Council Meeting: January 11, 2005 Santa Monica, California

TO: Mayor and City Council

FROM: City Staff

SUBJECT: Award of Three-Year Contract for Production of the Annual Santa Monica Festival

INTRODUCTION

This report recommends that the City Council authorize the City Manager to negotiate and execute a three year contract for $80,000 annually with Community Arts Resources (CARS) to produce the annual Santa Monica Festival: A Celebration of Our Community Roots. Further, it is recommended that the City Manager be authorized to amend this contract, not to exceed an additional $60,000 annually, in the event additional private funds or grant funding is obtained by the City for expansion of Festival activities.

BACKGROUND

Each spring the City of Santa Monica works with an event production company to present the Santa Monica Festival at Clover Park. Through the performing and visual arts, the Festival honors the unwritten ethnic history of Santa Monica as well as the rich environmental resources that sustain it. Each year the celebration features an eclectic array of traditional and contemporary music and dance on several stages, demonstrations of traditional crafts by local artists, and hands-on art and environmental workshops to engage people of all ages. The contract with the production company covers all costs associated with the event.

DISCUSSION

In September of 2004, City staff solicited proposals for an event production team for the Santa Monica Festival for three years beginning in 2005. Requests for Proposals were sent to production companies in the greater Los Angeles area and all members of the California Presenters e-mail list. One production company, CARS, submitted its qualifications. Staff has evaluated the CARS proposal and recommends that they be selected as the festival producer for the following reasons:

· CARS has the ability to address multi-cultural and environmental issues within the festival theme;

· CARS has the ability to meet both artistic and production standards desired for the Santa Monica Festival as evidenced by past events produced by CARS including the International Festival of Masks, the Getty Museum Family Days events, Yiddishkayt, as well as past Santa Monica Festivals.

BUDGET/FINANCIAL IMPACT

Funds for the 2005 Festival are available in the following accounts:

Cultural Affairs Division: 01560.566550 $54,400

01560.544400 $10,600

Environmental Programs Div: 31662.555060 $15,000

TOTAL $80,000

Additional appropriations for 2006 and 2007 will be budgeted for those years, contingent upon availability of funds. As in years past, additional funding will be raised from outside sources such as private nonprofit foundations and corporate sponsorships. The contract will specify that the additional funding is available when, and if, funds are raised.

RECOMMENDATION

It is recommended that the City Council authorize the City Manager to:

1) negotiate and execute a contract with CARS to produce the 2005, 2006, and 2007 Santa Monica Festivals in the annual amount of $80,000, and 2) in the event additional funds are raised, amend the contract, not to exceed $60,000 annually, to include additional services for expanded festival programming.

Prepared by: Barbara Stinchfield, Director, Community and Cultural Services

Karen Ginsberg, Asst. Director, Community and Cultural Services

Hamp Simmons, Cultural Affairs Coordinator