Escondido Arts Center dodges a bullet

Reports in recent weeks that the City of Escondido was planning to close its performing arts center and turn it into commercial offices scared a lot of people--not least of whom was Griff Duncan, producer/artistic director of the FCLO Music Theatre in Fullerton, which sends its shows down there after their OC runs. Griff told me that one issue the City faced was that the site is not zoned for commercial offices, so the city was considering moving its own offices onto the site instead. The community was outraged, and the City has relented. The arts center still has to suffer a significant budget cut, but this is an example of how arts lovers in one community rallied to say "enough is enough" -- the arts are willing to take whatever fair share of cuts have to be spread around, but they won't be singled out as non-essential or easy pickings any more.