Beach=Culture at Annenberg Community Beach House, archive (not in use)

Image: Choreographer-in-Residence Jay Carlon's Out of Bounds, featuring dancers Christopher Bordenave, Jay Carlon, Isaac Huerta and Samantha Mohr, 2017

Welcome to Beach=Culture, a year-round series of free arts and ideas events at the Annenberg Community Beach House. Beach=Culture features exhibitions, artist residencies, literary programs and other scheduled and pop-up arts experiences. Come down to the beach and find the unexpected - poetry amidst the swimmers, sculpture alongside volleyball players, dance in the middle of the sand. 

For more information about artist residency applications and calls for curators, please visit Opportunities or join the email list to be notified of future calls.

Artists-in-Residence

Image: Therese Kelly, Under the Umbrella, 2018

Artists in Residence from 2009-2019

Several times a year local artists work out of an office at the Marion Davies Guest House, sharing their progress with the public in person and online. Year-round the Beach=Culture program presents events associated with residencies. Residents include annual Fall and Spring Writers and alternating-year Choreographers and Social Practice Artists. Check out the resident blog. Visit current Opportunities for more.

Current Resident Artist(s)

• Nathalie Kramer

  

  January 15 – March 18, 2020

  Nathalie Kramer was born in Paris and grew up in France and California. Her stories have been published in Faultline Journal of Arts and Letters and in the Santa Monica Review, and have received numerous Honorable Mentions in Glimmer Train's New Writers Awards. Ms Kramer’s work has been short-listed for the Disquiet Literary Prize in Portugal. She is a Writing By Writers Fellow and currently studies fiction at the Bennington MFA Writing Seminars. She lives in Los Angeles.

  Join Nathalie and a group of local writers for her first event:

  California Authors/A Panel
  Saturday, January 25, 2020, 4:00 PM – 5:30 PM

  The event is free of charge. Reservations are requested but not required.

  RSVP for the event

  Public office hours for Natalie Kramer:

  Monday January 27

  12pm – 2pm

  Monday February 10

  12pm – 2pm

  Monday February 24

  12pm – 2pm

  Monday March 9

  12pm – 2pm

Gallery Exhibitions

Summer hours: 9am-6pm; off-season hours: 9am-4pm. Hours subject to change; call 310-458-4904 to confirm.

Three exhibits each year showcase the work of regional artists and artist groups – both emerging and established. The gallery program is designed to inspire Beach House guests with fun, challenging, and provocative art in an unexpected context.

Current Exhibit

• Outside Looking In: An Exhibition of Artists Facing Homelessness

  

  On view: January 16, 2020 - April 27, 2020

  January 16, 2020, 6:30-8:30pm Opening Reception

  Co-curated by Jasmine Monet Davis and Emma Thorne-Christy

  On display from January 16 at the Annenberg Community Beach House Art Gallery will be an exhibit co-curated by photographer Jasmine Monet Davis, who was previously homeless in her own life, and graphic designer Emma Thorne-Christy. The exhibit will feature the life of Arlene, a working nurse practitioner and single mother of four kids (ages 3-17), who lives in motel rooms across the San Fernando Valley while trying to maintain some sense of routine and normalcy for her children. The exhibition will also feature self-exploratory works from young artists experiencing homelessness who are based at the Healing Arts Program at Safe Place for Youth in Venice. The opening reception will focus on the artists and the community and will include a panel discussion on homelessmness and how the public can help. Beach=Culture is a program of Santa Monica Cultural Affairs #ArtSaMo. Reservations for the opening event are not required, but if you register for this program you consent to receiving occasional email about cultural events from www.eventbrite.com

Past Exhibits

Literary and Other Programs

Year-round, check out events with local presses and literary organizations, and discussions with artists, architects, historians and others. For 2019 we feature our ongoing Red Hen Press readings and events with Unnamed Press and the New Short Fiction Series.

Beach Dances

Image: Jay Carlon, Four Triangles, performed by Raymond Ejiofor, Shauna Davis, Kim Thompson & Samuel Wentz, Beach Dances 2018

An annual celebration of dance in the midst of the daily life of the Beach House, every June. Beach House guests and passersby are invited to participate in workshops and view open rehearsals and performances with local choreographers.

The 2019 program took place Tuesday June 18-Sunday June 23: More info, Online RSVP - Printable program (PDF), interview with curator, interview with two choreographers.

Upcoming Events

Getting Here

Train

Take the Expo line to Downtown Santa Monica Station. The beach house is 1.8 miles away from the station.

Bus

Take the Big Blue Bus or Metro Bus.


Bikes


Metro Bikes are available at the Downtown Santa Monica Station. Bike racks are available at the beach house.

Parking

Parking is available at the Beach House and in Beach Lots 9 & 8 North. Machines in three areas of the Beach House lot take cards and cash. For evening events, please note that the lot stays open after stated times and payments are still required.

Shared Mobility Devices cannot be used within the facility. Electric scooters are not allowed on the bike path.

Annenberg Community Beach House is wheelchair accessible and ADA compliant. If you require any special disability related accommodations (i.e. sign language interpreting, access to an amplified sound system, etc.), please contact us at culture@smgov.net, call us at (310) 458-8350 or TDD: (310) 458-8696 at least 5 days prior to the event.

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