sr-012511-3bCity Council Meeting: 1125111
Agenda Item: 3'-"~
To: Mayor and City Council
From: Barbara Stinchfield, Director of Community and Cultural Services
Subject: Production Services for the Santa Monica Festival
Recommended ,fiction
Staff recommends that the City Council authorize the City Manager to negotiate and
execute a professional services agreement with Community Arts Resources {CARS), a
California based company in the amount of $100,000 annually to produce the Santa
Monica Festival in 2011 with options in 2012 and 2013.
Executive Summary
The Santa Monica Festival has taken place annually since 1991. Each spring the City of
Santa Monica works with an event production company to present the Festival at Clover
Park. Through the performing and visual arts, the Festival honors the cultural richness
of Santa Monica as well as the environmental resources that sustain it. Staff
recommends entering into an agreement with Community Arts Resources {CARS) to
produce the event for 2011 at an annual cost of $100,000, with extensions for 2012 and
2013, contingent upon successful completion of the required scope of services for the
prior year and the continued availability of funds in future budget years. Funding for the
2011 festival is available in the current budget.
Background
This year will mark the 20th anniversary for the Santa Monica Festival which started in
1991 on the Santa Monica Pier. It moved to its current location in Clover Park in 1994.
The Festival brings residents and visitors together to celebrate our community's
commitment to the arts, culture and the environment as well as the breadth and
diversity of local resources in these arenas. Through the performing and visual arts,
workshops, food and a range of creative family activities, the Festival~Yionors the cultural
richness of Santa Monica as well as the environmental resources that sustain it.
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Discussion
Selection Process
In November 2010, City staff solicited qualifications for an event production team for the
Santa Monica Festival. Request for Qualifications (RFO) were sent to production
companies in the greater Los Angeles area based on a list of professional production
consultants from the Los Angeles County Arts Commission as well as companies who
had expressed interest in the past. The RFQ was also posted on Planet Bids and Los
Angeles Culture NetILACN, a forum for arts administrators and artists in Los Angeles
County. Seven production companies submitted qualifications. The interdepartmental
review team, which included representatives from Community and Cultural Services,
Housing and Economic Development, and the Office of Sustainability and the
Environment, selected three firms to interview.
Scope of Work
The proposed scope of work for the Festival production company requires that they:
® Provide all necessary production for the Santa Monica Festival
® Attend regular meetings with the City of Santa Monica staff
® Outreach to diverse communities to enlist a broad range of participating groups
® Coordinate all infrastructure needs for the Festival, in collaboration with city
organizations
® Contract with all necessary performers, artists and vendors
® Produce the Festival's stage/stages
® Coordinate all booths (community, vendors, food booths and environmental)
It also includes options to produce the Festival in 2012 and 2013 for the same budget
contingent upon successful completion of this scope of services in 2011.
Based on both the initial submittals and the interviews, staff is recommending that the
City contract with Community Arts Resources (CARS) for festiva9 production. Their
qualifications include:
® The ability to meet both the artistic and production standards set for the Festival
(including programming artists, curating vendors, site layout, working with the
City and onsite management) as evidenced by events produced by CARS
including the Getty Museum Family Festivals, as well as the annual California
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Endowment Healthy Neighborhood Festival, Chinatown Summer Nights and the
Santa Monica Festival.
• Their experience producing abroad array of communi#y events, including
production of the Santa Monica Festival, which provides them with a unique
understanding of Santa Monica and the ability to create an event that reflects the
community.
• Their unique array of relationships with artists in a variety of media, an innovative
approach to marketing and outreach, and the ability to secure project related
sponsorship.
Financial Impacts & Budget Actions
The contract to be awarded to Community Arts Resources is $100,000 for FY 10-11.
Funds are included in FY10-11 budget in the following accounts:
Cultural Affairs Division 01560.566550 $65,000
Qffice of Sustainability & the Environment 01226 555060 $35 000
TOTAL $100,000
Budget authority for subsequent years will be requested at each ahhual budget cycle for
Council approval.
Prepared by: Jessica Cusick, Cultural Affairs Manager
Approved:
Forwarded to Council:
Barbara Stinchfield ~
Director, Community & Cultural Services
Department
Rod Gould
City Manager
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Reference Contract No.
9321 (CCS)