STAFF REPORT
Meeting Date: February 7, 2023
To: Honorable Mayor & City Council
From: Stephanie Harris, Interim Community Services Director Ben Johnson, Recreation Services Manager
Magdalena Davis, Community Services Manager
Subject: Update on Festival Beverly Hills, a Recommendation from the City Council Liaison / Rodeo Drive / Special Events / Holiday Program Committee for a Cultural Festival Event Presented by the Embrace and Celebrate Culture Initiative on Sunday, March 12, 2023 Attachments: 1. Proposed Festival Beverly Hills Map at the Farmers’ Market
2. City Council Liaison / Rodeo Drive / Special Events / Holiday Program Committee Report – September 21, 2022 with
Presentation
INTRODUCTION
This report provides City Council with proposed plans for the inaugural Festival Beverly Hills: A New Global Arts and Cultural Event for the City of Beverly Hills. This event is scheduled for Sunday, March 12, 8am-1pm. Festival Beverly Hills is a new signature event for the Arts and Culture Commission as part of the City’s Embrace and Celebrate Culture Initiative, recommended by the City Council Liaison / Rodeo Drive/Special Events/Holiday Program Committee on September 21, 2022.
DISCUSSION
The Arts and Culture Commission, under the Embrace and Celebrate Culture Initiative, proposed as part of Council Priorities for FY 21-22 a cultural festival to bring the Beverly Hills community together. Festival Beverly Hills will serve as the new signature cultural event for the Arts & Culture Commission, supporting the transition of the Fine Arts Commission into an Arts and Culture Commission with the desire of enhancing arts and culture events and programming in the City. The creation of the Festival was identified as the top priority through a community-wide survey which included responses from arts and culture stakeholders.
This concept of a cultural festival was presented at a September 21, 2022 meeting of the City Council Liaison / Rodeo Drive / Special Events / Holiday Program Committee. Mayor
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Bosse and Councilmember Friedman directed staff to produce this first festival at the size and scale of a Farmers Market special event to celebrate diversity in the City with an estimated budget of $10,000-$15,000 (Attachment 2).
The goal of this initiative Is to create an opportunity to showcase a culturally diverse spectrum of food, cultures, artists, workshops, and performances. Additionally, as per Liaison recommendation, the footprint of the Farmers Market will be slightly augmented to create a more festive and elevated atmosphere. The Community Services department will actively engage with various artists and arts organizations within Beverly Hills and throughout the greater region to make the event feel community-based, family-friendly, creatively inspired, welcoming and inclusive.
The intent of this first edition of Festival Beverly Hills is to thoughtfully showcase the variety of cultures within the community, with the intention of creating an annual event (Attachment 1).
There are several proposed activities scheduled from 8am-1pm on Sunday, March 12, 2023, some which include:
Farmers and Vendors – Creative Booths
The Beverly Hills Farmers’ Market hosts from 25 farmers and 25 food stands/vendors on any given Sunday, and Community Services will work with each of the vendors to create a more festively decorated booth.
Expanded Youth Workshops and Craft Making
Community Services will program a variety of creative workshop booths of craft making, and special projects that are inspired by the Farmers Market and global arts.
Youth Food Competition – Oscars-Inspired Food Board
In collaboration with the Culinary Program of the Beverly Hills Unified School District (BHUSD), Community Services will coordinate a live food competition featuring teams of high school students to create specialty food boards, all with items purchased in the moment from the Market.
Diverse Musical and Dance Showcases
The Beverly Hills Farmers Market has a history of live music, and Community Services will actively engage with a variety of artistically and culturally diverse musical and dance artists. The artists invited to perform will include both local high school students and professional artists.
Global Rhythms at the Market
Community Services will work with a community partner called Dublab to create a global rhythms listening session. They will also host a booth that allows the community to have hands-on experiences with modern DJ equipment, and create a set list that features Jewish, Iranian, Latino, Korean, South Asian, Brazilian music, plus many other global cultures and rhythms.
