A PLAN FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF SANTA MONICA’S ARTS AND CULTURE

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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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

9.00%

8.00% Creative Workforce Comparison

7.00% Santa Monica compared to the 20 Most Creative US Cities Total number of creative workers employed as % of total employment

6.00%

5.00%

4.00%

3.00%

2.00%

1.00%

0.00% a o s C s R a is ic c e y rk D li o o r s h i ix n l d n is l le o tle o ta n O in g g e g h o o r o c e e n t p n to , t a ie v lla i lp n t p fo n g k Y to a a a s d s ic D n a le e e s a rt M a n r w g e e tl o n u e a d o u n a r A e n S n A B la A h n D D R a h o ia ta F s B e i n t C a il P H d H n N h i r S h n a n o s M o P I S a L a P S W

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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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 Arts Alleys the community’s cultural vision over the Potential uses include a mix of public and private venues: performance and next ten years. Making use of existing as gallery spaces, and art and rehearsal studios, cafes and outdoor well as new public and private resources, performances. This rendering shows one example of how Arts Alleys might the City and community partners will be be configured. 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:

¾ 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.

¾ Make necessary adjustments in zoning in the downtown cultural district to permit and encourage arts and cultural activities in the Arts Alleys.

¾ 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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¾ 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:

¾ 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.

¾ 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.

¾ 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:

¾ 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.

¾ Create an Artists Fellowship Program to support and recognize Santa Monica’s individual artists.

¾ Create an organizational capacity building and technical assistance program to encourage appropriate institutionalization of Santa Monica’s nonprofit arts and cultural organizations.

¾ Create an Opportunity Grants Program to allow the City to respond to unusual and short-term arts and cultural project opportunities.

¾ 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:

¾ 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.

¾ Institute an annual arts leadership awards program, recognizing leading citizens in the areas of philanthropy, business and volunteerism.

¾ 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:

¾ 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.

¾ 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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¾ 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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A. CELEBRATING INNOVATION

A central issue in the development of The term “innovation” has a broad Creative Capital is defining the unique meaning in Santa Monica. Innovation has included the artistic avant-garde qualities of Santa Monica’s creative and the development of new cultural identity. Understanding Santa Monica’s trends and aesthetics. The term also means the creative adaptation of creative niche is key to cultural traditional cultural ideas, reinterpretation of classics, and the development that is organic and invention of new methods of supporting and presenting culture. 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 Santa Monica’s creative sector has is not based on strength in one or two more than 1,634 arts-related businesses that employ at least areas; rather, it includes the nonprofit as 11,464 people. These businesses range from nonprofit museums, well as the commercial creative sectors. It symphony and theaters, to for-profit film, architecture and advertising spans visual and performing arts, a companies. spectrum of literary pursuits, the digital arts, Source: Americans for the Arts / Dunn & Bradstreet 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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What does this mean for cultural Creative entrepreneurs are no longer development and cultural policy? First, it is taking the nonprofit model as a given and instead are working through a a cause for celebration and recognition. variety of temporary and hybrid structures that best suit their work. This is not only a marvelous distinguishing …Many young artists now are rejecting the nonprofit arts sector altogether, and feature; it is a platform for branding and working exclusively through commercial or unincorporated vehicles continued development as a community. to develop and present their work to Celebrating creative individuals and the public. Critical Issues Facing the Arts in innovation is a theme running throughout California: A Working Paper (The James Irvine Foundation 2006) 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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1. Fostering Cultural Innovation

