O.C. Winners, Losers : Arts Groups React to Fund Rankings

Winners and losers among 15 county arts groups Tuesday put the best faces on 1989-90 funding recommendations from the California Arts Council.

With the exception of the Bowers Museum in Santa Ana, which went from a $10,000 grant this year to a recommendation of no funding for next year, visual-arts institutions fared best of all disciplines on the list made public Monday.

The Laguna Art Museum, for example, went from a $3,000 grant to a recommended $13,250 or $14,000, depending on the final amount available from the state and the number of arts groups to be included.

“We were pleased by the amount, which was significant,” said Charles Desmarais, the museum’s director. “But even more important was the recognition of quality at the museum.”

The museum’s increased ranking, from 3-minus to 3-plus on the council’s 4-point scale, Desmarais said, “is a very positive indication that we’re doing something right” because it is determined by peers within the discipline.

Desmarais said the money will be used for outreach at the museum’s satellite facility at South Coast Plaza in Costa Mesa.

At the Newport Harbor Art Museum in Newport Beach, where funding went from $28,249 this year to a recommended $59,386 for next year, there were similar reactions. “We’re very pleased to have improved so much in the panel process this year,” said Kathleen Costello, associate director of development.

The museum went from a 3 ranking last year to 4-minus and 3-plus on the newly instituted dual ranking for institutions with budgets of more than $1 million. The first number reflects the quality of artistic performance, the second reflects the degree of successful community outreach.

“Rankings make a world of difference,” Costello said, adding that the money would be divided between general operations and outreach programs for county schools, both in the classrooms and at the museum.

She added, however, that she is frankly “disappointed that the council does not have available a larger budget, so (it) can award an institution a greater portion of the amount that we are eligible to request. . . . We have not returned to levels of funding even in the beginning of this decade. We are just delighted that there was an augmentation, but it wasn’t enough.”

At the Grove Theatre Company in Garden Grove, which went from $9,000 to a recommended $11,200 or $10,600, producing artistic director Thomas Bradac echoed Costello’s observation.

“We’re very pleased,” Bradac said. “We obviously would like more money, but we feel like we’re going in the right direction.”

The theater’s ranking, he said, the same 3-plus that Grove received last year, is the most important component of the recommendation package.

The message from the council, he said, is that “we have a consistent artistic quality, and the work is valid. It’s always good to get that from your peers.”

The money from the council, said Richard Stein, Grove’s managing director, will “help us boost audience development,” including advertising, telemarketing and direct mail.

Although its ranking dropped slightly--from a 3-plus to a 3 and 3--Opera Pacific’s funding recommendation was increased to $41,800 from the current $32,630. “We’re very pleased,” said Richard Owens, the company’s director of development.

“The money will go toward outreach programs,” he said, including youth-night concerts, school performances and an apprentice program.

Owens is concerned, though, about the drop in ranking and has requested copies of the panel’s comments to determine its rationale.

The Orange County Philharmonic Society, which retained its 4 ranking for the fourth year in a row, went from $20,400 to a recommended $32,500 or $32,250. Erich Vollmer, executive director, said: “We’re really pleased. We think it’s very warranted. Our rating is directly tied in to the education for youth, the program for which we apply (rather than concert presentations). We certainly wish there was more money, but we’re pleased that the governor has increased the (council’s) budget for ‘89-90.”

Except for the Bowers shutout, the most striking cut affecting a county arts organization was the council’s recommendation that South Coast Repertory in Costa Mesa receive $81,950, in contrast with $106,400 this year. The theater’s ranking dropped slightly, from a 4 last year to 4 and 3 in the new ranking system.

“At the moment, we’re very disappointed that our funding has gone down,” said SCR’s producing artistic director, David Emmes. “It’s a very significant decrease. . . . A reduction of 25% has an effect.”

Emmes said he is “interested in finding out more information about the (council’s( decision” because SCR has “a proven track record in programming outreach. It seems to me that among larger theater organizations, I can’t think of anyone that has more significant outreach than we do. . . . We don’t know what the larger picture is, as far as other theaters our size.”

The Pacific Symphony dropped in ranking from 3-plus last year to 3 and 3, with a recommended drop in funding from $45,820 to $39,319. Officials were unavailable for comment Tuesday.

The Irvine-based South Coast Symphony dropped in ranking from 3 to 3-minus and in recommended funding from $5,000 to $2,000.

The county’s two choral groups, the Pacific Chorale and the Master Chorale of Orange County, were recommended for smaller grants than last year.

Cuts were also proposed for county dance groups, which by and large maintained their ratings from last year. The St. Joseph Ballet, based in Orange, retained its 4 ranking, but its recommendation was cut from $11,696 to $9,835 or $9,759. Relampago del Cielo of Santa Ana held onto its 3 ranking but went from $3,000 to $1,416 or $1,500.

The council is scheduled to act on the recommendations Thursday and Friday at a meeting in Sacramento. Historically, the council approves grant amounts as recommended.