ORANGE COUNTY PERSPECTIVE : A Question of Priorities

Thomas F. Riley, chairman of the Orange County Board of Supervisors, has called for a staff study to help determine just how active county government should be in the arts. The study is long overdue.

The questions of whether the county should have an arts policy and, if so, what it should be, are interesting ones that should be determined.

Several cities in the county have long provided support for the arts. Just last Thursday Dana Point, one of the county’s newest cities, allocated a modest $27,500 to six local cultural organizations.

Although the county for years has been conspicuous by its absence in support of the arts, its consideration of financial support now is curious, coming when the county budget is strained and when critical community needs--like prenatal and maternity care for impoverished pregnant women and support for trauma centers--are woefully underfunded.

Although the spending of public funds to support cultural facilities and programs has long historic precedence, even in the best of financial times, government spending is subject to hard priority decisions. That is even more true today.

The county, however, still could play a vital role in the arts, financially as well as in other ways. It may be possible for the county to secure otherwise unobtainable funds that would not take money from other county programs. And there certainly is a need for leadership and coordination of countywide efforts in the arts that could bring together public and private efforts.

Theater productions, concerts and museums are important to the quality of life. Riley is right in finally trying to determine the board’s responsibilities in the county’s cultural future.