Community Services will lead the efforts to promote and market this festival in conjunction with Policy and Management. We will include utilizing our in-house marketing platforms including press releases, social media, webpages, digital marketing and grassroots eblasts for city-wide promotion. We will also promote through our partnerships with Next BH, Team Beverly Hills, the Conference and Visitors Bureau and Chamber of Commerce.
Due to this first iteration of the event taking place within the footprint of a typical special event for the Farmers Market, no additional street closures need to be noticed, nor additional departmental support requested.
FISCAL IMPACT
Funding for this request is available in the Council approved budget for the Community Services Arts and Culture budget, 00106707-731220.The budget for the event is $15,000 which includes costs for artists fees, materials, production, and marketing.
RECOMMENDATION
City Council direction is requested on the City Council Liaison / Rodeo Drive/Special Events/Holiday Program Committee recommendation for the inaugural Festival Beverly Hills: A New Global Arts and Cultural Event for the City of Beverly Hills, to be hosted on Sunday, March 12, 2023, 8am-1pm at the Farmer’s Market.
Stephanie Harris,
Interim Community Services Director
Approved By
Attachment 1
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Attachment 2
CITY OF BEVERLY HILLS
COMMUNITY SERVICES
MEMORANDUM
TO: City Council Liaison / Rodeo Drive / Special Events/ Holiday Program Committee
FROM: Jenny Rogers, Director of Community Services
DATE: September 21, 2022
SUBJECT: Discussion of Proposed 2022 - 2023 Arts and Culture Events from Community Services
ATTACHMENT: 1. None
INTRODUCTION
This report provides the Beverly Hills City Council Liaison/Rodeo Drive /Special Events /Holiday Program Committee (Liaisons) of Mayor Bosse and Councilmember Friedman information on upcoming Community Services Arts and Culture annual events through the end of the calendar year, and discussion toward the development of a proposed new signature event for the Arts and Culture Commission - an inaugural Beverly Hills Cultural Festival event - as part of the City’s Embrace and Celebrate Culture Initiative.
Upcoming Arts & Culture Events
Community Services Arts & Culture - There are several proposed events scheduled to take place in the City during fall / winter 2022. This report provides brief updates on the following upcoming community programs which will require citywide inter-departmental support:
o Beverly Hills Art Show –October 15 & 16, 2022
The twice a year Beverly Hills Art Show is one of the most popular art events on the West Coast. Coming on October 15 and 16, 2022, the Fall Art Show will see both a return to a full sized, 4-block event with 235 artists showcasing their work in Beverly Gardens Park including 27 local artists and 14 states represented, as well as food trucks, a beer and wine garden, and live entertainment and workshops. The show will also debut a rebranded look, to kickoff the countdown leading up to the 50th anniversary of the Spring Art Show on May 20 & 21, 2023, and the Fall Art Show on October 14 & 15, 2023. Past years have seen over 40,000 guests attend over the two days of Beverly Hills Art Show Weekend.
Please note: As part of the 50th Anniversary of the Beverly Hills Art Show in 2023, Commission and staff are proposing some special activities and extensive public outreach and communication to commemorate this special occasion and market the events in collaboration with our City Partners: the Chamber of Commerce, Conference and Visitors Bureau, and Rodeo Drive Committee.
o Beverly Hills ArtWalk - Monthly Sunday, September – December, 2022 The City’s ArtWalks are a new program collaboration between Community Services (CS) and the Arts and Culture Commission (ACC) featuring monthly docent-led guided tours of various City sculptures, artworks, nature (floral and fauna), and historical points of interest 2 of 5
surrounding Beverly Gardens Park. All tours happen on Sundays, starting at 11am and are free to the public with registration. These artfully curated walking tours explore the City’s world-class art including sculptures, murals, natural and historical points of interest.
