The Committee to Form an Orange County...

The Committee to Form an Orange County Arts Council has been awarded a $10,000 technical-assistance grant from the California Arts Council. The group of a dozen Orange County arts officials working to create a local arts agency will use the funds “to continue planning efforts over the next year,” said its chairman Joe Felz, director of the Fullerton Museum Center. The committee recently abandoned the idea of aligning with the Multicultural Arts Council of Orange County because the council couldn’t devote a full-time staffer, Felz said. Earlier it failed to obtain county funding. In the next year, it will examine other means of financial support and re-evaluate the mission it set for a local agency shortly after forming three years ago, Felz said. “We’re not looking to form an agency under (any other organization’s wing) or any government body,” he said.