ART

Festival Chief: The Los Angeles Festival has taken concrete steps toward a planned 1993 festival by appointing Allison Sampson as executive director. Sampson, who was development director for the 1990 L.A. Festival, has been associate managing director of the L.A. Philharmonic for the last year. She will continue as a special projects consultant for the Philharmonic while working on the 1993 festival, which is planned to focus on the arts of Africa and the Middle East.