As an official chapter of Make Music Day, the City of Santa Monica is activating the entire community with a citywide celebration that brings free, participatory music into public space. To spark grassroots involvement, the City is providing $500 microgrants to neighborhood associations to host free, community-led music activations in city parks, ensuring performances are truly by and for Santa Monicans. Anchoring the day is a signature Make Music Santa Monica gathering near the Downtown Santa Monica Metro Station—a transit-forward location that connects music, movement, and place. The event will feature live music, interactive music-making, and workshops for all ages, with creative nods to the Route 66 centennial—celebrating the historic highway’s western terminus in Santa Monica—as well as the global energy of the FIFA World Cup through playful, soccer-inspired activations. Full schedules and specific programming will be announced closer to June 21, inviting the public to join a dynamic, evolving celebration that reflects the spirit of the city.

As part of Make Music Day, the City of Santa Monica invites everyone to help fill the city with music by performing anywhere and everywhere throughout the day. In addition to the city-hosted community event, musicians of all ages, backgrounds, and ability levels—amateurs, professionals, solo performers, families, and groups—are encouraged to take part on their own. Play from your porch or window, on a sidewalk, in a park, at the beach, or while strolling through your neighborhood; host a sing-along, serenade a friend or neighbor, or make music together as a family. Whether planned or spontaneous, acoustic or amplified where permitted, every performance adds to a citywide celebration of creativity, self-expression, and connection. Grab an instrument, use your voice, and join your neighbors in turning Santa Monica into a vibrant, all-day soundscape of music-making.

Registration will open the week of April 20, 2026.

Get in touch with us at santamonica@makemusicday.org