United Nations of Artists Will Call UCLA Home : Housing: Artists Village will be a global village. Some groups are from countries with conflicting ideologies, but there’ll be no added security.

No extra security precautions are planned at the UCLA campus’ Artists Village when more than 450 participants from U.S., Asian, Latin-American and Pacific locales converge there Sept. 1-16 for the Los Angeles Festival.

Despite the scheduled stays of performers from politically sensitive countries including Cambodia and El Salvador, everything will be “business as usual,” according to campus officials.

“We’ll use only the same security system that is in place on a year-round basis,” said Michael Foraker, UCLA’s director of housing, who noted that the festival is paying UCLA’s standard conference fee for its visiting artists: $45 per person, per day. “It will be business as usual, with no special circumstances.”

Foraker said the village, scheduled to house 466 artists in two-bedroom suites on the northwest corner of the Westwood campus, will be subject only to the campus’ “standard residential security,” the main element of which is provided by patrol cars circling the area after dark.

While the festival’s artists housing staff said it will discourage the public from entering the Artists Village, Foraker said no measures will be taken to keep visitors out.

Last week local representatives of Los Angeles’ Salvadoran community met with festival officials to express anger and object to the appearance of poet David Escobar Galindo who allegedly has ties to that nation’s government. He is confirmed to stay at the village, in addition to the Cambodian Classical Dance Troupe which received U.S. State Department approval for visas Tuesday. (See related story.)

“I don’t see any need for any extraordinary security measures,” said Judy Mitoma, co-curator of the festival and chair of UCLA’s World Arts and Cultures Program. “We will have normal security; I’m sure there won’t be any necessity for more than that. We’re not going to sequester people.”

Inspired by the Athletes Village for 4,400 athletes and officials during the 1984 Olympics, UCLA’s complex is expected to be a center of activity during the festival since more than 200 events between Aug. 31-Sept. 7 are spread out at 70 venues throughout the county.

“The artists village is an idea that Judy (Mitoma) and (festival director) Peter (Sellars) have had all along to create an atmosphere of exchange,” said Ken Wada, the festival’s artist housing coordinator. “It’s different from the shows and other official festival events because there’s going to be interaction among the artists. This is going to be the fun place for the artists. There’s no performing pressure, no production needs. This is just a place to hang out.”

Artists will be able to become part of the campus community during their stay, said Wada, a 1990 UCLA graduate who spent two years as student commissioner of cultural affairs. He assumed his post with the festival last month through a fellowship grant sponsored by the nonprofit group, Arts Inc.

Village residents will have full access to all campus facilities including libraries, museums and galleries and recreational facilities such as the gym, pool, tennis court and track field. Interaction with students is expected since UCLA students will make up most of the estimated 50 volunteers needed to act as translators, campus guides, message runners and helpers in the village’s hospitality room.

Logistics for the village are being handled by Sue West, the festival’s company manager, who said not all visiting artists will stay there.

The “very Western” Wooster Group from New York, for instance, has elected to stay in a hotel closer to the Museum of Contemporary Art’s Temporary Contemporary where it will be performing, because the housing at UCLA has no phones. Two film directors have also cited a need for phones and have declined to stay at the village, West said.

In addition to rooms for artists and their staff, a suite will be kept available for festival officials such as director Sellars, who has said he plans to stay at the village. Ten paid artist coordinators will also reside on site to help schedule tours and excursions, work as translators, ensure that artists’ religious and dietary needs are met and serve as liaisons between the artists and festival staff.

“The Artists Village is really the best place to be; it’s really where you’ll see so much happen,” said West, who also organized artists housing for the 1984 Olympic Arts Festival, the precursor of the 1987 and 1990 L.A. festivals.

In previous festivals, housing was set up in hotels. Mitoma said UCLA was chosen this year to make artists feel more comfortable.

“Putting them (up) in hotels would be more difficult because they would have to deal with things like people who were used to being tipped,” Mitoma said. “The Artists Village will be a place they can relax and feel they have a home base.”

Among the activities planned at the village, Mitoma said, are jam sessions with UCLA music students and musicians from the Court Performers from the Jogjakarta Palace of Java, round-table discussions among artists and volleyball games.

“We’ll have American musicians come in and play for our guests,” Mitoma said. “We want them to experience lots of things, and what we hope is that they will mix cross culturally.”

While Wada said most artists will be able to select their own sightseeing and recreational itineraries, West said every group has already requested a trip to Disneyland.