Preservation Next: Visit to 18th Street Arts Center

18SAC was founded in Santa Monica’s Pico Neighborhood in 1988, one of many creative communities that made their home in the City's formal industrial corridor starting in the 1970s. Together, these artist-driven studios, colonies, schools and centers cemented Santa Monica’s reputation as a locus of early contemporary art and social movements on the West Coast.

 

The focus of Preservation Next’s visit will be on 18SAC’s legacy of community engagement and specifically the Culture Mapping 90404 project. Culture Mapping 90404 is a community produced map highlighting the history and cultural assets of the Pico Neighborhood. In June of this year, the Conservancy recognized the project with a Cultural Heritage Award. New to the Preservation Awards this year, the category was introduced to honor work focused on collecting and sharing stories of place, which is central to the practice of historic preservation.

 

The visit includes a tour of 18SAC's 18th Street campus and conversation with Senior Director of Public Programs & Engagement Michael Ano followed by a studio visit with Mentor artist-in-residence Dan Kwong. Hailed by critics as “a master storyteller”, Kwong draws upon his own life experiences to explore the personal, the historical, the social and the unspeakable. His award-winning work includes the collaborative documentary/art video, “We Were All Here,” which delves into the multicultural history of the Pico Neighborhood surrounding 18SAC.