iPalpiti announces the decision to leave Encinitas due to a dispute with the city official, the letter reads
The iPalpiti Festival, which brings classical music to multiple venues throughout the region, will suspend its annual performances in Encinitas due to a conflict with the city’s arts administrator, the festival’s director announced in a letter to the mayor.
iPalpiti CEO Laura Schmieder said in the letter, dated Sept. 1, that the 10th season in Encinitas over the summer had been “nothing but a struggle from the start.”
“The artists and festival directors felt most unwelcome, treated like a summer camp nuisance,” she wrote. “The challenges were presented at every step.”
Schmieder also announced that Music by the Sea, a city in the Encinitas program, has been suspended from membership in the Consortium of Southern California Chamber Music Presenters following a dispute over the artists who would be selected to participate.
The letter said Collette Murphy Stefanko, who replaced James Gilliam as the city’s arts administrator for the past year, had “zero understanding of artistic accommodation.”
In a telephone interview, Stefanko said she fulfilled the terms of the agreement between both sides.
“Following these rules, there was no mistreatment,” she said. “It just may not have resulted in getting everything they wanted, and just because someone doesn’t get everything they want doesn’t mean they were mistreated.”
She added that she was “disappointed that they didn’t recognize the extras that were given to them outside of the deal.”
Asked about the issues between the two sides, Stefanko said she should be “careful” about discussing the details while the city conducts its own investigation into the situation.
“I can just say unequivocally that there was no abuse,” Stefanko said.
Reached on the phone, Schmieder, who is also the founder of iPalpiti, said it was “B.S.” that the terms of the contract were upheld but declined to comment further. She instead forwarded emails to the Encinitas Advocate, a publication of the UT Community Press, that she received from people telling her how disappointed they were with the festival’s decision to leave Encinitas.
iPalpiti celebrated 25 years in 2022. In addition to the Encinitas shows, festival dates earlier this summer included performances throughout Los Angeles. Over the years, iPalpiti has also toured New York City, San Francisco, Philadelphia, Austria, Israel and other locations around the world.
Encinita Mayor Catherine Blakespear, who is finishing her third and final term as mayor, said via email that she “hopes they will reconsider.”
“We are in close dialogue and I hope the city can resolve the issues they have encountered,” she said.
Naimeh Woodward, president of Encinitas Friends of the Arts, said she was “saddened to hear of iPalpiti’s decision to stop offering this wonderful festival in our community.”
“I have attended the majority of the concerts from the very beginning and spent many hours volunteering while hosting some of these young talented award winners in our home,” she said. “There is something magical about hearing these talented musicians rehearse and then perform so brilliantly.”
