Successful summer for Pageant, Festival

The Pageant of the Masters and Festival of Arts enjoyed one of its most lucrative summer seasons ever, members learned at Wednesday’s annual meeting.

Revenues from the summer season have been tabulated at about $8.3 million, said Treasurer Fred Sattler.

Pat Kollenda and Tom Lamb were elected and Anita Mangels re-elected to the Festival of Arts and Pageant of the Masters board of directors at its Nov. 8 annual membership meeting.

Nearly 1,100 ballots were cast — about one-third of the Festival’s voting membership — in the annual election, placing the three on the nine-member board for three-year terms.

Carolyn Reynolds was not re-elected and longtime board member David Young had announced his retirement this spring, after 52 years of service.

The newly elected members join Wayne Baglin, Bob Henry, John Hoover, Sattler, and Ann Webster. One seat on the board was vacated when Linda Potichke stepped down earlier this year. That seat, with a term that ends in 2008, may be filled by board appointment under the organization’s bylaws, spokeswoman Sharbie Higuchi said.

Election of new board officers for 2006/2007 will be held at a later date, Higuchi said.

The meeting also touched on the past year’s activities and gave a preview of the Festival and Pageants’ 75th anniversary, “Young at Heart.”

The Diamond Jubilee is expected to last for two years; the first year will focus on the anniversary of the Festival, and the second on the Pageant.

Pageant producer and director Diane Challis Davy said that she drew the “Young At Heart” theme from the Festival and Pageants’ anniversary, her own 50th birthday, the Frank Sinatra song and a tribute to David Young, who is 93 this year.

Next year’s pageant will feature illustrations of Rip Van Winkle and Cinderella; sculptures of Alice in Wonderland, Peter Pan and the Little Mermaid; Saturday Evening Post covers; chess pieces; Egyptian art and more.

Two lifetime membership awards were bestowed on 15-year Pageant makeup artist volunteers Diane Babcock and Charlene Friend.

As is customary, Mayor Steve Dicterow addressed the members about the past year.

“This is a reflective time for me,” he said; the meeting was held the day after the City Council election, from which he had dropped out after mounting a truncated campaign.

He described the unsuccessful efforts of some to have the Festival leave Laguna.

“I think it’s fairly safe to say in the long run that the Festival is going to stay in Laguna Beach,” he concluded.

Mayors of the city automatically become ex-officio members of the Festival of Arts and Pageant of the Masters board at the time they are elected.

Webster spoke about the Festival and Pageants’ scholarship efforts. She noted that more than $3 million in scholarships had been given since 1971, and that $37,500 was given to students this year.

She added that recipients are required to come back to the Festival annually to interview and detail what they are working on in college.

Sattler then gave a presentation about the Festival’s finances. He noted an increase in 2006 of about $1.2 million in net assets, for a total of $5.8 million in total assets ($4.7 net). Revenue was at about $8.3 million. The results are unaudited at this time.

“It’s one of the best years we’ve had in recent history,” he said. He added that year-to-year assets were erratic prior to 2005, but have since stabilized.

Sattler also said that the level of cash and investments was down until last year.

A drainage channel and new production facilities kept capital improvement expenses at about $350,000 annually over the last two years; Sattler reported that the Festival will need in excess of $10 million in future years for anticipated capital improvement projects.

Mangels, board president for 2005/2006, said that the Pageant of the Masters had sold out more than 60 nights, and that the Festival was again voted one of the top 10 art festivals in the United States by American Style Magazine.

She described added improvements for disabled visitors that complied with the Americans with Disabilities Act, as well as an electrical system overhaul, Pageant stage improvements and a new reading device for the hearing impaired.

She also said that a stoplight will be installed in front of the Festival entrance in coming months. The light is designed to enhance pedestrian safety.