Actress Annette Bening named to the California Arts Council

Apparently undaunted by the prospect of appearing in a really low-budget production, film star Annette Bening has joined the California Arts Council.

The cash-depleted state agency used to funnel millions of dollars in government grants to the arts, but drastic cuts during the state’s fiscal crisis have left it unable to do much more than keep up a bare-bones administrative operation.

Bening, known for her roles in “American Beauty” and “The Grifters” and married to Warren Beatty, one of Hollywood’s leading liberal activists, was appointed Tuesday to a four-year term on the arts council by State Sen. John Burton (D-San Francisco), who as the Senate president pro tem has the authority to name one of its 11 members.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has proposed a $3.1-million arts council budget for 2004-05 that would keep California’s state arts funding right where former Gov. Gray Davis’ administration left it: last in the nation, at 9 cents per capita, compared with the U.S. average of $1.15, according to figures from the National Assembly of State Arts Agencies.

Bening joins Aurelia Mika Chang, a Sacramento concert pianist, as the only professional artists on the council.