Santa Monica has an important We found the results rather astounding. Artists opportunity to leverage the resources of move among sectors [commercial, nonprofit and community] far more than we had thought, its creative community as a catalyst for and if money were not an issue, most would cross over more than they presently do. They cultural innovation. It would be perhaps report that each sector provides distinctive channels and support for artistic development. the first community to capitalize on the Crossover: How Artists Build Careers across artistic potential of partnerships among Commercial, Nonprofit and Community Work diverse creative sectors. Artistic cross- Ann Markusen, et al. (2006) 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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common interest can be identified through Santa Monica’s commercial creative discussions with leaders from these fields. community has been investigating its local arts neighbors. They’re looking Allowing these groups to define their own for things to commercialize. They have different aesthetics but are purpose and agenda will better ensure their open-minded. There’s a real opportunity for everyone here. usefulness and longevity. The role of the Santa Monica artist 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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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 Senior citizens are generally less are deeply held values. The professional likely to participate in the arts or to attend arts events. arts community and residents frequently view 2006 Arts Survey of Santa Monica the arts and culture as integral to their lives Residents 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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and access; nearly all provide a Effective Audience Building Strategies substantial amount of free programs ƒ Conducting events in places where people go for other reasons and arts education services. Santa ƒ Drawing people to a venue by offering Monica’s arts and cultural organizations programs that celebrate heritage of audiences they wish to target currently serve an annual audience of at ƒ Sponsoring activities for children and least 278,000 and 44% of that families attendance is free. More than eight of ƒ Creating marketing strategies and messages that highlight and provide ten organizations provide arts education incentives for bringing family members and friends to arts and culture events in schools or after school. ƒ Designing events to provide opportunities for socializing These attitudes align with community ƒ Offering programs and events that encompass the range of styles and input for the update of the land use types that people who participate identify as arts and culture element of the City’s General Plan ƒ Creating connections between arts (currently in progress) in which and culture programs and local non- arts causes and organizations residents envision a city with a richness ƒ Establishing partnerships between arts of civic amenities and greater and culture organizations and other nonprofit and volunteer accessibility to those resources for all organizations—particularly religious organizations—to produce arts and citizens. culture programs and events “Reggae to Rachmaninoff: How and Why These attitudes also reflect national People Participate in Arts and Culture,” Urban Institute, 2002, 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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consider carefully the audiences The California Arts Audience Research Project they are trying to target.” (A New concludes that the traditional arts audience is shrinking but California’s audience is Framework for Building Participation diversifying. Organizations that research and respond to the interests of their current and in the Arts, Kevin F. McCarthy, potential new audiences were able to retain, grow and diversify their audiences. They Kimberly Jinnett, 2001.) The study adopted a holistic approach to marketing, implementing changes beyond the marketing recommended extended two-way department and throughout the organization, exchanges between providers and including changing programming to meet audience interests. These organizations potential new audiences to develop believed that their artistic product was stronger, not compromised, as a result of these a more successful approach to shifts. building participation, based on Walter & Elise Haas Fund, The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, and The James mutual needs and interests. Irvine Foundation (2000)

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 Eight-two percent would attend more arts Santa Monica’s arts and culture was events in Santa Monica if there were more of the type of things they liked; 70% would attend a clear message from both the more if they were of higher quality. 2006 Arts Survey of Santa Monica Residents 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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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 Artsopolis Network the Cultural Affairs Division with as-needed contract (www.Artsopolis.net) promotes arts and culture support from outside professionals, would greatly in local communities through on-line and enhance the marketing effectiveness of Santa Monica’s traditional marketing. Originally a project of Arts arts and cultural organizations and artists. The purpose Council Silicon Valley, it of the marketing program is to build audiences, has proven so successful in Silicon Valley that it has enhance cultural participation and access, and increase expanded since 2003 to include seven US cities, community awareness of local arts and culture. The including Denver, Phoenix and Houston. 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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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 American Film Market community (organizations and individual Another example of Santa Monica’s crossover among sub-sectors of the arts artists). Such a directory can greatly is this annual weeklong international enhance the ability of organizations, tradeshow where producers bid on independent films. Filmmakers and artists, arts-related businesses and other producers come from about 70 countries, with more than 900 creative individuals to access capacity screenings of about 600 films. Approximately $800 million in building and other resources. transactions are made at AFM.

The local economic impact is also This directory, which might be called substantial. AFM generates $15 million to $17 million in total spending in Santa Creative Santa Monica, can be expanded Monica, and $500,000 in tax revenues to the City. Residents can view screenings to include creative individuals and arts- for free by registering at the AFM related businesses. By also including a website.

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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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serving seniors, youth, families and children. “Glow” Festival Santa Monica Festivals also activate parks, neighborhoods What began in Paris five years ago and other public spaces. As with the Santa as an experiment and adventure in densely filling the hours between Monica Festival, they are excellent dusk and dawn with all manner of cultural events, is now sprouting up opportunities for collaborations. in other cities in Europe and North America. This foray into the quiet hours of night attracted over one Current Major Festivals million people last year in Paris. The City of Santa Monica is now planning for its own event, entitled The Cultural Affairs Division already Glow, part homage to the French produces the annual Santa Monica Festival in initiative but more specifically in tribute to the famous grunion fish Clover Park, a successful collaboration with who live in local waters and come ashore several times a year to the Environmental Services Division. It is spawn their eggs in the sand creating a momentary sensation of also seeking funding to continue to produce iridescence and glow. last year’s highly successful pilot program, Glow will shift our expectations in the Jazz on the Lawn concert series. It is regards to how we program our time. In lieu of sleep Glow suggests currently exploring the development of a new community gatherings and dramatic cultural adventures. In keeping with arts and cultural festival for 2008, “Glow,” the public nature of the festival, events will occur in public spaces, in inspired by the annual “Nuit Blanche” Festival intersections normally filled with cars, on the pier, along the Third in Paris, which will take place during an entire Street Promenade and Palisades night on and near the Pier, the beach and Park. Glow’s ambition is to fill the streets and public spaces of Ocean Avenue. These activities strongly downtown Santa Monica for one twelve hour period with delighted support the goal of increasing public and engaged people, who are savoring and participating in unique participation and access, as well as contemporary art experiences, all of which will be free. Glow is reinforcing Santa Monica’s unique creative tentatively scheduled for early identity. They should be continued and summer 2008 and will be planned to coincide as much as possible with developed or expanded. the run of the grunion, which is often easily observed on Santa Monica beaches. 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

