IMAGINATION FETE : CONCERT GETS DATE AT CENTER

Orange County’s second annual Imagination Celebration will present a multicultural concert May 10 at the Orange County Performing Arts Center.

Although plans are still being worked on, organizers said this year’s arts-for-children festival will be April 25 through May 10 and will offer performances, exhibits and workshops at such other sites as shopping malls, museums and schools.

The Imagination Celebration Internationale, a program of ethnic songs and dances, was held last March at the Santa Ana High School Auditorium. Although the Performing Arts Center was a co-sponsor of the 1986 festival, the Center’s 3,000-seat Segerstrom Hall in Costa Mesa was still under construction and not available for use.

This year’s daytime Internationale concert at Segerstrom Hall is again being presented by the Historical & Cultural Foundation of Orange County and the Orange County Department of Education.

Orange County is still the only Imagination Celebration site in Southern California in the nationwide festivals’ program sponsored by the National Alliance for Arts Education. Alliance officials said a major reason for choosing Orange County was the Performing Arts Center’s involvement.

According to David Humphrey, director of the Kennedy Center-affiliated National Alliance, the only other large performing arts center in this year’s program is the Kentucky Center in Louisville. Other arts facilities involved this year are the Hult Center in Eugene, Ore., and the Empire State Center in Albany, N.Y.

This year’s Orange County festival--sponsored by the California Alliance for Arts Education, Orange County Center and county Department of Education--is to again involve such major organizations as the South Coast Repertory Theatre, Laguna Art Museum and Orange County Arts Alliance.

Organizers said the “Imaginarium” fair, a daylong offering of mini-concerts, demonstrations and hands-on projects, is to again be housed in the Mercantile Building at the South Coast Plaza Village in Costa Mesa.

In addition to the Internationale concert, an event specifically mounted for the festival, other daytime youth-oriented concerts are already booked at Segerstrom Hall during the time of the Imagination Celebration.

The Orange County Philharmonic Society will present five concerts, including one by the Orange County Youth Symphony on April 28. The Orange County Pacific Symphony’s youth concert will be on May 2. And on May 9 the Pacific Chorale will host the appearance of 15 high school choirs for a choral competition.

Humphrey said the National Alliance will present a one-man show--John Kaufman, who is artistic director of the Honolulu Theatre for Youth, in “According to Coyote & Raven.” This show is tentatively set for April 27 through May 1 at the South Coast Repertory.

In addition to technical support, the National Alliance is providing the Orange County festival with a $5,000 operational grant, Humphrey added.

The 1987 Imagination Celebrations will be held at 26 regional locales, including San Rafael in Northern California. The national festival will be April 5 to 29 at the Kennedy Center.