FY2024-2025 Work Plan
This document lays out a summary of the Santa Monica Pier Corporation’s work completed during Fiscal Year 2023-2024 as well as the organization’s strategic work plan for Fiscal Year 2024-2025, a year of exciting opportunities that will include enhancements to the Santa Monica Pier’s annual free public event programming, the introduction of new programming which will include a nod to a long-forgotten Santa Monica tradition as well as the debut of new prospective traditions, and the rebranding of the organization as it takes steps toward better utilizing its status as a 501(c)3 nonprofit.
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 102-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-thepublic programming. A spacious, pinpointable, outdoor venue, the Pier currently welcomes an estimated 11-12 million visitors throughout the past year.
The Santa Monica Pier experience has long been defined by activity, and the past year has seen an incredible blossom of activity. Whether by attending events, dining at favorite restaurants, enjoying the thrills of the amusement park, or even simply watching the sunset, visitors came to enjoy their preferred activity in droves. While the negative impacts of the 2020-2021 pandemic have significantly decreased and the Pier has re-emerged as a premier and very popular year-round outdoor venue, the Pier Corporation has recognized the need to better enhance and diversify its revenue sources in order to maintain sustainability throughout any possible future emergencies. This strategic work plan lays out the groundwork to achieve that sustainability.
Map of Santa Monica Pier 2023
Santa Monica Pier Corporation Board of Directors
Board Chair Vice-Chair Secretary/Treasurer Christopher Foster Nicholas Rolston Jeffrey Jarow Daniel Hall Misti Kerns Randi Parent Carter Rubin Santa Monica Pier Corporation Staff Members
Executive Director: Jim Harris
Operations Director: Aurora Piña
Activations Manager: Anne Railsback
Business Development Manager: Dana Moorehead
Marketing & Brand Manager: Kayla Nieto
Events & Filming Specialist: Leo Erickson
Facilities & Weekend Specialist: Corey Hart
Accomplishments of the Recent Fiscal Year 2023-2024
The new fiscal year once again began with the emotional high provided by the Pier Corporation’s marquee “kickoff to summer” event, the Pier 360 Beach Festival, which takes place annually on the last weekend of June. The event continues to be very well attended and is always greatly anticipated by the Pier community and stakeholders. There was a notable downside to this year’s event, though, in that sponsorship funding fell well short of expectations. While the Pier Corporation enjoyed an overall successful year financially in the lead-up to the Pier 360 Beach Festival, much of the accrued revenue earned throughout FY2022-2023 needed to be applied toward subsidizing this event instead of being applied to the organization’s overall operations. The significant insufficiency of sponsorship funding was not unique to the Pier Corporation nor the Pier 360 Beach Festival but was instead part of a broader trend felt by many similar organizations and events throughout the fiscal year. Regardless, the attendance and overall experience of the Pier 360 Beach Festival proved once again that the Santa Monica Pier is the premier location to kickoff and celebrate summer.
The great experiential highs coupled with less-than-expected sponsorship funding for Pier 360 proved prophetic for FY2023-24, prompting the organization to further re-examine its overall funding model. While the organization enjoyed a successful year regarding income from event rentals, promotional activations, and filming & commercial photography, the need to explore and secure funding from other revenue sources became prominent. As a result, the Pier Corporation began implementing changes that will help it to become better sustainable while also exploring and enhancing the valuable ways that it can positively impact the Santa Monica Pier community – local, national and international.
It is worth noting that event rental revenue far exceeded projections for the recent fiscal year, as did revenue from commercial filming/photography (despite the lengthy labor issues within the film industry). These sources helped to provide the necessary funds for the Pier Corporation to assure that the community could still enjoy free public programs, despite the aforementioned insufficiency in sponsorship support.
