2 Area Musical Groups Draw Top Endowment Awards

The Conejo Symphony Orchestra and Oakleaf Music Festival emerged as this year’s big winners in Thousand Oaks’ annual distribution of endowment funding for community events.

Interest from the endowment, plus a small city contribution, generated $50,000 this year to fund special events. The City Council voted to divide most of the cash among 11 groups and set aside $14,000 for emergencies later in the year.

Both musical groups received large sums with the understanding that their annual appropriations will dwindle over the next three years as the Civic Arts Plaza takes over much of the city’s cultural programming, Councilwoman Judy Lazar said.

For the upcoming year, however, the symphony received $18,000 to stage a concert featuring violinist Sidney Weiss, concertmaster of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra and his wife, pianist Jeanne Weiss. That concert was scheduled to take place Saturday night in the Cal Lutheran University gym.

“We’re delighted,” said Everett Ascher of the Conejo Symphony. Noting that the award covers the cost of one concert, Ascher added: “There’s no way you can be cost-efficient by playing Beethoven twice as fast with half as many musicians.”

The Oakleaf Festival received $12,000 this year. Other awards include $1,000 each for the Thousand Oaks Hockey Club, which is sponsoring a cultural exchange program with Canada; the Westlake High School Songleaders, for participation in a national dance team championship, and the Conejo Recreation and Park District, for a Memorial Day open-air concert.

Groups receiving $500 each were: the Los Robles Master Chorale, the Thousand Oaks High School Boys Volleyball Booster Club, the Newbury Park Bobby Sox, the Boy Scouts of America’s Ventura County Council, the Conejo Valley Historical Society and the Conejo Valley Botanic Garden.