SM City Corruption and the Seizure of a Private Art Community

Through the improper initiation and predetermined proceedings of 2018’s Airport 190: Request For Qualification, the private business Santa Monica Art Studios was seized on July 1st, 2019. The founder of Santa Monica Art Studios was subsequently devastated at the governing process that was discovered to have been corrupt every step of the way. The orchestrated effort by certain individuals working for the local government resulted in the handover of the private business and its resident artists to the 18th Street Art Center and its Director, Jan Williamson.

This fixed arrangement has resulted in a mutually beneficial relationship between 18th Street and the local government. Santa Monica City has acquired all of the intellectual property, artists in residence, art programs, community, business contacts, physical structure, artist contracts, etc. of Santa Monica Art Studios, 18th Street Art Center is now being funded over $200,000 a year to run the art center that Yossi Govrin founded and built successfully over 14 years.

Yossi Govrin, Director of Santa Monica Art Studios and executive director of MAXIMA Art Initiative, was not compensated for the intellectual property he created nor the cost he incurred building this business and its community from the ground up.

Building conditions before Yossi Govrin singed lease contract with city, 2002 .

Arena 1 Gallery after construction under Yossi Govrin's management, 2006

Under the management of Yossi Govrin, Santa Monica Art Studios had been celebrated for over a decade for the voice it gave to artists around the world and for the beautiful creative space that the founder created from his own vision. SMAS was truly the last of its kind in Santa Monica after the once prestigious Bergamot Station was similarly eliminated.The handover was orchestrated by two key city officials: current Santa Monica Mayor Kevin McKeown and the Cultural Affairs manager, Shannon Daut. Kevin McKeown has an extended history of being affiliated with Jan Williamson, director of 18th Street Art Center, both personally and professionally for the last 20 years. Over several years Kevin McKeown provided false and misleading information to fellow councilmen as well to the Daily Press in an attempt to tarnish Yossi Govrin’s reputation. Kevin McKeown made statements to the press saying: “Yossi Govrin received subsidies”, “Yossi Govrin is overcharging the artist”, “SMAS management is receiving low rent” etc. These statements were published in newspapers but they have been proven to be false statements.

Under the new ownership, the city is charging the artists 4 times more than what Kevin McKeown determined to be the fair price for artist studio rental. In 2002, The rent for the entire 22,500 square foot building was based on 3 city appraisals that occurred before Yossi acquired the lease. Yossi Govrin transformed the abandoned pigeonhole airport hangar and built 3 galleries and 29 studios. Electricity or water factors determine the lower rent of a building in poor condition.

Upon renting the building, Yossi and his co-director invested $750,000 of their own money into transforming the property into what it has become, a cultural center.

In 2017, Mayor McKeown placed a call for Santa Monica Cultural Affairs manager Shannon Daut to prepare a request for qualification for the management of the airport studios, which has always been the private entity of Santa Monica Art Studios. The existing private business owner of the Santa Monica Arts Studios, Yossi Govrin, was informed that he would have to put together a bid to keep his very own establishment which he, for many decades, had poured his heart and soul into, prohibiting him from filing a claim against the city, if not elected.

Santa Monica Art Studios served and provided events, programs, and exhibitions on a national and international level and boasted over ten thousand visitors every year.

Exhibitions at the Gallery under Yossi Govrin's Management, 2017

Yossi Govrin had no choice but to provide a proposal for the RFP in order to have a chance to save his business. Govrin proposed an improved version of SMAS, which he called the Maxima Art Initiative.

Upon hearing that there was to be an RFP bid, 31 of the 35 artists at Santa Monica Art Studios (SMAS) signed a petition to continue its management under the visionary artist and original founder, Yossi Govrin. A second petition in favor of Yossi Govrin was created and signed online by an additional 2,500 people, including artists and art organizations.

The Corrupt Process of Selecting Panelists.

In September of 2018, SM Cultural Affairs Manager Shannon Daut met privately on 2 separate occasions with Jan Williamson, thereafter she produced a list of 5 panelists. These panelists would interview the 3 finalist organizations from the RFP submission process. Jan Williamson was one of those 3 finalists and she was ultimately awarded the request for qualification. She is currently running Santa Monica Art Studios as a result of this clear corruption.

