Pringle Backs Orchestra Bid to Raise Rating : Grants: Garden Grove orchestra was given a 2+ score, below the usual 3- minimum for receiving state money. Intervention by assemblyman is unlikely to raise it.

The Garden Grove Symphony has enlisted the aid of its state assemblyman to contest a recent low rating by a California Arts Council advisory panel.

But a top council official said the challenge is not likely to make any difference in the orchestra’s bid for a state arts grant.

“We treat every public official with respect and care,” said Robert Reid, arts council director, on Wednesday. “It doesn’t affect the process.”

Assemblyman Curt Pringle (R-Garden Grove) wrote to Reid last week to criticize a music panel for recently rating the Garden Grove Symphony a 2+ on a scale of 1 to 4, with 4 being the highest. Ratings form the basis for arts council grants. Groups that aren’t rated as high as 3- rarely get state arts money. The orchestra has failed to qualify for a CAC grant for the last three years. It has applied for $16,900 this year.

“I wrote the letter to show that it’s not just the community that supports the orchestra but elected officials who support it,” Pringle said Wednesday from his Sacramento office. “I totally resent the type of public, disparaging comments made by a panel member toward the symphony and the people who participate in it. . . .

“The Garden Grove Symphony is a community-sponsored program. They have applied for this type of grant for four years. Taxpayers in this part of the county and the community are funding the council in the same manner as taxpayers in Berkeley. I don’t appreciate this type of bias toward our community.”

Pringle, who said he regularly attends Garden Grove Symphony concerts, added: “I’m glad to use my position to express resentment toward someone else coming into our community, telling us what kind of art we should enjoy. . . . If government is going to support the arts . . . and if money is available, all communities should get a fair shake.”

Grants will be awarded at arts council meetings on Sept. 10 and 11 in Sacramento. Groups unhappy with the outcome can submit appeals that the council will review at the next scheduled meeting, which is Nov. 15 in Long Beach.

Symphony general manager Yaakov Dvir-Djerassi said orchestra representatives will attend the September meetings and will appeal if the rating is not overturned.

“We have to be approved by the state,” Dvir-Djerassi said Wednesday, “because tomorrow the City Council can come to us and say, ‘The state doesn’t think you are worthwhile. Why should we invest in you?’ I think it’s that crucial.”

Reid said that during a typical year, “We have maybe 25 appeals, for all of our programs. Maybe one or two are upheld.”

Reid, who has been director of the council since 1986, said the CAC received more than 3,000 applications this year. He said about 1,000 grants will be awarded.

“We’re not running a campaign,” he said. “The council judges on the basis of material presented by the staff and (advisory) panels. You don’t judge grants on how many letters of support you receive. The groups are supposed to be receiving grants on the basis of quality.”

Still, Reid, would not criticize Pringle for pressuring the council. “It’s a perfectly legitimate thing to do,” he said. “We get tons of letters of endorsement from the front end, such-and-such legislator says some group is a wonderful institution.

“We take all those letters, put them in the application that goes to the panel. We get them all the time. . . . I would call this, just constituent interest.”

Reid said that the council will respond to Pringle with a letter.