SCR’s $117,500 NEA Grant Is Third Largest in State

South Coast Repertory in Costa Mesa will receive $117,500, the third-largest grant to be given in California by the National Endowment for the Arts during the current quarter. NEA grants were also announced for the Laguna Art Museum ($50,000) and the Newport Harbor Art Museum ($22,500).

The largest grant in the state this quarter, $230,000, goes to the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles; the Old Globe Theatre in San Diego came in second with $177,500.

SCR’s grant for the previous quarter also had been the third-largest in the state, $115,000. The current grant, of unrestricted operating funds to support the company’s 1992-93 season, is only $2,500 more but nevertheless is a “significant signal of encouragement,” according to Ben Cameron, director of the NEA theater program. Because of budget constraints and greater competition for funds, even grants equal in amount actually represent an increase, Cameron said.

SCR’s is the 19th-largest theater grant nationwide, said NEA spokesman Josh Dare. The largest, $267,605, goes to the Guthrie Theatre in Minneapolis. This round, the NEA awarded a total of $62 million in 1,107 grants nationwide.

The Laguna Art Museum’s $50,000 grant is the third largest to a museum in California. It will support a retrospective of American geometric abstract painter John McLaughlin. The exhibit, organized by museum director Charles Desmarais and curator of exhibitions Susan Anderson, is planned for the fall of 1993 and will travel. McLaughlin was prominent during the 1950s, ‘60s and ‘70s, years he spent in Laguna Beach and Dana Point, Desmarais said.

The Newport Harbor Art Museum--which may lose out on California Arts Council funding this year because of a lowered council rating--is being given two NEA grants to support the display of traveling shows organized by other institutions.

Earlier this year, NEA grants were announced for the Pacific Symphony Orchestra ($40,000), Opera Pacific ($30,000), Cal State Fullerton ($8,650, for its American Indian literary magazine SAIL), the Master Chorale of Orange County ($5,000) and Pacific Chorale ($5,000).