Officials Seek Funds to Draw Top Shows to Plaza : Thousand Oaks: Supporters of the civic arts facility plan to ask the city for seed money. But they admit there are risks.

Eager to bring flashy musicals, country crooners and famous magicians to Thousand Oaks, the community leaders charged with guiding the Civic Arts Plaza have indicated they will request city subsidies to sponsor top-notch shows.

Presenting 25 big-name acts during the theaters’ first year would cost about $500,000, as popular artists demand substantial talent fees for each show, said Thomas Mitze, executive director of the Civic Arts Plaza theaters. Without seed money from the city, or some other source, the cultural center would not be able to afford such ambitious programming, he said.

Theoretically, the city would recoup its loans through ticket sales, Mitze said. But advancing taxpayer money to sponsor five-star performances would be risky--especially in a new facility in an untested market, he said.

“I have lost money on sure things and I have made money on risks,” Mitze said.

Nonetheless, several members of the newly created Civic Theater Commission indicated they would be willing to take the chance.

In its first meeting Wednesday night, the advisory group discussed its goal of creating a premier cultural center when the 1,800-seat auditorium and 400-seat theater open in October, 1994.

Although they took no formal vote, the commissioners nodded in agreement when Chairwoman Virginia Davis said residents expect to see Broadway shows, big-band concerts and other major attractions in the $64-million arts center.

“I wouldn’t like to see this as a fully rental facility,” she said. “That’s not what the community was promised.”

As a rental facility hosting mainly amateur groups, the Civic Arts Plaza could run on a bare-bones budget without support from the city, much like the Oxnard Civic Auditorium. Mitze said the theater could present a full and varied schedule just by renting space to traveling troupes. But big-ticket performers refuse to rent stages and would only come to Thousand Oaks if the cultural center could pay their talent fees.

Councilman Frank Schillo said Thursday that the city should help pay the fees to take full advantage of the Civic Arts Plaza, which backers have described as the most attractive, state-of-the-art cultural facility between Los Angeles and San Francisco.

But Councilwoman Elois Zeanah has argued vehemently against using taxpayer dollars to subsidize the cultural center’s operations.

The City Council must vote on all policy recommendations formulated by the Civic Theater Commission, which includes seven voting members and three non-voting representatives of local arts groups.

Along with the subsidy issue, the commissioners will debate several key policy matters over the next few months, such as how much to charge for theater rentals and how to decide which groups get scheduling priority.

Several professional performance troupes have already put in bids to become the auditorium’s resident theater company, staging three or four productions each season for two-week runs. Interested groups include the Santa Barbara Civic Light Opera and the Conejo Valley’s Santa Susana Repertory Company.

Yet another contentious issue concerns parking at the Civic Arts Plaza, which is situated just off the Ventura Freeway at the Hampshire Road exit.

Executive Director Mitze admitted the 765-space parking garage now under construction would not provide enough room for cars during sold-out performances. But he insisted that the parking crunch would “add a sense of excitement” for theater-goers.

Mitze also disclosed that he plans to ask the City Council to approve a $4 charge for weekend parking at the performing arts complex.

The parking fees would generate $200,000 a year for the operating budget. A $1-per-ticket surcharge would kick in an extra $100,000, Mitze estimated.

Parking charges will be “very controversial because we don’t have anything else like that in town,” Schillo said. “Four dollars sounds like a lot when you’re paying $20 to $30 a ticket. But we’ll have to look at what that money will pay for.”

As the commissioners debate these issues, a separate grand-opening committee of 140 residents is formulating plans for a 10-week inaugural celebration next fall, which probably will include dozens of cultural events, black-tie parties, punch-and-cookie receptions, and the sale of commemorative coins, T-shirts and mugs.