Involvement is what matters First of all,...

Involvement is what matters

First of all, I must reveal some obvious biases:

1. My husband is currently on the Festival Board of Directors.

2. I am a volunteer in the pageant makeup department.

I am greatly disturbed by the current smear campaign being waged

against Bruce Rasner and other members of the Board.

I have several questions for some of the recent letter writers and

quoted citizens.

1. During the Keep the Festival in Laguna campaign, as well as

before and after, did you volunteer or were you paid by the festival

for your services?

2. Have you ever volunteered your time and energies, or money, to

the festival and pageant?

3. Have you attended the open sessions of the festival board,

planning committee meetings and other open meetings on a regular

basis?

4. Have you called or written board members regarding your

questions and concerns?

5. Have you ever worked as a volunteer and interacted with the

500-plus volunteers and dedicated staff?

6. Have you read and do you support the Articles of Incorporation

established by the festival’s founding fathers more than 70 years

ago? Do you agree with the mission statement created by the pageant

and festival staff?

Granted, there are valid concerns regarding the festival. No board

member is perfect and there are differences of opinion.

Throughout the 70-plus year history of the festival and pageant,

there has always been growth and change and dissent. To maintain the

viability of the Festival and Pageant, carefully considered growth

and change must continue to occur.

I urge everyone to see the pageant, buy a piece of original art,

participate in the free art workshops and watch the daily

entertainment. I urge all readers to volunteer. Most of all, I urge

that we all be civil, honest, thoughtful and decent.

LINDA DIETRICH

Laguna Beach

Board could learn a lesson from the past

In 1996, the president of the Laguna Art Museum did not respect

the history and heritage of Laguna Beach and did not respect the

opinions of Laguna residents. Currently, the festival board, instead

of protecting and cherishing the festival and pageant, are

considering aggressive strategies to put these cultural treasures at

risk.

Festival President Bruce Rasner does not respect the opinions of

Laguna residents. However, he is elected to the board by the festival

Orange County members and his term is up shortly. I encourage all

festival members to vote and to elect board members who live in

Laguna Beach and who hold views more in keeping with preserving the

cultural heritage of Laguna Beach.

Members of the Festival of Arts should send a message to the board

by voting in a replacement for Rasner in the upcoming board election.

The board has hired an executive director, paying him an a large

salary. For high pay, top executives are expected to make big

changes; that’s why franchising the pageant is being pursued.

Perhaps it is hubris. We have seen this before, when

well-intentioned business leaders pursued their vision of progress by

merging the Laguna Art Museum with the Newport Harbor Art Museum

trying to create a grander Orange County Museum of Art.

Indeed, the economics looked so favorable that trustees on both

sides were easily persuaded, and both boards approved the plan. But

some key constituencies [including] the Laguna residents were left

out of the loop. Laguna residents cringed as the deal makers referred

to their prized museum and its collection in business lingo [calling]

our collection “product” and our museum “land mass.”

The Newport Harbor Art Museum president said those behind the

merger underestimated was the element of a kind of self-centered

parochialism within the Laguna community.”

The president of the Laguna Art Museum “is kicking himself for

failing to read up on Laguna museum quirky bylaws until a month

ago. They give 1,383 voting members -- about 390 of whom live in

Laguna -- the power to approve or disapprove the merger. If he’d

known about them a year ago, he says, he would have followed standard

corporate operating procedure: change the bylaws, shifting power to

the trustees.”

George Santayana wrote: “Those who cannot remember the past are

condemned to repeat it”, and “Nothing is so poor and melancholy as an

art that is interested in itself and not in its subject.”

We need to use the power that we have and vote to make some

changes on the Board of the Festival of Arts.

GENE FELDER

Laguna Beach

The Coastline Pilot is eager to run your letters. If your letter

does not appear, it may be because of space restrictions, and the

letter will likely appear next week. If you would like to submit a

letter, write to us at P.O. Box 248, Laguna Beach, CA 92652; fax us

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