September’s ArtWalk included a special commemoration of the 9/11 Memorial Sculpture Garden. The next event is scheduled for Sunday, October 2 at 11am. *NEW TOURS FOR FALL & WINTER: Featuring a tailored selection of our historic and world-renown public art in Beverly Gardens Park, this curated tour will focus on important works including the prestigious Henri Alfred Marie Jacqemart’s Hunter and the Hounds, Ai Weiwei’s Iron Root, and Roxy Paine’s Erratic, amongst others. This tour also includes a guided walking tour down the world-famous Rodeo Drive which will explore the history of the iconic Beverly Hills sign, the historic equestrian bridle path, the last remaining original buildings and storefronts, Frank Lloyd Wright’s only commercial design - Anderton Court Shops, the site of the Brown Derby, and the storied history of the Beverly Wilshire hotel. These tours are planned in collaboration with the Beverly Hills Historical Society.
ArtWalks from October – December 2022:
Oct 2 - Beverly Hills Sculpture Park and Architecture History Tour* Nov 13 - Beverly Hills Sculpture Park and Architecture History Tour* Dec 11 - Beverly Hills Sculpture Park and Architecture History Tour* o Farmers’ Market Fall Funtastic – Sunday, October 30, 2022 The local favorite, Beverly Hills Farmers Market, hosts specialty days for each season.
Summer’s Pie Bake A 'La Beverly Hills & Piesta, and Picklefest, saw a panel of distinguished judges award prizes to the best homemade pies, and pickles, along with kids’ crafts, live music, and the always present farm-fresh food stalls. The Fall Funtastic Harvest Festival will include a scarecrow contest, pumpkin decorating / carving, kid’s arts and crafts, live storytime, and more. New for winter, a special program, Homemade Holiday Cookie Contest, will bring the community together again to awards the best tasting treats.
o Beverly Hills Doggy Daze 90210 – Sunday, November 6, 2022 The 12th Annual Beverly Hills Doggy Daze 90210™ returns in-person at Roxbury Park’s “Wiggly Field” for a pet extravaganza that is free and open to all pet lovers and animal fans of all ages on Sunday, November 6, 2022 from 11am-3pm. The event features a pet parade, pet talent show, pet-related and pet-friendly vendors, adoptions, food trucks and more for the whole family. This Community Services event is presented in partnership with our Recreation & Parks Commission.
o Holidays at Greystone – Saturday & Sunday, December 3 & 4, 2022 For 2022, Holidays at Greystone return to an indoor and outdoor event, featuring spectacular décor that incorporates fun experiences, selfie moments, multicultural décor and stories throughout, live music, crafts, and a fantastic show in the Greystone Theater.
With a bolder and reimagined weekend of fun, this an annual tradition helps bring a sense of community to Beverly Hills holiday festivity of the entire city.
Many elements of the outdoor and mansion décor will remain all holiday season long to decorate the architecture in a festive way. Some of the items that serve as interactive photo backdrops will be removed due to outside rentals of Greystone utilizing the space, but the public would be able to still enjoy the decorative elements that remain for the 3 of 5
month, including decorations on the gate, gardens, columns, bannisters, etc., during the current visiting hours of the venue 10am – 5pm daily.
This year’s Holidays at Greystone Mansion and Gardens is will take place on Saturday and Sunday, December 3 & 4, during the daytime, and be open to the public through free reservations. A “Jolly Trolley” with stops at City Hall and Rodeo Drive will ensure that residents and guests can travel with ease to enjoy the complimentary festivities from the Civic Center and Business Triangle. Beverly Hills residents will have the opportunity for “priority” reservations, and as in past years, staff expects nearly all slots to be reserved by local Beverly Hills residents. If all spaces sell out, as in previous years, staff estimates that over 2,400 guests will be welcomed over the weekend.
The promotion of the events and programs above, including any new proposed Arts and Culture events, will continue to be marketed to the general public through Citywide marketing plans, with community engagement from City Partners at the Conference and Visitors Bureau, Chamber of Commerce and Rodeo Drive Committee.
