THE ARTISTS ARE RESTLESS : Culture Boom? : L.A.’s Avant-Garde Hasn’t Seen It Yet

Rachel Rosenthal thought she had found a home in Los Angeles when she settled here more than 30 years ago.

Over time, she became an internationally renowned performance artist--of sufficient stature to be one of three locally based artists selected for the Los Angeles Festival last year. With media reports regularly trumpeting the arrival of Los Angeles as a world-class art center, Rosenthal figured to be sitting pretty, sifting through offers to present fresh pieces in her hometown.

So why is she “seriously considering” leaving town?

“I’m in a weird position because the places where performance artists work here are just not capable of paying my fee,” said Rosenthal in her West Los Angeles storefront studio. “Over the years, my fee has risen just like painters’ prices, and I’m not that flexible simply because I’m 61. I can’t put out the kind of energy, work and time that I used to, when I was younger, for peanuts.

“I’m working to get to the big places that can afford me--the Doolittle Theater, the Taper or the Wadsworth--and I don’t want to play clubs or small theaters.”

Rosenthal’s experience isn’t unique among the Los Angeles avant-garde working in a more exploratory, non-mainstream vein. Looking beyond the high-profile facades of the Music Center, the major museums, theaters and the thriving gallery scene, the picture for these artists in the Los Angeles area isn’t as rosy as it has often been depicted in the last few years by arts journals and other accounts:

Stephen Prina’s 1982 multimedia “Aristotle, Plato and Socrates” finally was exhibited at the Museum of Contemporary Art this year . . . after years of being presented in European and American museums.

John Carter and Vinny Golia are regulars on the East Coast and European tour circuits featuring exploratory jazz artists. But Golia’s last Los Angeles date was a year ago, and Carter’s favored group, an octet, has worked here only once in the last two years.

Artist Erika Suderburg’s video piece, “Displayed Termination: The Interval Between Deaths,” was recently featured at the “LACE Annuale” exhibit at Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions (LACE). But the high expenses involved in producing video art means Suderburg will have to divert time from her art to hold down three part-time teaching positions this fall.

“The hype (about the L.A. art scene) has convinced or intrigued a lot of people into thinking that L.A. is already a world-class art center,” said Steven Durland, editor of High Performance magazine, a nationally distributed journal published in Los Angeles that is geared toward the “new arts audience.”

“When you get inside it, artists who are familiar with the way a complete art system can and should work become frustrated because substantial chunks of that system are missing here.”

All this doesn’t mean that the Los Angeles art community resembles the classic construction of a Hollywood set--all front and no substance. Rather, to Durland and many artists interviewed by Calendar, it’s more like a construction site where some parts are completed and others tenuously supported by makeshift, patchwork scaffolding.

The artists are indeed restless about this kind of situation--where public encouragement and support, as well as affordable facilities are not available. But they’re not gloomy.

The magic word that popped up in almost every artist’s consideration of Los Angeles as a world-class art center: potential.

“There is the feeling that something interesting is going to happen here,” said Tim Miller, a performance artist with a growing national reputation. “There’s a desire for this cultural moment to happen.

“The problem is that there’s not any infrastructure or vision--at least there wasn’t until Al Nodal was appointed to head the (Los Angeles City) Cultural Affairs Department--to be implementing that, but all of this is teetering on the edge. In typical L.A. fashion, five years from now it could be the best city to work in and live up to its promo.”

The first concerted attempt to construct a more systematic municipal support structure comes Nov. 22 when the Los Angeles City Council is scheduled to vote on a proposed Los Angeles Endowment for the Arts program that could generate $20 million to $25 million annually. As outlined in the report of the Los Angeles Task Force on the Arts appointed by Mayor Tom Bradley, the Endowment would be funded by a 1% assessment on city capital improvement funds, 1% on private development projects over $500,000 (excluding single-family homes) and an 8% slice of the city’s hotel bed tax.

A 1% tax on development has been used to generate funds for arts in several American cities, including San Francisco and Santa Monica.

The level of municipal and state support of artists here is much less than in many other American cities (see accompanying chart). According to a Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs spokeswoman, the department dispensed $761,000 in grants during the 1987-88 fiscal year out of its total budget of $4.4 million. In the current 1988-89 fiscal year, that figure rose to $1.345 million. The population of Los Angeles is 4 1/2 times greater than that of San Francisco, but the latter dispensed $6.1 million in 1987-88 and $6.8 million for 1988-89.

