In 1990, Santa Monica College signed a 66-year lease with the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District for the Madison campus, a former elementary school with its own rich history. The College has since upgraded the classrooms and added a park-like setting, with mature trees and walking paths, to this site at Santa Monica Boulevard and 11th Street.

In addition, the College has attempted to create a special identity for the educational programs housed at the campus, including art and computer classrooms for older adults through Emeritus College, a spacious new public art gallery, a performance arts series specifically targeted to local schoolchildren, and a Community Services program with classes for students of all ages.

For seven years, Santa Monica College has sponsored a free concert series, featuring top musicians, dancers, writers, and other performers, to help us shape our thinking on how to integrate community arts education into ongoing College programs at the Madison campus. (More than 20,000 Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District children, along with thousands of other schoolchildren from other districts and private schools, have already attended these performances and lectures!)

We have learned a great deal from this effort. First, there is a strong need for this type of arts education program. Secondly, this type of arts education can be greatly expanded by adding a permanent, indoor performing arts facility to the site, which will allow for the professional presentation of programming such as theater, dance, voice, and chamber orchestra.

In this section, you will find more information about the proposed theater, including an executive summary of a feasibility study the College commissioned in 1998, some preliminary thoughts on the operation of the theater, design sketches and models used to gain understanding about the programming potentials, information on the project staff, and more about Santa Monica College.

Fact Sheet - The Madison Project

Survey Monkey Results - March 9, 2006