sr-092810-13g1-
September 28, 2010
Council Meeting: Santa Monica, California
CITY CLERK'S OFFICE -MEMORANDUM
To: City Council
From: Councilmember McKeown
Date: September 28, 2010
13-G: Request of Councilmember McKeown that the Council authorise the City
Manager to amend the existing agreement with the Santa Monica
Playhouse to better address current needs, by releasing $30,000 of $75,000
in already-allocated funding to provide rent relief, spur fundraising through
a matching grant, and establish along-term plan for retention of this valued
community cultural resource.
On June 18, 2002, in approving the City's annual budget for fiscal year
2002-2003, the City Council allocated $75,000 from its discretionary fund
to help the Santa Monica Playhouse to purchase the downtown facility from
which they had served the City for some forty years. This need had been
identified in January of 2002, and the Council directed staff to evaluate the
situation and return with options (see attached staff report from January 22,
2002).
Because the building owner has remained unwilling to finalize a purchase
of the property by Santa Monica Playhouse, the allocated $75,000 remains
unused. As predicted in the 2002 staff report, the rent has been increased,
and the Santa Monica Playhouse has experienced increasing difficulty in
keeping current with payment.
The request to the City Council is to authorize the City Manager to amend
the 2002 agreement with the Santa Monica Playhouse to better address
current needs. This amendment would include:
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September 28, 2010
• making $20,000 of the already-allocated money available now,
too address the immediate rent deficit.
• making available as a fundraising stimulus another $5,000 of
the already-allocated money, on a $1-to-$2 match ratio. The
City would match with one dollar every two dollars raised from
Playhouse contributors, to be used toward future rent, but only
up to the $5,000 limit.
• making an additional $5,000 grant of the already-allocated
money available for a planning process, designed to address
issues of future sustainability for the Playhouse, which might
include formation of a Board or other body more capable of
long-term, ongoing fundraising.
The remaining $45,000 of already-allocated money would remain with the
City as a prudent reserve, and might at some future time be used to help
with needed modifications to the property to help the Playhouse attain. full
ADA compliance, etc.
There is no new budget impact associated with the requested amendment
to the agreement for use ofalready-allocated funds. Further, flexible use of
this financial resource, always meant to help retain the Santa Monica
Playhouse, is congruent with policies adopted by the Council in the 2007
Creative Capital plan, which recommended retention of existing cultural
resources.
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CCS: Cultural Affairs
Council Meeting: January 22, 2002
TO: Mayor and City Council
FROM: City Staff
Santa Monica, CA
SUBJECT: Santa Monica Playhouse Request for Financial Assistance
9/18/10 12:32 AM
Introduction
In 2002 the Santa Monica Playhouse will be celebrating its fortieth anniversary at its current site on
Fourth Street in downtown. Their current lease is up and their landlord has given them eighteen
months in which to raise the $300,000-500,000 to facilitate the purchase of the facility. If they do
not raise this sum, their rent will go up by twenty percent making it impossible for them to stay.
They are asking for an unspecified level of financial assistance from the City.
Background
The Playhouse is anon-profit professional theatre and educational conservancy, concentrating its
efforts in three areas: the creation of live theatre, an educational conservatory program, and
community outreach. The Santa Monica Playhouse presents approximately ten theatrical
performances per week of between four to eight different productions. They present ten
productions annually involving Santa Monica's oldest professional acting company the Actors
Repertory Program, the New Playwrights Series, the Jewish Heritage Program and the
International Cultural Exchange Program. They also present six musicals for children and families
annually. The dozen Theatre for Youth Programs promote the awareness of the power of theatre
as a tool for life. Through the Playhouse's STEP Program, artists teach theatre and performance at
local elementary and middle schools.
Discussion
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CCS: Cultural Affairs
9/18/10 12:32 AM
The Santa Monica Playhouse has been a regular recipient of the Cultural Affairs Division's
Community Arts Grants and is in its second year of the Cultural/Arts Organizational Support
Program. Combined current funding in both programs is $9,050 this fiscal year. Currently there is
no City funding program in place to support this request.
Preoared By
Barbara Stinchfield, Director, Community and Cultural Services
Maria Luisa de Herrera, Manager, Cultural Affairs
ttP: / /www0lsmgov. net/ciryderk/council/agendas/2002 /20020122/s 2002012212-B, htm
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Reference Amended
Contract No. 8182
(ccs).