Panel Will Present Cultural Arts Plan to Council Tonight

To emphasize the importance of arts and cultural activities to Laguna Beach, the city arts commission will present its Community Cultural Arts Plan to the City Council tonight.

The presentation will include a list of recommendations to “sustain the integrity of cultural arts within the community into the 21st century” by encouraging cooperation among the city, schools and the business and art communities, commissioners said.

“We have a very rich artistic tradition in Laguna Beach,” Pat Kollenda, the commission’s chairwoman, said Monday. “Our hope with this was to expand on it and provide future growth as well as the coordination of activities.”

A top priority, commissioners said, is hiring a cultural arts coordinator to ensure that the recommendations eventually become a reality.

Other suggestions include having more festivals and concerts, creating more studios where artists can live and work, and the promotion of “cultural tourism.”

To demonstrate the importance of the arts to the city’s economic well-being, the commission will offer a 1993 report stating that artistic endeavors in Laguna Beach that year had an economic impact of more than $33.6 million.

Members of community groups have been discussing a citywide cultural arts plan since the 1980s. The Community Cultural Arts Plan Task Force was created last year by more than 40 volunteers representing the arts, business and education.

The group drew up a questionnaire and distributed it to residents to evaluate their interest and involvement in the city’s cultural activities.

“People were happy with what we had,” Kollenda said, “but they saw a need for growth and diversity.”

The meeting is at 6 p.m. in council chambers, 505 Forest Ave. Information: (714) 497-3311.