Culture sustains Santa Monica.

Through a yearlong process of research and dialogue, the community has articulated a vision for the future of the arts and culture and crafted strategies for its fulfillment.  The resulting document, Creative Capital, will offer a plan for the city’s continued cultural development. 

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. 

Santa Monica’s extraordinary concentration of creative professionals shapes its cultural identity and informs the vision.  The city, a destination and a haven for artists for more than a hundred years, is now home to perhaps the largest concentration of creative employment in the US and a great proportion of residents working in creative fields. 

For many, culture literally sustains them: 43% of Santa Monica’s adults make all or part of their living in arts-related fields.  And the city has by far the highest rate of creative employment among the top 20 US cities by creative sector.  This employment spans the commercial and nonprofit worlds, as well as individual, small business and corporate endeavors. 

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.  Residents value the presence of the arts in the community, rate Santa Monica’s cultural scene as strong, and want even more opportunities to participate. 

The arts and culture contribute to a sustainable community, enhancing education, diversity, human dignity and the built environment.  The cultural community has embraced this goal and views itself as an integral partner in creating a seventh generation community. 

Creative Capital presents three comprehensive strategies for fulfilling the community’s cultural vision.

Celebrating Innovation
By focusing on individual creativity and innovation, the hallmarks of Santa Monica’s unique cultural identity; and by convening the entire creative sector, across disciplines, to explore common interests and opportunities. 

Increasing Cultural Participation
Providing greater access to cultural programs for all of Santa Monica’s residents through festivals, by offering cultural programs in public places, and making it easier to learn about what is available.  For example, “Glow,” a new arts and culture festival inspired by the annual “Nuit Blanche” in Paris, is in the planning stages and would take place on and near the Pier and the 3rd Street Promenade in 2008.  

Enhancing Sustainability
Key to ensuring a stable future for the arts Santa Monica is the retention, development and reuse of cultural facilities that fit the community’s unique identity --accompanied by funding and leadership development programs that build capacity among the city’s nonprofit cultural institutions.  Emerging recommendations include the development of small-scale, intimate performing and visual arts facilities, creation of Arts Alleys near the Third Street Promenade, and development of live/work spaces for artists. 

Creative Capital is intended to guide the efforts to achieve the community’s vision over a ten-year period.  The City and local partners will collaborate on flexible initiatives to enhance the cultural identity that is central to Santa Monica’s aspirations.

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Please check this project website for the latest information.
Or contact the Cultural Affairs Division at
310 458-8350 or creative@smgov.net
with any questions or suggestions you may have.