the occupations analyzed, Santa Monica had the highest proportion
of people employed in each of those occupations relative to the other cities.
Santa Monica's ranking by occupation is shown in Table 3. Furthermore, when
the employment in all of these occupations as a proportion of total employment is
compared across cities, Santa Monica once again comes out on top with 8.89%
of its total employment working in an arts or culture occupation. This proportion
is 77.1% higher than the second-ranked city – San Francisco – with a total
creative workforce equal to 5.02% of that city's total employment. These results
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are shown in Chart 1 below, and the results for all of the other occupations can
be found in Appendix C.
Table 4: Santa Monica's Ranking by Occupation Ranking Occupation
12 Archivists, curators, and museum technicians 1 Artists and related workers 1 Designers 2 Actors 1 Producers and directors 7 Dancers and choreographers 2 Musicians, singers, and related workers 1 Entertainers and performers, sports and related workers 2 Editors 15 Technical writers 1 Writers and authors 3 Photographers 1 Television, video, and motion picture camera operators and editors 1 Architects
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0.000%
2.000%
4.000%
6.000%
8.000%
10.000%
All Creative Workers
Santa Monica San Francisco Austin Boston San DiegoSeattle Raleigh Houston Washington DC New YorkMinneapolis Dallas Los Angeles Atlanta DenverChicago Portland, OR Philadelphia Hartford PhoenixIndianapolis Berkeley
Number of All Creative Workers Employed as % of Total Employment
Source: U.S. Census; Steve Nivin, Ph.D.
Santa Monica = 8.89%
Chart 1
The location quotient analysis provides results similar to the occupation
analysis. As indicated above, a location quotient above one indicates that the
city's economy has a relative concentration of employment in that industry
greater than the share of employment in that industry across the United States.
For the industries analyzed in this study, Santa Monica has a location quotient
greater than one for the musical groups and artists industry and the independent
artists, writers, and performers industry. In fact, for the latter industry, the
location quotient is an astronomical 38.59, which is the highest location quotient
among the comparison cities. For the musical groups and artists industry, the
location quotient is 4.87 and is the second highest among the cities compared.
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In the other industry for which location quotients were calculated, museums,
historical sites, and similar institutions has a relatively low location quotient of
0.76. The charts showing the results of the location quotient analysis can be
found in Appendix D.
Conclusion
As a share of its employment base, the creative industry appears to be a
key component of Santa Monica’s economy. This is especially evident when you
compare the employment in creative occupations in Santa Monica to the
employment in these occupations in what are, by one definition, considered to be
the leading regions for creative economic activity. This is also borne out by the
results comparing the concentration of some industries within the creative
economy within Santa Monica to that of the United States. Based on these
results, it seems reasonable to conclude that the creative industry is a major
component of the Santa Monica economy. In fact, while Santa Monica’s
economy will never employ people in the creative occupations at the level of Los
Angeles or New York City or other leading regions in the creative economy,
simply because of its considerably smaller size, by the relative measures used in
this study, Santa Monica should be considered one of the leading regions in the
creative economy. If, as Ralph Waldo Emerson has stated, “a creative economy
is the fuel of magnificence,” then Santa Monica has much fuel to attain
magnificence.
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D. TELEPHONE SURVEY OF SANTA MONICA RESIDENTS
MEMORANDUM September 6, 2006 TO: JESSICA CUSICK City of Santa Monica FROM: PAUL GOODWIN Goodwin Simon Victoria Research RE: Findings from 2006 Arts Survey
BACKGROUND AND METHODOLOGY The City of Santa Monica asked Goodwin Simon Victoria Research to conduct a telephone survey of adult residents of the city. The purpose of the survey was to explore attitudes among residents about issues related to the arts in Santa Monica. The interviewing was conducted in segments between August 6 and 30, 2006. The sample size for this survey was 492. We used a random digit dial sampling methodology, so that all adults in the city with a working residential telephone number had an equal chance of being interviewed. We supplemented this sample with 30 extra interviews with Latinos to reach 12 percent of the sample. The sample used to obtain these additional interviews was drawn from a list provided by commercially available sources of Latinos living in Santa Monica. The margin of error for this study is plus or minus 4.4% at a 95% confidence level. That is, if this survey were to be repeated exactly as it was originally conducted, then 95 out of 100 times the responses from the sample (expressed as proportions) would be within 4.4% of the actual population proportions.