Despite the requirements set to establish an unbiased, uninvolved jury of consultants, all 5 panelists have since been found to have a prior professional and personal affiliation with 18th Street Art Center and/or Jan Williamson. Some of these affiliations trackback 20 years and others as recently as 2018, the year of the RFP, and its fateful ruling. These interactions include artist exchanges, collaborations, performances, and seminars with Jan Williamson and the 18th Street Art Complex.

The 5 panelists involved: Eric Wallner, Allison Wyper, Marisa Caichiolo, Hirokazu Kosaka, and Cezanne Charles.

The RFP interview process consisted of a single 45-minute meeting. Only 2 of the 5 panelists appeared in person and a 3rd panelist joined through video chat. When Yossi Govrin and his board of directors asked where the rest of the appointed panelists were, Shannon Daut replied, “It doesn’t matter.”
The Motions Proposed by the Santa Monica Art Commissioners In Favor Of Yossi Govrin Are Dismissed
On November 19th, 2018, Shannon Daut held a Santa Monica Arts Commissioners meeting including the 3 finalist organizations determined by the RFP process. These finalists were:

1. 18th Street Art Center
2. Yossi Govrin’s MAXIMA Initiative
3. LA Art Share

After 3 hours of deliberation with the 3 organizations along with community input, two motions were proposed. The first motion was to maintain the current management of the Santa Monica Arts Studios under founder Yossi Govrin and the second was to provide additional yearly funding of $50,000 for the maintenance and support of the artistic programs held there.
These two motions were passed by 6–1 in support of Yossi Govrin.

The votes of the art commissioners are particularly relevant as the interview involved all 3 proposed organizations and was by far the most extensive and in-depth discussion to take place over the entire course of the RFP.

The following day the Arts Commissioners received a letter from Santa Monica Cultural affairs manager, Shannon Daut along with Santa Monica city manager Rick Cole, informing them that their first motion in support of Yossi Govrin and MAXIMA Initiative “would not be taken into consideration”.Instead, only the vote to provide additional yearly funding for the management of the space would be enacted. In response, Santa Monica Art commissioner Phil Brook reached out to Yossi Govrin to state, “The Cultural affairs manager Shannon Daut is deliberately failing you (Yossi Govrin) and your initiative in order to transfer ownership to Jan Williamson.”

On December 17th, the Art Commissioners persevered and insisted on voicing their verdicts in favor of Yossi Govrin once more to the council members of Santa Monica City. This was once again dismissed by Cultural Affairs manager Shannon Daut, who interrupted and continued to speak highly of 18th Street Art Center’s experience and resources.

On December 18th, the City Council met and discussed Agenda #8 in regards to the airport studios management (i.e. Santa Monica Art Studios). While 3 finalists should have been included for review on the agenda, MAXIMA Art Initiative and the 3rd finalist, Art Share LA, were not mentioned nor included in any capacity by Shannon Daut. Only one organization was included, along with an ultimatum: Select the 18th Street Art Center or the process would have to start over from scratch.

After receiving this information the SM council members proceeded with awarding the art space as well as the management of Mr. Govrin’s business to 18th Street Art Center. The only vote against this decision came from newly elected Councilman, Greg Moreno, who noticed something was awry when community members showed up to the council meeting to reiterate their support of Yossi Govrin, (who had wrongly been excluded as an option).

City Response

A 22 page appeal was filed with the city by MAXIMA Art Initiative and its board of directors. The appeal addressed the outcome of RFP 190 but this appeal was met with resistance and was dismissed by the city. The city claimed that the two matters being discussed, the seizing of a private business and the corruption of the RFP process, were in fact two separate issues. The City further claimed that the information being provided was “unrelated” and that there was a “lack of supporting material”, even though supporting material was in fact included.

City Attorney Lane Dilg’s Response

In 2019 Yossi Govrin sent a letter of complaint to Santa Monica City Attorney, Lane Dilg, providing proof that the panelists were all connected to 18th Street. In response, Attorney Lane Dilg stated that there was no conflict of interest between the Mayor and Jan Williamson as he did not receive direct monetary payment from 18th Street Art Center. In response to the argument that the 5 panelists chosen were affiliated with 18th Street, Mrs. Dilg replied, “they appeared to be neutral”. Regarding cultural affairs manager Shannon Daut not being transparent and staging a process, Dilg had no response.

