FY2022-2023 Work Plan
This document lays out strategic work plan of the Santa Monica Pier Corporation for Fiscal Year 2022-2023, a year in which the world collectively takes the next steps forward from two years of COVID-19 pandemic-related uncertainty toward a new normality. For the Pier Corporation. that new normality will include building upon the visions and progress of the three study groups initiated in early 2021 (Governance & Revenue, Programming Priorities, and Community Engagement) and expanding its focus in to new, yet very Pier-specific, arenas.
The Pier is approximately the size of a 3-block city street, upon which are an amusement park, an aquarium, a trapeze school, 8 restaurants, 13 licensed vendor carts, 4 retail shops and a 100-year-old antique carousel that is housed within an official Nationally landmarked building. Fishing and street performance add to the daily scope of activities on the Pier, as well as frequent brand activations, art installations and free-and-open-to-the-public programming. In pre-pandemic years the Pier welcomed approximately 10-12 million visitors, which dropped drastically in 2020 and early 2021, then gradually rebuilt over that past year to reach visitor levels that now rival that aforementioned 10-12 million number.
The past year has been defined by rebuilding – both figuratively and literally. For most of 2020 and much of 2021 the Pier Corporation was severely limited in revenue opportunities via event rentals, filming and the ability to produce its customary public programs due to pandemic protocols. Additionally, the Pier Parking Deck (large-scale event space) has undergone a massive rehabilitation project, which further hampered event rental and event production opportunities.
As pandemic protocols loosened, and with careful coordination with City Engineers and construction contractors, the Pier Corporation was able to reestablish revenue streams for event rentals and filming and revive some key public programming.
The new fiscal year will continue the momentum forward, building upon the progress made over the previous year while also targeting its outreach and marketing toward specific demographics and event opportunities, reasserting the Santa Monica Pier’s status as a local, national and international iconic and historic destination.
Map of Santa Monica Pier 2022
Santa Monica Pier Corporation Board of Directors
Board Chair Vice-Chair Secretary/Treasurer
Christopher Foster Nicholas Rolston Randi Parent
Daniel Hall Jeffrey Jarow Misti Kerns Carter Rubin
Santa Monica Pier Corporation Staff Members
Executive Director: Jim Harris
Operations Director: Aurora Piña Activations Manager: Anne Railsback Brand Manager: Julieta Giner Facilities & Weekend Specialist: Corey Hart Accomplishments Of Fiscal Year 2021-2022
Fiscal Year 2021-2022 was a year of fluctuation between uncertainty and cautious optimism as the world collectively moved forward through a second year of the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. New challenges were presented – most notably the great influx of unpermitted vendors and a massive construction project in the Pier’s large-scale event venue – and while it has become increasingly clear that the post-pandemic “new normal” Santa Monica Pier will be different from what it was just over two years ago, there is great promise for the future of the pleasure pier experience which the Pier Corporation has diligently fought to preserve and enhance for the past several decades.
The three study groups formed by the Pier Corporation in early 2021 made great progress in FY2021-2022, with ultimate results seeing varying levels of positive impact. The composition of each study group included representation from Pier Corporation staff and board of directors, City of Santa Monica Staff, Pier Business ownership and management and at-large members of the local community.
Definitions and a summary of accomplishments and progress of each study group follows:
• The Governance & Revenue Study Group was conceived to determine and ultimately recommend to the City Council the best governance and revenue model for the Pier. The group researched and compared many other venues around the United States, each with various degrees of similarity to the Pier, and determined that a model which combines elements of Seattle’s Pike Place PDA and Santa Monica’s own Downtown Santa Monica, Inc. would be ideal.
Such a model would ideally bring the three existing prominent organizations on the Pier (Santa Monica Pier Corporation, City of Santa Monica Office of Pier Management and the Santa Monica Pier Lessees Association) into one cohesive body that governs the Pier, likely as a modified BID. It is this study group’s understanding that City Staff will soon re-engage with a BID consultant to perform a new BID assessment for the Pier and nearby beach area, from which the study group expects to learn more regarding next steps. • The Programming Priorities Study Group was formed to identify and prioritize programming that would best serve all stakeholders for both the immediate post-pandemic period and the ongoing future. The study group collectively acknowledged and discussed a variety of issues, benefits and future challenges for public programming on the Pier. In early 2020 they developed a draft long-term event rentals policy to be presented to the Pier Corporation Board of Directors and, ultimately, to City Council for adoption alongside other recommendations for public event venue policies. More immediately, the group helped Pier Corporation staff to prioritize the return of Pier-produced programs including Pier 360 (summer kickoff paddleboard, swimming and beach volleyball competitions), the annual “Cheer on the Pier” Holiday Window Displays and ROGA (fitness program).
• The Community Engagement Study Group convened with the purpose to find ways to encourage the local community to visit the Pier. For the past many years, the perception widely shared among Santa Monicans is that the Pier is for tourists. The goal of the study group is to explore, identify and implement tactics that will strengthen the relationship between Santa Monica residents and their Pier. Over the course of the last year the study group identified several possibly effective concepts, and on March 10, 2022 launched a new monthly Pier-wide event called “Locals’ Night” in which various Santa Monica organizations, such as Pico Youth & Family Center, Santa Monica Music Center, and Cayton Children’s Museum provide free entertainment along the entire length of the Pier while Pier businesses offer specials and the Pier Corporation targets marketing only to the local Santa Monica community. While still in its early imagining and learning stages, local response has been overwhelmingly positive, and it appears that a great new Santa Monica tradition has begun.