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The results were weighted slightly by age and gender to correspond with Census data for the adult population of the city. The questionnaire was translated into Spanish and bilingual interviewers were used where necessary. In this report, we break out results by variables such as age, gender, and race only where both statistically significant and relevant.
SUMMARY GSV Research conducted a telephone survey with 492 residents of Santa Monica to explore attitudes about and experiences with arts and cultural activities. The margin of error for this study is plus or minus 4.4%. The survey finds very high levels of involvement in and enthusiasm for arts and cultural activities among Santa Monica residents. This appreciation is powered by the high proportion of residents (43%) who say they actually work in the arts for part or all of their living. We also see that nearly every adult in the city participates in the arts, both by doing art for work or for pleasure, and by attending arts and cultural events. This strong commitment leads residents to recognize and appreciate what the arts do for the city, and to be very enthusiastic about the quality of the arts and culture scene in Santa Monica. There is considerable interest in a major expansion of arts facilities and programming in the city, especially in a large theater, more arts festivals, and additional small places to hear music. In particular, we see a gap between the frequency of residents actually going to hear music in places other than a bar or club, and the interest in doing more of that. Specific findings of interest include: Participation in the Arts
• Ninety-eight percent of adult residents participate in at least one arts or cultural activity at least occasionally. This includes reading books for pleasure, taking photos, dancing socially, drawing, writing, crafts, music, sewing, singing, acting, and other activities. Half the city’s adult residents participate in four or more of these activities at least occasionally. The mean number of activities that residents participate in at least occasionally is 4.2.
• In the past year, 99% of city adult residents participated in one of more of
the ten types of arts or cultural events listed in the survey. Eighty percent or more have listened to live music somewhere other than a bar (82%), seen a movie (90%), visited an art gallery (83%), or visited a library (85%).
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Three in four have heard live music in a club or bar (77%) and about two in three saw a play (69%) or attended a community festival (69%). Sixty-one percent visited a museum other than an art gallery, 42% attended a literary event, and 38% say they attended some kind of dance performance.
• Many residents have attended local arts and cultural venues. For
example, 82% have seen a performance on the Third Street Promenade in the past two years, 48% have seen a concert on the Pier, 45% have visited Bergamot Station, 43% have attended a concert at the Civic, 40% have visited an art gallery other than at Bergamot Station, 36% have visited the Santa Monica Museum of Art, 35% have seen a play in Santa Monica, 34% have seen a local concert somewhere other than on the Pier, and 12% have seen a play at the Miles Playhouse.
• Nearly half of the parents interviewed said their children play a musical
instrument (48%), with 40% who say their children take art classes, and 38% who say their children do creative writing. About one in four (23%) say their children take dance classes or perform dance, and 18% said their children take acting lessons or perform in plays.
• Forty-one percent of adult residents say they carry out some kind of arts
or cultural activity to earn part or all of their living, including 20% who say they earn money from writing and 20% who say they earn money from art. Sixteen percent earn money from designing, 13% from making movies or TV, 10% from music, and 7% from dance.
Interest in the Arts
• Ninety percent of residents find it important to have art in public places in the city, and nearly 90% say it is important to have a high-quality arts scene in Santa Monica (89%), to have lots of creative businesses in the city (86%), and to have lots of creative people in the arts living in the city (78%). This compared to 91% who said it was important to have good public schools.
• Residents also give the city very positive marks for each of these items:
88% rate the city positively for the quality of its arts and cultural scene, 85% rate it positively for having lots of creative businesses nearby, 84% rate it positively for having lots of creative people living nearby, and 79% rate it positively for the quality of its public art.
