City’s future with the arts

Coastline Pilot City Editor Cindy Frazier sat down with Sian Poeschl,

the city’s cultural arts manager, to talk about the city’s new

Cultural Arts Plan for 2005-2010 and other arts-related issues.

The City Council has just approved a five-year Cultural Arts Plan.

Why does the city need a Cultural Arts Plan?

The Cultural Arts Plan is a document that assists the Arts

Commission in identifying goals and how to achieve those goals. Most

cities have such plans to provide guidelines and direction in where

the city would like to see the arts going in the next five years. The

first thing we did was to distribute three questionnaires, to the

community, to visual artists, and to organizations.

What was the most important thing that came out of the surveys?

The most important identified goal that came out of the surveys

was for a cultural arts center. People want to see a center where

artists can exhibit year-round, have classes, and facilities for

artists to work and exhibit. Some sort of art center for visual and

performing artists.

One of the recommended goals in the Cultural Arts Plan is to

double the developer’s contribution for Art in Public Places from 1%

to 2%. Why?

Laguna Beach doesn’t have a lot of commercial development, and the

codes on which the Art in Public Places [contribution] is based on is

a low dollar amount. So the idea is to bring that up so it’s more in

keeping with actual building costs.

Doesn’t Laguna Beach have a lot of development?

Much of the development doesn’t reach the $250,000 threshold

[where the Art in Public Places contribution kicks in], which is

based on estimated construction costs, not actual building costs.

Even the Wild Oats renovation didn’t get up to the threshold, so they

didn’t contribute to the fund. Not many development projects reach

the threshold.

What is the importance of the arts to Laguna Beach?

In the survey, people were asked whether they identified Laguna

Beach for its heritage, for the arts, or for arts and heritage, and a

high percentage said when they think of Laguna Beach, it’s for the

arts. They also identified the economic impact that the arts have on

the community, that it is good business for the city, and they want

to see that continued. That was clearly endorsed, and it was good to

see that’s how the city would like to see itself developed in the

future.

What is the most important issue for artists in Laguna Beach?

One of the most prominent issues that artists are talking about is

affordable live-work space. The Arts Commission will soon make a

recommendation to the Planning Commission and council for incentives

to encourage developers to create affordable spaces for artists. The

artists feel they are being out-priced in the community and the Arts

Commission is taking it very seriously.

Do you know of artists who have moved because they can’t afford it

here?

There have been artists who have felt they can no longer afford to

be in Laguna Beach.

On another topic, we’ve heard that Music in the Park Inc. has been

disbanded. What is going on with Music in the Park Inc.?

Music in the Park, Inc. is taking a break for the summer. They

will still be contributing to the concerts, but the volunteers won’t

be at the concerts this summer. Les and Marilyn [Thomas] have given

10 years to the concerts, and they are spending the summer with their

family....

Music in the Park Inc. is not necessary for the concert series?

They and the city have different roles. They started initially

because the city was having problems funding the concerts, which are

free. That helped the concerts continue. There’ll be no changes to

the actual working of the concerts.

You’re the city’s first Cultural Arts Manager. What do you do?

I’m the liaison to the Arts Commission, working with them to

develop programming, everything from the public art program to the

concerts to our publications, calendar, arts directories, and new

programs. Something new we’re looking at is a public art tour day,

where we’ll have people take tours of the public art locations and

have the artists talk about their work. That’ll be in April. We also

work with developers on art projects, and answer artists’ general

questions about how to become established in Laguna Beach. And we

help the arts organizations work together, such as with the passport

program, which provided one admission price for all the festivals.

Why is that [passport program] no longer active?

That was taken over by the Visitors Bureau, and then given back to

the arts organizations, who decided that their best way of working

together was to jointly market Laguna Beach, and they’ve been very

successful in marketing the city as a cultural arts destination. And

that’s another important part of the Cultural Arts department, to

develop cultural arts tourism, as well as managing the cultural arts

grants.

Do you have a ballpark figure on the economic impact of the arts

in Laguna Beach?

That’s one of the things in the Cultural Arts Plan, to make an

economic impact report, and several arts organizations have already

done it. The Laguna Playhouse has reported that the arts bring in $30

million. And when we find out what everybody’s doing and get all the

figures together, we’ll have an even better idea of what the arts

bring to the city. We know the arts organizations employ a huge

number of seasonal and part-time people.

Q. Do you think there’s a possibility that Laguna Beach will ever

not be the arts mecca it has always been?

A. We are continually evaluating what we’re doing, how we’re

doing, and what we’re doing to actively participate and compete with

what’s going on in the rest of the country. We have an ability to

look at what we do and look at ways of improving it. It’s an ongoing

project and we need to continue to do that.