Performing Arts Center OKs Ethnic Programs Request : Arts: Philharmonic Society gets to produce its disputed concert series but is denied funds and permission for future non-classical performances.

Orange County Performing Arts Center board members on Thursday approved the Orange County Philharmonic Society’s request to present ethnic programs that Center President Thomas R. Kendrick had opposed.

However, in a prepared statement that surprised observers with its tone, the Center asserted its “mission” to control programming even when others are taking the financial risk by renting Center facilities. The statement stressed that permission for concerts “not oriented to classical music (is) specifically limited to the 1993-94 season.”

And although the Philharmonic Society, which already sponsors most of the internationally recognized classical musicians who perform at the Center, was extended $150,000 in rental credit by the board, the statement further insisted that “to qualify for the credit line, OCPS must agree that it will make no further requests for financial assistance from the Center for the 1993-94 season and succeeding seasons.”

This is the second successive year that the Center has helped the society financially. The Center has given another of its customers, the Pacific Symphony orchestra, similar assistance also for two years. A symphony official said the second time the orchestra’s credit was extended, no such “never-again” proviso was attached.

The Philharmonic Society has said it needs the credit until spring, when patrons renew their subscriptions.

Philharmonic Society board President Steven Lupinacci would say only that he is glad the situation is resolved. Kendrick refused to comment, elaborate or answer any questions about the prepared statement.

A society spokeswoman said the disputed concert series will be announced shortly. It is expected to include such artists as Les Ballets Africains from the Republic of Guinea, Latino groups, and the Chieftains, who are widely acknowledged as the world’s premiere performers of Celtic music.

Several of the so-called non-classical groups mentioned in connection with the series have been presented before at the Center by the Philharmonic Society to sellout crowds.

Yet permission this season came only after three weeks of public controversy, which erupted when Lupinacci charged Kendrick with attempting to wrest artistic control from the society and to pressure it into a merger with the Pacific Symphony. Such a merger, according to some society officials, would facilitate the Center’s administrative tasks.

Center chairman-designate Thomas Nielsen has refused to confirm or deny the charges of pressuring and interference. Kendrick also has refused comment.

In announcing its decisions Thursday, the Center maintained that it had opposed the ethnic programming for fear that it would conflict with the Center’s own presentations and those of other tenants.

The statement also claimed that when the Center presented a modest series of classical music attractions early in its history, Philharmonic Society officials “objected to (their) inclusion as being unnecessarily competitive. . . . As a result, the Center suspended the series.”

However, these days, the Center presents only a dance series that emphasizes ballet, not the sort of ethnic dance the Philharmonic Society would bring in. The Center also hosts touring Broadway revivals with such performers as Debby Boone, some light jazz and chamber music, but nothing along the lines the society is proposing.

Still, the Center’s statement says the hall now insists “all future OCPS series at the Center shall reflect a primary focus on quality touring symphony orchestras and other classical-music attractions.”

In January, the Center approved the society’s requests to present two other series, strictly orchestral in nature.