Those programs which the community has come to expect from the Pier Corporation include:
• Locals’ Nights –the past two years this monthly “By Santa Monicans, for Santa Monicans” celebration series has, in a subtle but very important way, supplanted what the Twilight Dance Series meant to the community in its earlier years. The series, which occurs on the third Thursdays of each month from September through May, has come to represent the way for Santa Monica’s neighborhoods to come together and meet at the Pier to enjoy what the entire community has to offer and has increased in both popularity and relevance with each occurrence. • Dia de los Muertos Celebration – This annual event has found not only a home, but roots within Santa Monica’s official National Landmark, the Looff Hippodrome (aka the Merry Go-Round Building or the Carousel Building). Honoring our ancestors and respecting cultural traditions, this event is arguably the most beautiful experience to take place on the Pier, featuring extraordinary altars inside the Hippodrome, a traditional Chumash blessing, and a parade led by Aztec dancers from the west end of the Pier to the Hippodrome, accompanied by a full day and evening of entertainment featuring Ballet Folklorico and Mariachi performances. • Wellness & Waves Yoga Sessions – A six-week Saturday morning yoga series that encourages one of the best possible utilizations of the Pier – fitness/well-being. • SAMO Pride – This City-wide event continues to progress while truly finding it’s best place within the Pride world as Santa Monica as a whole strives to become known for its family-friendly focus for Pride. For this year’s SAMO Pride, the Pier Corporation partnered with The Crow comedy club to produce “Drag Queen Story Time and Face-Painting at the Pier” – a one-day event that celebrates LGBTQIA+ at the Pier within one of the most welcoming environments possible: the Looff Hippodrome, alongside the century-old horses that have always best represented the atmosphere of the Pier.
• “Save the Pier!” Play – While this important retelling of one of the Pier’s most significant moments did not happen in FY2023-2024 due to funding and casting issues, it still remains prominent within the Pier Corporation’s programming schedule and plans are in place for it to continue in Autumn 2024. • Seasonal Campaigns – Winter holidays, Valentine’s Day (“Month of Love”), Black History Month and other seasonal campaigns rounded out the calendar of Pier Corporation celebrations through online activities.
The Santa Monica Pier Corporation prides itself on being a curator and caretaker of the comprehensive Pier visitor experience, and during the FY2023-2024 the organization explored new ways to enhance that experience. In August 2023 the organization launched “A Walk Through Pier History” – a new walking historical tour experience led by a live tour guide yet conducted through noise-cancelling headphones (very important, considering the large amount of activities and conversation that regularly takes place on the Pier) and also provides tour participants with a keepsake electronic file of images which they may refer to both during and after their tour experience. A very special feature within the tour is a pre-recorded welcome and introduction from Hollywood icon Robert Redford, who has lifetime-deep roots with Santa Monica and the Pier. Also introduced during FY2023-2024 was a new and expanded second edition of the Pier’s official history book, Santa Monica Pier: America’s Last Great Pleasure Pier, which will add to income opportunities for the Pier Corporation as well as enhance marketing and ensure the organization’s status as the official keeper of the Santa Monica Pier’s century-plus story.
Looking forward toward the next few years, the Pier Corporation recognized and began proactively planning for best methods toward addressing the anticipated significant impacts presented by upcoming projects and events including the Pier Bridge Replacement Project and world-celebrated events held nearby including the 2026 FIFA World Cup and the 2028 Summer Olympics (as well as recent additions of the 2027 National Football League Super Bowl and Cirque du Soleil). In recognition of these prospectively dramatic impactful events, the Pier Corporation Board completed a Board Retreat and Workshop specifically to address such anticipated impactful events as well as to brainstorm toward how the organization should best move forward toward its own re-imagination to become and remain fiscally sustainable. Results of this planning effort included the creation of the Santa Monica Pier Corporation Pier Bridge Replacement Task Force - an ad hoc committee formulated to proactively work with City Staff, the Pier’s business community, and all other Pier stakeholders toward planning and achieving smooth and regular Pier operations in preparation of and through the duration of the Pier Bridge Replacement Project – and a draft 3-Year Strategic Plan based upon a newly developed Mission Statement, Vision Statement and Company Values as well as a vision plan designed specifically to address the aforementioned projects and events.
In summary, the Santa Monica Pier Corporation has continued to learn and adapt to the challenging financial issues of current times while simultaneously taking the necessary steps forward to better serve the overall Santa Monica Pier community – local, regional, national, and international – to provide the best visitor experience possible.
The Year Ahead: Fiscal Year 2024-2025
The new fiscal year will demonstrate a multi-faceted period of growth for the Santa Monica Pier Corporation in order to best address its fiscal sustainability, increase its overall relevance and revenue opportunities, and, most importantly, to provide the greatest array of events and visitor experiences possible.