“The public sector things (financing and leadership) that have been missing in the past are starting to happen now,” said Al Nodal, who on Monday will become the general manager of the Department of Cultural Affairs. “Only in the last five years has culture really demonstrated to a broad section of Los Angeles what it can do for the city.”

The Mayor’s Task Force report, which lays out the design for the proposed Los Angeles Endowment, embodies many of the concerns and possible solutions voiced by artists interviewed for this article. The report was instigated by City Councilman Joel Wachs, a long-time advocate of a more active municipal role in supporting the arts.

“You don’t have too many people against the arts, but they’ve always thought of the arts as nice but not top priority,” Wachs said. But he said, “Quality-of-life issues are really high on the political agenda all of a sudden. . . . What kind of Los Angeles do we want?”

The Task Force report projects that the annual Endowment fund would be distributed by a 19-member board of trustees drawn from the private sector, public sector and the artistic community. That board will be advised by an “Arts Congress” and peer review panels.

Some artists characterized the upcoming council vote as a make-or-break indicator of the seriousness of Los Angeles’ support.

“Cultural leadership is central to everyone’s vision of L.A. in the future,” said Aaron Paley, who organized the Fringe Festival adjunct of local, experimental work to the Los Angeles Festival. “If the Task Force is passed as written, it would bring L.A. up to par with the major cultural centers of the country in terms of support.”

The creation of Los Angeles Endowment would put to rest the near-unanimous response of artists when asked if Los Angeles can claim status as a world-class art center: “Put your money where your mouth is.”

Many interviewed felt that the current funding support is skewed much too heavily toward the established, mainstream institutions. Their restlessness is fueled by a conviction that the Los Angeles art world suffers from an “edifice complex” that leads to expensive buildings, imported art “stars” and Hollywood blockbuster festivals, but ignores the smaller-scale needs of the city’s working artists and grass-roots artists organizations.

Beyond their excitement over the city’s vital cultural mix and the need for more municipal and state funding, there was no consensus among the artists on what should be done to encourage home-grown arts.

Each discipline has its own problem area:

For the dance community, it is the absence of affordable rehearsal space.

For film and video artists, the world’s movie and TV capital ironically is one of the few major U.S. cities without an alternative, co-op film and video center offering low-cost technical assistance.

Fueled by the gallery boom and the opening of the Museum of Contemporary Art and new buildings at the County Museum of Art, the visual arts are considered the healthiest in the city. But the commercial slant of galleries often works against their selection of visual artists who explore the offbeat.

Those working in the performing arts--music, dance, performance art, and, to a lesser extent, theater--decried the tendency of local presenters to ignore contemporary, exploratory work. As art journalist Linda Frye Burnham and several others said in interviews, the emphasis here has almost exclusively fallen on older pieces that are safe, familiar and officially sanctioned as “culture.”

“Why has UCLA brought in such awesome dance groups but just left music completely in the 19th Century?” asked Titus Levi, co-founder of the California Outside Music Assn. “They had the Kronos Quartet but that’s it and their jazz series is a joke as far as new music.”

There was concern expressed that the large festivals (the Olympic Arts Festival and the Los Angeles Festival) were one-shot extravaganzas that were of no help in developing on-going audiences for the work of local experimental artists.

Los Angeles’ experimental artists have been actively engaged in small-scale presentations in “cutting-edge” galleries or performance spaces for years. But between that level and the Music Center, Museum of Contemporary Art and the County Museum of Art, there is a void in the middle. Where are the mid-size venues for performing artists and in mid-size arts organizations that can nurture emerging artists, those interviewed asked.

The absence of that middle strata poses a “Catch-22” dilemma for many Los Angeles artists. Like Rosenthal, they’re too big for the performance spaces available to them but not big enough for the crown jewels (or they may be doing work they know isn’t appropriate for the latter). That state of affairs can foster restlessness as artists face the unappetizing options of staying here and spinning their wheels or following the time-honored tradition of leaving town.

“At my level of career as a creative artist, I don’t see that much help from the community in terms of promoting a career from California class to national or world class,” said composer-clarinetist David Ocker.

“I have discussions (within my peer group of musicians) about certain art museums--a large, new one downtown being a particular example--which we have concluded is pure and simple not interested in us. There has been hardly any support for local composers from the Los Angeles Philharmonic in spite of their oft-announced good intentions.”

One person who bailed out nearly two years ago is performance artist Lin Hixson.

