Arts Face Threat of Worst Cuts Yet : Budget deadlock: If state lawmakers follow through with plans to dip heavily into city revenue, Orange County’s municipal cultural programs could suffer severe reductions.

Orange County’s municipal arts and cultural programs, many of which have been trimmed repeatedly over the past two recession-plagued years, could receive their heaviest blows yet if the state makes good on threats to dip heavily into city revenue to help offset an $11-billion budget deficit.

Gov. Pete Wilson and Democratic leaders in the Legislature, having passed a June 15 deadline on passing the budget, remain deadlocked with no agreement in sight. But both sides have said they favor seizing about $1 billion in various revenue normally allocated to local governments. Orange County cities could lose an estimated $100 million.

When the managers of six cities held a press conference in Costa Mesa this week to protest the plan, much of the talk centered on threats to police, fire and paramedic services, and on the possibility of widespread layoffs of city personnel.

With emergency services on the line, the fallout from the continuing state budget deadlock could lead to accelerated cuts in city arts budgets. “The arts are always an easy target, initially,” said Howard Spector, regional manager of the California Assembly of Local Arts Agencies.

Although the arts “certainly can’t be placed on the same line-item as police and fire services,” Spector said, cultural services “are a positive influence on the community, particularly at dire times like this” and a “serious component to the infrastructure of the whole community.” In addition, he said, arts expenditures typically represent a tiny percentage of a city’s overall budget--less than 1% in Manhattan Beach, for instance, where Spector is public arts administrator.

Some Orange County cities now in the annual budget process are already trimming culture budgets as they cope with continuing revenue shortfalls.

Fullerton, which supports one of the most extensive municipal arts programs in the county, may face several trims under recommendations made this week by the Community Services Commission.

Those cuts could include closing the Fullerton Museum Center on Tuesdays, saving $2,130; scaling back exhibition adjunct activities at the Muckenthaler Cultural Center to save $2,000; eliminating the city’s $1,810 contribution to the Fullerton Friends of Music, which sponsors free chamber music concerts in the city; and canceling the annual fall Lively Arts Festival, which includes crafts booths as well as live music and dance performances, for a savings of $5,450. The city budget will be considered July 7.

Joe Felz, director of the Fullerton Museum Center, said the proposed cuts of about 6% are in line with cuts in other city departments, as they have been in the past several budgets. The City Council has recognized that “we provide vital services,” Felz said. “We’ve gotten a lot of support because of what we bring to the community.”

Felz is concerned, however, about what the state-proposed cuts in revenue--which could range from 15% to 20% of Fullerton’s general fund--will mean to the city and its arts programs. “There will be drastic measures,” Felz said. “It will impact everything.”

Scenarios for “deep” cuts in Fullerton--scenarios that Felz characterized as “snapshots” of what could happen rather than actual proposals--were outlined by the city Community Services Commission this week. A cut of $15,100 at the Muckenthaler, for instance, would eliminate weekend hours and one of four annual exhibits. An $18,320 cut at the Fullerton Museum Center would cut hours further and trim adjunct programming for exhibits.

At Tuesday’s press conference, city managers of Santa Ana and Tustin raised the possibility of eliminating all funding for community special events. Costa Mesa, which already cut its cultural grants program in half (to $87,500) earlier this year, estimates that it could lose almost $7 million in state revenue under the plan.

Earlier this month, the situation looked dire in Irvine, where there was sentiment within the City Council to eliminate the Cultural Affairs Division. That division was created in 1989 amid high hopes for an ambitious expansion of the city’s arts program, but those plans have stalled with the recession.

Councilmen William A. (Art) Bloomer and Bill Vardoulis have been pushing for $1.7 million in budget cuts to bring the city’s emergency reserves back to the mandated $6-million level. The two had suggested eliminating the Cultural Affairs Division as part of the trims.

But City Manager Paul O. Brady Jr. did not list elimination of the division in a report on possible budget cuts that was presented to the City Council on Tuesday. In fact, says Cultural Affairs Manager Henry Korn, the council reaffirmed its commitment to the program by approving an application for a three-year, $150,000 matching grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, which would help pay for the city’s Arts in Education partnership with schools and a program of public arts performances.

Korn said that Irvine has helped make up for city budget shortfalls by raising $238,000 in donations and in-kind services in an “aggressive private-sector partnership.”

Fullerton has likewise increased its dependence on raising private funds, Felz said.

Private support will play a large part in the operation of the new arts center planned for Huntington Beach. Cultural Services Manager Michael Mudd said the state budget crisis will probably not delay construction of its new arts center, due to begin in August, but he added that a large reduction in city support could affect long-term operation of the center and also make it harder to raise private funds.

“We’ve been very successful” in raising private funds, Mudd said. “My concern is, we need the support of the municipality in this project.” Donors may be less inclined to give if they see the city reduce its support for the center, he explained.

The continuing recession has kept a number of planned projects on hold, including a performing arts space downtown and a “concert in the park” series--a situation likely to be exacerbated if the state withholds city revenue.

“There’s enormous demand for programming,” Mudd said. “Because our staff resources are so limited, the ideas just sit there on the table.”