LOTTERY HELPS THE ARTS

Those who attended a recent concert by the Colorado String Quartet at Cal State Long Beach probably noticed nothing unusual. But, indeed, the program was special.

It marked the first event at the school to be presented using funds from the California Lottery. “Our Schools Win, Too,” states the Lottery ads--and so, apparently, will the performing and visual arts, according to Diane Vines, director of special programs for the California State University system.

For 1986-87, the state university has been alloted more than $30 million in Lottery money, of which $1 million is earmarked for the fine arts, Vines said. “There are provisions, of course. For instance, the spending must be instructionally related. So when the Colorado Quartet was at Cal State Long Beach they gave master classes, and students were actively involved in planning the performance.”

Included in the fine arts program, which Vines helped design, are funds, averaging $22,000, distributed to each of the 19 campuses for the purpose of bringing in outside artists. “We are leveraging up, so that by combining Lottery money with existing funds we can expand the number of concerts,” she noted.

According to Vines, an additional three to four events per year are being made possible thanks to the generous spending of California gamblers. “The smaller campuses, like those in Humboldt and San Bernardino, really benefit, since there is no way they could come up with the funds to present these concerts.”

(No similar program exists at the University of California, according to a university spokeswoman. The Board of Regents has decided that the UC portion of the lottery monies, totaling more than $17 million for the current year, be spent on computer upgrading.)

Credit for the innovative state university program, says Vines, should go to Chancellor Ann Reynolds: “She’s a true patron of the arts. Ann has been interested in building the best arts program in the country on our campuses.” In addition to the performing arts facet of the Lottery allotment, Vines added that $2.5 million is available for the university’s visiting speakers program. Among those scheduled to appear is Mikhail Baryshnikov.

If all these numbers make the head reel, here’s one more figure to ponder: In 1985-86, according to Roger Resnikoff of the State Controller’s office, the California Lottery sent a total of just under $689 million to our public schools.

BALLET THEATRE SEASON: American Ballet Theatre, currently offering “The Nutcracker” at the Shrine, has announced repertory for its March season in the hall. The three-week Shrine engagement will open March 3 with the first of eight consecutive performances of “Sleeping Beauty,” in a new staging by Kenneth MacMillan after Petipa. Other full-length ballets include “La Bayadere” (five times March 13-15) and “Giselle” (in a new physical production, offered five times March 20-22).

Local company premieres are Balanchine’s “Violin Concerto” (March 10, 11, 19) and Paul Taylor’s “Sunset” (March 12, 17). Other repertory includes “Paquita,” “The Leaves Are Fading,” “Donizetti Variations,” “Theme and Variations” and “Pillar of Fire.”

LAST-MINUTE GIFT IDEA: For the hard-to-please musician or music-lover on your gift list, there’s a new parlor game called Tuunes, a sort of advanced Name That Tune. The product of a mom-and-pop operation, Tuunes is the brainchild of a local musician/songwriter named Reed Burkholder who, with his wife Anjolene, dreamed up the concept and turned it into reality.

“Parker Brothers and the others said they don’t accept ideas from outsiders, so we decided to finance it, package it and market it ourselves,” Burkholder said.

How’s it played? A five-bar theme--either a familiar Americana ditty, an orchestral classic, or one penned by a game player on a blank staff--is concealed underneath 11 tiles, each of which can be removed to reveal one beat of the melody. Players alternate exposing segments. Burkholder says a “junior high school level music-reading ability” is the minimal requirement, adding that “professional musicians can write out their own melodies--a favorite Beethoven piano sonata, a Bach chorale or whatever.”

The game is available at various Southland music stores. Information: (213) 655-6860.

IN BRIEF: Gian Carlo Menotti has announced his intention to step down as artistic director of the Spoleto Festival USA, held each summer in Charleston, S.C. His current contract extends through 1989. No candidates have yet been named to succeed the 75-year-old composer.

The board of directors of the Philadelphia Orchestra announced that the ensemble’s performing home, the 130-year-old Academy of Music, will be renovated in 1992-93 for use as an opera, ballet and musical theater house. In addition, the board announced plans to construct a $60-million hall to relieve scheduling pressures at the academy. The new structure is due to be completed in 1991.

Jeffrey Babcock, a former administrator with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Young Musicians Foundation, has been named vice president for professional activities with the Florida-based National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts, an arts support group headed by former USC School of Music dean Grant Beglarian.

FLY THE FRIENDLY SKIES OF VALHALLA: Attention all Valkyries. Why bother lugging those corpses heavenward on cumbersome, unreliable horses? United Airlines has been named the official national airline for Seattle Opera’s production of “Der Ring des Nibelungen,” scheduled next summer July 28-Aug. 20. Fares have been reduced for those traveling to the Northwest for the “Ring.” Warning: Breast plates are likely to cause problems with airport metal detectors.