The Festival of Arts and Pageant of the Masters,Laguna Beach’s annual live art show and artists exhibit,just wrapped up one of its best years, according to figures reported at its annual membership meeting.
The nonprofit said revenue for the 12 months through September came in at $8.3 million, up about 4% from 2005. Operating profit for the 12 months was $1.2 million. Assets,cash and investments,were $5.8 million, according to festival Treasurer Fred Sattler.
“2006 was an overwhelming popular and financial success,” festival President Anita Mangels said.
This year’s Pageant of the Masters,where well-known pieces of art are recreated live on stage,sold out every night. Attendance at the adjoining art exhibit lagged during the summer’s hottest days. But sales of artwork still were brisk.
Expenses for the 12 months ended Sept. 30 included $366,071 in improvements,upgrades to the stage, electrical gear and additional work to comply with the Americans With Disabilities Act.
Improvements during the past several years cost $4.8 million, Sattler said. Planned upgrades could run $10 million in the next few years. Next year, seats in the Irvine Bowl, where the pageant is held, are set to be replaced.
One upgrade the festival won’t have to pay for: a traffic light at the crosswalk leading to the grounds on Laguna Canyon Road.
The California Department of Transportation is expected to install the light before year’s end.
More money was spent for scholarships and education.
The Festival of Arts Foundation, started in 1989, awarded more than $50,000 in new and continuing scholarships this year to Laguna Beach High School students.
Seniors who volunteer backstage with the pageant are eligible for onetime scholarships, which totaled $6,400 in 2006. The festival also spent $128,617 in the 12 months through September on local art education, up from $124,431 in 2005.
Struggling local artists started the festival in 1932. They hoped to lure tourists from the Los Angeles Olympics. It became a nonprofit in 1934 with the goal of promoting the arts and culture in the city.
The foundation started with $3 million given by the Festival of Arts.
Now backers are looking to the festival’s 75th anniversary celebration in 2007. The pageant turns 75 in 2008.
Marketing for the festival’s anniversary is under way.
There are plans to offer free admission to art exhibits for anyone age 75 as well as to every 75th person who visits. Every Monday, exhibit admission only will be 75 cents.
There’s also set to be three special events days and an anniversary Diamond Club package.
The $7,500 club package includes 16 Pageant tickets, dinner, pre-show tour of the exhibits, post-performance discussion with director Diane Challis Davy, commemorative champagne flutes and gift shop discounts. Seventy-five packages are set to be sold.
The pageant’s theme for 2007: “Young at Heart”,a nod to classic crooner Frank Sinatra, the baby boomer generation and the festival’s 75th anniversary.
The festival now has more than 3,000 members, 1,100 of whom voted to re-elect Mangels and to elect board members Pat Kollenda and Tom Lamb.
One-third of the nine-member board is up for election each year.