In FY2024-2025 the Pier Corporation will engage with the community in new ways, while also continuing to provide and build upon the programs and experiences that have made the Santa Monica Pier such a beloved venue, admired near and far. The new year will include the Pier Corporation’s first-ever fundraising gala, the development of new free public programming and Pier visitor experience enhancements, continued preparation for the quicky evolving world at and around the Pier, and engagement with the City of Santa Monica toward expanding the role of the Santa Monica Pier Corporation in order to even further increase its benefit the Pier community.
THE FIRST-EVER SANTA MONICA PIER CORPORATION FUNDRAISING GALA Since its inception in 1983 the Santa Monica Pier Corporation has held the status of being a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization, yet throughout its history it has not fully exercised that nonprofit status. Changes in funding opportunities in recent years – including a drastic cut to City grant funding post-pandemic and recent struggles with corporate sponsorship for events - have made the need to best utilize that nonprofit status a must for the sustainability of the organization. In hindsight, this focus is overdue. The Pier Corporation’s decades’ long mission toward the preservation and enhancement of the pleasure pier experience has always held the organization as being of great benefit to the community, and it is now time to engage the community toward investing in what the Pier Corporation has and always will provide. In November 2023 the Pier Corporation participated in its first-ever “Giving Tuesday” campaign, the results of which confirmed that the Pier’s public is certainly willing to donate toward the organization’s work toward preserving and enhancing the Pier visitor experience.
In the upcoming fiscal year, the Pier Corporation will host its first-ever fundraising gala event inside the National Landmark Looff Hippodrome, complete with a live auction, a silent auction and a raffle. Already the Pier Corporation has received valuable donations for the fundraising gala, including original 1970s prints by artist Tom Brittain and photographs by contemporary photographers, and will contribute items from within the organization’s own archives.
DEVELOPMENT OF NEW FREE PUBLIC PROGRAMMING
The Pier Corporation’s calendar of free public programs has long been held as its most valuable contribution to the Pier visitor experience, and the coming year will see that calendar expanded upon both within existing programs and with the introduction of new programs.
Pier 360 Beach Festival – The Pier’s official “kickoff to summer” will continue to bring amazing beach and ocean sports activities including paddleboard races, swim races, beach volleyball tournaments, a skate park and roller skating alongside live music, Polynesian dancing, and a traditional Chumash blessing. In an effort to expand upon the impact of the event, the Pier Corporation will work with Malibu Pier on a “pier to pier” paddleboard race as well as explore other partnership opportunities in order to further engage the Pier’s neighbors to the north and expand upon the event’s overall exposure and profile.
Locals’ Night – One of the best discoveries made from the event programming of Locals’ Nights has been that there is no lack of talent and activities from within the Santa Monica community that can fit within the framework of Locals’ Night. Another great discovery has been that, even in the winter months there are unique and special ways to engage the community within each of the venues that the Pier has to offer. The Pier Corporation will continue to explore and program accordingly.
Wellness & Waves Expansion– The success of the Pier Corporation’s multi-week Saturday morning ROGA (Run + Yoga) program in pre-pandemic years and of the Wellness & Waves yoga program in post-pandemic years has long indicated the opportunity for more free weekend fitness programs and, in the upcoming fiscal year, the Pier Corporation will begin to expand such programs under the “Wellness & Waves” umbrella from its current format of two 6-8 week sessions to at least four sessions, with an eye toward a long-term ultimate goal of year-round Saturday morning fitness.
Santa Monica Pier Birthday Celebration – In celebration of the Pier’s birthday in early September, the Pier Corporation will partner with Street Food Cinema for a free movie screening (movie title TBD), an event that will call attention to the history and longtime significance of the Pier. Get ready to sing “Happy Birthday, dear Pier!”.
Multi-Cultural Celebrations – Expanding upon the success in recent years of the annual Dia de los Muertos celebration and having been approached by regional organizations wishing to bring other specific cultural celebrations such as Lunar New Year to the Pier, the Pier Corporation will introduce and produce at least one new such event in the upcoming year.
