A Nothing Year for Oxnard Fine Arts Panel

Members of the city’s Cultural and Fine Arts Commission could have tried to work in concert. Instead, they opted for an indefinite intermission.

The advisory committee, created to assist the Oxnard arts, has not met since last February because of a personality clash: Chairwoman Mona Broyles does not like renowned pianist/composer Miguel del Aguila and refuses to convene meetings until he is removed from the panel.

Del Aguila, who wrote a satirical piece for piano based on his first and only commission meeting, refuses to quit. And Mayor Manuel Lopez, the only person with the authority to remove him, has declined to do so.

So, almost a year later, is there any chance that commission members will finally toss aside their differences and end their stalemate? Apparently not.

“You talk to the mayor and ask him what is going to happen with this, because he has all the answers,” Broyles said. “I don’t care to discuss it.”

What’s more, a resolution may be meaningless at this point: Oxnard leaders are considering scrapping the panel entirely because, they say, it does not fit into the city’s new bureaucratic structure.

“I think it is sad that this is happening in Oxnard,” del Aguila said. “Why are they so stubborn? These people are letting the whole commission go down the drain just because of a personality problem.”

Del Aguila, whose operas and chamber music have been performed everywhere from Moscow to Vienna to Ventura County, said he joined the commission to help local artists and expose more young people to cultural events.

But at his first meeting last February, del Aguila provoked the other members by criticizing a local nonprofit group that gives grants to artists who perform in Oxnard. As the disagreement escalated, del Aguila questioned the commission’s dedication and accused other members of being culturally illiterate.

Broyles refused to schedule any more meetings, saying she was still shaking from del Aguila’s verbal assault at that session. She and panel members William Simpson and Bernard Leventhal wrote a letter to the City Council demanding del Aguila’s ouster.

“I feel there was justification in, what should I say, the discontinuance of the commission,” Leventhal said. “I attended the meeting. I tried to advise Miguel to make change reasonably, but he would have none of it.”

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Meanwhile, del Aguila decided to use his frustration with the commission as a source of musical inspiration.

The result was the “Vals Brutal” (Brutal Waltz), a grandiloquent piano composition that sounds impressive at first but then begins to repeat itself over and over before dissolving into a ridiculous climax.

Have del Aguila’s foes heard “Vals Brutal”? Of course.

“I went to his concert in Ventura College,” Leventhal said. “His composition was meant to be a lugubrious, plodding thing, to express his feelings.

“I admire his musicianship, but his behavior in the committee was abominable,” he added. “I thought he was very disruptive and I thought he would not listen to reason.”

Last June, Oxnard held a special dinner to honor those who serve on the city’s various citizens advisory commissions and to reward them with plaques. Although the Cultural and Fine Arts Commission had achieved nothing in 1995, several members attended the event anyway.

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“We were recognized for our contributions to the city,” said Commissioner Peter Lopez. “I hadn’t contributed anything at that point, but I wanted to see if anyone else showed up.”

Del Aguila was also curious to see if anyone would attend the dinner, since commission members refused to take a picture together prior to the event. But he said he decided it would be “immoral” to receive commendations without having done anything.

“I was embarrassed,” del Aguila said. “I wasn’t going to go to this thing and get a plaque after I haven’t been able to do anything for the young people in Oxnard.”

Del Aguila and commission member Lopez, owner of the Galeria Don Pedro art gallery in downtown Oxnard, contend that two city consultants involved with the nonprofit group del Aguila criticized during the infamous first meeting have prevented the commission from reconvening.

Andrew Voth and Jack Lavin, paid consultants for the city’s arts facilities and special events, have no statutory authority over the commission. But del Aguila and Lopez, who have lobbied to get the commission to meet again, say they do have power--in small but subtle ways.

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As an example, Lopez cited the commission’s fracas in February, when del Aguila accused both men of mishandling money and funding out-of-town artists. According to Lopez, Lavin then threatened to close the meeting room if del Aguila did not quiet down.

“I guess they don’t have authority to shut down the meeting,” Lopez said, “but they do have the key to the place.”

Lavin did not return several phone calls asking for comment. But Voth said claims that he and Lavin have power over the commission are ludicrous--as are accusations that Oxnard is wasting a lot of arts money.

“One of the misconceptions Miguel has is that there are huge city funds [for the arts] out there that are being misappropriated,” Voth said. “That’s simply not true.”

So how much longer does del Aguila want to stick with a commission that is determined to avoid him? He is not sure.

Friends in Ventura County’s art scene have advised him to save face and step down, he says, telling him he is “too nice” for Oxnard politics. But he believes his pride is at stake.

“Everybody who knows about this story says, ‘Miguel, put your energy somewhere else, you can’t change things in Oxnard,’ ” del Aguila said. “But this is the place where I live. This is where I want to do something.

“I don’t want to quit because I never had a chance to do anything. That would also mean that these people got rid of me, and I don’t want to give them that kind of power.”