THE ARTSQuake Help for CalArts: The J....

THE ARTS

Quake Help for CalArts: The J. Paul Getty Trust has awarded $2 million to California Institute of the Arts to help repair the Valencia campus’ earthquake damage, which is estimated at $12 million to $15 million. CalArts received extensive damage to its mechanical systems in the Jan. 17 quake and has been forced to move its 1,000 students to temporary, off-site classrooms. Most of the campus remains structurally intact, however, and administrators hope to return to full operations by September. “CalArts is recognized internationally as a leading educational institution devoted to the arts,” Trust President Harold M. Williams said of the unsolicited gift. “We hope (it) will encourage others to support the institute as it rebuilds.”

MOVIES

Vying for ‘Worsts’: The Madonna-Willem Dafoe picture “Body of Evidence,” Sylvester Stallone’s “Cliffhanger,” the Demi Moore-Robert Redford film “Indecent Proposal,” Arnold Schwarzenegger’s “Last Action Hero” and the Sharon Stone-William Baldwin flick “Sliver” have been selected by the Golden Raspberry Award Foundation to vie for the dubious honor of the year’s worst motion picture. Nominated for worst actress were Madonna, Melanie Griffith (“Born Yesterday”), Janet Jackson (“Poetic Justice”), Moore and Stone. Taking nods for worst actor were Baldwin, Dafoe, Redford, Schwarzenegger and Burt Reynolds (“Cop and a Half”). The “Razzie” awards, an annual spoof of the Oscars, will be announced March 20, the day before the Academy Awards. And speaking of the Oscars, cable viewers will have two choices for live coverage of today’s 5:30 a.m. announcement of 1994 nominations. Steve Kmetko and Michael Castner will host the coverage on E! Entertainment Television, and Laurin Sydney and Jim Moret will front a special edition of CNN’s “Showbiz Today.”

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Editing Nods: “In the Name of the Father,” “In the Line of Fire,” “Schindler’s List,” “The Fugitive” and “The Piano” have been nominated by the American Cinema Editors for the year’s best edited motion picture. The 44th annual ACE Eddie Awards, in seven film and television categories, will be presented March 12 in Beverly Hills.

TELEVISION

Violence Study Bolsters Network Claims: A new study supports the networks’ claims that they have reduced violence on the air, and indicates that the real culprit in TV violence is first-run syndicated programming. The independent Center for Media and Public Affairs evaluated the season premieres of eight syndicated and 74 network series this season. It found that the eight syndicated programs accounted for 33% more serious violence than all 74 network series, and six of the 10 most violent programs were syndicated (no cable programming was evaluated). The findings also essentially backed the networks’ claims that they have reduced violence in their programs: Although incidents of violence did increase slightly overall in comparison to the same study last year, incidents classified as “serious violence”--such as armed or sexual assaults--dropped by 28% and the amount of gunplay was down by nearly 58%.

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Teens to Talk About Violence: Teen violence will be the topic when cable’s C-SPAN presents its second “National Student Town Meeting,” featuring 200 high school students in discussion with several elected officials. Taped in Dade County, Fla., the special airs Feb. 18 at 5 p.m. and Feb. 20 at 11 a.m.

LEGAL FILE

Another Jackson Case: Michael Jackson figures in yet another lawsuit, although for once he’s not a defendant. This time, attorneys Duane Folke and Herbert Hafif, who represented a sound engineer who had sued Jackson for not crediting him properly on the “Bad” album, have turned around and sued their former client, Hugo Zuccarelli, alleging he agreed to settle the case and then backed out, wanting more. The case ended last March when Los Angeles Superior Court Judge David Yaffe granted a summary judgment to Jackson and CBS/Sony. Zuccarelli reacted by punching two of Jackson’s lawyers and thus receiving a community service sentence for misdemeanor assault.

QUICK TAKES

Actor-singer Jim Nabors remained in critical but stable condition Tuesday following liver transplant surgery at UCLA Medical Center Monday. He is expected to be hospitalized for at least a month. . . . Her movie deal is with ABC, but figure skater Nancy Kerrigan also has a deal with NBC--to host the March 12 edition of “Saturday Night Live,” which also features musical guest Aretha Franklin. . . . Rock group R.E.M. will receive the first Patrick Lippert Award for “inspiring a new generation of young people to become a part of the political process.” The award will be presented by MTV Feb. 18 at a New York fund-raiser for Rock the Vote, a nonprofit group founded by the late Lippert.