The Broad Stage — LLMpedia

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The Broad Stage is a professional performing arts venue located in Santa Monica, California, known for presenting theatre, dance, classical music, and world music by national and international artists. Founded in the late 2000s, it serves as a cultural hub within the Santa Monica College campus and the Los Angeles County arts landscape, hosting touring companies, resident ensembles, and community-focused programs. The venue has presented works by figures associated with institutions such as the Julliard School, Royal Shakespeare Company, and Metropolitan Opera and has collaborated with organizations including the Los Angeles Philharmonic, New York Philharmonic, and National Endowment for the Arts.

History

The organization that established the venue grew from initiatives tied to Santa Monica College and philanthropic investment led by donors associated with the Broad Foundation, philanthropists who have supported projects involving the Getty Foundation and the Annenberg Foundation. The facility opened in 2008 after capital campaigns that engaged supporters connected to the California Arts Council, the City of Santa Monica, and donors with ties to institutions like the Huntington Library and the Walt Disney Concert Hall development network. Early seasons featured collaborations with touring companies such as the Royal Shakespeare Company, ensembles like the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, and artists who appeared previously at venues including Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, and the Kennedy Center. Over the subsequent decade the venue expanded partnerships with festivals such as the Green Music Festival and initiatives from the National Performance Network.

The venue was designed to integrate theatrical technology in a mid-sized hall suitable for repertory drawn from venues like the Barbican Centre and the Sadler's Wells Theatre. Architectural contributors and consultants with prior work at the Walt Disney Concert Hall and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art informed the acoustics and sightlines. The stage accommodates set designs akin to productions mounted at the Royal National Theatre and the Brooklyn Academy of Music, while backstage facilities meet standards used by touring companies including the New Victory Theater and presenters for American Ballet Theatre and Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. The lobby and public spaces host exhibitions referencing collections such as those at the Getty Center and programming material comparable to the Hammer Museum.

Season programming blends presentations from international presenters like the BAM Next Wave Festival and artists affiliated with the Bolshoi Ballet, the Moscow Art Theatre, and the Berlin Philharmonic. The venue has hosted residencies and premieres involving collaborators from Steppenwolf Theatre Company, Second City, and The Wooster Group, and has booked artists linked to the Royal Opera House, La Scala, and the Paris Opera Ballet. Contemporary music series have included performers connected to the BBC Proms, the Montreux Jazz Festival, and the Newport Jazz Festival, as well as contemporary composers known to the Juilliard School and the Curtis Institute of Music. Programming extends to presentations associated with the Los Angeles Ballet, Cirque du Soleil, and visiting productions from companies like Shakespeare in the Park and touring runs of works by playwrights represented at Playwrights Horizons.

Educational initiatives connect to curriculum models promoted by institutions such as Santa Monica College, the University of California, Los Angeles, and the California Institute of the Arts. Outreach programs have partnered with community organizations like the Santa Monica Public Library, Mount Saint Mary’s College, and local chapters of the YMCA and Boy Scouts of America. The venue’s youth and family series reflects pedagogical approaches used by the New Victory Theater and the Young Vic, and its masterclasses have featured artists affiliated with Juilliard, Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, and the Mannes School of Music. Partnerships for accessibility and inclusion have involved advocacy groups such as the Americans with Disabilities Act implementation units, local school districts, and nonprofit presenters like the LA County Arts Commission.

Notable presenters have included artists and companies with histories at Yo-Yo Ma’s collaborations, ensembles like the Kronos Quartet, and choreographers associated with Twyla Tharp and Martha Graham Dance Company. Productions have featured directors and designers who worked at Royal Court Theatre, Almeida Theatre, and designers whose work appears at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Visiting artists have been drawn from casts and ensembles linked to Broadway, the West End, Bolshoi Theatre, and orchestras such as the Los Angeles Philharmonic and San Francisco Symphony. Guest performers and groups have included names connected to the Guggenheim Fellowship, MacArthur Fellowship, and recipients of the Pulitzer Prize and the Tony Award.

Governance involves a board and executive staff that oversee partnerships with funders such as the National Endowment for the Arts, private foundations like the Broad Foundation and Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, and municipal arts agencies including the City of Santa Monica Cultural Affairs Division. The venue’s financial model combines earned revenue from ticketing and rentals with contributed income from philanthropies modeled after grantmaking at the Rockefeller Foundation, the Carnegie Corporation, and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. Management practices reflect norms followed by presenters like the Public Theater and the Brooklyn Academy of Music, and operations coordinate with touring logistics used by companies associated with the International Society for the Performing Arts.

Category:Theatres in California