Celebrate Arts, Culture & Creativity Month 2025 this April
March 27, 2025 4:06 PM
by Naomi Okuyama
April is Arts,
Culture & Creativity Month in California, a time to celebrate the impact of
the arts through free events, resources and advocacy opportunities statewide. The
month has been officially recognized in California since 2019, thanks to Senator
Ben Allen and California for the Arts,
and Santa Monica has participated every year.
The city and Arts
for LA will be kicking off the local launch of Arts, Culture &
Creativity Month at the Annenberg Community Beach House on April 6 from 2-4 p.m.
The free event will include a reception, arts making and arts advocacy
workshops for community members of all ages.
Participants will be able to enjoy hands-on
printmaking with artists Aanii Tate and Miguelaxel Bustos-Burrola and River
Garza will lead a walk-through of “Refractions: Contemporary Indigenous Art,”
now on view in the gallery. Otis College of Art and Design will provide
valuable information about the state of the creative economy, and Arts for LA
will host a workshop on civic engagement and narrative building. The Samo
All-Star Jazz Combo will provide music.
RSVP here and don’t miss this inspiring afternoon of art
and community.
April is also National Poetry Month
National Poetry
Month, launched by the Academy of American Poets in 1996, is now the largest
literary celebration in the world. Each year, tens of millions of readers,
students, educators, librarians and poets come together to celebrate the
essential place poetry holds in our lives. It’s a time to recognize the unique
ability of poetry to inspire, challenge and connect us.
Celebrate with Santa
Monica’s inaugural Poet Laureate Anne Carmack, who authored a proclamation
for Arts Month, at a workshop during
the Earth Day celebration at the Santa Monica Public Library on April 22.
Here are the many
exciting events throughout April – and check back here for updates!
A
Taste of Jordan: Exploring Jordanian Food with Chef Chris Sayegh of Layla
Restaurant
Saturday,
April 5, 11 a.m. – 12:30 p.m., Santa Monica Main Library. Free event.
Sunday,
April 6, 2-4 p.m., Annenberg Community Beach House. Free with RSVP.
Monday,
April 7, 4-5:30 p.m., Main Library. For ages 13-18. Free event. Space is
limited. To register, email library@santamonica.gov.
Wednesday,
April 9, 3:30-4:30 p.m., Ocean Park Branch. For ages 4-11. Free event.
Tuesday,
April 15, 7-8 p.m., online. Selected title: “The Other Americans” by Laila
Lalami. To register, email library@santamonica.gov.
Free event.
Thursday,
Apr 17, 6-7:30 p.m., Montana Branch Library. Selected title: “Those Who Are
Saved” by Alexis Landau. Free event.
Saturday,
Apr 19, 11 a.m. – 12:30 p.m., online. Selected title: “The Known World” by
Edward P. Jones. To register, email library@santamonica.gov.
Free event.
Monday,
Apr 21, 7-8:30 p.m., online. Selected title: “Hell and Other Destinations” by
Madelein Albright. To register, email library@santamonica.gov.
Free event.
Earth
Day Celebration: Our Power, Our Planet
Tuesday, April 22, 3:30-5:30 p.m., Main Library. Free event for all ages. Programming includes:
- Sustainable book shopping supporting the Santa Monica Public Library at the Friends Bookstore.
- Collage/assemblage workshop incorporating recycled and repurposed materials led by Camera Obscura Artist in Residence Raphaele Cohen-Bacry.
- “Poems for the Planet,” an interactive poetry workshop honoring the Earth for National Poetry Month led by Santa Monica Poet Laureate Anne Carmack.
- Poster display from the Center for the Study of Political Graphics.
Art & Literacy Festival at Virginia Avenue Park
Saturday, April
26, 10 a.m.-2 p.m., Virginia Avenue Park. Free event for all ages.
Healing
Through Dance & Poetry at the Annenberg Community Beach House
Sunday, April 27,
11 a.m.-3 p.m., Annenberg Community Beach House
Refractions: Contemporary
Indigenous Art
Through May 11 at the Annenberg Community Beach House. Free admission.
Otis
College of Art and Design's Annual Creative Economy Report
Use
this fascinating online tool year-round to help make the case for the
importance of the arts to our region’s resilience and recovery.
Find additional Arts, Culture and Creativity Month events on Santa Monica Travel and Tourism’s calendar page here.
City
arts programs:
Santa Monica
Cultural Affairs supports a vibrant arts and culture ecosystem by offering
grant programs for Santa Monica-based nonprofit arts and culture organizations.
Through these initiatives, Santa Monica
fosters creativity, innovation, and cultural enrichment for its community. Current grantees are listed here.
Santa
Monica Cultural Affairs welcomes and cultivates artists through fellowships and
residencies for individual artists. Camera Obscura Art Lab artist residency
program is now accepting applications through April 12, 2025. Artists of all
disciplines are encouraged to apply
via this link.
Artist Tanya Aguiñiga completed a permanent
public artwork, and Debra Scacco continues her artist residency at City
Yards. From April through June,
look out for five special recyclables and landfill trash collection trucks
sporting Public Works staff portraits by Monica Orozco, created as part of
Scacco’s “Laboratory for the Future" project. A collection of the portraits
as banners are also on display outdoors at Gandara Park.
Check
out a self-guided public art tour of portions of the city collection. Santa
Monica's civic public art program commissions new works and stewards the city's art
collection,
which features works by local, national, and international artists and is
comprised of many stellar examples of permanent installations, a deep archive
of temporary works, and the Art Bank, a collection on rotating display in
public facilities.
Inspired by the Works Progress Administration
era’s Federal Art Project and launched during the COVID-19 pandemic, our Art of
Recovery program puts artists to work to implement projects and events that
focus on city of Santa Monica’s economic recovery.
Authored By
Naomi Okuyama
Cultural Affairs Supervisor