L.A. Festival May Switch Plans in ’93 : Arts: A reduced budget and criticism over its temporary nature have organizers considering changes in the event, focused on Africa, Middle East and African-American Diaspora.

What the 1993 Los Angeles Festival will look like, how long it will run and who it may include are still undecided matters, the stuff of committees and focus groups discussing the festival’s “process.” But one thing is certain: There’s going to be a lot less money around for next year’s event than there’s been in the past.

With a general theme of Africa, the Middle East and the African-American Diaspora, the 1993 festival’s budget will range from $3.5 million to $4.25 million, said Executive Director Allison Sampson. That is down from the $6 million artistic director Peter Sellars projected last December.

Having only this month retired its debt from the 1990 festival, an event that cost $5.6 million, Sampson said the festival is being realistic about raising money while the recession lingers. “That was an ‘80s budget. This is a ‘90s budget. There are many causes that need attention in this city.”

Sampson said the festival’s structure will be made public in September, when proposals from artists would also be solicited. Sellars, who is preparing to direct an opera at the Salzburg Festival, is expected to be back in Los Angeles by then.

The 1993 event’s specifics are still ambiguous as organizers hammer out the overall concept with arts organizations, focus groups, the festival’s steering committee and board of directors. Although the festival is only about a year away (scheduled for Aug. 17-Sept. 6, 1993), officials insist their planning is on schedule.

Organizers are considering lengthening the festival, extending it to one month or spreading activities out over a period as long as six months. This change would be in response to criticism that the event’s temporary nature contributes little of lasting value to the city’s arts environment.

The festival has received a $250,000 planning grant from the city’s cultural affairs department and hopes to receive the same amount in the 1993-94 budget for production expenses. Last December, the Community Redevelopment Agency gave $500,000 for pre-production expenses for performances in targeted neighborhoods. AT&T; has donated more than $100,000 for performances about West Coast gospel and spiritual traditions.

Japanese-owned companies were big funders of the 1990 festival, donating $1 million. With the theme switching from the Pacific to the Middle East and Africa, Sampson said she is unsure if the festival will get the same corporate support. “I don’t know how many companies here are African-American owned,” she said.

A reduced budget will likely translate into less programming, said Norman Frisch, an associate director of the festival. Less money may also mean more of a local focus, although Frisch said “the festival has been heading that way for five years.”

Officials are mum about programming, but the National Endowment for the Arts has awarded $35,000 for a collaborative work by vocal group Sweet Honey in the Rock, the Dayton Contemporary Dance Company and choreographer Diane McIntyre. Although a contract has not been signed, festival officials have been talking with stage director Reza Abdoh about a contemporary adaptation of an ancient Persian poem.

Festival officials have been discussing the riots’ effect on the city. However, they haven’t changed their strategy in response to the events following the verdict in the Rodney G. King case.

“Our emphasis has always been on Los Angeles and the voices that have been ignored before,” Sampson said. “We went to our coalitions and they said, ‘Keep doing what you’re doing.’ . . . Our emphasis on youth culture has become even more important.”

Ben Caldwell, an African-American filmmaker who serves on the festival’s steering committee, said, “The riots were not that much of a surprise. Healing has always been a part of the festival’s process. The riots show that we really do have to heal.”

But calling the festival’s community outreach no more than “a cultural safari,” Keith Antar Mason, a performance artist and director of a collective called the Hittite Empire, said the festival hasn’t sat down with black avant-garde artists who could “motivate people to be involved.”

“It’s a totally knee-jerk reaction to the times,” Mason said. “The black community needs to get exposed. We’re going to get a gospel concert, a jazz concert and dancers from Guinea.”

Such controversy isn’t new to the festival, which went through a lengthy process analyzing its 1990 effort.

“There’s been constant tension around the festival,” Frisch said. “Is it friend or foe? People can’t decide if we’re the best thing that ever happened to them or the worst thing.”