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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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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 Arts for All—Reintroducing Arts Opportunities for young people, in Education to All Schools particular arts education, is an important Arts education in California schools is currently an unfunded state mandate. issue in Santa Monica. The residents’ To remedy this, Arts for All has embarked on a long-term effort to survey documented the attitudes strongly reintroduce arts education to all schools favoring arts education and the extent of throughout Los Angeles County. The strategy is to create systemic change parents’ efforts to provide their children and institutionalize sequential, K-12 arts education, based on the Visual and with arts education outside of school. In Performing Arts Standards for California Public Schools. After three years, 17 of 2005, the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified the 80 school districts have created strategic plans approved by their boards School District (SMMUSD) adopted a of education. Arts for All is a partnership nine-year plan to reintroduce arts of more than 50 organizations, including the Los Angeles County Arts education to all of its schools. This plan Commission and the Los Angeles County Office of Education. is part of a countywide effort, Arts for All, www.lacountyarts.org/artseducation.html to restore arts education to all school districts in Los Angeles County, which is widely regarded as a national model.

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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 Ninety percent of Santa Monica Program. The City recently extended the residents find it important to have art public art requirement to private industrial, in public places in the city. 2006 Arts Survey of Santa Monica residential, and commercial development, Residents 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.

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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 the lowest paid workers in our society. Providing affordable Maintaining economic diversity: the housing and work space for artists creative sector makes up 8.89% of helps retain their presence in the the Santa Monica workforce and its community, in the face of creative industry is a major overwhelming real estate pressures component of its overall economy. to move to lower-cost areas.

Quality of job creation: jobs in the Transportation commercial creative sector are generally high-paying and Reducing automobile dependency: environmentally friendly. Arts- providing arts and cultural programs related businesses are frequently in Santa Monica and emphasizing small, low-impact and high-return. public transportation options in marketing materials shortens Human Dignity automobile trips and facilitates use of alternative transportation. Education and youth: studies have shown that young people exposed Community Education and Civic to the arts have higher test scores, Participation lower drop-out rates, higher levels of tolerance and empathy, and other Community education: the Santa highly desirable outcomes. In Monica Arts Festival already addition, the arts frequently tackle contains a major environmental timely social and political issues, component; sustainability can be and are an excellent community part of public art and other arts forum for education and productive projects, providing community dialogue on such issues. education.

Open Space and Land Use Civic involvement: cultural programs and community festivals Open space development: cultural provide important opportunities for programs and public art can citizens to come together to increase the citizens’ enjoyment of celebrate civic life. their parks and open spaces. Volunteering: the cultural arena Housing offers a multitude of opportunities to engage in civic involvement through Availability of affordable housing: volunteering. while Santa Monica is recognized historically as a haven for artists, many traditional artists are among

Enhancing cultural sustainability requires a Serious music is a city thing. It healthy ecosystem of support. Culture takes a large pool of people -- musicians, audience, even thrives first and foremost when there is, as in philanthropists -- to make it Santa Monica, a numerous and diverse happen. I go to the opera and the L.A. Phil at the Music Center collection of creative people. More is and the Disney Hall as much as possible, but let's face it -- traffic required, however. Cultural vitality is a bear. …Fortunately, Santa throughout the system requires visibility, Monica is becoming a much more convenient place than it awareness, resources, leadership and was to hear concerts. effective policy. It also requires Frank Gruber, Blog: The Lookout 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 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 The most critical issue facing the arts community faces daunting facilities community in Santa Monica is retaining and fostering is art culture in light of issues. A rapidly rising real estate increasing real estate pressures. The need for affordable housing, art studios, as market and the restriction of rent control well as performing venues, is critical to the survival of the arts in the city. has in recent years contributed to artists’ City of Santa Monica Opportunities and moving out of the city and to arts Challenges Report (2005) 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:

ƒ Larger facility/more space

ƒ Improvements/upgrades to current facility

ƒ Lower costs in current facility

ƒ 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

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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).

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There are also several existing and Arts Alleys important cultural facilities that are Creating Arts Alleys flanking the Third Street facing change in the coming years and Promenade capitalizes on a special Santa Monica opportunity—the availability of space that could potentially cause a major fronting the alleys—while encouraging public interaction with artists. Arts uses include a loss to the community as well as the mix of public and private venues: performance and gallery spaces, and art and cultural organizations. The Bergamot rehearsal studios. The pedestrian Station complex of art galleries, environment is enlivened and social interaction enhanced with cafes and outdoor including the Santa Monica Museum performances. This rendering shows one example of how Arts Alleys might be of Art, is slated to become a configured. Note the arts uses within a reconfigured city parking structure. Zoned transportation site in approximately paving and landscaping can reinforce a balance of pedestrian and vehicular use in 2012, with the development of a new the alleyway. 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

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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:

ƒ 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.