• Residents clearly recognize the benefits to the city of having a strong arts
and cultural scene. Two in three (66%) say that the city’s strong arts and cultural scene is very important in making the city an interesting place to live. Sixty percent say the arts scene is very important in improving the
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quality of life in the city, and in providing positive alternatives for at-risk youth. Half or more say the city’s arts and cultural scene is very important in making the city a better place to raise kids (57%), in making the city a more desirable place to live (57%), in exposing residents to diverse cultures (57%), and in attracting tourist dollars to the city (51%). Forty-five percent say it is very important in improving the economy.
• Very high proportions of residents are interested in hearing music
somewhere other than a bar or club (70% are interested), attending more movies (69% are interested), visiting an art museum (65%), visiting a library (59%), attending a play (59%), and visiting a museum other than an art museum (52%). Somewhat lower proportions are interested in attending a neighborhood festival (44%), hearing music in a club (41%), attending a literary event (32%), or attending a dance performance (32%).
Barriers to Participation in the Arts
• Residents were asked to rate possible barriers to participation in the arts. Eighty-two percent said they would attend more arts and cultural activities in Santa Monica if was easier for them to find out what is going on. A similar proportion, 81%, said they would attend more events if there were more of the types of things they like. Seventy percent would attend more events if they were of higher quality. Sixty-five percent would attend more events if they were scheduled more conveniently for them. Sixty-three percent would attend more events if they were lower priced. Sixty percent would attend more events if they were located closer to where they live.
Vision for the Arts
• Very high proportions of residents found ideas for the future of the arts in Santa Monica to be very appealing. Eighty-two percent found the idea of a large theater for major plays or concerts to be very appealing, with 81% who liked the idea of more public arts and cultural festivals, and 80% who found the idea of lots of smaller places to hear music to be appealing. Seventy-three percent found the idea of having a major arts museum in Santa Monica to be appealing, and 71% liked the idea of having more art galleries. Seventy percent found the idea of lots of smaller theaters for drama to be appealing.
Arts Tax
• There was sizable support for an annual arts tax of $10 or $25. About 62% supported a tax at either level. This falls short of the two-thirds majority needed for passage, but the results are encouraging enough to suggest further research using a voter file to determine exact support levels among the electorate for different possible options.
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Additional findings of importance include the following:
• We see consistently in the survey that women show greater interest in participating in the arts and culture than men. They do more types of art or cultural activities themselves, and they attend more arts events.
• We also see that those who do more arts activities themselves, and who
attend more arts events, tend to be more enthusiastic about the importance of the arts in Santa Monica and what it does for the city.
• Parents tend to be more involved in the arts than non-parents, possibly
because of their interest in exposing their children to the arts. They also tend to be more appreciative of the role of the arts in improving the city.
• Those who work in the arts also attend arts events in greater proportions.
They represent a homegrown audience for arts and cultural events.
• Seniors are generally less likely to participate in the arts or to attend arts events. This represents another opportunity for the city to expand arts participation.
• We also note that newcomers to the city – the 25% or so who have lived in
Santa Monica for five years or less – tend to find having a strong arts and cultural scene less important than longer-term residents. This may be related to age, as those under age 35 are considerably less likely than older residents to consider a high-quality arts scene to be important to them.
• Latinos tend to be more enthusiastic than whites when it comes to the
quality of the arts and cultural scene in Santa Monica, and they are also more likely than whites to say that a strong arts and cultural scene contributes to the quality of life of the city and makes other contributions to the city. Latinos are less likely than whites to hear music outside a club or bar, to go to an art gallery, or to visit a museum other than an art museum. We also see that among Latinos, the most desired cultural activities are attending music performances other than a bar or club, visiting an art museum or gallery, attending a festival, and going to a movie. Residents of the Pico area are less likely than others to visit a library frequently.
