The City has been extremely active in the past promoting Sports and we now have one of the premiere Sports Field complexes in the State along with dozens of more sports fields. In addition we’ve spent more than $8,000,000 on our parks with no end in sight as we plan for the new park in Portola Hills and other options.
One of the areas we’ve been less active in is promoting the arts. I got involved in this area through the back door, as part of my “Put Lake Forest First” campaign. It turns out that the City spends tens of thousands of dollars on artists and entertainers to provide the very successful programs that the City offers. The recent “Snowfest” is an excellent example of this type of event.
Most of the artists and entertainers hired by the City don’t live in the City, so I went on a quest to find out who in the City qualified. In the process, I became sensitized to the fact that unlike in some other cities, we do virtually nothing to showcase the artistic achievements of our residents. For example, some cities feature the artwork of their residents in shows at City Hall and others conduct annual events to showcase the artistry of their citizens.
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My goals are to -
· Use Lake Forest City Hall and the Lake Forest Sports Recreation Center to schedule “artist of the month” showings, with a kick off on the first City Council meeting each month.
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· Use the Sports Center for a once (maybe twice) yearly “Arts in Lake Forest” event where dozens of artists (including musicians, singers, craft persons, etc.) can exhibit (and sell) their wares. Possibly include an art section in the popular “Shop and Dine” events and also in the upcoming “Second Event” program on July 4th.
· Develop an online presence where all Lake Forest artists can be highlighted, with links to their websites, so that City staff and other businesses in search of the services of an artist can have a quick guide to hiring a local artist.
There would be a minimal cost to the City for doing this, but I anticipate a big boost to local artists.
I will present these ideas to the City Council on Feb 17 and look forward to my colleagues’ support.
If you have additional ideas, please share them on Lake Forest Town Square.
Meanwhile I’ve discovered a wonderful resource called the Saddleback Valley Art League, a group of local artists that includes many from Lake Forest. Please check out their website. The picture at the head of this article is from their meeting last night. Watercolor artists Marlene Gerloff actually created a wonderful watercolor while talking to more than 30 local artists.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Dr. Jim Gardner is on the City Council for Lake Forest. You can check him out on LinkedIn and/or Facebook and you can share your thoughts about the City at Lake Forest Town Square on Facebook. His comments are not meant to reflect official City Policy.
Dr. Gardner has office hours every Tuesday from 2 pm to 5 pm at the City Hall. In addition, he holds a mini town meeting every moth. The next meeting will be Feb 14 from 2 to 4 pm at the Foothill Ranch Public Library.
