Soviets Give Arts Festival a Tentative OK

San Diego Mayor Maureen O’Connor said Monday that she and Soviet officials in Moscow have reached a tentative agreement to stage a 21-day Soviet arts festival in San Diego in fall 1989.

“We’re very excited about the enthusiasm among the Soviets for this festival,” O’Connor said on the third day of her visit to Russia.

The festival is planned for the last week in October, 1989, pending written confirmation that O’Connor said she expects to have before leaving Moscow. Her remarks were reported in Monday’s editions of The Tribune.

O’Connor arrived in the Soviet capital Saturday along with City Manager John Lockwood, other staff members and representatives of San Diego’s artistic community.

Word of the agreement came after O’Connor emerged from more than five hours of meetings with U.S. Ambassador Jack Matlock, representatives of Soviet writers’ and artists’ unions and Soviet Minister of Culture Vasily Sakaharov and his top deputies.

O’Connor said she and the Soviets reached agreement on scheduling, costs and which groups would perform during the festival.

A San Diego meeting has been scheduled for September in which O’Connor will confer with Irena Likheeva of the Soviet ministry to expedite planning for the event.

If facilities in San Diego can’t be secured for the tentative October, 1989, date, O’Connor said, she expects to propose the festival for May or June, 1990.

Seattle is scheduled to hold a Soviet arts festival in the summer of 1990.