Arts Beat

COMBO, the private arts fund-raising group, has scotched its annual television auction scheduled for December, citing lack of interest.

Last year, the auction brought in $62,815. But participation by arts organizations has dropped each year in favor of their own fund-raising activities, COMBO spokeswoman Linda Shirer said.

This year major beneficiaries such as the Old Globe Theatre, the San Diego Opera and the San Diego Symphony chose not to participate in collecting auctionable items for COMBO, she said. The result was not enough “prime acquisitions” to fill an interesting four-hour auction, she said.

Also helping torpedo the auction was a lack of interest by network affiliates, who declined to donate studio facilities and time as they have in past years, Shirer said.

“We were a little concerned . . . when (former COMBO Executive Vice President Robert) Arnhym resigned,” said Don Lundy, program director for KGTV (Channel 10). “We had some concern. They had been taking a lot of heat” through allegations of high costs of fund-raising. “The whole organization had changed.”

With the change in management, Channel 10 decided to “lay out” a year, Lundy said.

COMBO’s Michael Lyon nevertheless hopes to raise $75,000 through a catalogue auction of the items collected. About 200 services and items, from salon treatments to a trip on the Orient Express, will be auctioned by mail. The catalogue will be sent to a list of 7,000 individuals in an “income bracket of people who would be interested.”

Today is the deadline for arts groups planning to apply for city funds this year to file a “letter of intent.”

With COMBO’s announcement last week that it will not distribute city money, it is up to individual groups to send the city a letter of intent, a COMBO spokeswoman said.

The letter, which must be postmarked with today’s date, should state the amount the applicant intends to apply for, a city spokeswoman said.

Letters should be mailed to Patricia Frazier, Financial Management Department, 202 C St., Mail Station 8-A, San Diego, Calif. 92101. Application forms, which are due Dec. 14, may be requested with the letter of intent.