Countywide Arts Agency Urged

Joanne C. Kozberg, director of the California Arts Council, used the occasion of a luncheon talk Wednesday at South Coast Repertory to prod the arts and business leaders on hand about the lack of a countywide arts agency.

“It seems to me that some wonderful opportunities are eluding the residents of this county,” Kozberg told an audience that was assembled on a set from SCR’s “A Christmas Carol.”

While she praised the success of Orange County arts groups in attracting private dollars, the lack of a countywide agency leaves them “operating separately and alone, without a unified voice,” when it comes to competing for public funds. The CAC, for instance, works extensively with county agencies in distributing its annual grants, which totaled $11 million this year.

“If you want to survive and blossom,” she said, “you have to collaborate.”

Counties or cities with strong arts councils are generally able to secure more public funding for constituent arts groups; Kozberg used San Francisco as an example. The lack of a county arts agency could hamper the ability of groups to take advantage of proceeds from some upcoming state programs, including a new automobile license plate designed by an artist that is expected to generate several hundred thousand dollars a year for arts education by 1994.

Orange County is one of just six counties in the state without a countywide arts agency. Efforts to create one have dragged on since the Orange County Arts Alliance disbanded in 1988 because of money and management troubles. In the past year, the Historical and Cultural Foundation of Orange County has considered taking on the task, but no decisions have been reported.

The foundation was established in 1985 to promote cross-cultural understanding. It publishes an artists’ directory, runs arts education programs and provides other services that an arts council might undertake.

One county arts group that has done well with the CAC despite the lack of a countywide agency is SCR, which for three years running has received the highest ranking for both artistic programming and outreach programs. Kozberg said that SCR’s $105,000 in 1992 grants constitutes more than a third of the county’s total of $263,522 ($50,000 of which was a matching grant to SCR).

Wednesday’s luncheon was a kickoff for the public phase of SCR’s 1992-93 annual fund drive. The theater has so far achieved 40% of its $1.5-million goal, annual fund chairman James E. Henwood announced.

In addition to theater supporters, the audience for Wednesday’s luncheon included State Sen. Marian Bergeson (R-Newport Beach). Luncheon-goers, seated in Scrooge’s bedroom, got a personal tour of the set’s trap doors and other special effects from the director of “A Christmas Carol,” John David Keller.