Yossi Govrin’s attorney reached out to Mrs. Dilg, requesting documentation of communication between Mayor Kevin McKeown, Cultural affairs Manager Shannon Daut, Jan Williamson, and everyone who had been involved in this process. The City Attorney denied this request, claiming “attorney-client privilege and/or citizen’s right to privacy” and instead provided non-pertinent documents that are already readily available to the public.

Art Community Quickly Sliding Under The New Management of Jan Wiliamson and 18th Street Art Center.

What only last year was a historic mecca for artists and the community with over 10,000 visitors per year has now become an empty ghost town. During the first half of 2019, Santa Monica Arts Studios saw over 5,000 visitors. Since the new management took over on July 1st, 2020, it is estimated that only 250 people have attended the studios and galleries, hurting all of the artists who depend on the event space for their livelihoods.

Six months in under the new management (months before the Covid-19 pandemic) the resident artists were all desperate and upset, individually resorting to contacting SM Airport and 18th Street Art Center members to complain about the lack of vision, programs, events, and visitors.

Airpot Studios, Gallery Exhibition under 18th Street Management, Jan 2020

Over a zoom meeting recently the artists at the studios were informed by Jan Williamson that they have $1 Million in the budget each year. Since there are almost no visitors at the Galleries and they also collect a large sum of money from the Artists renting studios each month it looks like there are a lot more hidden funding from the local government as well as California State funding for the 18th Street Management; however, they are not doing anything for the artists in residence. 18th Street Management has good affiliations with the City of Santa Monica as well as the Mayor of Santa Monica and they are good at using marketing, their regular newsletters are cleverly presented to hide that they are basically just collecting money. The artists themselves, all of them transferred from past management under Santa Monica Art Studios, are desperately trying to create shows and sharing their art with the community, 18th Street Management is then taking credit for this work. The artists at the Airport Studios (former Santa Monica Art Studios) are outraged.

When 18th Street first prepared to take over the space they held a meeting with the resident artists and promised them all “fame and fortune” along with extensive resources and connections. There has been limited contact between 18th Street staff and the artists working in the studios. Of that contact, much of it has consisted of 18th Street repeatedly reaching out to the artists to request monetary donations to go along with the $250,000/year that the “non-profit” organization is being provided by the city (taxpayers money). Meanwhile, 18th Street is not required to pay rent, utilities, maintenance, or property tax. Currently, the management is charging $30,000 collectively from its artists, and no suggestions of lower rent have been provided since the country was hit by the COVID-19 virus . When the artists asked for relief, they received no response.

For an organization that has been running for 30 years and claims to be the biggest and best in the country, it is shameful and quite telling that from day one, they have not been able to perform and provide for their artists and the community.

Airport Studios under 18th Street management Feb 2020

In contrast, Santa Monica Art Studios was a self-sufficient private entity that conducted a large number of exhibitions and community events with participants from 18 countries. Santa Monica Art Studios provided gallery and event space for numerous charity events, schools, and universities as well as exhibited artwork from local young and emerging artists from all backgrounds, including resident artists.

SMAS never received funding or subsidies and always remained a self-sufficient entity.
Having committed more than 14 years of his life to convert an abandoned airplane hangar into a thriving community of artists, founder Yossi Govrin is devastated. The action of the two officials at SM city council bares legal consequences and it is currently being challenged within the legal system. The deception that has occurred and the resulting destruction of this art institution and its community is a travesty.

A Vision Sabotaged, A Community of Art and Art Lovers Destroyed
Santa Monica Art Studios began as a studio for artists and over time grew into a notable and thriving art community. Its voice resonated locally as well as internationally. In addition to providing for schools, charities, and universities, it fostered critical thinking, providing local lectures led by artists and scientists. Above all, it created a unique community and a place to call “home” for artists. Upon their election, two city officials had sworn to act in good faith and protect the community; instead, they allowed greed and a clear abuse of power to seize a thriving private business. Not only did the actions of Shannon Daut and Kevin McKeown affect the founder, Yossi Govrin, they also disrupted and damaged the entire community of art lovers that he had established over the years. The actions of the two officials were not only unethical and immoral but also illegal.