Litigation against festival isn’t suitable

Artists are already vigorously sculpting, shaping and painting away

in the newly constructed, state-of-the-art production facility on the

Festival of Arts grounds preparing for yet another prosperous season.

The festival’s attorney, meanwhile, is assessing a headlining

lawsuit filed two weeks ago by the first, and last, executive

director for the multimillion-dollar nonprofit organization.

We thought the name Steven Brezzo was something for the festival

history books when he resigned in October after a short-lived,

scrutinized go at finding money to improve the Festival of Arts and

Pageant of the Masters. He’s back, however, about five months after

he walked away from his highly publicized $175,000 a year job, citing

Lagunans’ unwillingness to accept any kind of change, thus not

allowing him to do his job.

Brezzo is suing the festival, three current board members and one

former board president on the grounds that they created an

intolerable work environment.

As many of us have likely learned, a work environment can become

easily intolerable when those you work for and with don’t approve of

the job you are doing. Brezzo was hired to bring in ideas to raise

revenue, and some members, along with the majority of the art

community, weren’t all that happy with his ideas -- especially the

one for licensing the pageant.

Brezzo’s hiring was questioned by many from the get-go, and it

became clear soon after his arrival that it wasn’t the best fit.

Myron Van Ness, an exhibitor at the festival for 21 years, said it best in early September, after Brezzo announced that he would resign.

“He’s hit a brick wall with everything he’s offered,” Van Ness

said. “It doesn’t do you any good to pay somebody a big salary to

come up with ideas that nobody supports.”

Finding the right job isn’t easy, and when it doesn’t work out,

rarely does a lawsuit appear to be the most prudent move. Judging

from what those closest to the festival have said, this does not

appear to be one of those rare cases. It was simply a bad fit, and

we’d hope both Brezzo and the festival brass could cut their losses

and move on to the next challenge without litigation.

The festival’s organizers and artists have moved on, slaving away

in preparation for this year’s “Portrait of the Artist” and the 71st

Pageant of the Masters. They, like most Lagunans, are looking forward

to a season solely about the art.

Let’s hope Brezzo’s lawsuit against the festival is even more

short-lived than his stint as its executive director -- this way the

community can fully appreciate what a treasure we have here.