A year ago, the Pier Corporation’s proposed plan of work acknowledged that a decrease in grant funding from the City of Santa Monica and uncertainties regarding the ability to book events and filming due to both the ongoing pandemic and the City’s planned year-long large-scale construction project on the Pier Parking Deck rendered the organization’s ability to plan and produce any of its traditional public programs as unlikely. Good fortune prevailed, though, and the organization’s revenue from event rentals, activations and filming exceeded expectations such that the Pier Corporation was able to execute the return of “Cheer on the Pier” Holiday Window Displays in December 2021, Wellness & Waves (formerly ROGA fitness program) in March/April 2022 and Pier 360 (summer kickoff athletics event) in late June 2022. In addition, those revenues helped with the creation of two new prospective annual events – Dia de los Muertos in the historic Merry Go-Round Building and monthly Locals’ Nights.
In addition to study group work, reinvigorating revenue streams and returning free public programming to the Pier, the Pier Corporation partnered with City Staff and the Santa Monica Pier Lessees Association in responsive efforts to curb the quickly growing unpermitted vendor situation and its associated potential dangers to the Pier, most notably the use combustible fuels. The Pier Corporation actively supports the continuing presence and work of the Pier Task Force and regularly works with the Santa Monica Chamber of Commerce and the California Travel Association in their advocacy efforts to modify State of California legislation.
Fiscal Year 2022-2023
The new fiscal year will include continued financial challenges, including the stilluncertain impacts of the pandemic as well as another cut in grant funding from the City (from $200,000 in FY2021-2022 to $150,000 in FY2022-23), but while the previous year was consumed by caution, the new fiscal year shows great promise for optimism.
FY2022-2023 will include continued work in all of the arenas detailed above, expand upon much of it, and embark upon the exploration of new arenas of interest that will benefit both the Pier Corporation and to the Santa Monica Pier in general.
The following is a brief detail of the FY2022-2023 areas of focus:
STUDY GROUPS– While each study group made tremendous progress toward their goals in FY2021-2022, there is more work to be accomplished during the next year. • Governance & Revenue – The City’s engagement with the BID consultant, and especially the consultant’s assessment, is eagerly anticipated by the study group. Next steps for a recommendation from the group will be determined from the results of that assessment.
• Programming Priorities – Building upon the study group’s work on developing the draft long-term event rentals policy, next steps will be to formulate a comprehensive set of policy recommendations for events in the Pier’s public venues.
• Community Engagement – With Locals’ Night having been officially launched and finding its way into becoming a tradition, the group will continue to explore other arenas of improving relations with between locals and the Pier.
ANNUAL CELEBRATION OF THE PIER’S BIRTHDAY (SEPTEMBER 9) – Visualizing the concept of “bookending” the summer with Pier-focused weekends, with Pier 360 already the traditional kickoff event for summer, the Pier Corporation recognizes an opportunity to “wrap up” summer on the weekend immediately following Labor Day, which always includes or is near to the anniversary of the original opening date of the Santa Monica Pier - September 9th. For the past several years (pre-pandemic), the Pier Corporation has held a modest celebration of this date with performances of the stage play, “SAVE THE PIER!”. An unrelated annual 5k/10k event – the Santa Monica Classic – has also fallen on this weekend. Pier Corporation staff is eager to explore an expansion of events/activities to enhance awareness of the Pier’s longevity as well as its connection to the summer season.
CONNECTING WITH OTHER ICONIC PIERS – The Santa Monica Pier is unique, and the Pier Corporation is completely aware of its status as one of the most recognized places in the world. A simple image of the Pier, or even mere mention of it, immediately places the viewer or listener in southern California. It is that distinct, that iconic. The Pier is not alone in enjoying that status, of course, for there are many places worldwide – including some piers – that impactfully represent their cities, regions and even countries. One very unique factor of the COVID-19 pandemic that often goes unmentioned is how it brought the world together – the entire world shared the same experience at one time. With that experience in mind, but with a much more positive spin, the Pier Corporation will reach out to its cousins – other iconic venues – and explore the values of connection through marketing, shared experience and perhaps some good old-fashioned rivalry and banter. In FY2022- 2023, the initial outreach will be to two specific piers – the Chicago’s Navy Pier (the other end of Route 66) and England’s Brighton Pier (historic inspiration for amusement park piers – the “grandaddy of them all”).
PRIDE ROLLER RINK – Over the past few years the City of Santa Monica, Downtown Santa Monica, Santa Monica Place and the Santa Monica Pier Corporation have combined efforts toward celebrating PRIDE for the month of June. The Pier Corporation has participated in various ways, most recently with art installations and small-scale events. Coincidentally, over those same past few years, Pier Corporation staff has been in conversations with a company that provides and operates roller rinks at various venues. Those conversations have led to the concept of a multi-day or multi-week roller rink installation as a new and perhaps annual Santa Monica PRIDE, launching in June 2023.
TARGETED MARKETING FOR SPECIFIC BRAND-RELEVANT EVENT RENTALS – The Pier Parking Deck has become a widely recognized event venue which has drawn the attention of some premium brands such as the National Football League and Major League Baseball – both good brand matches for the Pier. While these organizations approached the Pier Corporation organically, staff will begin targeted outreach specifically to other similar organization that represent a good brand match.