ART CENTER NOW LACKS A DIRECTOR

Len Bedsow, executive director of the Orange County Performing Arts Center, who had been delaying his retirement until a successor could be hired, has quit the post although officials report “no progress” in finding a new top administrator.

According to Center board president William Lund, Bedsow’s departure was effective Feb. 1, although he is expected to be available as a consultant for the remainder of 1985. “He (Bedsow) has vacation plans . . . and he felt he could stay on no longer,” said Lund.

Last June, Bedsow, who became the Center’s first executive director four years ago, announced he would retire Dec. 31. He cited age--67--and job stresses and also said it had been his intention to step down once the Center opened or was close to completion.

(The Center’s 3,000-seat main theater has been under construction in Costa Mesa’s South Coast Plaza Town Center since July, 1983. The theater and a 300-seat “black box” facility are scheduled to open in the fall of 1986.)

Last January, Lund announced that a Center recruitment panel had decided on Bedsow’s successor and would submit its recommendation to the board within three weeks. Lund said later, however, that negotiations with the “final candidate” had collapsed and the search was on again.

“We have nothing to report (on a choice), except we are still looking,” Lund said.

Final scheduling for the 1986-87 opening season--including possible appearances of the New York City Opera Co. and American Ballet Theatre--may not be completed until the new executive director “is on board,” Lund said, adding that appearances by the Orange County Pacific Symphony are also under consideration.

Bedsow was a longtime Los Angeles Civic Light Opera administrator and had close familiarity with the Los Angeles Music Center. He was director of operations for nine years, then general manager for six years of the Civic Light Opera Assn., before he resigned from the association staff in 1980.

Arline Chambers, the Performing Arts Center’s general manager, is filling in until a new executive director is installed, Lund said, adding that he and Timothy Strader, the Center board’s executive vice president, were also sharing day-to-day management duties.

To date, the Center has raised about $61 million, all in private donations. (The goals are $65.5 million for construction and $20 million for an endowment fund to underwrite operating and maintenance costs.) A drive to collect gifts of $10,000 or more is under way, with a goal of raising $6 million by June 1.