ƒ 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

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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:

ƒ 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.

ƒ 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.

ƒ 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.

ƒ 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).

ƒ 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:

ƒ Being a cultural focal point of the community, one that respects the building’s history and anticipates the future

ƒ Having greater functionality as a cultural facility, with state-of-the- art technical capacity and audience amenities

ƒ Having an enlivened public space in and around the building, with activity and use at all different times of the day and year

ƒ Having enhanced outdoor spaces surrounding the building

ƒ Containing a performance auditorium for large events, as it is now, as well as smaller spaces for more intimate performances

ƒ Including visual arts use and/or a museum

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ƒ 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 Dean Lesher Regional Center for the Option: This scenario treats the Arts, Walnut Creek, California

facility as a multidisciplinary cultural The Lesher Center is a vibrant example of a city-owned and -operated performing and education facility that balances and visual arts center. Serving audiences primarily in Contra Costa County, it is the needs of the audience with the home to resident performing companies, needs of the arts and cultural community rentals, regional and touring companies, and a diverse exhibition community. It serves the needs of schedule. There are three theaters, ranging in size from 133 to 785 seats, and Santa Monica artists and arts a 3,500 square foot gallery. In addition to the Lesher Center, the City of Walnut organizations by providing spaces operates several studio facilities providing a large range of visual and performing arts appropriate to their needs. It also classes and workshops for all ages. addresses residents’ interest in These cultural facilities are operated by the City as an enterprise fund, with a total smaller scale, affordable events and annual budget of $6.5 million, including a general fund subsidy of $1.9 million. 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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The Civic Auditorium can also be A Cultural Campus—Land Use Near the viewed as the centerpiece of a cultural Civic Auditorium These schematic diagrams illustrate the campus that includes but extends range of creative solutions available if the City revises the Civic Center Specific Plan to beyond the Civic Center to include a cultural campus surrounding the encompass Santa Monica High Civic Auditorium. They show ways to accommodate uses currently called for in the School and its cultural facilities. The Civic Center Specific Plan. 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.

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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:

ƒ 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.

ƒ 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.

ƒ 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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ƒ 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.

ƒ 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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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. Denver’s Dedicated Arts Funding Since the late 1980’s, communities such Denver’s seven-county Scientific and as Denver, Salt Lake, Pittsburgh and St. Cultural Facilities District shows the breadth of the returns on public Louis have demonstrated the investment in the arts. Created in 1988 as the result of a cultural plan, the district effectiveness of this approach, and dedicates 1/10th of one percent of its recent research and case-making sales tax (“a penny for every ten dollars”) to its arts and culture organizations, around economic development, including the science and natural history museums. This tax generates educational impact, neighborhood approximately $35 million annually, or revitalization, cultural participation and $13.62 per capita, for unrestricted operating support. This revenue source cross-cultural dialogue have repeatedly has helped stabilize the cultural community, providing a reliable level of documented the returns. support, thereby increasing the capacity of these organizations to serve the public. Over the years, attendance has For example, economic impact studies increased dramatically; more than 11 illustrate that local government million people, twice the population of Colorado, visited scientific and cultural revenues generated by investments in organizations in 2004. Furthermore, arts and culture organizations typically almost 860,000 out-of-state visitors annually defray the cost by spending exceed the amount of tax revenues millions of dollars on tourism. More subtly, these revenues have facilitated invested. At the same time, more than the development of diverse cultural 90% of the revenues of arts and culture organizations in suburban areas, as Denver has become an exurban region. 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.

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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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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 Every day millions of dollars are individuals are the heart of the cultural invested in venture capital in this country. We believe that supporting ecosystem. For example, the Ford art at the moment of creation is a similar investment, spurring vital Foundation recently inaugurated a $20 innovations in culture. million national program, United States Katharine DeShaw, Executive Director, United States Artists 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:

ƒ There should be three or four categories of artists: Visual Artists, Performing Artists, Literary Artists and, perhaps, New Genre Artists.

ƒ Each year, artists in one of these categories would be honored, with the program rotating to a new discipline annually.

ƒ 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).

ƒ The City should honor the selected artists at a major public event, an exhibition, a performing arts event, a gala celebration, etc.

ƒ 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.

ƒ 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:

ƒ 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.

ƒ Organizations should have budgets of at least $100,000 and a paid staff person to be eligible for the capacity building program.

ƒ 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.

ƒ 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.