Embrace & Celebrate Culture
The Embrace and Celebrate Culture initiative is ongoing citywide programming supported by the Arts and Culture and the Human Relations Commissions (ACC & HRC), and the Next Beverly Hills Committee (NextBH). At its meeting on September 15, 2020, the City Council approved the Embrace & Celebrate Culture Initiative to provide innovative citywide programming intended to celebrate the rich and unique cultural diversity of the community and support the City in the creation of a culture of equity, inclusion and belonging. o Critical Conversations – Quarterly
This speaker series that addresses today’s most important critical topics, debuted on August 24 with a thought-provoking discussion with Donzaleigh Abernathy, daughter of Rev. Ralph David Abernathy, the co-founder of the civil rights movement, and close friend and advisor to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Ms. Abernathy shared her early experiences with social activism and gave insight to residents and visitors about how we all play a part in creation of a better future. Initiated by the Human Relations Commission in collaboration with Community Services and the Beverly Hills Public Library, this series was created to provide community forums on topics related to equity, diversity and inclusion with the next speaker and date to be announced soon.
o Proposed Beverly Hills Cultural Festival – March 2023 Proposed as the inaugural new signature cultural event for the Arts & Culture Commission, the development of this event came out of the City's expansion of Arts & Culture including the transition of the Fine Arts Commission into an Arts and Culture Commission with the desire of enhancing arts and culture events and programming in the City. The creation of a Cultural Festival was identified by the community as their top priority as part of a community-wide survey of Beverly Hills community members and arts and culture stakeholders.
DISCUSSION
Community Services has been working with Arts and Culture Commissioners as part of the Commission’s annual work plan to bring focus to the development of new cultural events and programs that would celebrate the array of cultures that make up Beverly Hills, with emphasis on the unique diversity of our region and the cultures that make it so special. 4 of 5
In the new Beverly Hills Cultural Festival, our goal would be to create a signature, elevated experience free to the community that celebrates Beverly Hills history, food, arts, humanities, culture and architecture. Envisioned initially as a free one-day outdoor event, City Staff and Commission propose this new event take place in mid-March, to coincide with spring and the new year as so many different cultures represented in Beverly Hills have springtime festivals.
The event will be purposeful in its intent to include diverse communities that make up the fabric of Beverly Hills and our region including Jewish/Israeli, Persian/Iranian, Asian/Pacific Islander, Black/African American, African, Mexican/Latino/a/x, LGBTQA+, European and Indigenous/Native American communities (Tongva, Chumash, and Tataviam) with the hope of showcasing our history and rich arts and cultural traditions.
In order to better plan the development of this new cultural event, Community Services and the Arts and Culture Commission requests a discussion of the following event format options:
Host a Cultural Festival event as part of the City’s Farmers’ Market; Host a Cultural Festival event as a community gathering in one of our large City parks; Host a Cultural Festival event as part of a one-day street festival with street closure; City Staff and Commissioners also request feedback on a couple of different varieties of the kind of festival event we might host:
Host a multicultural craft fair type of event with community-based artisans, global food vendors, food trucks, traditional arts and culture, music and dance performances by community / school / faith-based organization groups highlighting local talent who would perform on a community stage. This is a lower budget option as it wouldn’t incur as much in production, marketing, and artist fees;
Host an enhanced park or street festival type of event as described above, but with paid professional performers where entertainment is curated similar to our Concerts on Cañon series with a wide variety of musical and dance groups showcasing the best local talent on one or more stages, with our community groups also sprinkled into the lineup; Host an arts festival event distinctly informed and flavored by the opportunities that are unique to Beverly Hills including the visual and performing arts, culture, history, film, food and dining, architectures, and the people who live, and have lived, here. Festival activities would be inspired by other local and national prestigious cultural festivals that currently are enjoying much success – including Grand Performances (LA), Getty Pacific Standard Time (LA), Globalfest (NYC), Spoleto Festival (South Carolina), Lincoln Center Festival (NYC), Big Ears Festival (Tennessee), Jacob’s Pillow (Massachusetts), etc. There is also the potential opportunity to partner with these renown festivals and agencies on special projects, collaborations, and unique presentations. This festival event could be both deeply community-based and a world class festival that drives economic development into the city, as all of the aforementioned festivals are considered major economic and tourism engines for their communities. This option would require significant sponsorship and partnerships as part of our funding strategy.
