New Gift Supports Emerging Laguna Artists

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High school students like John Gerges, whose work was exhibited in a local gallery in 2015, will be eligible for a new scholarship from the Festival of Arts Foundation.
Laguna Beach High School students like senior John Gerges, whose work was exhibited in a local gallery in 2015, will be eligible for a new scholarship from the Festival of Arts Foundation.

An artistically gifted Laguna Beach High School student pursuing visual or performing arts will benefit from a newly created $3,000 scholarship grant as a result of a first-time endowment gift from the Festival of Arts Foundation, the LBHS Scholarship Foundation announced this week.

At the annual Honors Convocation on June 10, soon-to-be graduates will receive nearly $400,000 in scholarships from scores of local organizations and residents.

Among the most coveted awards are grants from the Festival of Arts, creator of the summer Pageant of the Masters production and a separate entity from the FOA Foundation. Their grants are especially prized because they can be renewed annually throughout a student’s college career. This year, the festival will award 15 students individual scholarships that cumulatively tally $30,000, said spokeswoman Sharbie Higuchi.

Up until now, the FOA Foundation had focused its annual grantmaking on community organizations, such as the Concert Band and Boys and Girls Club, records show.

But to meet IRS compliance requirements for foundations, requiring a 5 percent annual payout of the value of its endowment, the foundation needed to find a home for another $30,000, said foundation President Scott Moore.

With lower interest rates over the last two years, the foundation’s $3 million endowment was generating less income than anticipated, Moore said.

To come into compliance, the FOA Foundation created a $30,000 grant in perpetuity through the Laguna Beach High School Scholarship Foundation, which will yield a $3,000 scholarship to a LBHS student annually beginning this year, he said.

“We feel our job is to support all of the non-profits that fill a gap for art in the community. We chose to use the extra grant money to LBHSSF because many LBHS graduating students come back to the Laguna Beach community to work as artists and give back to the community,” said Moore.

“This is such a great honor,” Mark Powell, president of the LBHS Scholarship Foundation, said in a statement. “Laguna Beach has been at the forefront of arts and culture in Orange County for almost a century, and we are honored to be able to custodian this FOA Foundation grant to support a new generation of artists from our city.”

In 1989, the FOA Foundation was established with a $1.5 million donation. The foundation’s endowment has since doubled and its leaders awarded $90,000 in grants in 2013, according to the most recent tax records on the nonprofit website Guidstar.org.

The genesis of the LBHS Scholarship Foundation was a 1947 scholarship grant from the Ebell Club. Last year, LBHSSF issued 308 awards totaling $373,400. Donor gifts range from memorials to ones raised by civic clubs.

“The average cost of an in-state public university is about $28,000 per year, not including books and living expenses,” said Powell in the statement.  “Our goal is to help all of our LBHS graduates by relieving some of that financial strain.”

All graduating seniors are eligible to receive scholarships through an application process that begins in January.

 

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