ƒ 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.

ƒ 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.

ƒ Small grants could be offered to all arts organization staff or volunteers to attend local or national meetings where organization development training is available.

ƒ 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.

ƒ 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:

ƒ 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.

ƒ Tailor the amount of the insurance coverage to the size and risks posed by the specific project or event.

ƒ 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 venues 14. 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

Lead & Partner Estimated Preliminary Steps* Start Year** Agencies*** Costs****

1. Recognize and support the This is an over-arching policy intended to guide programming and importance of individual artists resource decisions throughout implementation of Creative Capital to Santa Monica’s cultural ecosystem. 2. Adopt the theme of innovation This is an over-arching policy intended to guide programming and and creative individuals as the resource decisions throughout implementation of Creative Capital basis for programming and marketing of Santa Monica’s creative identity. 3. Capitalize on the extraordinary Conduct 1 – 2 One CAD $10,000 and concentration of creative convenings allocation of people and resources by existing staff fostering communication and time leveraging partnerships for innovative cultural programming.

*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

Lead & Preliminary Partner Steps Start Year Agencies Estimated Costs

Marketing and Coordination 4. Develop a comprehensive Begin research Year two— CAD Allocation of directory of Santa Monica’s arts and development finalize and existing staff time and cultural resources. of Creative Santa publish plus $25,000 - Monica directory directory $50,000 for in year one contract staff and outreach 5. Develop a communitywide Research and Year three CAD $250,000 for marketing program to build plan marketing contract staff, audiences for Santa Monica’s program in year professional arts and culture programs, two services and increase cultural participation other program and access, increase costs community awareness of local arts and culture, and explore the evolving creative potential of electronic communication. 6. Explore the evolving creative Incorporate into Year three CAD See #5 above potential of electronic research and communication to support planning for Santa Monica’s cultural marketing community program in year two 7. Develop cooperative strategies Convene partners Year one CAD Allocation of with Santa Monica College, the SMC existing staff time Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District and other SMMUSD providers of lifelong learning Other programs to enhance the providers accessibility of their cultural programs to the community.

Festivals

8. Continue and further develop Year one CAD $35,000 - existing arts and cultural $40,000 to festivals, such as the Santa continue Jazz on Monica Festival and Jazz on the the Lawn Lawn. 9. Develop major new arts and Planning for new Year two— CAD $800,000 for first cultural festivals, to celebrate “Glow” festival in produce first SMAF year’s festival and explore Santa Monica’s year one “Glow” expenses innovative cultural identity and festival address the community’s desire for more festivals. 10. Facilitate the provision of small- Conduct Year three— CAD Allocation of scale festivals (showcases) that workshops for issue RFP existing staff highlight the arts and culture, or festival producers for festival time; $50,000 contain a cultural component, beginning year co- beginning year through a co-sponsorship one production three for co- arrangement. productions

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Lead & STRATEGY II: INCREASING CULTURAL Partner Estimated PARTICIPATION—CONTINUED Preliminary Steps Start Year Agencies Costs

Integrating Cultural Programming 11. Seek further opportunities to Ongoing CAD TBD 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. 12. Expand the cultural Assess program Year two— CAD Allocation of programming partnership possibilities in year conduct 1 – 2 SMPL existing staff between the Cultural Affairs one, based on pilot programs with time plus Division and other City divisions programs during SMPL Friends of program costs and departments, including the Creative Capital SMPL TBD Santa Monica Public Library and SMAC the Human Services Division’s after-school and youth-at-risk programs. 13. Enhance accessibility for senior Assess program Year two— CAD Allocation of citizens to arts and cultural possibilities in year integrate arts HSD existing staff programs through integration of one in conjunction into seniors time plus programs into existing venues with Community programming program costs and services for seniors, and by Voices and other TBD promoting partnerships through current senior the network of lifelong learning outreach initiatives service providers. 14. Find opportunities to promote Ongoing CAD Allocation of the reintroduction of arts SMMUSD existing staff education in all public schools time through implementation of the SMEF Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District’s Arts for All plan, in cooperation with the district and the Santa Monica- Malibu Educational Foundation. Public Art 15. Implement a public art in private Year one— CAD $65,000 - development program that implement PCD $85,000 for supports a Cultural Trust Fund new Private new contract flexible enough to help fulfill the Developer staff position community’s arts and cultural Cultural Arts vision, as identified in this Requirement planning process. ordinance 16. In future years, as the Cultural Year four— CAD $100,000 for Trust Fund grows, conduct an issue RFP PCD professional assessment of both the public and conduct services and private public art programs assessment to gauge their effectiveness in and planning meeting the community’s process cultural needs.

