Will No One Represent O.C. at State Arts Forum?

What if they gave a protest and nobody came?

Since Wednesday, hundreds of arts leaders, patrons and advocates from throughout the state have been meeting in Los Angeles to discuss all manner of burning issues as part of the “1990 Congress of the Arts,” presented by the California Confederation of the Arts, the state’s largest nonprofit arts advocacy group.

Among the panels that have been or will be covered are “Arts and the Global Economy,” “Beyond Disneyland: Getting California Arts on the International Tourism Map,” “The Arts and the New Governor” and “Arts and Disabilities: An Agenda for the ‘90s.” All are subjects you might expect to draw the interest of at least some Orange County arts leaders.

One that looks especially inviting, though, is “The Fight for Freedom of Expression.” Not only have there been several clashes over arts and censorship in Orange County that would seem to make such a seminar of interest to local arts types, but the organizers said they planned to focus on recent incidents in Costa Mesa, where irate citizens successfully persuaded the City Council to attach anti-obscenity regulations to city arts grants.

Just one problem: Conference officials were nowhere near as successful in trying to persuade certain artists from Costa Mesa to take part in the discussion.

Now, I can understand why the local folks might not rush to a panel called “International and Multicultural Festivals: What Works and What Doesn’t.” We obviously have no need to take pointers from anyone on that front, still awash as we are in the artistic euphoria, the creative afterglow spawned by the recent Festival of Merchandising . . . er, Britain.

But county arts leaders must have memories shorter than a freshman senator’s. Have they forgotten so quickly about the storms set off by the Costa Mesa Civic Playhouse’s staging of Christopher Durang’s satire, “Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All for You”? The La Habra Community Theatre board’s refusal to let a director cast an interracial “Romeo and Juliet” for fear of upsetting the community? And how about the Grove Shakespeare Festival, which probably would get the blessing of certain City Council members if only they dropped all of that, you know, foreign stuff and staged a musical version of, say, “Wheel of Fortune.”

Confederation associate director Ken Larsen said he tried to involve officials from the Costa Mesa Playhouse and from South Coast Repertory, who unexpectedly found themselves on the censorship-sponsorship hot seat earlier this year. Remember when a couple of city residents took exception to the SCR flyer urging support for the National Endowment for the Arts?

The Playhouse is still thinking about attending, but SCR--clearly Orange County’s big fish--won’t be there. Could there be a better victory for those who would silence voices and opinions they’d rather not hear?

SCR’s participation would have been especially significant because it is one of the very few Orange County arts organizations that has achieved national acclaim. Co-founder David Emmes, who turned the confederation down, wouldn’t have needed to bellow “we’re mad as hell,” but with force and dignity might have let the rest of the state know that “we’re not gonna take it anymore.”

But Emmes says that his PR man didn’t tell him what the panel was about and that, anyway, we didn’t have enough advance notice and we’re awfully busy over here right now so would you please stop bugging us?

The PR man, meanwhile, says he wasn’t told that the invitation had anything to do with a “Freedom of Expression” seminar, while Larsen swears he made that perfectly clear.

Funny thing: Lots of others who were invited to the panel--including Bella Lewitzky, the acclaimed modern dance company director who’s got to be at least as busy as David Emmes, and Arts Democratic Club vice president Bruce W. Davis, who’s coming all the way from San Francisco--managed to get the invitation straight and found that it came in plenty of time for them to arrange their schedules. But then, this wouldn’t be the first time that Emmes has opted out of the spotlight as far as controversy is concerned (see accompanying story).

In any case, with no Orange County representatives on this panel, the outside perception will persist that this is a region where freedom is limited to which credit card we use at Nordstrom, and self-expression is what follows the words “My Other Car Is a . . .” on our BMW license plate frames.

Regardless of how busy SCR might be, it certainly should be able to find at least one top official who could be sprung loose for a few hours to attend the Saturday morning session. Undoubtedly, officials there are more than happy that they wound up with their grant money safely in hand, and now would just as soon forget the whole thing. But it’s a mistake to play ostrich--or is it opossum?--and then meekly hope that the opponents of free expression will turn their attention elsewhere. It’s crucial to show that an arts community won’t be intimidated by those who fear the unconventional, the unfamiliar, the unsettling.

I hope circumstances don’t arise in which SCR finds itself in need of vociferous support of arts organizations outside of Orange County. It might just hear the refrain of that great old country song, “When your phone don’t ring--it’ll be me.”