Festival of Arts: The Big Picture

* Will the Festival of Arts and Pageant of the Masters leave their Laguna Beach home and move to San Clemente? While most recoil at the very idea, the festival’s board has implied a move is all but inevitable. They claim the city has forced the festival out by refusing to offer a fair lease renewal. Simultaneously, the board has aggressively promoted a move, touting San Clemente’s offer as far superior to Laguna’s.

A review of both proposals tells a different story. Under both offers, the festival would make payments to fund capital reserves and support local charities. But in Laguna, the festival would pay no rent. In San Clemente, it would pay millions in rent alone over the term of the lease. And the festival would have to spend an additional $30 million upfront to construct new facilities in San Clemente, a sum greater than the aggregate of all payments that would be made to Laguna in over 50 years under the terms of the most recent offer.

The board may be unaware of these details because upon receipt of Laguna’s latest offer they locked it in a safe, where it expired unread on June 30. Board President Sherri Butterfield insisted this was necessary due to an exclusive negotiating agreement with San Clemente. But the agreement specifically states that both offers could be presented to the board concurrently. This has all played out against a backdrop of secrecy and arrogance on the part of the board.

When hundreds of festival members, frustrated by the board’s refusal to include them in the decision-making process, signed petitions demanding a recall election, it took a court order to compel the board to schedule a meeting. The board has misrepresented the facts and disenfranchised its members. Can we entrust these seven individuals with the future of the festival and pageant?

Thanks to the aforementioned court order, festival members can have a voice in the decision. We can open the door for responsible leadership and keep the festival in Laguna Beach by attending the special meeting set for Saturday, and voting to proceed with a poll to recall the board.

ANITA M. MANGELS

Laguna Beach