ARTS COUNCIL ON CULTURAL MISSION; GROUP SEEKS TO LURE PATRONS FROM ACROSS THE COUNTY LINE.

Byline: Michael Coit Daily News Staff Writer

Gone are the days when Los Angeles offered residents from Thousand Oaks to Ventura their only outlet for performing, visual and cultural arts.

Yet many of the region's 200-plus arts organizations and events remain a secret beyond Ventura County. While the Ojai Music Festival, Santa Paula Theater Center, Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza and other major forums lure patrons from beyond the county line, many successful local symphonies, artisans guilds and theater groups are waiting to be discovered by a wider audience.

The Ventura County Arts Council - backed by a 40-member board of arts patrons - aims to generate the marketing, funding and business support to showcase and keep the arts alive, organizers said.

``If the council prevails in the ambitious plans, the council will become a tremendous resource for all of the arts groups,'' said Larry Janss, a board member, photographer and son of the pioneering Janss family. ``The hope is that the arts council would be a kind of maypole around which all the various arts groups will dance.''

Established as a nonprofit group in April, the arts council must overcome the lack of organizational and financial support that hampered earlier efforts to nurture and promote the county's performing and cultural arts.

The arts council gained an important seal of approval when the California Arts Council recently awarded the organization a $28,500 grant.

``We had a series of agencies in Ventura County that did not succeed,'' said Sally Ann Davis, the partnership's program manager. ``We gave them support, but our support has to be leveraged many, many, many times. So this agency will have a challenge.''

Davis said an important element in awarding the grant was the arts council's organizational strength and strategic plan.

``It takes a very clear vision,'' said Susan Feller, the arts council's chief executive officer. ``We have clearly defined the projects we will be working on. We have an extremely strong board of directors.''

Operating out of her Thousand Oaks home while still in search of an office, Feller, assistant Martha Zilm and board members have five initial programs in the works.

Marketing: Produce and distribute 300,000 ArtWorks guides featuring a calendar of events and descriptions of arts groups. Create brochures for chambers of commerce and economic development agencies. Develop an on-line resource guide and children's programs.

United arts fund: Raise an increasingly large fund to pay operating costs of established and emerging arts groups, with an initial target of $150,000.

Business council: Build a strong case for increased and continued support, establish volunteer programs, and recognize such support.

Council on arts and education: Develop an arts education plan; support school districts; link teachers with arts organizations and cultural groups; and increase financial partnerships for arts education.

Cultural tourism: Increase the number of visitors and their length of stay.

Janss, who helped found the Gold Coast Performing Arts Association, said the timing is right for an ambitious arts council in the county.

``The difference between what the cultural scene out here was a decade ago and now is night and day,'' Janss said.

``We need to at least let the secret out of the bag.''

Cultural tourism, a new phrase for getting people to stay and play in an area, could be one of the county's strengths, Feller said.

``The key is in the packaging,'' she said. ``You also give them an itinerary of things to do. Ventura County is ideally situated for tourism because it's got so much natural beauty.''