Holiday Sandcastles – A few decades ago Santa Monica enjoyed a holiday tradition within the Santa Monica Place mall that was very site-specific to Santa Monica as a beach town – the annual holiday sand sculpture. The Pier Corporation will reincarnate this beloved and not-yet-forgotten tradition with an extraordinary sculpture adjacent to the Looff Hippodrome, along with a full schedule of holidaythemed events.
ADDING NEW PIER VISITOR EXPERIENCE ENHANCEMENTS & SPECIALIZED
MERCHANDISE
In August 2023 the Pier Corporation launched the new historical walking tour program, “A Walk Through Pier History”. This new program differs from previously-offered free tour programs in that it is a paid experience that features noise-cancelling headphones, keepsake images, and a special celebrity-recorded welcome message. The program has been very well-received and is growing in popularity. The program also has the ability to grow and change with technology, and the Pier Corporation is already exploring the possibility of enhancing the tour through use of Augmented Reality.
The Pier Corporation will also begin offering periodic (likely quarterly) presentations about the history of the Santa Monia Pier and capitalizing on the release of the new secondedition of the Pier’s history book. As with the walking tour, there is potential for utilizing new technology within this presentation program.
In addition to the new history book and building upon the recent sales success of new miniature neon “Santa Monica Yacht Harbor” signs, the Pier Corporation will continue to develop and sell merchandise that is very specific to the uniqueness of the Pier, with upcoming new items such as hand-made miniature replica paddleboards (representations of the 2 storied paddleboard currently on display in the Hippodrome), retro T-shirts representing gone-but-not-forgotten Pier businesses, and genuine original posters and apparel from the long-revered Twilight concerts. These items focus upon very specific audiences rather than mass appeal, with the very definitive intent of addressing the emotional and romantic attachment of the Pier audience.
CONTINUED PREPARATIONS FOR UPCOMING MAJOR CITY PROJECTS & EVENTS The potential impacts of large-scale projects and events such as the Pier Bridge Replacement Project, Cirque du Soleil, and 2028 Summer Olympics remain foremost in the minds of the Pier Corporation. The Pier Corporation has already created a Pier Bridge Replacement Task Force focused upon preparations and communications in order to achieve smooth and regular Pier operations prior to and for the duration of the project, slated to take place from Spring 2025 into early 2028.
Early in 2024, the Pier Corporation Board of Directors created an ad hoc committee specific to the return of Cirque du Soleil Planning Committee specifically tasked to assure that the specific requests of the Pier Corporation and the Santa Monica Pier Lessees Association were fully and properly addressed within the contract between Cirque du Soleil and the City of Santa Monica, as directed by Santa Monica City Council; to review and ensure the traffic management plans for the duration of Cirque’s presence in Beach Lot 1 North; and to work with event producers, Pier merchants, and City Staff to assure that all agreed-upon conditions are met and that the Pier’s overall operations proceed as normal.
Pier Corporation staff is also currently engaged in several of the City of Santa Monica’s CELEBRATE28 LA28 Planning Committees.
As other impactful events approach, including the 2028 Olympics, the Pier Corporation will closely monitor developments and determine the best steps forward for the overall benefit of the Pier community, maintaining the Pier’s status as not only a premier destination, but also as a world-class event venue.
WORKING WITH THE CITY TO EXPAND ROLE, OPPORTUNITIES, AND OVERALL
BENEFIT
Prior to the pandemic the City of Santa Monica and the Santa Monica Pier Corporation began conceptualizing a mutually beneficial partnership plan in which the Pier Corporation would assume marketing and management of events on the beach areas immediately north and south of the Pier that was referred to as the “Pier/Beach Zone”. The trying times of the pandemic ceased that conceptualizing for the time being.
The Pier Corporation recognizes that an expansion of duties to include management of a “Pier/Beach Zone” will require changes to the organization’s current Services Agreement with the City and will reach out to re-engage conversations toward this as it has significant potential of being mutually beneficial for both parties.
Already there has been a lot of interest in the beach area immediately south of the Pier as a location for special events. Included in these are larger-scale professional beach volleyball events and some unique arts-focused events. There are currently some restrictions within the Santa Monica City Ordinance that present restrictions involving signage and privatization of the beach (long-term or short-term), both of which the Pier Corporation is eager to work with the City toward amending in order to increase opportunities for special experiences and activities in the Pier and beach area.