Orange County Artists to Join in L.A. Festival : Arts: The event focuses on countries bordering the Pacific Ocean. Latinos, Koreans and Laotians from the county will take part.

Orange County will be represented in September’s ambitious and wide-ranging Los Angeles Festival by several artists, including a Latino muralist, Korean contemporary painters and Laotian craftsmen, organizers announced Thursday.

Some local artists will take part as members of large music or dance ensembles or extensive group art exhibits, festival officials said in explanation of why a precise breakdown by county of participants was unavailable. In addition, more Orange County artists, probably from the county’s large Southeast Asian community, may be added to the expanding lineup.

Two artists were named Thursday: Willie Herron of Laguna Hills, a muralist and painter who gained prominence for work he did in Los Angeles over the past two decades. (See related story, this page.) Herron will receive $3,000 from the festival toward restoration of his noted 1976 East Los Angeles mural, “La Doliente de Hidalgo,” now being restored through a city-funded mural program.

Also, Korean artist Jungran Noh of Anaheim Hills will be part of a four-person show of contemporary painting at Angels Gate Cultural Center in San Pedro.

In addition, Orange County will be represented by members of the Long Beach-based Cambodian Yinn Ponn Pin Peat Orchestra, and in a group show of Laotian textiles, artifacts, hand crafts and musical instruments at the Long Beach FHP Hippodrome Gallery, festival officials said.

All events in the wide-ranging, multidisciplinary festival, which focuses on countries that border the Pacific Ocean, will take place in Los Angeles County.

Festival organizers also said 16 Orange County artists and groups have applied for the festival’s “open” portion in which participants pay to produce themselves. Among the local applicants (out of 700 total) are the Arpana Dance Company of Irvine, the Atesh Belly Dance Troupe of Santa Ana, and the Hardcover Railroad, a Brea poetry, literary and theater ensemble. The line up for the Open Festival, open to any and all who are interested, will not be announced for a few months.

Ramya Harishankar, artistic director of the Arpana Dance Group, said she is considering an Open Festival presentation at the Center Theater of the Long Beach Convention Center and believes she will be able to raise the theater’s fee of $2,500 to $3,000 per evening. Spokeswomen from two other Orange County troupes that applied--Gloria Newman Dance Theater and Dance Kaleidoscope--said they hope to take part, but do not know whether they will be able to afford to.

Open Festival officials will help participants find venues, some perhaps at reduced rents. Applications may be obtained by calling (213) 315-9444.