Arts center provides wealth of benefits to Costa Mesa

Jerry E. Mandel

The Orange County Performing Arts Center would like to thank and

applaud the members of the Costa Mesa City Council and others who are

focusing on the benefits our community will receive with the success

of our expansion. The City Council’s far-seeing decision to waive

traffic fees for the Center’s expansion of a concert hall, music

theater and education center represents a win for the city -- not a

loss.

There is no denying that Costa Mesa, whose city seal bears the

phrase “The City of the Arts,” benefits greatly from being the home

to the Orange County Performing Arts Center, a nonprofit

organization. Not only has the Center’s presence brought the city

positive local, national and international press, but it has also

contributed dramatically to the local economy.

The most recent study from the Orange County Business Committee

for the Arts reports that the direct and indirect spending on the

arts contributed $408 million to our local economy in 2001. The

performing arts alone generated more than $64 million in indirect

audience spending on restaurants, hotels, transportation, parking and

other goods and services. Nearly all of this spending generates tax

revenues to local governments: nationally this amounted to more than

$6 billion in revenue for local governments, according to a 2002

study by Americans for the Arts. These figures rose nearly 45% from

the previous survey.

It is clear that the economic impact of the expansion will drive

this income to even greater amounts, contributing additional revenues

to the city for decades to come. Add to that the positive benefit we

provide to any employer who struggles to recruit and retain top-notch

talent. A world-class arts center provides incredible incentive for

luring potential employees to the region and enables us to bring the

best and brightest talents to work here.

The Center also actively continues to fill the gap created by

funding cutbacks that have all but eliminated arts education from our

schools. Last year alone, more than 300,000 school children enjoyed

live arts experiences through the Center’s education and community

programs department. These numbers will grow exponentially with our

additional facilities, allowing more young people to develop critical

cognitive thinking skills and other benefits derived from exposure to

the arts.

Local and state governments across the country, from Los Angeles

to Philadelphia to Miami to New York, regularly invest in projects

such as the Center’s original facility or our current expansion to

add a concert hall, theater and education center. They understand the

economic and civic importance of a vital arts center, contributing

cash to the sum of hundreds of millions of dollars. Unlike all of

these other centers, the Orange County Performing Arts Center is the

only performing arts center in the country to be built and to operate

solely with private funding.

As is common in cities throughout the world that understand the

benefits that an investment in a cultural center can bring, the city

of Costa Mesa has previously waived fees for other cultural projects

benefiting the public. The Center, a nonprofit organization with a

mission of providing performances and education opportunities for our

community, is without question worthy of such consideration.

We look forward with great anticipation to fulfilling the dream of

a completed art center for our community and serving the needs of the

area for generations to come.

* JERRY E. MANDEL is the president of the Orange County Performing

Arts Center.