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STRATEGY III: ENHANCING SUSTAINABILITY Lead & Partner Estimated Preliminary Steps Start Year Agencies 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: ¾ Create a downtown Planning in year one Year two— PCD Allocation of cultural district for the create district CAD existing staff development of Arts time and Alleys, bounded by 2nd Bayside other costs Street on the west, 4th HHD TBD Street on the east, Broadway on the south and Wilshire on the north.

¾ Make necessary Participate in current Year one— PCD Allocation of adjustments in the zoning update of zoning develop and existing staff of the downtown cultural requirements adopt zoning CAD time district to permit and changes Bayside encourage arts and cultural activities in the HHD Arts Alleys. ¾ Negotiate with downtown Planning in year one Year two—begin PCD Allocation of property owners and implementation CAD existing staff businesspersons to use of district plan time and the vacant and Bayside other costs underutilized space HHD TBD 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. ¾ Work with the designers of Timeline for TBD PCD TBD the rebuilt and rehabbed changes to parking CAD parking garages to ensure structures is not that the areas fronting the finalized; monitor Bayside alleys support the Arts plans and develop HHD Alleys concept. planning timeline for District-related development of parking structures

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Lead & STRATEGY III: ENHANCING SUSTAINABILITY— Preliminary Partner Estimated CONTINUED Steps Start Year Agencies Costs 18. Commit to a cultural use of the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium in line with the community’s vision for this facility and: ¾ Approach development of the Ongoing Civic Aud. Civic Auditorium as a key CAD component within a larger cultural campus encompassing the Civic Center, Santa Monica High School, the Pier and adjacent areas. ¾ Create a plan for the Issue RFP for Year one— Civic Aud. [Costs development of the Civic facility plan in develop facility CAD outside of Auditorium that assesses the year one or plan Creative options identified in this earlier Capital] planning process, and presents specific recommendations for implementation. ¾ Revisit the recommendations Year one Civic Aud. [Costs regarding the Civic CAD outside of Auditorium in the Civic Center Creative Specific Plan to better Capital] accommodate the cultural uses envisioned by the community. 19. Develop, or facilitate the Monitor Ongoing CAD TBD development of, small, flexible and opportunities PCD affordable performance venues beginning in (under 500 seats) and visual arts year one HSD spaces.

20. Develop policies and ordinances Year one PCD Allocation of that encourage and even mandate existing staff the creation of affordable artist CAD time live/work and day studio spaces in new residential and industrial development at a minimum in the Light Manufacturing Studio District (LMSD). 21. Retain and enhance current arts Ongoing CAD TBD uses at the Pier, Bergamot PCD Station, the Santa Monica Airport and 18th Street Arts Center. 22. Support and enhance cultural Year one— CAD Allocation of development around nodes, such support PCD existing staff as the emerging cultural uses development of time along Pico Boulevard. Pico Boulevard Cultural Festival

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Lead & STRATEGY III: ENHANCING Preliminary Partner Estimated SUSTAINABILITY—CONTINUED Steps Start Year Agencies Costs Cultural Funding 23. Work to increase the total Increase total Year five—target CAD $650,000 to amount of the City’s Cultural funding as year for reaching $1.3 million by Funding program budget resources benchmark year five towards a benchmark of become between 10% and 20% of the available total operating budgets of Santa Monica’s arts organizations. 24. Create new cultural support opportunities as follows: ¾ Expand and restructure the Program Year two CAD Allocation of current Cultural/Arts planning and existing staff Organization Support Grant design in year time and Program to ensure on, with use of $100,000 separate review of arts consultants and applicants and cultural stakeholder heritage applicants, and input as implement procedural needed refinements. ¾ Create an Artists (same as Year two—initial CAD $50,000 for Fellowship Program to above) round of fellowship support and recognize fellowships awards and Santa Monica’s individual other program artists. costs ¾ Create an organizational (same as Year two—first CAD $50,000 for capacity building and above) round of capacity capacity technical assistance building awards building awards program to encourage and initial and $10,000 for appropriate technical technical institutionalization of Santa assistance assistance Monica’s nonprofit arts and services cultural organizations. ¾ Create an Opportunity (same as Year two—first CAD $20,000 for Grants Program to allow above) round of grants awards the City to respond to unusual and short-term arts and cultural project opportunities. ¾ Create a Capital Grants Monitor Year four—first CAD $250,000 initial Program to assist nonprofit potential capital awards allocation for arts and cultural projects among awards; organizations in meeting local arts additional their facility needs, and to organizations in allocations as encourage capacity years one needed building. through three 25. Explore options to best reflect Program Year one CAD Allocation of and support Santa Monica’s planning and staff time and cultural diversity through cultural design in year $15,000 for funding. on, with use of consulting consultants and services stakeholder input as needed

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Lead & STRATEGY III: ENHANCING Preliminary Partner Estimated SUSTAINABILITY—CONTINUED Steps Start Year Agencies Costs 26. Explore ways to enhance Program Year two—implement CAD $10,000 for community access to cultural planning and enhancements contract funding programs, while design in services and improving administrative year one other program effectiveness, through such costs tools as e-granting, on-line data collection, and collective insurance for grantees.

