SR-305-001-04 (2)
e .-
J City of
Santa Moni<<!a'"
City Council Report
City Council Meeting: February 27, 2007
Agenda Item: 5 A-
To:
Mayor and City Council
From:
Barbara Stinchfield, Director, Community and Cultural Services
Subject:
Presentation of the Long-range Community Cultural Plan and
Recommendation to Review and Accept the Plan
Recommended Action
Staff recommends that Council:
1) review and accept Creative Capital: Culture, Community Vision, the recently
completed long-range community cultural plan;
2) provide conceptual approval of the strategies outlined in the executive summary
of the plan; and
3) direct staff to initiate implementation as outlined in Section V. of the plan,
contingent upon available resources and partnerships.
Executive Summary
Creative Capital, the result of a yearlong process of research and dialogue, presents
residents' collective vision for the future of the arts and culture in Santa Monica and
strategies for its fulfillment. The consultant team worked with the Arts Commission, staff
and community members through public meetings, interviews and a broad array of
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workshops. as well as via surveys and an interactive website. 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 over the next ten years. The three core strategies and associated
recommendations provide a roadmap for Santa Monica to retain and build upon its
vibrant cultural sector. Full implementation of the plan will require the participation of
the City and community partners as well as new resources, both public and private.
The plan includes a table that details the initial steps associated with each
recommendation as well as a preliminary estimate of related costs. A copy of the draft
plan is included with this report (Attachment A).
Discussion
Backqround
Much like other long-range plans, the development of a cultural plan engages a wide
cross section of the community in taking stock of available cultural assets, needs,
opportunities, and resources, and establishing a collective vision for the future. Santa
Monica last undertook a cultural planning process in 1997. Since then a majority of that
early plan's recommendations have been implemented, the creative sector has grown
and evolved, and residents demand for local cultural programming has increased.
Creative Capital: Culture. Community. Vision
Demographics of the Creative Sector
Culture sustains Santa Monica.
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Santa Monica has a remarkable, yet in some ways hidden, asset-an extraordinary
population of creative individuals. It also boasts perhaps the largest concentration of
creative employment in the US, more than six times the national average.
In Santa Monica, the creative workforce
Number of All Creative Workers
Employed as % of Total Employment
accounts for 8.9% of all employment,
compared to the national average of
1.4%.
10.000%
~_--Santa Monica = 8.89%
The source for the workforce comparison is
8.000%
a study by Steve Nivin, PhD, commissioned
6.000%
4.000%
for Creative Capital. The twenty most
creative US cities are those identified by
2.000%
economist Richard Florida, the Hirst
0.000%
Professor of Public Policy at George Mason
All Creative Workers
University. Senior Scientist with the Gallup
Santa Monica
. Seattle
: 11II Minneapolis
. Chicago
. San Francisco
. Raleigh
~ Dallas
ill Portland, OR
E3
Ilii Austin
Houston
. Los Angeles
o PhiladelphIa
1m Boston I!iI San Diego
. Washington DC New York
. Atlanta II Denver
o Hartford Phoenix
Organization and a Senior Fellow with the
Brookings Institution. The source for the
national comparison is The Arts and
Source: U.S. Census; Steve Nivin, Ph.D.
Economic Prosperity, Americans for the
Arts 2002. based on US Bureau of Labor
Statistics.
Forty-three percent 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 corporate endeavors. Not surprisingly, Santa Monica's
residents show corresponding 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 and believe having public
art in a community to be nearly as important as good public schools.
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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. They appreciate
the beauty of its natural setting and believe that Santa Monica's extraordinary creativity
flows in part from this environment. They see culture like sustainability-an organic part
of the community, not separate from it-enriching and supporting Santa Monica's civic
life. Many also consider this cultural ecosystem to be threatened and seek to retain and
nurture its creative people and resources.
Strategies and recommendations
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. These issues, combined with the demographic
discoveries outlined above, create an imperative to re-examine Santa Monica's cultural
priorities. To fulfill the community's cultural vision, ameliorate existing challenges and
foster even greater cultural opportunity, Creative Capital proposes three comprehensive
strategies, along with thirty detailed recommendations.
