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Earlier this summer the City’s Recreation and Arts Department (RAD) published its 2025 Impact Report. Though we’re two-thirds into 2026, I love both recreation and the arts and I wanted to share a summary of the good work our RAD Team is doing, even if this coverage is belated!
Here is the BLUF (Bottom Line, Up Front): Santa Monica’s Recreation and Arts Department recorded more than 218,000 aquatics visits and 7,236 camp and class participants in 2025 RAD distributed $538,723 in arts grants and generated more than $5 million in annual earned revenue from community recreation, supporting program sustainability RAD opened community facilities as refuge space during the January 7 Palisades Fire and funded 11 arts projects directly addressing fire recovery The historic Miles Memorial Playhouse reopened in July after five years closed, drawing more than 1,200 attendees to its reopening event RAD marked major anniversaries in 2025, including the Cove Skatepark’s 20th year, Westside Special Olympics’ 50th year, and the Dudley Cup’s 110th tournament The department operates on a $25,388,051 annual budget while sustaining significant self-generated revenue and citywide program growth
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| Growing up, I was a swimmer, a theater kid, and a Boy Scout. School musicals, neighborhood swim teams, and my Church’s basement working on merit badges was how I spent much of my free time. So when people ask why I care so much about our Recreation and Arts Department, that’s a lot of the answer. I know what it means to have a stage, a pool, a community room, or a coach who shows up for you, because those places and people built me.
That’s also why I put my own discretionary funds behind RAD twice this year: a new inflatable for the Swim Center, and a working microphone and monitors for the Miles Memorial Playhouse, because a theater without working sound isn’t a theater.
It’s why I wrote the Council motion bringing music festivals back to the Pier, and why I’m excited for Ocean Way to take the stage on our beach in a few weeks.
It’s why I’m committed to reopening our Civic Auditorium as a world-class music venue.
It’s why I directed greater control over our digital billboard program, to allow for increased opportunities for public digital art.
And it’s why Memorial Park’s expansion and the coming Great Park at the airport, which will bring even more recreation and arts space to Santa Monica once the airport closes, matter to me personally, not just as a councilmember!
This year’s RAD Impact Report walks readers through the numbers to back up what I already believed: our RAD team delivers for our community like no other! We are lucky to have the capacity to support this type of work at City Hall, especially for our kids, families, seniors, and residents with disabilities.
I hope you enjoy seeing the impact of your tax dollars at work! Dan
Dan Hall City Councilmember Santa Monica, California |
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| In 2025, RAD’s programs reached residents across every age group and every corner of the city. Our three pool facilities, the Santa Monica Swim Center, the Annenberg Community Beach House Pool, and the Santa Monica High School Pool, recorded 218,272 total visits. Aquatics served everyone from beginning swimmers to competitive athletes: 4,575 people enrolled in Learn-to-Swim classes, and the Sharks Swim Team took first place at the 2025 Southern California Municipal Athletic Foundation Championships, competing against 15 teams and more than 400 athletes. |
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| Beyond the pool, 7,236 unique participants took part in community camps and classes, and more than 10,000 participants played in organized sports leagues spanning volleyball, soccer, basketball, softball, and pickleball. Pickleball open play alone drew more than 40,000 visits over the year. The department also issued 23,555 permits for fields, courts, meeting rooms, and other facilities, and sold 10,984 resident membership passes for the Skate Park, Memorial Park Gym and Fitness Center, Santa Monica Swim Center, and Reed Park Tennis Center. |
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| RAD’s $25,388,051 annual budget supports far more than day-to-day operations. Cultural Affairs alone distributed $538,723 in grants in 2025, funding 27 nonprofit arts organizations through the Organizational Support Program ($409,926), 20 community arts projects through Community Access and Participation grants ($73,799), four individual artist fellowships ($48,000), and transportation to arts and culture sites for 12 schools and nonprofits through the Arts Transportation Grant ($6,999). |
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| The Annenberg Community Beach House hosted 153 booked private events with 11,226 attendees in 2025, including a TEDx event and national media productions. The City also streamlined how it distributes public arts funding in 2025, combining separate grant applications into a single process, reducing paperwork for both applicants and staff. |
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| | | The January 7 Palisades Fire tested every part of City Hall, and RAD was no exception. In the fire’s immediate aftermath, the department opened community facilities as places of refuge for evacuees who arrived with little more than the clothes they were wearing. As recovery continued, RAD staff helped displaced families reconnect to the arts, cultural, and recreation programs that provided stability during a prolonged period of disruption.
The department’s Art of Recovery initiative funded 33 projects in 2025 totaling $144,750 in support. 11 of those projects directly addressed fire recovery, offering artists, cultural workers, and residents opportunities for connection, reflection, and collective care. RAD also provided rental relief to artists at the Airport Art Studios, many of whom had lost homes, studios, artwork, or livelihoods in the fire. On the recreation side, Community Recreation staff worked with displaced schools and youth sports organizations to relocate programming, physical education classes, and athletic activities into Santa Monica facilities, a coordination effort requiring close collaboration across City departments and with outside partners. |
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| Some of RAD’s biggest 2025 achievements were measured in decades, not dollars! After a five-year closure, the historic Miles Memorial Playhouse reopened in July with a community State of the City celebration that drew more than 1,200 attendees, marking the completion of two years of facility improvements and reinvestment. The Cove Skatepark, one of California's premier skate facilities, celebrated its 20th anniversary, while Westside Special Olympics marked 50 continuous years of operation in Santa Monica, having partnered with Olympic champion Rafer Johnson at its 1976 founding. The Dudley Cup Tennis Tournament held its 110th annual competition, and the City itself marked its 150th anniversary with more than 80 community events, 33 funded through a dedicated microgrant program. |
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| | | RAD’s 2025 report also outlines priorities for the year ahead. The department is continuing planning for the Memorial Park Expansion Project, expanding aquatics programming beyond the Santa Monica Swim Center to increase use of the Annenberg Community Beach House Pool, and evaluating services for special populations including youth, teens, seniors, and residents with disabilities.
On the cultural side, RAD is planning for the 2028 Cultural Olympiad, programming the City’s first gallery space at Bergamot Station, and launching our new Digital Billboard arts program. Administratively, the department is focused on strengthening financial and operational systems to support long-term sustainability and improving cross-division coordination.
Stay tuned for more great stuff from our RAD team at City Hall and thank you for your support for our recreation and arts programs and facilities! |
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| | | | | | Was this email forwarded to you? Subscribe here! Photos courtesy of the City of Santa Monica. |
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