A benefit concert by Merle Haggard and...

A benefit concert by Merle Haggard and the Strangers held Thursday at Knott’s Berry Farm raised at least $3,000 for a building fund of the projected Buena Park Performing and Visual Arts Center, according to a preliminary estimate. The city of Buena Park has not determined a construction start date for the center, which would house visual and performing arts activities and be part of the city’s civic center.

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Netting $36,800, Pacific Symphony claimed the largest of five grants awarded to Orange County groups and one individual in the National Endowment for the Arts’ latest grant round. The funding will support the orchestra’s engagement of American soloists and guest conductors and performances of contemporary American works. The other recipients and their grants, covering an array of needs, are: Opera Pacific, $27,500; Pacific Chorale, $4,300; and Lawrence R. Smith of Laguna Beach, $10,000 for publication of “Caliban” literary magazine. A previously announced grant of $30,000 was allotted to Laguna Art Museum. The NEA awarded $78 million nationwide, including $7.8 million in California.

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Two Orange County troupes are among 40 companies set to perform in this summer’s Dance Kaleidoscope, a showcase of regional dance and performance art staged annually in Los Angeles. Ramaa and Swetha Bhardvaj of the Angahara Dancers, a classical South Indian company based in Yorba Linda, and Ballet Folklorico del Sur de California, a traditional Mexican group out of Buena Park, will both perform on Aug. 6 at Hollywood’s John Anson Ford Amphitheatre. Kaleidoscope will feature five different programs running from July 22 to Aug. 6. Tickets are $7, for children, to $15. Call THEATIX, (213) 466-1767.