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E. SANTA MONICA CREATIVE INDUSTRIES STUDY
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F. SURVEY OF SANTA MONICA NONPROFIT ARTS AND CULTURAL ORGANIZATIONS
Survey Goals
The goals of the survey were to: (1) assess the needs of Santa Monica’s arts and cultural nonprofit organizations; (2) develop a profile of this community as a whole, and (3) probe specific issues, such as cultural facilities, fundraising/development, audience development and marketing. Survey Methodology
In May 2006, a master list of 27 arts and cultural organizations was developed by Cultural Affairs Division staff. This list included grantees of the Division’s Cultural Funding Program plus additional organizations known in the community. This list of 27 represents the approximate “universe” of Santa Monica nonprofit organizations whose missions are primarily the arts and culture. The survey instrument was drafted by the consultants and reviewed by staff. In June and July 2006 all organizations were invited to respond to the survey, which was posted on-line and made available in a Word file. A total of 25 organizations responded, for a response rate of 93%.14 All survey data is self-reported; comparison data is from verified sources. Summary Findings
Santa Monica’s community of nonprofit arts and cultural organizations is relatively non-institutional. It is distinguished by a high concentration of smaller organizations and few large-budget arts and cultural institutions. Santa Monica’s organizations are largely staffed by volunteers and they tend to have few individual donors. Organizations collectively serve a total annual audience of 278,055, including 43% of this number for free. Including in this calculation all nonprofit arts and cultural organizations and others that provide public events, such as the Cultural Affairs Division Santa Monica Festival and the Santa Monica Pier Restoration Committee’s Twilight Dance Series, would increase this number significantly. This represents a substantial audience and community service. In addition, 83% of organizations provide arts education services. When asked which organizational areas most need improvement, respondents ranked fundraising, audience development, boards of directors/governance and facilities as their greatest needs. In the areas of audience development and marketing, Santa Monica's organizations seek to serve the community even more effectively. While the most frequent goal is to increase the size of the audience, 14 While 25 organizations responded to the survey, not all organizations answered each question. Therefore, the total number of responses for a specific question is 24 or occasionally less. Also, many questions requested “all that apply” responses, so percentages do not always total 100%.
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the other three highest goals are to increase cultural diversity, reach a younger audience and increase education and outreach. Nearly 80% want to increase their audience and want more advertising, electronic marketing and staff to accomplish this goal. All respondents would like to participate in a communitywide marketing program and nearly all would like to participate in a communitywide festival. All respondents report having facility needs, corroborating the identification of this need in workshops and interviews involving arts and cultural organizations. Most are willing to share space. Detailed Findings
Overall Profile Santa Monica’s community of nonprofit arts and cultural organizations is relatively non-institutional. It is distinguished by a high concentration of smaller organizations and few large-budget arts and cultural institutions. Two-thirds of organizations have annual operating budgets of less than $250,000 per year and only two organizations (8%) have annual budgets greater than $1 million.
Annual Operating Budgets
Budget Size # / Orgs. Percentage Cumulative % Less than $50,000 4 16.67% $50,000 - $99,000 5 20.83% $100,000 - $149,999 4 16.67% $150,000 - $249,999 3 12.50% 66.67% $250,000 - $499,999 3 12.50% $500,000 - $749,999 2 8.33% $750,000 - $999,999 1 4.17% $1,500,000 - $1,999,999 1 4.17% 8.33% $2,000,000 - $3,000,000 1 4.17% Total 24 100.00%
There are no studies compiling national averages for budget sizes of nonprofit arts and cultural organizations. However, a comparison of Santa Monica’s organizations with several other communities corroborates the opinion of the consultants: that Santa Monica has relatively few large budget institutions and many small-budget organizations.
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Comparative Budget Size15
Less than $250,000 Greater than $1 Million Santa Monica 67% 8%
Pasadena 50% 29% Los Angeles County 48% 16%
San Diego County 47% 23%
Santa Monica also has the greatest concentration of theatre organizations.
Artistic Discipline Discipline # / Orgs. Theatre 8 Multidisciplinary 4 Music 3 Other 3 Dance 2 Arts in Education 1 History/Preservation 1 Museums 1 Opera 1 Visual Art 1 Total 25
Santa Monica’s organizations are largely staffed by volunteers. Approximately two-thirds have one or no paid administrative staff. They do employ artists, however; organizations employ an average of 33 artists each year, including part- and full-time. Audience Santa Monica’s organizations responding to this survey serve a total annual audience of 278,055, including 43% of this number for free. Including to this calculation all nonprofit arts and cultural organizations and others that provide public events, such as the Cultural Affairs Division Santa Monica Festival and the Santa Monica Pier Restoration Committee’s Twilight Dance Series, would increase this number significantly. This represents a substantial audience and community service. Organizational Needs When asked which organizational areas most need improvement, respondents ranked fundraising, audience development, boards of directors/governance and facilities as their greatest needs. 15 Comparison of average budget sizes of nonprofit arts and cultural organizations. Data is from consultants’ surveys for Santa Monica, Pasadena and San Diego County; data for Los Angeles County is from Los Angeles County Arts Commission.
