Arts and Education: a Bigger Boost Still Needed

Gov. George Deukmejian received a good report card from artists and arts patrons at the first Governor’s Awards for the Arts, but no one denied there is room for improvement in arts support.

The awards were given out Thursday night at a $250-per-person black-tie gala at the Beverly Hilton, with about 600 people (including the governor and wife Gloria ) turning out to see artists, community leaders and corporations receive awards for their contributions to the arts.

“The whole thrust of this is to raise the awareness level of the arts in the state, and to show we support arts and education, which are sometimes neglected due to budget restraints,” said Joyce Pollock, chairman of the gala and a member of the California Arts Council, the awards’ sponsor.

Does the state give enough support to arts and education?

“Of course we’d always like more,” Pollock said. “But what we’re encouraging here is private as well as public support; we’re trying to show a partnership in this way. In a state this size there’s just not enough money to go around. You have to have both entities at work. I think the governor is serious about his support and so is Mrs. Deukmejian. The First Lady’s award to the student was her idea.”

Proceeds from the event--organizers hope to net $50,000--will benefit the California State Summer School for the Arts. The school, established in 1985, has a summer program for California’s young artists and takes up residence on different college campuses around the state.

“It’s so hard to create awareness of the arts,” said Wendy Goldberg, co-chairwoman of the gala, president of the California State Summer School Arts Foundation and founder of the school. “We’re not a disease--there are AIDS organizations, cancer charities. We’re here and we’re thriving, so something is right, but everybody-- everybody --could do more. We’re existing and that’s the most important thing, but it’s mandatory that we continue.”

Goldberg and husband Leonard were among a crowd that pressed into a small room for a pre-dinner photo opportunity. Along with the Deukmejians were the award winners: writer Maxine Hong Kingston (individual artist lifetime achievement award for literary arts), choreographer Bella Lewitzky (individual artist lifetime achievement award for performing arts), composer/producer Quincy Jones (entertainment industry lifetime achievement award), philanthropist Phyllis Wattis (individual patron for the arts award), Great American Bank chairman and CEO Gordon Luce (community cultural leader award) and California State University Chancellor W. Ann Reynolds (individual achievement award in arts in education).

The Education Division of the Music Center received the organization achievement award in arts in education, which was accepted by Dr. Stuart Gothold and Caroline Ahmanson (who in turn thanked Joan Boyett), and the Times Mirror Co. received the corporate patron of the arts award, accepted by Times Mirror Chairman Robert Erburu.

Artist Richard Diebenkorn received the individual artist lifetime achievement award for visual arts, but illness kept him from attending the gala. His son and daughter accepted the award for him.

Kingston said she hopes the award will have far-reaching effects on the arts in California. “There hasn’t been this official state recognition of the arts before,” she said. “It has to remain. And I think it will have other repercussions, since the people they picked signals a recognition of California’s multicultural and multilingual heritage.”

Among others at the gala were emcee Robert Guillaume, presenters Michael Tucker and Jill Eikenberry, Jimmy Smits, Alley Mills, Debbie Allen, Steven Bochco and Sidney Poitier and guests Jackie Collins, Barbara and Marvin Davis, Carol Bayer Sager and Burt Bacharach, Warner Records head Mo Ostin, gala co-chair Susan Dolgen, California Arts Council chair Joanne Kozberg, Arts Council director Robert Reid, Esther Wachtell, Gordon Davidson, Ed McMahon, Nancy Livingston and artist DeWaine Valentine, who was commissioned to create the award sculpture.

The program varied between awards presentations and performances by summer school alums: dancer Michele Demus, pianist Krista Bartz and singer Puff Johnson. The Young Americans and Joey Loren also performed. And although there was obvious enthusiastic support for the arts from audience members, several tables were empty before the end of the program.

The evening’s surprise was the announcement of a $50,000 scholarship to the school in Quincy Jones’ name from Warner Communications Inc.

Gloria Deukmejian presented the First Lady’s award to Matthew Monahan, a 17-year-old artist from Los Olivos. The governor lauded the Arts Council for its dedication in making the arts accessible to the public, and offered optimistic sentiments about the arts in California: “We are very fortunate and blessed to have diversity in our population--diversity in terms of the creative, talented people who practice their art with dedication and hard work . . . I am so proud that when it comes to artistic expression, California is bursting with creativity.”