2 Step Down From Panel Striving for Arts Centers

The directors of the San Fernando Valley Cultural Foundation, which has suffered several setbacks in its $70-million campaign to build two arts centers, on Monday announced the immediate resignation of the foundation’s general manager, Luke Bandle.

Bandle’s departure was described by Madeleine Landry, a board member, as “a mutual parting of the ways.” Maury Rosas, another board member, said the change was needed to get the foundation “moving in our ability to deliver a product.”

In an apparently unrelated development, board chairman H. F. (Bert) Boeckmann confirmed this week that he will step down from the position he has held since the foundation was created by local arts groups in 1980.

Although Boeckmann’s successor has not been named, Rosas and board member Ross Hopkins said Byron C. Campbell, publisher of the Van Nuys-based Daily News, has been asked to take the job. Campbell is expected to decide this week whether he will accept, they said.

Campbell was not available for comment.

Boeckmann, owner of Galpin Ford in Sepulveda and a major contributor to political campaigns, said he will resign at the board’s annual nomination meeting early next month in order to devote more time to personal fund-raisers for the foundation.

$1-Million Contribution

In the past, Boeckmann has said he intends to give at least $1 million of his own money to the foundation and hopes to solicit large contributions from friends and associates once plans for the cultural centers are more advanced.

The foundation plans to build the Warner Center Performing Arts Square, a theater complex with a 1,200-seat concert hall, a 650-seat theater and a flexible performance space called a “black box.” It also plans to build Arts Park L. A. in the Sepulveda Basin, consisting of lagoons, performance glens, a museum and a 2,500-seat theater.

Bandle, hired by the foundation in October, 1984, guided the projects through feasibility studies and selection of two architectural firms, both nationally prominent in the field of performing arts design.

The Warner Center Performing Arts Square is being designed by Hardy Holzman Pfeiffer Associates. Arts Park L. A. is being planned by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill.

However, the foundation encountered several obstacles in its campaign to raise the $70 million needed to build the two projects.

Much of last year the foundation was engaged in frustrating negotiations with two other Valley arts organizations over rights to the properties for the two centers.

By fall, agreements were substantially worked out. The foundation then hired the San Francisco fund-raising firm of Jerold Panas Young & Partners to find out how much it could expect to raise.

In November, John Kirkman, a consultant for that firm, reported that the foundation could expect to raise $12 million to $15 million within five years, but would need up to 12 years to achieve its goal.

‘A Zero Cash Flow’

Shortly after that, the foundation attempted to hire Kirkman as development director. Kirkman accepted, but backed out just before beginning work in February, saying he was worried about job security.

That “definitely set back the organization,” said Hopkins, director of public affairs for Lockheed California Corp.

Before a fund-raising dinner brought in $100,000 in March, the foundation had been “operating on a zero cash flow” at times this year, according to minutes of a board meeting.

In another setback, the foundation postponed its second Pacific Rim Festival, scheduled for this spring. Hopkins said the festival may be rescheduled for the fall or next spring. He said preparations were not made for the event soon enough.

Though not directly relating these events to Bandle’s resignation, several board members said they thought Bandle’s expertise in programming might be more useful later, when facilities are being developed and programming is needed.

“Her strengths really lie in the area of programming,” said Rosas, a vice president of Pacific Bell in Los Angeles. Rosas said Bandle would continue to be available as a consultant.

Bandle did not report for work Monday. Reached at her home in Canoga Park, Bandle said she plans to remain in Southern California and contribute what she can to the Valley cultural project.

“I still believe very strongly in this concept,” Bandle said. “I know the San Fernando Valley needs it.”

Bandle said she did not feel the project needed her now that feasibility studies have been completed and architects hired.

“Now is the time to go out there and get some money, and that’s not what I do,” Bandle said.

In Bandle’s absence Monday, the foundation office was run by Landry, a cultural affairs commissioner for the City of Los Angeles and wife of the foundation’s secretary, Ed Landry.

Rosas, chairman of the foundation’s personnel committee, said a nationwide search will be started immediately to find a development director. A meeting will be held this week to decide whether the office staff will be restructured, Rosas said.