Santa Monica

In February 2007, Santa Monica, a longtime magnet for artists, adopted Creative Capital, a plan that includes Santa Monica residents' collective vision for the future of arts and culture, and strategies for the next 10 years.  The city created the plan in response to a growing need for affordable artist space, which was dwindling as real estate development boomed.  You can read about the development of the plan in this article.

The city also passed the Developer's Percent for the Arts law in December 2006 to boost artist space development.  The law requires private developers to include an artistic element in new projects, or contribute to a city arts pool.  Read the city ordinance and related resolution.

Currently, the city government is in the process of updating its General Plan.  During the transition period, residents are pressuring the city government to pass a moratorium on development, over concerns that the development will add traffic to the city's infrastructure and that it will change the nature of the city's neighborhoods.  Much of the development - 978 of 2,000 housing units - are artist studios and live/work spaces.  More information can be read in the following article from the Santa Monica Daily Press:

Development goes full speed ahead -- for now