(April 13, 2008) -- The Arts Council for Long Beach, a private not-for-profit entity to which the City Council gave $600,000 in FY 08, is using its website and a mass emailing to urge viewers/recipients to attend the April 15 City Council meeting and support what amounts to the position of Councilmembers Gary DeLong, Patrick O'Donnell and Suja Lowenthal to allocate to "the arts" and "public safety" revenue expected to result if the Council lets a private firm install/operate six electronic advertising signs along LB freeways in Redevelopment-designated ("blighted") parts of the city.

The electronic billboards are opposed, and have themselves been called blight in the opinion of a number of LB residents (including a member of the Redevelopment Agency board) and groups in parts of town where the signs would be placed.

Arts Council Executive Director Joan Van Hooten told LBReport.com on Friday (April 11) that her group isn't taking a position for or against the signs but if the Council approves them, her group does seek a share of the revenue as well as use of part of the advertising/marketing time on the signs to which City Hall would have access.

Website home page Arts Council for Long Beach, April 12, 2008

However under a graphic saying "Please Spread the Word and Plan to Attend" the April 15 LB City Council meeting, a link on the Arts Council website -- "click here for detailed information" -- is less than agnostic about the signs. It displays a page titled "Dedicated Fund for the Arts," subheaded "Freeway Electronic Display Revenue," which says the "entire arts community is advocating that the message center proposal be approved by the City Council and that monies generated be designated to the arts."

The Arts Council website page says, "Message center revenue will relieve the general fund of its current obligation to provide grant allocations through the Arts Council. As the official arts agency of the City, the Arts Council for Long Beach will retain its current source of operating funds through the City's budget. Funds currently invested in arts grants will be available to support other core city services."

It further claims, "The City of Long Beach will be relieved of its obligation to retire a $3.1 million arts-related bond debt."

The Arts Council website page continues:

The City of Long Beach will use 20% of the time that ads are shown for its own purposes. The Arts Council and its partners propose that this significant marketing opportunity be designated to the arts community in Long Beach. The result will be nearly 5 hours of cultural promotion each day for the arts in Long Beach each month!

The ideal "target audience" for these ads is the cultural tourist. We want the arts community to be singularly featured on the signage during the City's time spots. The Arts Council will facilitate the promotional materials located on message centers and charge constituents only the cost of this service....

Meanwhile, a mass emailing from the group echoes a second document on the group's website, urging "Help Spread the Word And Plan To Attend" with the following text:

Email from Arts Council for Long Beach

Long Beach City Council Meeting, Tuesday April 15, 5 p.m...

Arts Matter . . . to you, to our children, to business and to tourists! Your attendance helps Long Beach realize its potential as a City of Arts & Culture!

On Tuesday, April 15th, beginning at 5:00 PM, City Council will consider a source of NEW REVENUE for our city. The arts community is asking that if it is approved, a portion of these funds be designated to fund arts and culture.

Source of Potential New Revenue:

Media Management Services Inc. will ask to place 6 digital signs along the 91, 405 and 710 freeways. Revenue from the signs will be split between the company and the city. If adopted, Long Beach will receive an estimated $1.5 million to $2 million annually. The Council's Budget Oversight Committee recommends that, if Council approves the project, this revenue be divided between public safety and arts and culture.

In addition, the city will have use of 20% of all promotion time. We hope to show off Long Beach as a city of arts and culture to 750,000 daily drivers. Promoting all the unique cultural events offered in Long Beach neighborhoods will increase audiences, add tax revenues and collateral business spending, and improve the reputation of our city.

1. Please share this information with everyone you can!
2. Show up at Council next Tuesday !!
3. Ask for revenue to fund both public safety and the arts!!!

Imagine what Long Beach could be with a rich source of financial support for these vital community needs!

More ways to help and a full description of the digital signage project is on the Arts Council for Long Beach website at www.artslb.org

See you Tuesday!

Joan Van Hooten
Executive Director, Arts Council for Long Beach

As separately reported by LBReport.com, the Council's Budget Oversight Committee (DeLong, O'Donnell, S. Lowenthal) voted on Jan. 29 to recommend that the Council consider the electronic signs with the caveats of minimum net revenue if the digital billboards are enacted and revenue sharing with the Arts and Public Safety.

The item, scheduled for discussion at the April 15 City Council meeting, includes no written materials on either minimum net revenue or percentages of revenue sharing for the Arts and Public Safety.

LBReport.com asked Ms. Van Hooten if anyone at City Hall had discussed with her what percentage of the sign revenue the Arts Council would receive. "No, and I don't know. I can't enlighten you at all on that." You mean you're supporting this without knowing what you'd get? "Well, we won't know until the Council convenes on Tuesday. It's up to them to decide whether the signs are appropriate for Long Beach. If they do, then we feel it would be a wonderful use of the revenue to divide it somehow for the Arts Council," Ms. Van Hooten said.

So...if the Council gave the Arts Council 10% and not 50%, would you still support the electronic signs? [Chuckles] "My job is to advocate for the arts and try to find new sources of revenue for support."

So...if they gave you zero in revenue, just marketing time on the billboards, would you still support them? "The revenue is what we're seeking but the marketing/promotional time is also very important. It would be a huge benefit if we could increase attendance and audiences to our programs. We would be branding our city as a city of arts and culture, a city with an intellectual and cultural life," Ms. Van Hooten said.

Ms. Van Hooten said the Arts Council (previously known as the "Public Corporation for the Arts") received $600,000 from the City Council in City Hall's FY 08 budget...and that amount is more than matched by donations that the group raises from its own fundraising (it's a 501(c)(3)) from individuals, corporations, other government grants and the like. The group also has a public art component funded by LB's Redevelopment Agency and receives funds through the National Endowment for the Arts, CA Arts Council, L.A. County Arts Commission and the like. The LB Arts Council's total revenue expected this year is roughly $1.4 million, Ms. Van Hooten indicated.

Image on website home page of Arts Council for Long Beach, April 12, 2008

We prefaced our final question by indicating that we're not stating or implying that the group's sign advocacy is legally wrong or creates tax issues. Instead we asked Ms. Hooten if she thinks it's fair for her group to use resources, built over the years using LB tax dollars, to advocate something that's strongly opposed by some of the LB taxpayers from whom it's getting the money. They've called this "blight for the arts." They say you're blighting their neighborhoods.

"I see the arts as part of the solution to blight. By putting worthy programs throughout our city, we serve the entire community. We hope to make Long Beach an even greater city than we are today. And I think blight also includes broken lives, people living in despair who've given up on life, and the arts have a huge role to play in countering that distress," Ms. Van Hooten said.