CITY HOPING TO GET STAGE FOR ITS ARTS; CONSULTANT TO HELP ASSESS GROUPS' NEEDS.

Byline: Patricia Farrell Aidem Daily News Staff Writer

Thousand Oaks has its Civic Arts Plaza, Palmdale its Cultural Arts Center.

But in Santa Clarita - larger than either of those cities - a school auditorium or a private back yard are the only venues available for a professional stage production.

With a shoestring budget of about $10,000, the city's cultural arts coordinator, Sean Morgan, has set out to change that.

``The city's only 10 years old and this area's grown so fast,'' Morgan said Monday. ``We're just starting to catch up.''

The city has hired consultant David Plettner to work with local arts groups to assess Santa Clarita's cultural needs, Morgan said.

Plettner will meet with representatives of the local theater groups, the symphony, the ballet and other members of the city's Arts Alliance at 6:30 tonight at Valencia Glen Park to begin what is expected to be a long planning process.

The first task is to assess the local needs - those of artists and their organizations.

Morgan envisions something like the Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica, which draws performing artists and crowds of onlookers. A possibility is downtown Newhall, where redevelopment funding could help create a local arts district, he said.

Also planned is an amphitheater in the city's 12-acre central park, planned in Saugus.

``But first we have to create a real base, a network of artists groups,'' Morgan said. ``That's the first step in keeping people on this side of the hill.''

The city obtained a matching $4,000 grant from the Los Angeles County Arts Commission and added that to other minor funds to hire Plettner, Morgan said.

Plettner has worked for the cities of Ventura, Torrance and Whittier to develop cultural arts facilities. He also has worked with nonprofit arts organizations, setting up their governing boards and creating marketing strategies.

Among the groups working with Plettner are the Canyon Theatre Guild, the Santa Clarita Repertory Theater, the SCV Arts Council, the Newhall School District with its youth orchestra and Symphony of the Canyons.