Leadership

27. Reactivate the Santa Monica Reconfirm Year two—develop CAD Allocation of Arts Foundation as a mission in organizational plan existing staff fundraising and leadership year one for SMAF time plus development organization by $60,000 for confirming its mission and role, consulting and developing a plan to services partner in the implementation of Creative Capital. 28. Provide in-kind support and Year three—begin SMAF $250,000 for seed-funding to the Foundation implementation of CAD contract staff to enable it to provide organizational plan and other increased community cultural for SMAF; lay program costs leadership. groundwork for fundraising 29. Focus the Foundation’s efforts as follows: ¾ Expand the pool of Year four—begin SMAF See above resources available for workplace giving and CAD cultural uses by united arts fund, as developing a workplace indicated by giving program to organizational plan encourage cultural giving by private individuals, and a united arts fund to encourage cultural giving by local businesses and corporations. ¾ Institute an annual arts Year five—as SMAF See above leadership awards indicated by CAD program, recognizing organizational plan leading citizens in the areas of philanthropy, business and volunteerism. ¾ Create an active program Year four—as SMAF See above of leadership indicated by CAD development, in organizational plan cooperation with the Chamber of Commerce, or other civic or business group.

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Lead & Preliminary Start Partner Estimated STRATEGY III: ENHANCING SUSTAINABILITY—CONTINUED Steps Year Agencies Costs 30. Strengthen the capacity of the Arts Commission to fulfill its role in implementing Creative Capital as follows:

¾ Explore a reduction in the size of the Year CAD Allocation of Arts Commission to facilitate one SMAC existing staff effectiveness and flexibility, while time retaining the current use of subcommittees that include non- commissioners to provide opportunities for wider community involvement.

¾ Alter the composition requirements of Year CAD Allocation of the Arts Commission to balance the one existing staff need for qualifications in cultural policy SMAC time and advocacy with the need for professional arts qualifications. ¾ Work to diversify the membership of the Ongoing CAD Allocation of Arts Commission to more accurately SMAC existing staff reflect the demographic diversity of time Santa Monica.

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VI. APPENDICES

The appendices include two methodological sections:

ƒ List of Planning Participants

ƒ Planning Methodology

There are also the following studies conducted for Creative Capital:

ƒ Creative Workforce Study (summary report)*

ƒ Telephone Survey of Residents (summary report)*

ƒ Americans for the Arts Creative Industries Study

ƒ Survey of Nonprofit Arts and Cultural Organizations

ƒ 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 Victoria Davis Paula Achler Chris De Carlo Lyn Arkin Fred Deni David Bean Jennifer Diener Kathleen Benjamin Charles Duncombe John Berley Nora Encinas Michelle Berne Dorothy Engleman Wayne Blank Andrea Engstrom Jaime Bravo Sam Erenberg Doug Bressler Rochelle Fabb Michael Brodsky Michael Farzam Andrea Brokaw Denise Feathers Dolo Brooking Irene Fertik Jody Brooks Malissa Feruzzi Clayton Campbell Bruria Finkel Neil Carrey Martin Fleischmann Tom Carrol Ursula K. Fox R.B. Cardozo Dextra Frankel Anne Carmack Dale Franzen Art Casillas Ben Franz-Knight Chris Cassidy Meryl Friedman Leilani Chan Nan Friedman Phyllis Chavez John Gabree Brian Colmery Louise Gabriel Mark Courtney Leo Garcia John Crabtree-Ireland Shelley Gazin Leigh Curran Marni Gittelman Judith Davies Sandy Grant Gigi Davis Nancy Greenstein

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Tom Grode Adam Philipson Linda Gross Alexandra Pollyea Lindsey Haley Astrid Preston Hannah Heineman Gwynne Pugh Paulina Herrera Kathleen Rawson Asuka Hisa Tom Reddler Dorothy S Hull Annie Reiniger Cami Huong Diane Rhodes Dick Hutman Nancy Richler Louise Jaffe Catherine Ronan Zena Josephs La Verne Ross Iao Katagiri Jerry Rubin Alison Kendall Evelyn Rudie Misti Kerns Drew Sachs Angie Kim Paulina Sahagun Marcus Kuiland-Nazario Monica Sahagun Sherrill Kushner Michael Sakamoto Dan Kwong Christina Saucedo Randal Lawson Jennifer Schab Gil Lieb Elena Mary Siff Andrea Lipton Annette Simons Elsa Longhauser Bruce Smith Sylvia Luis Clyde Smith Michael Massuci Tobi Smith Sarah Maine Smitha Srinivasa Peter Mays Andrea Stang Catherine McCabe Louis Stout Susan McCarthy Linda Sullivan Kevin McCarthy Susan Suntree Lindsay McGrail Theresa Sweeney Frederique Michel Suzanne Tan Lisa Melandri Nat Trives Elizabeth Morin Carrie Weil Gail Myers Susan Weinberg Mikey Myers Katie Weinerslage Ruth Needle Tom Whaley Laurie Newman John Whitbread Judy Neveau Roger White Ho Nguyen Julie Whittaker Terry O’Day Bill Willday Paul Olague Lisa Wolpe Maynoard Ostrow Ellen Phillips

