Anne England was a Festival of Arts and Sawdust Festival exhibitor and tireless advocate for the arts and artists in Laguna Beach. She was founder of The Festival of Arts Artists Fund, the Sawdust Festival’s Artists’ Benevolence Fund and co-founder of Laguna Outreach Community Arts (LOCA).

Born in Florida, England came to Laguna Beach in 1962, and began exhibiting her artwork at the Festival of Arts the following year. She studied painting in oil and acrylics at Laguna’s Art Institute of Southern California. In 1980, she switched to watercolors. Later that decade, England discovered printmaking, the medium she worked in until the end of her life. England earned a bachelor’s degree at Laguna College of Art and Design and a master’s of fine art at Long Beach State University.

The legacy England was most proud of was the 1999 founding of The Artists Fund at the Festival of Arts to provide disaster and medical relief grants for artists who could not afford to pay for unanticipated events. The fund has since added an education component, providing scholarships to artist for classes, conferences and supplies.