cultural programming can enhance their experience of growing up in Santa Monica. Meanwhile, Jessica Cusick, City Hall’s cultural affairs manager, will work with parents and other adults to find ways that culture and art can make life in the Pico neighborhood more beneficial. Capping off the workshops, the cultural affairs division will host all attendees for an old fashioned ice cream social with free ice cream for everyone attending.
This is one of many methods currently underway to identify community priorities and articulate the policies and strategies that will be required to achieve those priorities making Santa Monica a better environment for creativity in all forms. Another workshop will be held on Sept. 13 focusing on Santa Monica’s Civic Auditorium. City Hall also will be developing an on-line directory of the many creative people who live and work in Santa Monica and listing “community treasures,” which are cultural and artistic icons that help to make Santa Monica a special place.
For additional information, visit http://santa-monica.org/creativesantamonica, or contact Jessica Cusick at (310) 458-8350.
If you have fond memories of the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, you might want to participate in shaping how it will be used in the future.
The Santa Monica cultural affairs and civic auditorium divisions will hold a workshop on Sept. 13 at 2 p.m. that will take a close look at the Civic Auditorium and its long-term potential as a cultural facility. The meeting will be held in the multi-purpose room on the second floor at the Santa Monica Main Library on Santa Monica Boulevard.
Designed by Welton Becket, the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium has been used for a myriad of events. The auditorium played host to the Academy Awards from 1961 through 1968, including the first color televised Academy Awards in 1966. In the ’70s and ’80’s, the facility was the westside destination for the hottest rock bands including Elton John, Patti Smith, Bob Dylan, Blondie, even the Bay City Rollers. Today it is best known as the site of the Critic’s Choice Awards, and the home of the prestigious Santa Monica Symphony, Photo LA, ArtLA, the Modernism Show and the Santa Monica Malibu Unified School District’s annual Stairway to the Stars.
The Civic Center Specific Plan, adopted by City Council in June 2005, states that while additional detailed analysis needs to be undertaken in connection with the development a plan for the programming, operation and upkeep of the Civic Auditorium, “Priority shall be given to cultural, educational and community oriented activities while preserving opportunities for events that can contribute to the ongoing operation and upkeep of the facility.”
The workshop is open to the general public interested in the Civic Auditorium’s future as a cultural destination. If you are unable to attend the workshop but would still like to contribute your ideas for the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, visit www.cre-ativesantamonica.smgov.net, or send an e-mail to
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on September 6, 2006. Read the original PDF.