Arts O.C. Gets $28,500 Grant

The California Arts Council has awarded Arts Orange County $28,500 for general operations and is considering another $12,200 to help pay for a study of public arts education the agency has planned, council officials said Thursday.

The service agency, which stages conferences and provides technical assistance to county arts groups on a $200,000 annual budget, received $1,500 more this year than last from the council, which also gave it a $15,000 start-up grant in 1995.

The 11-member council will vote next month whether to accept the recommendation of one of its volunteer peer panels to fund the agency’s arts education study.

The study, to be conducted by a consultant, would survey Orange County’s school districts to identify areas in which local private funders, artists and arts organizations might help. It is expected to cost about $80,000, so other funding is being sought, said Bonnie Brittain Hall, executive director of Arts Orange County.

“We hope to be able to devise an action plan to strengthen arts education in the county over the next few years,” Hall said.