Arts Council Looks To
Electronic Billboards For Support

By Harry Saltzgaver
Executive Editor

A plan to put six state-of-the-art electronic billboards next to Long Beach freeways could be the long-sought answer to public support for arts programs in the city.

Media Management Service Inc. has made the proposal to the city’s Community Development Department. Robert Swayze, Economic Development Bureau director, said that the signs would be a “win-win,” providing both more exposure for cultural events and funding for arts organizations.

“We met with the city attorney last week,” Swayze said. “The city would contract with the company, and they would be required to follow all of the guidelines for advertising on city property; no alcohol or tobacco advertising, things like that. We’d also be working closely with the Redevelopment Agency because we would put the signs in redevelopment areas.”

Exact locations have yet to be determined, although three of the four of the city’s freeways — 91, 405 and 710 — are expected to get at least one sign, Swayze said.

Once the signs are in place, the city’s share of revenue is estimated to be $1.5 million to $1.9 million annually. That is in addition to a promise to use at least 20% of each board’s time promoting cultural events and institutions in the city.

“These signs would have a huge impact in a couple of ways,” said Joan Van Hooten, executive director of the Arts Council for Long Beach. “It would mean more money for the entire arts community, and help the Arts Council to serve our arts organizations better through our grants programs. It also would give us the ability to market, to tell people of all the great things we have here in the city.”

Arts groups have worked for more than a decade to find a dedicated source of revenue for public support instead of relying on money from the city’s general fund. Two task forces have offered reports and recommendations to the City Council in the last decade without result, and the Arts Council currently relies on a $600,000 contract to support itself and offer grants to arts groups.

Also expected to benefit from the proposed new revenue source is the Long Beach Museum of Art. The city-owned facility is operated by a foundation. In order to finance expansion of the museum with a new gallery building, the city guaranteed a $3 million bond that is due to be repaid in 2009.

“This is, we believe, a wonderful concept,” said Hal Nelson, executive director of LBMA. “It is a very creative way to pay down this obligation.”

Even though the museum’s foundation had issued the bonds, they were guaranteed by the city. That debt was one of the incentives for pursuing the sign deal.

“From the beginning, the intention has been for the short term goal of dealing with the museum’s bond debt first,” Van Hooten said. “We aren’t sure exactly what the formula would be yet, but relieving that obligation is the first priority.”

There still is no guarantee that the revenue from the signs would be dedicated to supporting the arts community, Van Hooten admitted. But the Arts Council has helped to broker the deal and the sign company has agreed that there could be a strong connection between the signage and support for the arts.

“This has the advantage of being new money,” Van Hooten said. “It isn’t money we would be taking from elsewhere.É It’s been a long time coming. There have been many efforts to find a dedicated funding source for the arts, and now we think we have one.”

Swayze said details remain to be worked out, and the proposal likely would not be before the City Council until November. If the contract is approved, it still likely would take most of a year to have the signs up and running, generating revenue.

The message boards would be state-of-the-art LED displays, with a quality similar to that found in Las Vegas, Swayze said. That would allow art pieces to be displayed, for example.

“This will have a huge impact,” Van Hooten said. “It will give us the ability to compete with Los Angeles, with the big markets. We have amazing art here, and this will help us let people know what is here.”