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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.
Festivals
8. Continue and further develop existing arts and cultural festivals, such as the
Santa Monica Festival and Jazz on the Lawn.
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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.
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.
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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 SUSTAINABILlTY
Cultural Facilities
17, Establish Santa Monica Arts Alleys as zones for the concentration and
development of small-scale arts uses, ..............................................................................
Arts Alleys
such as creative businesses, artists' Potential uses include a mix of public and private
venues: performance and gallery spaces, and art
studios, small performing and exhibition and rehearsal studios, cafes and outdoor
performances This rendering shows one
spaces, and other cultural uses, and: example of how Arts Alleys might be configured.
)> Create a downtown cultural district
for the development of Arts Alleys,
bounded by 2nd Street on the west,
4th Street on the east, Broadway on
the south and Wilshire on the north.
)> Make necessary adjustments in
zomng in the downtown cultural
district to permit and encourage arts
and cultural activities in the Arts
Alleys.
)> Negotiate with downtown property
owners and businesspersons to use
the vacant and underutilized space
fronting the Arts Alleys and consider .............................................................................
offering a financial incentive, such as a property tax abatement on the portion
of the properties used for arts purposes, to encourage landlords to maintain
affordable rents on the properties.
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;.- Work with the designers of the new parking structures to ensure that the
areas fronting the alleys support the Arts Alleys concept.
18. Commit to a cultural use of the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium in line with the
community's vision for this facility and:
> Approach development of the Civic Auditorium as a key component
within a larger cultural campus encompassing the Civic Center,
Santa Monica High School, the Pier and adjacent areas.
> Create a plan for the development of the Civic Auditorium that
assesses the options identified in this planning process, and
presents specific recommendations for implementation.
> Revisit the recommendations regarding the Civic Auditorium in the
Civic Center Specific Plan to better accommodate the cultural uses
envisioned by the community.
19. Develop, or facilitate the development of, small, flexible and affordable
performance venues (under 500 seats) and visual arts spaces.
20. Develop policies and ordinances that encourage and even mandate the creation
of affordable artist live/work and day studio spaces in new residential and
industrial development at a minimum in the Light Manufacturing Studio District
(LMSD).
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 Pica Boulevard.
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Cultural Funding
23, Work to increase the total amount of the City's Cultural Funding program budget
towards a benchmark of 10% of the total operating budgets of Santa Monica's
arts organizations.
24. Create new cultural support opportunities as follows:
~ Expand and restructure the current Cultural/Arts Organization
Support Grant Program to ensure separate review of arts
applicants and cultural heritage applicants, and implement
procedural refinements.
~ Create an Artists Fellowship Program to support and recognize
Santa Monica's individual artists,
~ Create an organizational capacity building and technical assistance
program to encourage appropriate institutionalization of Santa
Monica's nonprofit arts and cultural organizations.
~ Create an Opportunity Grants Program to allow the City to respond
to unusual and short-term arts and cultural project opportunities.
~ Create a Capital Grants Program to assist nonprofit arts and
cultural organizations in meeting their facility needs, and to
encourage capacity building.
25. Explore options to best reflect aod support Santa Monica's cultural diversity
through cultural funding.
26. Explore ways to enhance community access to cultural funding programs, while
improving administrative effectiveness, through such tools as e-granting, on-line
data collection, and collective insurance for grantees.
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Leadership
27. Reactivate the Santa Monica Arts Foundation as a fundraising and leadership
development organization by confirming its mission and role, and developing a
plan to partner in the implementation of Creative Capital.
28, Provide in-kind support and seed-funding to the Foundation to enable it to
provide increased community cultural leadership.
29. Focus the Foundation's efforts as follows:
> Expand the pool of resources available for cultural uses by developing a
workplace giving program to encourage cultural giving by private individuals,
and a united arts fund to encourage cultural giving by local businesses and
corporations.
)> Institute an annual arts leadership awards program, recognizing leading
citizens in the areas of philanthropy, business and volunteerism.