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Organizational Areas Most Needing Improvement
Fundraising 87.50% Audience development 45.83% Board of directors/governance 41.67% Facilities (expansion or acquisition) 33.33% Marketing events 29.17% Marketing the organization 20.83% Staff development 16.67% Other 8.33% Arts education 4.17% Technology 4.17%
While fundraising is commonly the greatest self-identified need in any arts and cultural community, Santa Monica faces special challenges. A key measure of fundraising capacity is the number of individual donors; Santa Monica’s organizations tend to have few individual donors. Only two organizations (8%) have more than 500 donors and 63% have fewer than 250 individual donors. This may reflect the relatively organizations’ small size and lack of paid administrative staff.
Number of Individual Donors Fewer than 100 33.33%
101 – 250 29.17% 251 – 500 29.17% 501 – 750 4.17%
2,001 - 4,000 4.17% Total 100.00%
Audience Development and Marketing Audience development and marketing are critical areas of organizational capacity building, and organizations were asked to specify their goals and needs in these areas. Judging from their responses, Santa Monica's organizations seek to serve the community even more effectively. While the most frequent goal is to increase the size of the audience, the next three highest goals are to increase cultural diversity, reach a younger audience and increase education and outreach. Nearly 80% want to increase their audience and want more advertising, electronic marketing and staff to accomplish this goal. Their current use of electronic marketing is limited; 72% of respondents have email lists but they are small in relation to their mailing lists (34% of mailing lists) and in relation to the total audience. All respondents would like to participate in a communitywide marketing program and nearly all would like to participate in a communitywide festival.
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Marketing Needs Need # / Orgs. Percentage More advertising 21 87.50% Better electronic marketing 15 62.50% Additional marketing staff 14 58.33% Better institutional branding 11 45.83% More/better printed materials 9 37.50% Research about public attitudes, participation and preferences 8 33.33% Better information about your audience 7 29.17% No marketing needs at this time 1 4.17% Other (please specify) 0 0.00%
Facility Needs All respondents report having facility needs, corroborating the identification of this need in workshops and interviews involving arts and cultural organizations.
Facility Needs Need # / Orgs. Percentage Larger facility/more space 10 41.67% Improvements/upgrades to current facility 10 41.67% Lower costs in current facility 10 41.67% Better signage 10 41.67% Other (please specify) 6 25.00% Moving to different location 2 8.33% No facility needs at this time 0 0.00%
Audience Development Goals Goal # / Orgs. Percentage To increase audience size 19 79.17% To increase cultural diversity 16 66.67% To reach a younger audience 14 58.33% To increase education or outreach audience 12 50.00% To reach more tourists/visitors 11 45.83% To serve a wider geographic area 10 41.67% Currently do not have goals for audience development 2 8.33% Other 1 4.17%
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Organizations are also willing to share space: 50% would share performance/exhibition space and 38% would share rehearsal/studio space. Santa Monica’s organizations are also resourceful in finding space; 75% report using space other than a list of major venues. Respondents use non-traditional venues, such as churches, and venues outside Santa Monica. One-quarter (6 organizations) use the Miles Playhouse. Arts Education Respondents are providing a substantial amount of arts education programs to the community. Eighty-three percent provide arts education in schools, after schools or in other settings (including programs for adults). Respondents
18th Street Arts Center California Heritage Museum Center for Celebration Arts City Garage Donna Sternberg & Dancers Edgemar Center for the Arts Empire of Teeth Highways Performance Space and Gallery Jacaranda, music at the edge of Santa Monica Juneteenth Celebration Committee, Inc. Los Angeles Ballet, Inc. Los Angeles Women's Shakespeare Company Musica Angelica Baroque Orchestra New Playwrights Foundation Powerhouse Theatre Company Ruskin Group Theatre Santa Monica Civic Light Opera Santa Monica Historical Society Museum Santa Monica Museum of Art Santa Monica Playhouse Santa Monica Symphony Santa Monica Theatre Guild Sight Unseen Theatre Group Verdi Chorus Virginia Avenue Project
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G. ASSESSMENT OF CURRENT CITY CULTURAL FUNDING
Because funding is both a critical need and an important current program,
Creative Capital included a reexamination of the City’s Cultural Affairs Division
cultural funding programs. Grants programs were assessed in relation to current
stakeholder needs and opportunities identified in the planning process.