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SANTA MONICA ARTS COMMISSION

Suchi Branfman, Chair Rachel Lachowicz Elena Allen Larry Shapiro Hara Beck Gregory Spotts Julia Braun Kessler Donna Sternberg Fred Dewey Jan Williamson Maya Emsden Phyllis Green

CITY STAFF P. Lamont Ewell, City Manager Malina Moore Andy Agle Greg Mullen Gordon Anderson Shannon Parry Susan Annett Craig Perkins Andrew Basmajian Elaine Polachek Carole Curtin Amanda Schacter Karen Ginsberg Hamp Simmons Trinie Garcia-Valdez Steve Stark Peter James Barbara Stinchfield Sarah Le Jeune Candace Tysdal Jeff Mathieu Justin Yoffe Mona Miyasato

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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.

ƒ Project Initiation: including the development of a detailed project schedule, and identification and negotiation of potential barriers to a successful plan.

ƒ 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.

ƒ Introductory work session with Arts Commission: on February 27, 2006 to present the planning process and solicit input on key issues.

ƒ 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.

ƒ 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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ƒ Identification of Leadership: Throughout the planning process, specific efforts were made to identify and engage leaders for implementation, through inquiry, interviews and cultivation.

ƒ Focus Group Meetings: conducted to allow for in-depth exploration of selected issues.

ƒ 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.

ƒ Telephone Survey: conducted by Goodwin Simon Victoria Research, of Santa Monica residents to gather input on key issues from a random sample of households.

ƒ Economic Research: conducted by economist Steve Nivin, PhD, to document the extent and characteristics of creative employment in Santa Monica.

ƒ Town Hall Meeting: conducted on June 24, 2006 to allow open community input on issues of vision, goals and priorities.

ƒ 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.

ƒ 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.

ƒ 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.

ƒ 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.

ƒ 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.

ƒ Town Hall Meeting: conducted on November 8th, 2006, to report the findings and recommendations of the plan and to gather public input.

ƒ 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.

ƒ Final Report: Once approved by Council, a final plan will be prepared, incorporating any changes indicated by Council.

ƒ 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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Chart 1 Number of All Creative Workers Employed as % of Total Employment

10.000% Santa Monica = 8.89% 8.000%

6.000%

4.000%

2.000%

0.000% All Creative Workers

Santa Monica San Francisco Austin Boston San Diego Seattle Raleigh Houston Washington DC New York Minneapolis Dallas Los Angeles Atlanta Denver Chicago Portland, OR Philadelphia Hartford Phoenix Indianapolis Berkeley

Source: U.S. Census; Steve Nivin, Ph.D.

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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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%

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%

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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:

ƒ Based in Santa Monica for at least five years

ƒ Tax-exempt status as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization

ƒ Compliance with Fair Labor Standards, paying artists and other personnel at the minimum level paid by persons doing comparable work

ƒ 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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ƒ Artistic excellence

ƒ A range and diversity of programming

ƒ Collaboration with other Santa-Monica-based cultural organizations

ƒ Demonstration of community support

ƒ Demonstrated viability and long-term stability

ƒ Professional staff

ƒ Accessible by the general public

ƒ Diversified funding base

Assessment:

ƒ The purpose of this grants program is to provide long-term organizational stability for Santa Monica’s key cultural and artistic institutions.

ƒ 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.

ƒ 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.

ƒ To encourage greater accountability, the review criteria should be more rigorously applied.

ƒ 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.

ƒ 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.

ƒ 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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ƒ 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.

ƒ 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.

ƒ 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.

ƒ 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:

ƒ Resident Santa Monica arts or cultural organization

ƒ Or can be a community-based Santa Monica organization proposing an art or cultural related project

ƒ Must be a tax exempt 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization

ƒ Project must occur within Santa Monica for the benefit of the public

ƒ If the project is an arts education project, it must meet the California Visual and Performing Arts standards

ƒ Project must occur within the next calendar year

ƒ 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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ƒ Artistic Excellence (40% of score)

ƒ Community Accessibility (40% of score)

ƒ Agency Viability (20% of score)

Assessment:

ƒ 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.

ƒ 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.

ƒ 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.

ƒ 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.

ƒ 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:

ƒ 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.

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