Supervisors to Vote on County Arts Agency

The Orange County Board of Supervisors is scheduled to vote Tuesday on whether to develop a countywide arts agency, according to an aide to Supervisor Thomas F. Riley.

If created, the agency might further be designated by the supervisors as the county’s “state-local partner” with the California Arts Council, or official arts representative to the state. Meanwhile, the supervisors are considering whether to give that designation temporarily to an ad hoc committee of local arts leaders.

As a “state-local partner,” an agency can receive state and federal grants for redistribution to local arts groups. The county has been without such a partner since the Orange County Arts Alliance dissolved in 1988 and is now one of six counties (among 58 statewide) without a partnership. According to one estimate, Orange County is losing out on as much as $30,000 in state arts money every year as a result.

Riley placed the vote on Tuesday’s calendar after reading a report that he had requested from the county administrative office on the county’s role in local arts support.

“The report indicates the need for the county to take a leadership and coordination role to bring together public and private efforts to establish a countywide (arts) program,” Riley said.

The proposed agency would be developed with cooperation from the CAO, the Environmental Management Agency, the Department of Education, the Orange County Public Library and the League of Cities and would be funded with up to $50,000 in special district augmentation money normally used for county parks. A structural and funding plan would be submitted to the supervisors during their 1990-91 budget hearings, to begin in July.

Other potential funding sources--such as an endowment fund, grants, membership dues and private contributions--are to be considered as well. Riley recommends that the county contribute no more than the $50,000.

“If this agency is to truly benefit the entire county of Orange, it should probably represent funding sources other than just the county,” said Riley aide Stephen Blanchard.