San Fernando Valley Arts Council

The San Fernando Valley Arts Council will celebrate the grand opening of the Encino Media Center on Saturday, with screenings of animated films, live music and hands-on art workshops. The opening of the center will be part of a countywide open house program sponsored by CalArts' Community Arts Partnership (CAP), which has conducted free arts training for Los Angeles County teenagers since 1990. Nearly 2,000 youths take part in CAP's programs every year.

The San Fernando Valley Arts Council will celebrate the grand opening of the Encino Media Center on Saturday, with screenings of animated films, live music and hands-on art workshops. The opening of the center will be part of a countywide open house program sponsored by CalArts' Community Arts Partnership (CAP), which has conducted free arts training for Los Angeles County teenagers since 1990. Nearly 2,000 youths take part in CAP's programs every year.

I read "Nava Opposes Plan to Help El Portal Theater" (Times Valley Edition, Dec. 7) with astonishment and sadness. I can understand why a thoughtful person may differ over the social value of any specific project involving expenditure of public funds. However, to oppose all cultural funding under the pretext of safety for Los Angeles citizens ignores history, as well as reflecting an insensitive and uninformed view of the value of arts and culture in everyday life. While everyone agrees that personal safety is a primary requirement of any body politic, the two-edged sword that slashes art and culture also damages the uniquely creative and freedom-loving spirit that lives within all of us. J. JERRY DOMINE Domine is president of the San Fernando Valley Arts Council .

The Los Angeles City Council has approved contracts with nonprofit arts organizations to operate five community arts centers, including one in the Westlake district. The public-private partnerships will compensate for budget cuts in the Cultural Affairs Department over the last five years. Urban Pride Inc. and Friends of McGroarty Arts Center will operate, respectively, the William Reagh Los Angeles Photography Center in Westlake and McGroarty Arts Center in Tujunga.

I was most interested to note that among the financial supporters of the election campaign by Rep. Anthony C. Beilenson (D-Los Angeles) was Joseph T. Edmiston of the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy. The conservancy has been aggressive in its attempt to take over the facilities owned by Soka University. I am concerned that conservancy bureaucrats will take the place of college students, as well as promised cultural and artistic activities. In addition to Beilenson, several public officeholders, including state Senator-elect Tom Hayden (D-Santa Monica)

It was a shock to me to learn of the draconian reductions in donations from business and corporate sponsors to the highly valued Valley Cultural Center's "Concerts in the Park" program ("Shift in Corporate Focus Diminishes Donations to Valley Arts," Aug. 24). Curiously, the reduction of $80,000 in their budget coincides with the $80,000 programming budget for the new Madrid Theatre in Canoga Park. The Madrid is owned, staffed and operated by the city of Los Angeles Cultural Affairs Department.

Kudos to you for your editorial "Pierce College Deserves Community's Support" (March 27). I've been a college neighbor for 37 years, saw my wife and two sons graduate and/or serve Pierce in student government and on the athletic field. I also taught management and psychology at Pierce as a part-time instructor for 20 years. A third son leads the West Valley Symphony, which performs with college music department cooperation at the Pierce main stage theater. My six Valley resident grandchildren are discovering the natural wonders of a campus so often explored by my sons when they were children.

The City Council unanimously approved two motions Tuesday that will provide nearly $10,000 for cleanup and public service projects in District 11, which includes portions of the southwest and central San Fernando Valley. The motions were introduced by Councilman Marvin Braude, who represents the district.

While I fully agree with Councilman Joel Wachs' assessment of arts needs and benefits to the voiceless underclasses of the city ("Urban Lesson: No More Walls," Feb. 7), I believe we have gone too far in publicly subsidizing ethnic fringe art at the expense of mainstream arts. Many believe that sharing traditionally valued arts with diverse Angelenos does more to break down walls. Arts appreciation also weaves common cultural strands and builds bridges for mutual understanding. I am convinced that the voiceless voting majority of middle-class Angelenos of all races much prefers cultural events that reinforce American and Judeo-Christian cultural and philosophical roots.

I read your article "Music Center Head Sought Payment for Political Gifts" (April 26) with utter amazement and disbelief. For many years San Fernando Valley arts and cultural groups have received a disproportionate and inequitable share of city and county cultural and arts funds. It would appear that Esther Wachtell and at least one other high-level official of the Music Center knew how to influence elected officials to increase public funds for a downtown nonprofit organization--the Music Center.

As a founder of two emerging intercultural arts organizations as well as recent past president of the San Fernando Valley Arts Council, I was most impressed by Joe R. Hicks' "The Changing Face of America," July 7. . . . As a longtime resident, I know the Valley's face has already changed. Curiously, despite endeavors by educational institutions, the Latino community (with few notable exceptions) has not yet accepted the value of fine arts as a means to facilitate their assimilation into the American cultural mainstream.