Editor,
It is time to save artists from being taken advantage of by politics and organizations because the currently proposed cultural plan has nothing to offer the arts other than potential. This plan is detached, has no cultural vision, no purpose nor direction, and the 46 big project goals suggested are extremely generic. This document could be used for any city only as a matrix for cultural possibilities. To be voted in on March 29, this plan includes everything and nothing to do with arts, lacking a suggestion of what to do with Laguna’s ailing galleries.
With this widespread undefined direction, might there be another intent behind why it is rushed through the City Council? Could it be a political ruse for a future free for all, which would allow politicians, commissions and organizations to do what they please without asking. Would this promising “power of attorney” allow future projects that would have difficulty in being financed help slip through with more ease? I ask this, because that is what many suspect. Read through the plan yourself. I challenge everyone on the City Council to go into detail with at least two of the proposed 46 big project goals and link them specifically to Laguna Beach and an overall cultural direction.
Michaell Magrutsche, Laguna Beach
The author is a multimedia artist, educator and former Newport Beach Arts Commissioner.
The whole art and artist theme for the city is great, but it should be noted that art is an expression of life not a means to an end.
I’ve suggested this before and I suggest it again, to breath new life into this town we need a visionary government that can introduce new investors into our master plan . We used to have a marine biology campus right in the middle of downtown. Education and the arts have always been a good combination. The environment is the main focus now just like the past and you can be sure the future also.
Why just the other day, Cal Poly Pomona was lamenting they were not chosen for the new Air Resouces Center because UCRiverside was selected instead.
Partnership with a California University in environmental ciriculum in Laguna Beach? Now there is an opportunity for conceptual artistic expression as only Laguna Beach could deliver.
Let history repeat itself , only let us plan for it.