2 O.C. Arts Directors Back Clinton

The directors of two major Orange County arts organizations on Tuesday endorsed Democrat Bill Clinton for President, while the head of a third local arts group said he hadn’t yet made a decision.

David Emmes, producing artistic-director of South Coast Repertory, and Louis G. Spisto, executive director of the Pacific Symphony, said they think Clinton is a stronger supporter of the arts than President Bush. David DiChiera, artistic director of Opera Pacific, said he wasn’t ready to make an endorsement.

The question arose during a panel discussion of arts and the economy put on by the Newport Beach Area Chamber of Commerce. Neither Emmes nor Spisto would commit himself in front of the 100 or so local business people attending the function, held at a hotel/tennis club in this traditionally Republican stronghold, but when pressed later by a reporter in private, each said Clinton was his man.

Clinton’s positions backing public arts support and free expression for the National Endowment for the Arts “make him the candidate of choice,” Emmes said.

Spisto said that to be an arts “savior,” the next President would have to double or triple the NEA’s budget, an impossibility because “there’s not enough money in the federal government.” But Spisto recommended a vote for Clinton because of the candidate’s support of education, which would mean more dollars for arts in the schools.

“Not only is Clinton supportive of the arts, but I think he is going to be an education President, as opposed to just talking about it” as Bush has, Spisto said.

Although the Republican platform has been released, DiChiera said he wouldn’t decide who to endorse until after this week’s Republican convention, when he can see where the party stands on arts, education and abortion.

He did recommend, though, that chamber members “target” local politicians “who have very specific biases against the arts.”