The City’s Cultural Affairs Division currently offers four different grants programs
for eligible nonprofit arts organizations.
Cultural/Arts Organization Support Grant Program The Cultural/Arts Organization Support Grant Program offers three-year grants
for organizational operations. In the most recently completed year, $260,000
was distributed. Currently ten groups are eligible for this funding. Eligibility
requirements include the following:
Based in Santa Monica for at least five years
Tax-exempt status as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization
Compliance with Fair Labor Standards, paying artists and other
personnel at the minimum level paid by persons doing comparable
work
Compliance with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Title VIII of
the Civil Rights Act of l968, and the Americans With Disabilities Act
of l990. Applicant does not discriminate in the hiring of staff or
provisions of services on the basis of race, religion, sex, age,
national origin, disabilities, HIV status, political affiliation or beliefs,
or sexual preference.
Review criteria for the review of applications for this funding include:
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Artistic excellence
A range and diversity of programming
Collaboration with other Santa-Monica-based cultural organizations
Demonstration of community support
Demonstrated viability and long-term stability
Professional staff
Accessible by the general public
Diversified funding base
Assessment:
The purpose of this grants program is to provide long-term
organizational stability for Santa Monica’s key cultural and artistic
institutions.
By and large, the program is achieving that goal. Although many
factors influence organizations in the program, their number and
budget size have increased over time, and some organizations
have become nationally prominent. However, there is the
perception that some organizations are not pursuing appropriate
organizational development and are static rather than stable.
Eligibility is not defined in such as manner as to best promote the
goals of the program, particularly in terms of a minimum budget
threshold for application to the Operating Support Program.
Standard practice in the field is to have such a threshold to focus
support on organizations that have a minimum level of
organizational development, and are not primarily project-based. It
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is recommended that a minimum organizational budget of
approximately $250,000 be required.
To encourage greater accountability, the review criteria should be
more rigorously applied.
To address the need for appropriate organizational development,
participants should be required to submit strategic plans with their
applications beginning in the 2009/10 round of three-year funding.
This provides organizations with three years to develop such plans
(see also capacity building program recommendation below). To
increase accountability, organizational health should be
emphasized during the review process, including response to the
comments of past cycle’s panels.
Given the importance of these major organizations, it is
recommended that the funds allocated for operating grants be
increased substantially. Government funding programs with goals
similar to OSP typically aim to provide between 10% and 20% of an
organization’s operating budget. This provides sufficient resources
to provide a minimum level of stabilization. The total of operating
budgets for OSP organizations is approximately $6.5 million; 10%
to 20% of that amount would be $650,000 to $1.3 million annually.
The application review process is currently accomplished by two
grants readers, assisted by City staff. The consultants recommend
that this be changed to a peer panel review process, again, the
standard in the local arts agency field. A panel of five to seven
peers of the organizations reviews the application and makes
funding recommendations, assisted by City staff.
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Participation at a pre-application workshop is not now required.
The consultants recommend that these workshops be mandatory,
so applicants have a full understanding of the program guidelines.
The program is now evaluated on an informal basis primarily based
on information gathered from the grantees through their annual
reports. Developing a more comprehensive evaluation system
would help increase the effectiveness of the program. A logic
model for the program could be created to articulate its goals,
desired outcomes, indicators of change and measures of change.