“I had an opportunity in Chicago to work with three men who were willing to commit to a company idea,” Hixson said by phone before a New York City performance. “In L.A., (such an arrangement) would be difficult because the film industry overshadows the theater and performance community; if a film or a commercial comes along, your troupe is gone.”

Unlike their European counterparts, who, with government support, can make a full-time job of producing art, artists here feel they’re battling ingrained American views that art is a non-essential frill.

“One question that people who make cultural policy need to ask is: Do you want people from your community of artists making art in their spare time?” said Terry Wolverton, the executive director of the Woman’s Building. “The art we nurture in this city takes on a part-time, catch-as-catch-can quality.”

Another frustration: A good deal of the work done by small L.A. arts groups and individuals has eventually gained prominence--but artists here see little support trickling down from the mainstream arts organizations or the entertainment industry.

Advocates of nonprofit arts organizations contend they showcase experimental, sometimes controversial work and/or artists that museums are unwilling to take a risk on in their early, formative years. Howard Spector, who recently resigned as head of L.A. Center For Photographic Studies, characterized it as “a trickle-up theory in terms of the (artistic) activity.”

That trickle-up effect extends to the performing arts world. Whoopi Goldberg performed at LACE in 1980, and her last Los Angeles appearance before her transformation into a Hollywood star was at downtown’s Wallenboyd Theatre in 1984--with bed sheets and blankets hung on the wall for a backdrop. Pee-wee Herman came out of the off-beat, improvisational comedy group The Groundlings, where he performed for minimal pay before hitting the big screen and the tube.

But drawing on the talent pool apparently is the mainstream entertainment industry’s chief, if only, contact with the local alternative art world.

Said composer Richard Amromin, who doubles as president of the Independent Composers Assn. and administrative director and treasurer for Filmforum, a nonprofit organization that has presented the work of independent, experimental film makers for the past 14 years:

“In the past, there have been approaches made seeking financial support and the (movie) industry basically told Film Forum that, ‘You’re not doing anything with film. You don’t even count.’ ”

Is Los Angeles inhospitable?

Not to the Big Boys--$13.8 million of the total county spending of $14.9 million goes to two major institutions, the Music Center and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. But it’s a different story when it comes to the city’s little guys.

“In other cities, a small, young organization usually finds its first institutional support in a municipal grant,” said Mark Anderson, the director of ARTS Inc., a consulting firm that advises nonprofit arts organizations in Los Angeles County. “There’s a hump here that a lot of organizations never get over.”

One consequence of limited municipal support is the small number of nonprofit organizations of any substantial size. Beyond Baroque in Venice, the Woman’s Building and LACE downtown are the major ones presenting exploratory artists. The Department of Cultural Affairs produces occasional shows at its Barnsdall Park facility.

“In Toronto, a city of 2 million, they have about 10 alternative galleries, all specializing in something different,” said photographer George Legrady. “Los Angeles, a city of 8 million, now has one that tries to cover everything: LACE.”

The development of “presenting locations” that consistently feature experimental work was high on the list of many artists. Several mentioned that the closing of the Lhasa Club in Hollywood and the House in Santa Monica (for reasons other than lack of patrons) in the past two years seriously cut into the number of better-known performing spaces.

Choreographer Sara Elgart had been producing her own concerts locally for 10 years, usually at the House. “I could pack in over 100 people a night, sell out up to three nights in a row, break even--just about--and be very happy,” she said. “Tell me where you can do that now?”

The situation isn’t any brighter for adventurous musicians in either the jazz or classical realm.

“There aren’t good venues here for groups playing serious, high-caliber chamber music that need to work in a smaller hall because they’re not going to draw thousands of people,” said percussionist Art Jarvinen of the California E.A.R. Unit ensemble.

“It’s frustrating, especially when you go out of town and play some place where you’ve got fantastic sound equipment, great acoustics and the hall is just the right size. Suddenly, the group has never sounded better and you think, ‘Jeez, I wish we could take this back to L.A. with us.’ ”

Starting a performing place from scratch may be nearly impossible for a Los Angeles artist faced with building and fire code regulations that may require prohibitively expensive alterations and parking requirements.

“Real estate,” said Terry Wolverton, “is going to be the backbreaking issue for most arts organizations in the next 10 years.”

Escalating real estate prices in Los Angeles was one reason that Moins Rastgar decided to open his System M alternative arts outlet in Long Beach two years ago.

“It takes a period of time to make the community aware any sort of cultural outlet is here, and high rent could be a factor in the place surviving,” said Rastgar. “In Los Angeles, the rent of all the spaces I’d been looking around at was two or three times the amount I’m paying here in Long Beach.”

