A ‘Sho’ Room for an Often-Ignored Medium : A UC Irvine student is planning to open a venue this fall in Santa Ana that features performance and visual art by Orange Countians.

Planning to open a performance and visual art venue in early September, UC Irvine student Robert Tyler has signed a renewable, one-year lease on a 3,100-square-foot industrial park unit in Santa Ana near Sunflower Avenue and Main Street.

The planned venue, to be called Sho, will offer performance art every weekend and focus on Orange County student and professional artists, said Tyler, a biology major who plans to run the nonprofit operation with fellow performance artist Dan Goodsell. Both have studied performance art at UC Irvine with John White.

“Orange County doesn’t have anything like this--a real performance-art space and an area for exhibition of student work and work by unknown visual artists,” Tyler said.

Nationally known Los Angeles performance artist Tim Miller tentatively is scheduled to appear at Sho’s opening, Tyler said.

Arts on the Green, the annual arts festival held in Costa Mesa, will be staged Sept. 21 and 22. About 80 dance, music, theater groups and visual artists from throughout Orange County are expected to take part, said co-chairman Ted Baker, dean of fine arts at Orange Coast College. Organizers are trying to raise the event’s proposed $100,000 budget from corporate sponsors. A grant from the city of Costa Mesa is expected as well, Baker said.

Pianist Yuko Kanamori, 18, has won first place in the 1991 B. Douglas Sawtelle Music Scholarship competition sponsored by the Orange County Musicians’ Assn. Local No. 7 of the American Federation of Musicians. Kanamori, a graduate of University High School in Tustin, won $750.

Runners-up include pianist Patricia Martoletti, 18, of Tustin, who won $500; violinist Cindy Lin, 18, Irvine ($300), pianist Lauri Mendes, 21, Diamond Bar ($250); and mandolinist Phong Quan Do, 25, Costa Mesa ($200).

Drummer Jeremy Reinboldt, 18, of Anaheim, and bassist Danton Boller, 18, of Huntington Beach, split the Mick Price Jazz Scholarship award, each winning $250.

The winners will give a free recital on May 16 at 7 p.m. at the Yamaha School of Music, 15455 Jeffrey Road in Irvine. Information: (714) 546-8166.

June 1 is the deadline for entry into the second annual Performance Poetry Competition held by Poets Reading Inc. of Fullerton. Poets, judged on their writing and oral presentation, will vie for a $100 first prize at the June 29 event. Entry fee is $5. Information: (714) 441-1820.

Jason Kubischta, a senior at Fountain Valley High School, and Bryan Mulligan, a student at Orange Coast College, took first place in the annual student design and drawing awards sponsored by the Orange County chapter of the American Institute of Architects. The high-school competition involved making models and drawings of the proposed elevated light rail passenger station for the city of Irvine, and the community-college competition was for an Amtrak station expansion. Judges were drawn from the Orange County architectural and business communities and the city of Irvine.

In the college division, all winners were Orange Coast College students: Christopher M. Damico (first place), Greg Hemmerlin (second place) and Brad Mansfield and Marc McQuain (honorable mention).

In the high-school division, John Denson of Fountain Valley High School took second place, and Mike Howard of Newport Harbor High School, Newport Beach, placed third. Other high-school awards went to Greg Bloom, Canyon High School, Anaheim Hills; Darren Houck, Newport Harbor High School; Andrew Schilling, Corona del Mar High School; Christa Panattoni, Esperanza High School, Yorba Linda; and Henry Lo and Frank Berry of Fountain Valley High School. Winners were presented with certificates and cash awards.

Newport Harbor Art Museum has scheduled five benefit events this spring and summer involving trips to see prominent supporters’ art collections and homes, several of which have been featured in Architectural Digest magazine. Tickets for each event are $150, and proceeds will support the museum’s exhibitions and education programs.

On Wednesday, ethnic and contemporary art collectors Nancy and James Baldwin of Laguna Beach will host an evening with interior designer Steven Chase. On May 25, the Palm Springs home of Marion and Jack Shea, whose collection features work by major artists of the post-World War II period, will be the site of a formal dinner.

Joan and Donald Beall and Judy and Rogue Hemley will host a “Pacific Rim” dinner, catered by two Golden Truffle restaurant chefs, in Corona del Mar on June 1. A dinner cooked by architects Michael Porter and Alex Caragonne (husband of Margie M. Shackelford, the museum’s director of development) highlight a visit to the Corona del Mar home of Barbara and Thomas Peckenpaugh on July 13. Contemporary art collector Eugene C. White will host a dinner at his Corona del Mar home on July 20. Call (714) 759-1122 for more information.

In honor of International Museum Day on May 18, Newport Harbor Art Museum will distribute coupons for free admission. They will be available at Fashion Island as part of “Newport Salute to the Arts,” sponsored by the Newport Beach Arts Commission. Activities offered from noon to 4 p.m. on that day throughout Fashion Island will include a puppet show, mime, musical performances and a shell sculpture workshop organized by the museum. For more information on “Newport Salute to the Arts,” call the arts commission at (714) 644-3150.

On May 19, the museum will hold the second in a series of new programs for the hearing impaired. At 1:15 and 2:15 p.m., docents and interpreters from the Dayle McIntosh Center for the Disabled will lead tours of “Typologies” and “Kim Yasuda: New California Artist XIX.” Tours will be free with museum admission: $3 general, $2 for senior citizens and students, $1 for children 6 to 17, free for children under 6. Information: (714) 759-1122.

The museum will hold an orientation reception and docent tour on June 3 at 9:30 a.m. for anyone interested in becoming a docent at the museum. Docent training consists of a nine-month study program in contemporary art history and in the techniques of touring and public speaking. Information: ((714) 759-1122.

In July and August, Newport Harbor will be offering eight classes for children ages 2 1/2 to 13 and one class for adults. Fees range from $25 to $60. For more information, call the museum’s education department at (714) 759-1122, or the Newport Beach Parks, Beaches and Recreation Department, which is organizing two of the children’s classes, at (714) 644-3151.

The Laguna Art Museum, which normally is closed on Mondays, will be open on Memorial Day, May 27, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Information: (714) 494-6531.

A new bimonthly opera lecture series sponsored by the Opera League of Laguna Beach will begin June 2, when Opera Pacific general director David DiChiera will discuss the history of opera. The 5 p.m. lecture, followed by a buffet dinner, will be held at a private home in Emerald Bay. Admission is $25. DiChiera will complete his historical survey on Aug. 2. No location has been set. Information: (714) 546-7372.