Barbara Diamond The arts are big business...

Barbara Diamond

The arts are big business in Laguna Beach.

“I estimate an increase to $50 million this year in the economic

value of the arts in Laguna Beach from the $37 million reported a

couple of years ago in a Chapman University survey,” said Les Thomas,

chair of the Laguna Beach Arts Commission and the Laguna Beach

Alliance for the Arts. “For Treasure Island alone, the Arts

Commission recommendation came to $700,000 to fulfill its Art in

Public Places requirement.”

The Chapman surveys monitor the economic effect of nonprofit arts

in Orange County, factoring in direct spending on personnel and

operating expenses and indirect spending by individuals on secondary

purchases, restaurant meals, drinks, transportation and hotel stays.

Information about specific organizations is not made public.

“I base my estimate for Laguna Beach on increased activity since

the previous report,” Thomas said. “Look at the more vigorous

activity at the Festival of Arts and the museum. The Laguna Playhouse

is selling out constantly and I heard it has expanded its number of

nights to 250. Enrollment is way up at the [Laguna College of Art and

Design] since Alan Barkley assumed the presidency.”

Laguna’s four nonprofit art organizations cited by Thomas and two

others in town participated in the 2001 Chapman survey . The

Playhouse and the museum have been participants in four previous

surveys, beginning in 1989. The Festival of Arts, the Sawdust

Festival and the Laguna College of Art and Design have been surveyed

in past years. Community Art Project, know locally as CAP,

participated for the first time this year.

The economic effect on the county of just the nonprofit arts

jumped 59% from 1997 to 2001, according to the survey of 55

organizations reported in October by Chapman University’s A. Gary

Anderson Center for Economic Research and the Orange County Business

Committee for the Arts Inc.

Laguna also boasts about 79 galleries and artists’ studios that

lure visitors to town, not to mention restaurants to feed them,

hotels to shelter them and stores to pander to their whims or needs.

“The Chapman survey is important because it shows the arts are a

sound investment for both public and private entities,” said Sian

Poeschl, city arts coordinator. “I believe a local survey would

actually show the arts providing employment and spurring development

in the hospitality industry. They give people a reason to come back.

“We don’t have evidence of a specific amount, but one of the goals

of the Vision Laguna process was to do an economic impact report

specifically on Laguna Beach,” Poeschl said. “I expect it will be

done within the next 18 months.”

The Art Walk, for which 39 galleries and the museum stay open late

on the first Thursday of each month, recently received a $5,000 grant

to undertake marketing and audience research to find out who’s coming

to the Art Walk and how to improve it.

“Art is a factor in making Laguna Beach a desirable destination,”

Poeschl said.

The windfall to the city from arts activities is higher bed and

sales taxes.

“Restaurants associated with galleries report more clientele on

First Thursday before 6 p.m. and after 9 p.m., the hours of the Art

Walk,” Poeschl said. “Galleries are not reporting a high number of

sales during the walk, but it’s about exposure.”

It’s no secret to locals that business picks up during festival

season. Parking is at a premium. Restaurants require reservations.

Almost 200,000 people crossed the turnstiles at the Festival of

Arts this year, according to a report made this week at the annual

members meeting.

At one point this summer, the festival had 400 employees, finance

committee chair Bob Dietrich said. Art sales were the second highest

in the festival’s history and sales of souvenirs doubled. A

multimillion-dollar, multi-year capital improvement program is in

progress -- flushing more money into the economy. The festival’s

total budget for the year topped $6 million.

The Pageant of the Masters sold out for the fourth straight year.

Ticket sales for the 2003 show began Oct. 1 and 20,000 have already

been ordered, boding another good year.

Festival season coincides with the influx of summer tourists,

which makes it difficult to pinpoint who or what is bringing in the

bucks. However, art doesn’t close shop in Laguna when daylight

savings time ends.

Besides the year-round Art Walk and performances at the Playhouse,

other off-season activities include Laguna Outreach Community Arts

workshops on Mondays, concerts and exhibits at the college, the

Seniors Art Competition and the Holiday Palette competition. The

highly successful Winter Fantasy at the Sawdust Festival is scheduled

to open Nov. 23, featuring works by 160 artists.

“One of the important things the Chapman survey shows is that art

doesn’t just happen in mainstream venues, such as the Orange County

Performing Arts Center; it is also happening in less visible venues

like our Music in the Park concert series,” Poeschl said.

The Laguna Beach Visitors Bureau found the effect significant

enough to voluntarily up the bed tax to fund local nonprofit art

institutions and presenters.

The bureau allots about $50,000 a year each to the Playhouse, the

college, the museum, the Arts Commission and a city grant program for

nonprofit cultural arts organizations.

“Art is the historic and economic driver in this community,” said

Karyn Philippsen, president of the bureau’s board of directors. “The

lodging members work through the bureau to maintain the City Council

approval each year.”

The effect of the arts is huge on Laguna, in more ways than one,

said Bolton Colburn, director of the Laguna Art Museum, the oldest

ongoing cultural institution in Orange County.

“I imagine it would be difficult to figure out exactly how much

money art brings into Laguna Beach,” Colburn said. “But the arts are

hugely valuable to the city, not only to the residents, who have an

exceptional level of arts organizations for a town of this size, but

also to potential residents and visitors.

“And it’s great for kids to grow up here, exposed to the arts.”

In 2001, 32,500 people visited the museum, about half of whom paid

for admission. Children 12 and under are always admitted free.

Admission is also free on the First Thursday.

“We are enjoying an ever increasing cultural growth from

performing to visual arts,” Thomas said.

And you can bank on that.

* BARBARA DIAMOND is a reporter for the Laguna Beach Coastline

Pilot. She may be reached at 494-4321.