The downtown Los Angeles development boom has apparently wiped out the once-promising prospects of a flourishing underground art community there. The Community Redevelopment Agency-supported Santa Fe Avenue artist loft colony that opened earlier this year stands against a stark backdrop of other downtown artists and artists organizations being forced out by rising rents.

Said Lawrence Gipe, a young, more traditional painter who shares a downtown loft with two other artists: “If rents continue to keep coming up here, the city either’s going to have to start subsidizing artists or we’ll all be out in Fullerton.”

A case study: The Wallenboyd building, not far from the Midnight Mission on Skid Row, was an early focal point of downtown activity with the Stella Polaris Gallery, the Wallenboyd Theater and the Brantner Design Center.

“At its heyday in late ’83 and ‘84, on any given Friday or Saturday night there was a lot happening in the building, “ said designer Cheryl Brantner, who presented jazz and classical concerts there.

But that scene disappeared when the building changed owners in 1985.

“My rent was approximately tripled, and I think 50%-75% of the building moved out at the time of the change of ownership,” Brantner said.

The result: Brantner shifted her design company to the Westside and phased out her involvement in concert production. The Stella Polaris Gallery moved to Beverly Hills and later folded. Now the Wallenboyd Theater, which became a recognized center for experimental theater and performance art pieces, is scheduled to shut its doors this month.

“When we came downtown (to the Wallenboyd), the city and the Cultural Affairs Department were saying we’ll help you along--and nothing’s happened for five years,” said Alex Wright of the Pipeline group which presented work there. “It’s like hitting our head against the wall--the city touted us as one of the success stories (of downtown revitalization) yet gave us no support.”

If the artists are restless, they’re also on the move. The nexus of experimental art work in Los Angeles appears to be moving inexorably toward the city’s Westside and Santa Monica.

“La Brea has now turned out to be the East Side of where art venues are,” said artist Stephen Prina. “What’s between La Brea and LACE? Not too much any more.”

The shift reflects both where much of the audience for exploratory art lies and a concerted effort on the part of Westside municipalities. West Hollywood has embarked on an aggressive marketing campaign to bill itself as “The Creative City.”

Santa Monica has also positioned itself as an “art-friendly” city through zoning law changes which facilitated a surge of new art galleries, public art programs and a commitment to regularly feature the work of local, exploratory artists at the new Santa Monica Museum of Art.

One project still being developed will house the offices of High Performance magazine, a local outlet for the “Electronic Cafe” two-way video concept introduced by artists Kit Galloway and Sherrie Rabinowitz during the 1984 Olympic Arts Festival, and a home for a performance art project headed by Linda Frye Burnham and Tim Miller.

Said Miller: “The building is in Santa Monica proper, which concerns me a little bit because Los Angeles is the city in Southern California. But pie in the sky is not going to be worth waiting around for if we have a nice building.”

That westward push by Los Angeles’ restless artists may put an extra urgency to the City Council’s vote on the Los Angeles Task Force on the Arts report. Token support or complete inaction may spur the exodus of local artists away from the city proper.

The larger question: Will Los Angeles be satisfied to remain an art-consuming center rather than a city which offers serious support to the home-grown artists who may one day be recognized as innovators?

“To make L.A. a vital and meaningful cultural center, you have to do everything to stimulate new art and give artists who are alive a chance to survive,” said Art Jarvinen.

“Vienna, for example, is a cultural center because at one time it really supported living, active, breathing artists who were creating all that stuff we’re trying to preserve now. We’re artists in L.A. trying to create something as good as that and, if L.A. will support it, I think it will pay off.”

ARTS SPENDING BY U.S. CITIES

Tax money spent in support of the arts

Total Per (in millions) Capita Pittsburgh $6.6 $17.03 San Francisco $9.5 $12.68 New York $62 $8.87 Miami $2.4 $6.41 Atlanta $2.5 $5.92 Washington $3.7 $5.91 Dallas $5.9 $5.90 Baltimore $4.2 $5.57 San Diego * $5.12 $4.88 St. Louis $2 $4.69 Seattle $1.5 $4 Columbus $1.9 $3.24 Los Angeles * $4 $1.53 Chicago $4.1 $1.36 Denver $.559 $1.10 New Orleans $.250 .50

* Combined city and county funds

Source: Opinion Research Associates, Madison, Wis., and various city agencies.

Compiled by Elizabeth Hayes and John Burman