)> Create an active program of leadership development, in cooperation with the
Chamber of Commerce, or other civic or business group,
30. Strengthen the capacity of the Arts Commission to fulfill its role in implementing
Creative Capital as follows:
)> Explore a reduction in the size of the Arts Commission to facilitate
effectiveness and flexibility, while retaining the current use of subcommittees
that include non-commissioners to provide opportunities for wider community
involvement.
)> Alter the composition requirements of the Arts Commission to balance the
need for qualifications in cultural policy and advocacy with the need for
professional arts qualifications.
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>> Work to diversify the membership of the Arts Commission to more accurately
reflect the demographic diversity of Santa Monica.
Implementation
Full implementation of the plan will require the participation of the City and community
partners as well as new resources, both public and private. The plan includes details on
the initial steps associated with each recommendation as well as a preliminary estimate
of related costs.
The first five years are also summarized in the table below, organized by year, with the
items that can be started with little or no new resources noted by an asterisk. In most
cases, full implementation will however be contingent upon new resources, public or
private, and/or new partnerships.
IMPLEMENTATION BY YEAR
recommendation number
On oin
1. Individual artists reeo nition
2. Theme of innovation *
11. Inte ration of cultural ro rams in non-traditional venue
14. Arts education cooperation*
19. Small-scale venues
21. Retention & enhancement of current arts uses*
30. Arts Commission diversification*
*
lementation
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22. Cultural develo ment around nodes-Pico Boulevard
25. Cultural diversit 0 tions*
30. Arts Commission restructurin *
Year Three 2009/10
5. Communit wide marketin ro ram
6. Ex lore electronic communication
10. Small-scale festivals
28. Santa Monica Arts Foundation im lementation of Ian
Year Five 2011/12
23. Cultural fundin benchmark
17. Arts AlIej's-downtown parking structures
Previous Council Actions
In February 2006, Council approved award of a contract in the amount of $90,000 to the
Cultural + Planning Group, a Los Angeles based firm with extensive national experience
in the development of cultural plans, to produce a community cultural plan that would
identify Santa Monica's priorities in terms of the arts and culture, as well as the methods
for achieving these objectives. Over the course of the last year, two information items
highlighted the plan's progress and an initial draft of the plan was circulated in early
December.
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Commission Action
The Arts Commission held four public hearings on the community cultural plan during
the course of its development. In addition at its meeting on February 5th, 2007 the Arts
Commission reviewed the final draft of the plan and voted unanimously to
enthusiastically endorse it and recommend its adoption to Council.
Alternatives
Council could adopt the plan in its entirety or could elect to adopt it with exceptions or
provisions regarding specific findings or recommendations. Prior to adopting the
community cultural plan, Council could also require further study or research on some
topic or finding in the plan, which might require the allocation of additional resources.
Public Outreach
Extensive community outreach, input and review have been a hallmark of the Creative
Capital planning process. In addition to the four public hearings held by the Art
Commission, there were fourteen different public meetings and topic oriented
workshops held to discuss the plan in which over two hundred people participated. The
draft was widely distributed in December and made available through the project's
website, Staff also made presentations to five neighborhood associations and solicited
feedback at a special meeting of representatives of all the City Boards and
Commissions.
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BudqetlFinancial Impact
Full implementation of the plan is envisioned as a joint responsibility of the City and a
number of partner entities. While the City will playa major role, this is a community
cultural plan meaning that it is derived from the entire community and will be
implemented in partnership with agencies and individuals from the community, The
plan contains a section on implementation that details the initial steps associated with
each recommendation, lead agencies or partners, and a preliminary cost estimate
(Section V, Page 71 of the current draft).
It is important to note that the pace and sequence of implementation envisioned in the
plan is contingent upon the availability of sufficient staff, funding and other resources.
Implementation of the portions of the plan that require additional City resources is
contingent on Council's appropriation of additional funds and Will have to be prioritized
among other City requests for additional resources.
Prepared by:
Jessica Cusick, Cultural Affairs Man~ger
Approved:
Forwarded to Council:
c3~~
Barbara Stinchfield
Director, Community and Cultural
Services Department
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