Six artists met in a darkened room and talked about their future in Laguna Beach.
It was artists on artists, and it was not a pretty picture.
The topic: Does Laguna have a future as an art colony? The answer from the experts: No … next question?
The talk was held Oct. 25, in the Laguna Beach Cultural Arts Center. The artists were Hedy Buzan, Jorg Dubin, Gerard Stripling, Ricardo Duffy, Candice Brokenshire and Julie Setterholm. Local writer Marrie Stone moderated.
Of the 25 or so audience members, all were connected to the arts somehow – either fellow artists, creatives or supporters – so it was an echo chamber of gloom.
But you can’t blame them. No one in Laguna who has paid any attention over the last 15 years would have been surprised by this conversation.
Blame the skyrocketing housing prices, blame the shrinking studio space, blame Newport Beach. (We added that last part because it seemed relevant.)
But even before the artists talking about housing, they talked about the color of the phone booth on Forest Avenue. Yes, that aqua greenish rotating public installation is STILL an issue.
The artists who created it, Brokenshire and Setterholm, said they were stunned over how much flak they got over their color choice – instead of actually talking about the meaning of the piece.
In fact, while they were creating it, they got yelled at by residents who believed they were violating the law. The artists genuinely thought they were going to be assaulted.
Dubin, in his customary deadpan manner, said Laguna is “not as open-minded as we used to think it was.”
Somehow, the panel agreed, Laguna’s housing problem has to be solved.
Dubin suggested that the city should stop giving the bed tax (estimated at $1.8 million a year) to the tourist bureau – as if we need more tourists – and start a housing subsidy for artists.
Buzan wants the city to step up and actually create a long-term plan for artists. Otherwise, she said, Laguna will be a “dead town with old people.”
“It’s not just another beach town,” she said. “It’s not just another rich town.”
Despite the acknowledgement that Laguna is unique, the fatalism persisted.
“What do we want to be?” asked Dubin. “In 10 years, there aren’t going to be any real working artists here.”
Would the last artist please paint the town black?
