The art of staying open
Area organizations find the best way to fund the arts is for people to keep attending events
By Carl Kozlowski 05/13/2010
After 92 years of staging award-winning plays and musicals, few would have ever expected the Pasadena Playhouse to close. Yet, the unforeseen financial devastation caused by the recession, coupled with a heavy debt load, led the venerable institution to dim its lights in February due to a lack of funds — an event that sent shudders throughout the city’s arts community.
In spite of the Playhouse’s closure, two prominent Pasadena arts figures believe the local arts scene will rebound, just as the economy is beginning to do ever so slowly.
One indicator of recovery is that another theater — Glendale’s A Noise Within — is preparing to break ground on a $13.3 million complex that will enable the popular troupe to relocate to the Crown City.
“My observation is that most government funding and city funding is intact. The NEA [National Endowment for Arts] got a boost in their regular budget for recovery grants, and most agencies have been asked to cut their operating costs and staffs, but not the funding available for actual presentations,” says Terry LeMoncheck, executive director of the Pasadena Arts Council. “My observation is that in California, government funding is holding steady. Bigger hits are coming from corporate support and individual contributions. The stock market took another big hit this week, and many of our donors have investments that create dividends from which they make their contributions.”
While LeMoncheck feels that the Playhouse had “unique circumstances” that don’t factor in with the financial condition of the rest of the local arts scene, she has found that area institutions are still working hard to create new exhibitions and performances. In return, however, the public has to do its part.
“The arts are an economic driver for the city,” says LeMoncheck. “I always tell people that the best thing they can do is attend performances and go to exhibitions. Supporting an institution by being an arts consumer is a win-win for everybody. The person attending gets an artful experience and, if it’s a ticketed event, the organization gets the reward.”
One arts leader who’s had a frustrating experience locally is Gillian Bagwell, who headed the Pasadena Shakespeare Co. for nine years before its demise in 2003. Bagwell says that, while the public was often supportive, city officials often appeared not to care, ignoring her invitations to shows and declining to help her company with grants that would have helped to cover her operating costs.
“What was frustrating in my experience is the way that the city operates. It’s riding on their reputation of being arts-centric without actually offering support in a way that’s truly useful,” says Bagwell. “I think part of it is not even financial, but the apparent lack of interest from the city — the mayor, city government, and even those on the cultural planning division didn’t come and see the shows. Invariably, the money is spent on fine arts, like an embellishment on a building or a fountain in a courtyard. It doesn’t often add to the popularity of a building, and even draws some complaints.”
Bagwell believes that the city should allocate some of its arts funding to the general operations of struggling theaters and galleries. She recalls that the city “had two arts programs — arts in the communities, and arts in the schools,” but that it was impossible for a group to secure funds unless it created special programs for the community.
“It was a wash, because you’d get the funds if you created the program, but the funds didn’t provide paying for rent, the phone bill, actors or costumes,” says Bagwell. “Instead of saying, here’s $3,000 for a workshop or to create a show in a park, they need to help meet theaters’ most basic needs.”
Meanwhile, Assemblyman Anthony Portantino, D-La Cañada Flintridge, is proposing an increase in arts funding that ought to make both Bagwell and LeMoncheck happy. He’s introduced legislation that would fork over a percentage of sales taxes already collected on arts-related items to the California Arts Council, which will administer a grants program.
Portantino is particularly excited to be part of the process, which he deems financially responsible and believes will require no new taxes, because he feels that it can also be helpful in the revival of the Pasadena Playhouse.
“I’m a former filmmaker, so I’m excited to be carrying the bill,” says Portantino. “There are 250,000 arts-related businesses in California and the arts are a major driver of our state. This is a great way to support the economy. We are last, I think, in state funding for arts, and given how important it is, it seemed like the right thing to do. Hopefully, it gets out of the appropriations committee next month and moves to the floor shortly thereafter for a vote.”
LeMoncheck notes one factor that everyone in the arts should be able to agree on: The biggest key to success rests in the hands of the average citizen who enjoys the arts.
“The arts generate almost $200 million every year for the city of Pasadena. That’s everything from me going to Office Max buying a ream of paper to you buying a ticket for the Theatre @ Boston Court and going to dinner afterward,” says LeMoncheck. “We also help the paychecks of people working in those institutions. It’s no small thing creating that much. So supporting the arts isn’t just something that’s nice; it’s something that’s terribly important.
“The point is to go and to experience the art,” she says. “Go see something, do something, buy a ticket. And then write a check.”
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