Artists Dispute Attendance Data Given on Festival

A group of artists dissatisfied with the Laguna Festival of the Arts have charged that festival organizers knowingly claimed an erroneous increase in last summer’s festival attendance. The artists are requesting that the error be corrected publicly.

Festival spokeswoman Sally Reeve said Monday that she had no knowledge of the charge and no comment on the situation. She said festival board president David Young was out of the state.

Festival directors announced in October that attendance in 1990 had risen by about 10,000. But attendance actually dropped by about 1,000, according to members of the newly formed Festival of Arts Coalition of Exhibitors (FACE), a loosely knit group of festival artists upset with what they feel is the festival’s lightweight, tourist image.

In a letter to the festival board, the artists charged the directors with attempting “to manipulate public opinion” with “unsubstantiated facts and figures” and “known false information.” The letter was signed by sculptor David Sabaroff, a FACE member who said he reviewed official festival records from the past four years.

The letter notes that the directors publicly announced the attendance spurt at about the same time that they rejected a proposal by several artists that an outside promoter be hired to improve the festival’s image.

The artists, whose proposal was accompanied by a report showing steadily dwindling festival attendance, felt that the festival was promoted as a tourist attraction rather than a fine-arts event.

By claiming increased attendance, directors “attempted to re-establish confidence in existing policies and direction (with) known false information,” according to the letter.

FACE members are requesting that the directors publicly “retract and correct” their statement about an attendance increase and that spokeswoman Reeve write to each of about 160 festival artists correcting the error. Reeve said she had not seen Sabaroff’s letter.

The festival, in which visual artists exhibit their works for sale, is held annually in conjunction with the Pageant of the Masters, in which models pose onstage as famous works of art. In addition to criticizing its tourist veneer, artists also have complained that the festival has been reduced to a backdrop for the popular pageant.

Citing a letter he has written to all festival artists, Sabaroff said Monday that FACE members were further distressed that they had not been consulted in the selection of newly named festival general manager Bruce Lloyd and that he does not appear to have a background in the arts. Lloyd could not be reached for comment.

“The city of Laguna Beach considers itself the art colony. It’s a sham,” Sabaroff said Monday. “It’s not recognized in the art world, and the reason is (the festival is) considered commercial. I’d have a better chance of making it in the Los Angeles art scene if Laguna had no reputation at all.”