Our goal in the conception of this new festival event would be to showcase Beverly Hills in a variety of ways, and it could, over time, grow beyond a one-day event into a variety of activities including special site-specific events and activations, music/dance/theater programming, partnerships and collaborations, and inspired community-based Arts & Culture activations of city 5 of 5
venues, streets, and public spaces as part of the City’s Public Art Program, Art in Public Places. It will also be a great opportunity to showcase and engage with our public parks, sculpture park, Farmers Market, Greystone Mansion, Library, community centers, and civic areas.
Depending upon Liaison feedback, City Staff and Commission would engage our community partners including local businesses, restaurants, hotels, venues, cultural spaces and institutions, design and retail, the BHUSD and local schools, local artists and arts organizations, our community and neighborhoods on the design of this new Beverly Hills event and return with a more fully realized event proposal for review and approval.
All of the options above would include some level of interdepartmental coordination and a funding request. Should the new Cultural Festival event proposal receive direction to move forward, a separate request with specific date, programming and performer details, and funding will be brought back for Special Event Liaison review and approval, and full City Council consideration.
FISCAL IMPACT
While no direct request for funding is made at this time, it should be noted that depending on Liaison direction, the development of a new event, or expansion of existing programming and events, (especially now that we are back to a full and robust schedule of annual Community Services events), may trigger additional funding needs in three major areas: marketing (advertising and community outreach); production (event rentals, street closure safety equipment, etc.); and entertainment / performer and artist / instructor fees.
RECOMMENDATION
Staff recommends City Council Liaisons receive information on upcoming Community Services events and provide feedback on ongoing and newly proposed Arts and Culture programming and events. City Staff will bring a more complete detailed plan for a new event based on direction received by the City Council Special Events Liaisons at a future date.
Preview Upcoming 2022
Arts & Culture Events
and Discussion of Proposed
Cultural Festival Event 2023
City Council Liaison Special Events
September 21, 2022
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Upcoming Arts & Culture Events
• Beverly Hills Fall Art Show – Oct. 15 & 16
• Beverly Hills ArtWalk – monthly thru 2022
• Farmers Market Fall Funtastic – Oct. 30
• Beverly Hills Doggy Daze 90210™ - Nov. 6 at Roxbury Park • Holidays at Greystone – Dec. 3 & 4
• Critical Conversations – quarterly 2022-2023*
• Proposed NEW Beverly Hills Cultural Festival – March 2023* *Embrace & Celebrate Culture Initiative
o
New Cultural Festival
Grand Performances Festival
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6 Liaison Direction & Next Steps
• Where would a new Cultural Festival be held?
• What kind of programming would a new
Cultural Festival feature?
City Staff will work with Commissions,
stakeholders & the community to bring
back to Liaisons a more complete
detailed plan, including potential date,
programming, talent & funding
for a new event based on direction. Spoleto Festival
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Option 1: Host a Culture Festival as part of the Farmers Market • A craft-type fair with
community based artisan
booths
• Global food vendors, cooking
demonstrations
• Music & dance performed by
local talent
• Host up to 1,000 guests
• Estimated budget: $10-$15k
New Cultural Festival
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Option 2: Host a Cultural Festival as a community gathering in a Park • An enhanced park festival
• Different booth activations,
variety of artisans, workshops
• Entertainment curated with
local/regional talent on one
or more stages
• Estimate 2,000-3,000+ guests
• Estimated budget: $30-$40k
New Cultural Festival
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Option 3: Host a Cultural Festival as a one-day street festival with closure • A festival that is unique to BH,
celebrating culture, arts, film, dining,
history, architecture & more
• Street closure allows for larger
stage(s), activations & professional,
high-caliber talent
• More akin to nationally-known
festivals, with sponsors & partners
• 4,000-5,000 guests, room to grow
• Estimated budget: $70-$80k
New Cultural Festival
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Festival Options
• Option 1: Community and food-based Festival
event at the Farmers Market
• Option 2: Park Festival with curated talent &
more activations
• Option 3: Street Festival with
professional talent, options
for enhanced programming