Backers See Dream Landscape in Artists Village

Hoping to expand the city’s fledgling Artists Village, a group of arts advocates wants to bring a contemporary art museum, artists lofts and movie theaters to the downtown area.

The ideas are a sort of wish list for the advocates, who hope that plans for art galleries and bookstores instead of vacant buildings will spark interest among private developers.

The group will have a press conference tonight at the Daniel ArvizuGallery in downtown Santa Ana to reveal its plans. A number of city officials, including Artists Village backer and Councilwoman Lisa Mills, are expected to attend.

“Some people walk down 2nd Street and see blight, trash and weeds,” said San Diego-based architect John Sheehan, who drew up the plans for the local group. “We see it as an opportunity for something remarkable.”

The proposal for an expanded Artists Village comes as two of the county’s flagship arts institutions, the Newport Harbor and Laguna art museums, finalize a merger, which they say is necessary in an era of diminished funding for the arts.

But arts advocates say a new, 18,000-square-foot museum in Santa Ana still might succeed. They say the museum would attract people from the stores and neighborhoods in the immediate area.

“It’ll be a great thing to do on a Saturday,” said Bruce Gunther, the chief curator at the Newport Harbor Art Museum. “You’ll get some great enchiladas . . . and you’ll walk over to the arts exhibit.”

Gallery owner Daniel Arvizu, who is spearheading the plans, has formed a nonprofit organization called the Arts District Development Corp. to receive funds from contributors for the proposed Museum and Institute for Contemporary Arts. The organizers hope the city eventually will adopt the plans itself. The city already has zoned part of the area to make it conducive to cultural uses.

A full-fledged Artists Village, however, will take tens of millions of dollars and would not be complete for up to 20 years, Sheehan said.

The Artists Village in the area around Broadway and 2nd streets, is now a small pastiche of public and private buildings, including art galleries and an apartment that will be converted into live-work space for college art students.

The boundaries for an expanded Artists Village would range from 3rd Street on the north to 1st Street on the south, and from Broadway on the west to Spurgeon Street on the east, according to preliminary plans.