The logic model would then form the basis for data collection and
analysis. Evaluation does not have to be complex or burdensome;
the evaluation system can be designed with an eye to simplicity
and convenience. More detailed information should be gathered
through the applications, reports and in periodic focus groups in
order to more carefully monitor organizational performance,
evaluate the grantee for future funding, and track issues for the arts
and cultural community as a whole.
Currently both cultural and heritage organizations are in the same
grant pool. It is recommended that there be separate but parallel
process for arts and cultural groups and heritage organizations.
The reason for this is that the disciplines are quite different and the
peer panels need differing expertise.
There are no capacity-building or technical assistance programs
linked to this grants program. It is recommended that the City
develop a series of technical assistance offerings that would be
required for participation in this program.
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Additional Operating Support Two additional organizations receive “pass through” support in the form of line
item allocations in the Cultural Affairs budget. The Santa Monica Historical
Society receives $50,000 and the Santa Monica Symphony receives $25,000.
The consultants recommend that these two grants be folded into the overall
Operating Support Grant Program to reinforce the transparency and integrity of
the funding process.
Co-Arts Program The purpose of the Co-Arts Program is to provide community access to a diverse
range of community-based arts and cultural activities. Grant applications are
reviewed by a peer panel. For the most recent year, $60,000 was distributed to
11 organizations for a variety of projects. The program has the following
eligibility requirements:
Resident Santa Monica arts or cultural organization
Or can be a community-based Santa Monica organization
proposing an art or cultural related project
Must be a tax exempt 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization
Project must occur within Santa Monica for the benefit of the public
If the project is an arts education project, it must meet the California
Visual and Performing Arts standards
Project must occur within the next calendar year
Applicant must comply with the Fair Labor Standards and must pay
personnel the minimum level of compensation as people
performing similar work
The following selection criteria apply to the Co-Arts Grants Program:
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Artistic Excellence (40% of score)
Community Accessibility (40% of score)
Agency Viability (20% of score)
Assessment:
The annual pre-application workshop is now voluntary. The
consultants recommend that these workshops be mandatory, so
applicants have a full understanding of the program guidelines.
There are currently no matching requirements for the Co-Arts
grants. It is recommended that matching be required, if only in the
form of in-kind match, volunteer hours, etc.
As with the OSP Program, this program would benefit from a more
comprehensive evaluation system (see above), which can
presumably be developed in tandem with the evaluation system for
OSP.
The Co-Arts Grants Program is based on a calendar year rather
than the City’s fiscal year. It is recommended that the start of the
2008 grants process be delayed by six months (from January 1,
2008 to July 1, 2008) to bring the program into line with other
Cultural Affairs grant cycles.
There are no capacity-building or technical assistance programs
linked to this grants program. It is recommended that the City
develop a series of technical assistance offerings related to
participation in this program. These technical assistance programs
can be mandatory or can be based on incentive (i.e., bonus points
awarded in the panel rating process.)
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Latino Co-Arts Grants Program Parallel to the regular Co-Arts Program is a special project grant category
specifically aimed at providing project support for community-based activities
directed to the Latino community. For the 2006 cycle, five grants totaling
$25,300 were awarded.
Assessment:
This program arose in part from a desire to support and promote
Latino cultural achievements and public understanding of Latino
culture. Since its creation, other approaches to fulfilling this
purpose have been adopted, including the creation of the Virginia
Avenue Park Teen Center’s youth program and increased funding
available to Santa Monica’s arts organizations through other grants
programs. The regular Co-Arts Program also emphasizes service
to a diverse population and the inclusion of multicultural artists in
projects. Given the expanded range of opportunities for Latino
cultural expression, the Latino Co-Arts Program should be re-
evaluated in light of the overall purpose of providing funding that
reflects and promotes cultural diversity.
Transportation Grants Program Recognizing the need for funds for transportation costs of field trips, the
transportation grants program provides money to support visits to Santa Monica
arts destinations, such as art museums, galleries, artist studios, theaters and
other performing arts venues. This support is available to any Santa Monica-
based nonprofit cultural organization or school wishing to expand its arts
education programming. Seventy-five percent of the funds are dedicated to
youth oriented programming, but groups representing all ages are able to apply.
